Author: Stooge

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November 10, 2012 – Anne Hathaway / Rihanna (S38 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ELECTION NIGHT
at home on election night, Mitt Romney (JAS) comes to terms with defeat

— Good to see Kate’s Ann Romney impression back after the breakout moment she had as her earlier this season, though she doesn’t get anything noteworthy to do in this particular cold opening.
— I like the use of a beer can-opening sound effect when Jason’s Mitt Romney opens a milk carton.
— A good laugh from Taran’s Tagg Romney once again threatening to punch someone.
— Funny running gag with Taran entering as a different Romney son while having the exact same look each time.
— Jason’s Romney, regarding Paul Ryan weightlifting in the Romney house: “Well, I’d like to see him carry Wisconsin!”
— Taran as one of Romney’s sons: “Come inside, father. Donald Trump is doing a very amusing thing where he’s racist………”
— What in the world is with the “Mitt & Ann Forever” part??? Why’d SNL feel the need to put that in this? I’m all for putting some heart and sentimentality into some of your comedy, which this season has done well quite a few times so far, but this “Mitt & Ann Forever” thing just felt odd and unnecessary.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host & theatrical cast members sing SNL-linked “One Day More” variant

— As usual, I love the genuinely very emotional, overjoyed look Anne Hathaway always has on her face whenever she enters the stage at the beginning of her monologues.
— When Jason mentions he’s been on the show for 8 seasons, I, as an SNL nerd, like how he adds in as an aside, “two as a writer”.
— A great part of the song with Anne singing the lyric, “What a show I could have done…if they’d let me play Stefon”, a lyric that Anne makes complete by doing the Stefon hands-over-mouth thing. The Stefon mention, combined with the fact that this musical number is Les Miserables-based, makes me wonder if John Mulaney wrote this, given the fact that the episodes he would later host traditionally have a big musical sketch based on Les Mis and other Broadway musicals. Then again, I’m confused about John Mulaney’s status as a writer this season. I had always been under the impression that he left the show after the preceding season and only occasionally came back as a guest writer this season to write Stefon pieces for Weekend Update, but there was an earlier episode this season where I spotted his name among the rest of the writers in the goodnights credits, and I’ve recently seen a clip from a stand-up special of his where he mentioned that he was an SNL writer for four-and-a-half seasons. So was he only on for half of this season?
— I particularly love the part of the song where Tim and Aidy sing about Sundays AND Saturdays being their day off, and that they’re not in the show much because “we are new”. How does that explain all the airtime their fellow newbie Cecily’s been getting, though?
— While we’re on the subject of Tim and Aidy’s airtime, I’ve noticed that the respective trajectory of their airtime so far this season has been the exact opposite of each other, with Aidy being invisible the first few episodes, then gradually getting bigger roles after that, while Tim was given a decent amount of big roles his first few episodes, then pretty much disappeared after that.
— I was iffy on this monologue’s musical number at first, given my aversion to musical monologues and my lack of familiarity with Les Miserables, but after a minute or so, I’ve gotten really into this number. It’s very catchy (especially once it gets amped up), Anne and the cast are putting their all into this, and I like the meta-ness of the whole number.
— Now this musical number has gotten even better, as the whole cast is getting involved. When this monologue originally aired, I couldn’t help but notice how awkwardly out-of-place Fred looked standing with the rest of the cast by this late stage of his SNL tenure. I still feel the same way about that during my current viewing.
STARS: ****


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
Kyra’s (CES) new pal (host) estranges Morgan (AIB)

— And Aidy’s stock continues to rise. And I love that the two main roles in tonight’s lead-off sketch are played by two new featured players.
— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Anne’s been given the generic role of this typical teenage girl archetype, but Anne is nailing it so much. I love her delivery in this.
— I got a big laugh from Aidy suddenly saying, as an insult towards Anne, “It looks like clothes dead women are found in!”, then shaking her head side-to-side in a sassy way. Unfortunately, IIRC, that shaking-her-head-side-to-side-in-a-sassy-way goes on to be a move that Aidy overuses quite a bit these first two seasons of her SNL tenure. She’d eventually drop it, thankfully.
— Aidy continues to have some funny reactions to being sidelined by Cecily for Cecily’s other best friend. I especially like her surprised delivery when asking Cecily, “You have a basement???”
— A funny story from Cecily about how crazy her boyfriend is.
— An overall good debut for this recurring sketch. When this SNL era originally aired, I recall quickly getting really tired of this recurring sketch after only two or so appearances, but we’ll see how I’ll now feel about this as a recurring sketch in these re-watches of mine.
STARS: ***½


THE LEGEND OF MOKIKI AND THE SLOPPY SWISH
Mokiki (TAK)’s Sloppy Swish dance enthralls (host)

— SNL’s first post-Lonely Island music video.
— I love this absolutely bizarre character for Taran. When this originally aired, this was yet another thing that had me thinking Taran was definitely on his way to becoming SNL’s next Will Ferrell, as I could easily picture Will doing something like this Mokiki bit in the late 90s.
— Kenan is great as the narrator.
— So many fun visuals of Taran’s Mokiki doing the “Sloppy Swish” dance move in various locations in the city.
— A very funny slow motion shot of Bobby mouthing “What the fuck” after Mokiki crashes Bobby and Kate’s picnic.
— Great fake-out with Mokiki and Anne’s pending kiss turning out to be him vomiting venom on her face.
— Oh, I love Anne now turning into a female Mokiki clone.
— An overall excellent, memorable, and catchy piece. SNL’s post-Lonely Island shorts have all been knocking it out of the park so far.
STARS: *****


HOMELAND
Saul (BIH) wants unstable Carrie (host) to do an interrogation

— I’ve never watched Homeland, but I’m currently only about 40 seconds into this sketch, and this Homeland spoof is already working for me just for Anne’s performance alone. Her performance in this is priceless.
— Now I’m noticing good supporting work from the cast, especially Taran’s funny performance and that great voice Bill’s doing.
— Very funny walk-on from Nasim.
— The “jazz freak-out” Anne’s doing is particularly hilarious.
— Bill: “Let me tell you something one of my 10 rabbis once told me…”
— Man, I’m loving practically everything about this sketch.
STARS: ****½


MCDONALD’S FIRING
McDonald’s employees Niff (BOM) & Dana (CES) badmouth their co-workers

— Bobby saying “We goin’ out on top like Seinfeld!” made me laugh even harder than it probably should’ve.
— It looks kinda dumb how, all throughout this sketch, Bobby and Cecily are facing and staring directly at the camera while telling off the co-workers who are located TO THEIR LEFT SIDE. I know Bobby and Cecily are just following the staging directions they were given, but this sketch shouldn’t have been directed this way in the first place.
— There are a lot of things about Bobby and Cecily’s characters that have the potential to be a little too annoying to watch, but it’s actually working well here, and I’m enjoying their insults to each co-worker of theirs. I also like how this sketch is using what appears to be the full cast, for the second segment tonight.
— I got a big laugh from Bobby and Cecily saying in unison, to one co-worker, “(*to the tune of the McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it’” jingle*) Ba-da-ba-ba-ba, go kill yourself!”
— I like Kate’s deadpan “…….Yes.” when rudely asked by Bobby and Cecily if her weird-looking leg had been burned.
— Now this truly is a full-cast sketch, as even the Weekend Update-only Seth has gotten involved as the voice of the co-worker heard through the phone.
— Even with his mere facial expressions and body language, Tim is very funny as the old worker. Good to see him get something funny to do again after practically disappearing the last few episodes prior to this.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Diamonds”


WEEKEND UPDATE
confident Barack Obama (JAP) will use mandate to set the political agenda

same-sex couple from Maine (FRA) & (BIH) relishes marriage equality

Drunk Uncle feels the election is representative of national decline

— Feels a little weird seeing Jay’s President Obama impression appearing on Weekend Update.
— Jay-as-Obama’s looseness here is pretty fun, especially the “Bounce with me” part.
— Hmm, a new outfit has been created for infants so they can clean the floor as they move around the house? Looks like SNL predicted the future with that (wretched) Swiffer Sleepers commercial they did 10 years prior.
— Wait, we’re still doing these “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bits all these years later? Another example of how Fred seemingly has little to offer this season other than bringing back old, tired recurring bits that don’t fit in the new, fresher direction SNL has been going in this season. I can’t even remember the last time this “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bit appeared prior to this. I think it was the “gays in the military”-based one from the Gerard Butler episode all the way back in season 35.
— I surprisingly have no memory at all of this Gay Couple From Maine commentary, even though I remember the rest of this episode fairly vividly. Maybe it’s for the best that I don’t remember this Maine commentary, especially since I never liked any of these “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bits. They’re at least progressive in terms of SNL’s portrayal of gay people, but I don’t find any of these characters funny.
— I did at least get a laugh just now from Bill (in what I’m assuming was an ad-lib) giving Fred a playful slap on the face while their characters are flirting with each other.
— I’m getting my usual amusement from Drunk Uncle, even if I can’t find any standout parts to mention here.
— Okay, I found one standout part I laughed at just now in the Drunk Uncle commentary, which him bitterly exclaiming out of nowhere, “Jeeewwwspapers!”
— Is it necessary to repeat that “That’s not me” “That’s not anybody” exchange between Drunk Uncle and Seth? That exchange was funny the first time it was used in Drunk Uncle’s last appearance prior to tonight’s episode, but it doesn’t work with repetition. IIRC, they even go on to have Colin Jost carry on the tradition of delivering the “That’s not anybody” line in Drunk Uncle’s appearances after Seth leaves.
STARS: ***


ELLEN
dancing precedes Ellen’s (KAM) interview with Katie Holmes (host)

— Good to see Kate’s Ellen DeGeneres impression back after its debut in that Bond Girls pre-tape earlier this season, even if I don’t find the idea of her starring in a straightforward spoof of Ellen’s talk show all that exciting.
— Cute appearance from Vanessa and Nasim.
— Great to see the return of Anne’s Katie Holmes impression from a Miley Cyrus Show sketch two seasons prior.
— Overall, not a bad sketch, though certainly not memorable.
STARS: ***


AMERICAN GOTHIC
American Gothic subjects (JAS) & (host) tried to bring levity to painting

— Kenan gets a good line after lightheartedly pointing out that the stereotype of Asians loving their cameras is apparently true: “Then again, I was 20 minutes late to work today.”
— A fairly interesting-seeming concept showing the making of the American Gothic painting.
— Simplistic humor here, but Jason and Anne are executing it really well.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stay”


FLARITIN
Flaritin is the fake Claritin for attention-seekers with fake allergies

— Kind of a rarity for a new pre-taped commercial to debut at the end of an episode. I think they only do that when there’s time to kill at the end of an episode.
— I like Vanessa’s delivery of her angry spiel about being lactose intolerant.
— Some laughs from the listed-off fake allergies you can claim to have when taking Flaritin.
— The premise is kinda flimsy and dumb, but the execution is okay enough.
— Good ending with Vanessa sneezing an exaggerated amount of nasty-looking mucus onto Kenan’s face.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

— As usual, such a charming goodnights speech from Anne that stands out a bit from usual hosts’ goodnights speeches in these years.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode, in what’s been a streak of good episodes lately. The first half of this episode was strong, and, while things slowed down a little in the second half, that half was still good. There impressively weren’t any segments in this episode that I disliked. Another benefit of this episode was that it contained no pre-existing recurring sketches at all, which is further proof that this season has refreshingly been focusing very little on recurring sketches. Much like in her previous two hosting stints, Anne Hathaway did a great job as a host. It’s a damn shame this ends up being her final hosting stint (as of 2020).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Legend Of Mokiki And The Sloppy Swish
Homeland
Monologue
McDonald’s Firing
Girlfriends Talk Show
American Gothic
Election Night
Ellen
Weekend Update
Flaritin


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Louis C.K.)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jeremy Renner

Posted on

November 3, 2012 – Louis C.K. / fun. (S38 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
sign-language interpreters (CES) & (NAP) augment Hurricane Sandy presser

— Cecily is fantastic in her parody of the sign-language interpreter from Michael Bloomberg’s Hurricane Sandy press conference that week. Cecily’s getting a lot of laughs here.
— Nasim is also very funny as a crude New Jersey interpreter during Bobby-as-Chris-Christie’s speech. Bobby-as-Christie’s speech itself is also hilarious, and is delivered excellently by him.
— We end with a funny spoof of the real Michael Bloomberg’s penchant for making poor attempts at speaking Spanish. During that spoof, there are also good laughs from what Fred’s Bloomberg says about white people loving the show Homeland.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about helping an old lady who fell at the airport

— Feels like it’s been too long since I last reviewed a stand-up monologue, though I guess Russell Brand and Zach Galifianakis’ season 36 monologues weren’t that long ago. I usually always enjoy reviewing this type of monologue.
— An endless amount of funny comments from Louis C.K. about his experience helping one particular old lady.
— Very funny accent from Louis whenever he imitates the old lady’s voice.
— A particularly great portion of this monologue with Louis explaining he loves the fact that old ladies say whatever’s on their mind. Some great lines from Louis during this bit are “The filter comes off around 72”, “8-year-old boys and old ladies have the same sense of propriety”, and Louis equating old ladies’ habit of freely speaking their mind because they’re on their way out to a guy who just got fired and says rude things to his co-workers while carrying his box out of the office.
STARS: ****½


FOX & FRIENDS
FEMA official (host) tries rebutting bad disaster advice

— Feels so odd seeing Jason play Donald Trump, for the only time ever. As I mentioned in a recent review, I doubt a lot of SNL fans today remember Jason ever doing this impression.
— A few okay comments from Jason’s Trump, and his impression comes off less stale than how Darrell Hammond’s Trump gradually became prior to this.
— A particularly funny moronic line from Bobby’s Brian Kilmeade, disclosing the fact that he calls piranhas with AIDS “parades”.
— Louis is a solid straight man here.
— Another very funny moronic line from Bobby’s Kilmeade: “I threw my milk out and now I dunk my cookies in shampoo!”
STARS: ****


LINCOLN
stand-up comic Abraham Lincoln (host) expects assassination in dramedy

— Great to already see our second post-Lonely Island short film just one episode after the first one, which was fantastic (Sad Mouse).
— The opening scene between Louis’ Abe Lincoln and Kenan is excellent.
— A priceless reveal of this being a “Louie”-style sitcom starring Abraham Lincoln, complete with a spot-on and hilarious recreation of the Louie opening credits. I’m pretty sure I even spotted a passerby giving Louis’ Lincoln the finger, much like a passerby doing that to Louis in the actual Louie opening credits. Interestingly, in this version, it looks like the finger was left uncensored.
— Seeing Louis’ Lincoln doing stand-up in Louis’ trademark style is very funny.
— A solid tense conversation between Louis’ Lincoln and Aidy’s Mary Todd Lincoln.
— There’s even some great details in the names shown in the ending credits during the conversation Louis’ Lincoln has with Jay.
STARS: ****½


AUSTRALIAN SCREEN LEGENDS
down-under accents undermine dramatic scenes

— A funny unexpected turn during the opening love scene between Bill and Kate, with them suddenly breaking out extremely goofy Australian accents and expressions after such a long, tender build-up with their affectionate non-speaking actions.
— Seeing Louis C.K. attempt an Australian accent is alone worth a laugh.
— Louis, to a dying Kate: “Any last words?” Kate: “Uh…kangaroo, I guess.”
— Humorous goofy charm throughout this.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Some Nights”


WEEKEND UPDATE
sidelined by Hurricane Sandy, Mitt Romney (JAS) makes a final vote-for-me pitch

social media expert Kourtney Barnes (AIB) defends inane online commentary

The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party is strident & spacey

SEM tells viewers how they can contribute to the Hurricane Sandy relief effort

— During the Mitt Romney commentary, I like the mention of how Hurricane Sandy took so much attention away from the fact that there’s a presidential election taking place in just a few days. This really takes me back to this hectic portion of 2012.
— A laugh from Jason-as-Romney’s dismissive and mumbly “…or woman” and “…or she” when making statements like “It takes a man…”.
— Great to see Aidy finally get her very first comedic lead role.
— Aidy’s proving herself really well in this first big comedic showcase of hers. Her delivery in this commentary is terrific, making the ridiculous immature social media posts she reads come off even funnier than they already are.
— Kinda interesting how both of this season’s new female cast members each get their own Update commentary in the same episode.
— This is the first appearance that Cecily’s Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party makes in a regular episode. She made her actual debut earlier this season in a Weekend Update Thursday special.
— Cecily’s got a great handle on this character, and is making so many funny dumb “informed” statements and malaprops.
— Girl You Wish etc.: “Seth, can I sing a negro spiritual real quick?” Seth: “NO!”
— Tonight’s Update ends on a serious note with Seth telling us the URL and phone number to make a donation for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
STARS: ***


MOUNTAIN PASS
while on a Middle Ages quest, (host) annoys folk with his horn blowing

— Hoo, boy. I recall this sketch being…uh…something.
— A funny little detail with Louis subtly moving the horn away from his mouth a bit while the horn-blowing sound effect is still playing.
— Another laugh, this time from Louis moving the horn away from his mouth in a longer, more exaggerated, blatant manner the third time he blows the horn.
— Wait, is the horn-blowing going to be the whole joke of this sketch?
— Okay, at least now, the sketch is going in a different direction. Not sure I like this direction, though.
— A big laugh from what’s probably the most remembered part of this sketch: Louis giving up when having to read a hard-to-pronounce Middle Ages-type word off the cue card, and opting instead to just refer to that word as “something” while chuckling out of character.
— Boy, where is this sketch going??? Is this another example of SNL wasting money by going through the trouble of using an impressive, fancy set and costumes for a lousy sketch with little-to-no laughs?
— Bill at least has a funny line right now, where, after calling the name Zorg weird, he reveals his own name is Nornt.
— Another funny line from Bill right now, with him exasperatedly exclaiming “Zesus Jeist!”
— Overall, despite my occasional complaints about this sketch, and as mediocre as the material itself as a whole indeed was, it was given a boost by a few laughs and a really likable atmosphere, the latter mainly helped by Louis’ “Don’t give a fuck”-type looseness.
STARS: **½


HOTEL FEES
at the end of (BOM)’s hotel stay, (host) reviews items charged to bill

— Pretty funny bit regarding the diamonds Bobby’s being charged for.
— Something about Louis’ way of saying “potatoes” in that dignified, professional voice tickles me.
— I’m enjoying Louis causally mentioning bizarre things on Bobby’s bill, like “16 cubic meters of argon”.
— Good bit with Fred passing by with the stuffed bobcat that was mentioned earlier as being stolen from Bobby’s hotel room.
— An odd but pretty charming little moment at the very end, with Bobby and Louis both dropping character and openly laughing with each other right before the screen fades to black.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Louis even gets a good laugh from the audience during this musical guest intro, by quickly changing his smiling facial expression to an exaggeratedly serious facial expression when realizing the show has come back from commercial break, then playfully gesturing to the now-laughing audience to shut up.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Carry On”


LAST CALL
desperate (host) & Sheila Sovage (KAM) hurtle toward a last-call hook-up

— The debut of both Kate’s Sheila Sovage character and the Last Call recurring sketch.
— I’m already loving the offbeat, non-sequitur-filled conversation between Kate’s Sovage and Louis, right from the beginning of it.
— Kate and Louis’ conversation and interplay are getting increasingly hilarious, and are being so well-performed by both Kate and Louis.
— A very funny disgusting make-out session between Kate and Louis, which gets a wild audience reaction.
— Solid ending with Kenan trying to block Kate and Louis’ lovemaking outside the window by spraypainting the window and saying to us, “I don’t wanna know how that pans out.”
— An overall very strong closing sketch.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, especially with that great string of segments rated four or four-and-a-half stars in the first 20 or so minutes. Even the only segment I found weak in this episode (Mountain Pass) had its redeemable factors. Louis C.K. did a solid job in his hosting debut, even coming off a little out of his element in a fun way during some sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lincoln
Press Conference
Last Call
Monologue
Fox & Friends
Hotel Fees
Australian Screen Legends
Weekend Update
Mountain Pass


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bruno Mars)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Anne Hathaway

Posted on

October 20, 2012 – Bruno Mars (S38 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
undecided voters question debating Barack Obama (JAP) & Mitt Romney (JAS)

— Aidy gets her very first big role. However, it’s just a (mostly) non-comedic straight role. I remember, back at this time in 2012, I was antsy and impatient for SNL to finally give Aidy big comedic roles, especially given the fact that her fellow two newbies Cecily and Tim had both gotten their share of big comedic roles by this point.
— Fred’s small appearance here ends up being his ONLY appearance all night, another sign that he’s (thankfully) on his way out this season.
— A pretty funny, if not all that creative, angle in this presidential debate sketch, with the childish over-the-top bickering and threats between Obama and Romney throughout this.
— Hilarious cutaway to Taran as Tagg Romney holding a fist up while angrily saying “Let me at ‘im, dad!”
— For a new and underused cast member, Aidy’s doing a good job with so much wordy dialogue.
— A good laugh from Jay’s Obama saying, in response to how the “plan” he shows Jason’s Romney is his middle finger, “And the best thing about my plan is, you can sit on it AND spin.”
— Aidy actually gets a funny line right now, one she delivers very well, when she says “You’re setting a terrible example for this audience, and these people are VERY impressionable. They are from…Long Island!”
— Not sure if this is intentional or not, but Bobby’s New York-accented citizen sounds JUST LIKE Joe Pesci. In fact, Bobby sounds far more like Pesci here than when he actually played Pesci in that Delaware Fellas sketch from the preceding season’s Daniel Radcliffe episode.
— A standout part right now, when Cecily’s question to the candidates about what they would do to keep dangerous assault weapons off the street is answered with a point-blank “Uhh, nothing” “I would also do nothing.” A biting and eerily prescient moment. In fact, after the Sandy Hook school shooting would happen two months later, this portion of the cold opening would be removed in the ensuing NBC rerun. No idea if it was ever restored.
— TOM HANKS!!!
— Even in just a small part, Tom is his usual fantastic self here.
— Another standout part, where, after Jason’s Romney is proven wrong on his claim that Jay’s Obama took too long to call the attack in Benghazi a terrorist act, Jay’s Obama does an epic mic drop in response.
— Good to see the underused Aidy say LFNY so early into her tenure.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host sings his way from self-doubt to confidence about his SNL gig

— This is the second consecutive musical monologue, but it at least makes sense for Bruno Mars to do one.
— Much like Fred in the cold opening, Kenan’s appearance in this monologue surprisingly ends up being the only time we see him all night.
— A very fun and upbeat turn the song takes after Kenan gives Bruno the confidence he needs. This more upbeat song is also a great use of Bruno’s infectious singing style.
— Overall, Bruno did a solid job here, and this was certainly better than a lot of the usual musical monologues from these late 00s/early 10s years.
STARS: ***½


CHANEL NO. 5
lack of a script explains Brad Pitt’s (TAK) incoherent Chanel No. 5 spot

— 8 years after this aired, I now barely remember the actual Brad Pitt commercial this is spoofing. However, this seems to be the type of spoof you can still “get” even without having seen the source material.
— Taran’s Brad Pitt: “Also, is it just me, or do I look super homeless?”
STARS: ***


HATERS WITH SUNNY TAYLOR TOMPKINS
twerking (BOM) & daughter (host) accuse audience of jealousy

— Right from Bobby’s walk-on as this type of character, I’m getting a bad feeling about this sketch.
— As I’ve mentioned multiple times in the past, Bobby has the ability to make potentially-hacky man-in-drag roles come off entertaining. But ugh at his dialogue in this, even if it is an accurate spoof of things that girls like Bobby’s character say on this type of trashy daytime talk show. Also, was it still considered timely in 2012 to spoof trashy daytime talk shows? It seems like spoofing that went out of style a whole decade prior.
— Bruno is at least fun in his performance, but like Bobby, his actual dialogue is ugh.
— Not even Aidy smashing a chair on Jay did anything for me.
— Oof, what a waste of Tim Robinson.
— Thank god this talk show sketch never ends up becoming recurring like I’m sure it was intended to.
STARS: *½


TACO BELL
Brad Pitt (TAK) extols the merits of Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos

— Pretty funny Taco Bell twist, though it reminds me too much of the twists from those Clint Eastwood ads that Bill did in the preceding season’s Zooey Deschanel episode.
— The sudden silliness in Taran-as-Brad-Pitt’s demeanor after the Taco Bell reveal is pretty fun.
STARS: ***


PANDORA INTERNET RADIO
intern (host) provides vocals after power outage at Pandora headquarters

— An impressively spot-on and funny Billie Joe Armstrong impression from Bruno during the first song he performs in this.
— More great singer impressions from Bruno throughout this sketch.
— The premise of this sketch is increasingly implausible, but I don’t give a damn, as the execution of it is so fun and very infectious.
— I love the Louis Armstrong bit. Even Bruno briefly laughing when starting to do the Armstrong voice was very charming.
— Ohh, hell yeah, now we’re about to get a Michael Jackson impression from Bruno.
— Very funny little gag with all the employees just happening to have a Michael Jackson glove available.
— Man, the energy in this sketch is fantastic. I’m having an absolute blast watching this.
— Great ending.
STARS: ****½


SAD MOUSE
Times Square tourists ignore depressed (host) in rodent suit

— Several big firsts here: our first post-Lonely Island short film on SNL, our first Mike O’Brien short film, and our first Matt & Oz-directed short film.
— I love the opening scene between Bruno and Jason. Fantastic acting there, as well as good subtle laughs.
— An excellent and memorable montage of Bruno in the mouse costume failing to garner up any interest from Times Square tourists, then slowly having a miserable meltdown. Even the music playing in the background is adding perfectly to the scene.
— Such a sweet ending. It honestly nearly brought me to tears.
— A fantastic short film overall, and I love how different this felt for this SNL period up to this point. A great introduction to Mike O’Brien’s refreshing style of films, which will be a treat over these next few seasons.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Locked Out Of Heaven”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Dos & Don’ts- SEM gives debating advice to presidential candidates

most folks won’t want to follow Stefon’s freakish Halloween itinerary

— Yet another new (I think) Update segment from Seth: “Dos And Don’ts”.
— Wow, tonight’s overall “Dos And Don’ts” segment ended up being a huge flop for me. I didn’t get a single laugh during it, and the humor was so corny and bland.
— Stefon in his first appearance of the season.
— I love the little bit with Stefon starting his commentary by telling Seth “Hi, I’m Stefon” while holding his hand out for a handshake, as if they’re meeting each other for the first time.
— A nice change of pace with Stefon walking us through his Halloween routine.
— A particularly hilarious and memorable Stefon moment right now, with him revealing Jewish Dracula’s name is Sidney Applebaum (which results in Bill breaking harder than he probably ever has in any Stefon bit).
— Wow, just now during the Stefon commentary, they actually address the fact that “midget” is an outdated term, which Stefon responds to by humorously replacing the word “midget” with “fun-sized”.
— Yet another great change of pace in tonight’s Stefon commentary, with him telling a scary Halloween story.
STARS: ***


MERRYVILLE HAUNTED CASTLE
(Tom Hanks) & fellow Merryville animatrons spook a haunted house ride

— The third and final appearance of this recurring sketch.
— Is it just me, or, after being utilized a lot in this season’s premiere (to the extent that some online SNL fans at the time assumed SNL would make her the new Kristen Wiig), Vanessa’s been having a quiet season so far? It feels like we haven’t been seeing much of her lately.
— Much like Jim Carrey and Justin Timberlake in previous installments of this sketch, Bruno is great at doing the robotic moves with Taran.
— I love the visual of Taran wearing a Freddy Krueger-esque knife glove.
— Now Tom Hanks is getting involved as one of the Merryville Brother animatrons!
— When this originally aired, I realized that, much like with the Roxbury Guys, both Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks have played a Merryville Brother, on separate occasions. I recall kinda wondering back then if this coincidental trend would continue. Funnily enough, Martin Short, another host who once appeared as a third Roxbury Guy, actually hosts a little later this season, but there’s no Merryville Brothers sketch in that episode.
STARS: ***


FRANKLIN’S DOG CONDOMS
Brad Pitt (TAK) recommends Franklin’s Dog Condoms in lieu of castration

— Meh, I didn’t get much of a laugh from the dog condoms reveal, nor at the repeated “Let your dog keep his balls” slogan.
STARS: **


YETI POINT
at Yeti Point, (JAS) & (VAB) doubt (BIH) was cryptozoologically molested

— Some very funny hammy suspenseful facial expressions into the camera from Bruno.
— A great Doc Brown-esque look of Bill’s character.
— Hmm, not too sure about the conceit this sketch has taken. Bill’s character revealing what the yeti did to him isn’t doing much for me.
— There’s a bit of a Christmas Kangaroo vibe to the encounter we see Bill and the yeti having outside the window, though this one ends up going in a less crude, more comically-romantic direction. Despite that, I still prefer Christmas Kangaroo.
STARS: **


JONATHAN ZIZMOR M.D.
Brad Pitt (TAK) touts the tattoo removal services of Dr. Jonathan Zizmor

— (*sigh*) We’re still doing these?
— Yikes, the tattoo-removal reveal fell COMPLETELY flat for me. It didn’t get a single laugh from me (nor did it get much of one from the audience).
STARS: *


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Stefon introduces host


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Young Girls”


DONKEY PUNCH THE BALLOT!
Under-Underground Donkey Punch The Ballot! festival is vaguely political

— Nasim makes her ONLY appearance of the entire night in a pre-tape that was cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding episode and is being buried in the 10-to-1 slot of tonight’s episode.
— This ends up being the final installment of this recurring piece.
— The usual funny Ass Dan scene, this time involving him reuniting with his twin, Butt Dave. I love the bit with them both dying seconds apart from each other, especially the way the split-screen In Memoriam is done for each of them.
— Holy hell, I had no idea Kate’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg impression debuted this early into Kate’s tenure. It feels so odd reviewing this impression so early in my SNL project, as I heavily associate this impression of Kate’s with the mid-late 2010s years of SNL, specifically the Jost/Che era of Weekend Update. In fact, I think the second appearance Kate’s RBG makes isn’t until well into the Jost/Che era, years after this debut.
— The audience barely reacts to Kate’s RBG appearance here, which feels weird in hindsight, knowing how popular the impression would later go on to be with the audience. Kate also uses a very different voice for RBG here than the one she’d regularly use in later appearances.
— The “Binders Full Of Women” mention is obviously a new addition that wasn’t in the version of this that aired in the preceding episode’s dress rehearsal, as it’s referencing a controversial Mitt Romney statement that was made earlier the week of this episode.
— Bruno’s portion of this was also obviously a new addition to this previously-cut-from-dress piece.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode that I had always remembered being a bit better than it is, due to 1) the fantastic one-two punch of the Pandora Internet Radio sketch and the Sad Mouse film airing back-to-back, and 2) how fun and extremely likable Bruno Mars was as a host. Despite not quite living up to my memory of this episode’s quality, this episode was still enjoyable and had a few great highs.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Sad Mouse
Pandora Internet Radio
Donkey Punch The Ballot!
Second Presidential Debate
Monologue
Merryville Haunted Castle
Weekend Update
Taco Bell
Chanel No. 5
Yeti Point
Franklin’s Dog Condoms
Haters with Sunny Taylor Tompkins
Jonathan Zizmor M.D.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christina Applegate)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Louis C.K. makes his hosting debut

Posted on

October 13, 2012 – Christina Applegate / Passion Pit (S38 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Paul Ryan (TAK) & vice president Joe Biden (JAS) debate; Usain Bolt cameo

— Already, Jason’s Joe Biden is a blast in this debate sketch, during Taran-as-Paul-Ryan’s opening statement.
— A big laugh from Kate’s Martha Raddatz telling Biden and Ryan, “Then don’t try and f(*bleep*)k me like I’m Jim Lehrer.” Also, that shot of her saying that was actually pre-taped, surprisingly. You can tell by the sudden change in audio quality, as well as the sudden change in the way Kate’s hair looks. Seems odd to pre-tape that small portion of this sketch just because it required a bleeping-out of a swear word. Was SNL afraid they’d mess up the timing of the bleep if they did it live? They’ve certainly done bleeped-out swearing in live sketches before, but the timing of the bleeps in those sketches sometimes got messed up and revealed that the performer was saying a fake swear word (e.g. “frick” instead of “fuck”), so maybe SNL didn’t want to risk that happening for what was supposed to be a big laugh line from Kate in tonight’s cold opening.
— Are Jason-as-Biden’s disparaging remarks about Scranton, Pennsylvania a callback to him previously doing that in the VP debate sketch from 2008? If so, I love that callback.
— The camera accidentally catches Jason putting fake Biden teeth into his mouth at one point (screencap below).

— Fantastic comment from Jason’s Biden detailing his workout routine involving an Amtrak.
— I love the non-sequitur of Kate’s Raddatz bringing up the baseball playoffs, then suddenly turning that into an unrelated question asking Biden and Ryan their thoughts about abortion.
— Jason continues to absolutely kill it throughout this debate sketch.
— Taran doesn’t have as many standout great moments here as Jason or Kate do, but he’s still doing a fine job.
— A laugh from Usain Bolt being brought out just to clarify a ridiculous lie Taran’s Ryan makes up about winning the Hundred Meters at the London Olympics.
— A priceless ending, with Jason’s Biden wiping off Taran-as-Ryan’s widow’s peak.
— An overall very fun, well-written, and underrated debate sketch, made even more entertaining by a fantastic Jason Sudeikis performance. Compared to some other debate sketches from over the years, this particular one never got the attention and acclaim that I feel it’s always deserved.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host sings about how she’s happy that the holidays aren’t here yet

— I like that Christina Applegate brings up her last hosting stint from all the way back in 1993, and mentions that was the first appearance of the Matt Foley character, a mention that’s accompanied by a screenshot of that legendary Foley debut. I also like how we’re subsequently shown a screenshot of Christina, in a very 90s outfit, introducing one of the musical performances in that 1993 episode. Feels like it was just yesterday when I was reviewing that SNL era.
— (*groan*) A musical monologue. I do kinda like the conceit of this one, though, with Christina saying this is her favorite time of year because there are no holidays yet, as it’s shortly before the bombardment of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. As someone who also, at the risk of sounding like a grouch, doesn’t care much for the Thanksgiving/Christmas portion of the year (I have no issues with Halloween) and doesn’t care much for how those two holidays are bunched so close together, I can relate to this premise, especially since, as of the writing of this review, we’re currently in that portion of the year.
— A fairly fun appearance form the “Fruppets”, and Bill further proves that he can perfectly imitate almost any voice (Kermit, in this case).
— The return of Jason’s spot-on and funny Dane Cook impression!
— Despite the aforementioned highlights and how much I can relate to the premise of the song, I’m still not all that crazy about the actual singing portions of this monologue, and I always hate when SNL has cast members play corny backup dancers in musical monologues like this.
STARS: **½


GILLETTE
razor-free Jerry Sandusky (JAS) uses the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler

— A hilarious disturbing reveal of Jerry Sandusky randomly being one of the celebrities shown using the Gillette product in this suavely-filmed commercial.
— Adding to the humor of the Sandusky reveal is the dopey overbite facial expression Jason perpetually makes as him.
— I like that they kept this overall commercial short and simple, and didn’t hurt the Sandusky reveal by belaboring the point.
STARS: ****


THE CALIFORNIANS
Stuart (FRA) maps out his impending marriage to (host)

— (*groooooooooaaaaaaaaaaan*)
— If I was watching this sketch with my eyes closed, I’d swear that was the no-longer-on-the-show Kristen Wiig I was hearing every time Christina Applegate spoke. The Californian voice Christina’s using here sounds EXACTLY like that of Kristen’s from previous installments of this sketch.
— Boy, this endless back-and-forth between Fred and Bill is not only unfunny and overlong, but it’s melting my brain.
— Christina even seems to be imitating some physical Wiig mannerisms here.
— Not even good ol’ Bobby can save this mess of a sketch in his walk-on.
— They’re even getting Usain Bolt involved in this?
— As much as I hate to admit it, Usain Bolt doing the typical camera mugging during the mock-dramatic close-up actually made me laugh. Maybe it’s funnier seeing him do that close-up camera mugging than it is seeing others in this sketch do that because it’s Usain Bolt, of all people. Plus, perhaps that shot of him mugging got in my good graces subconsciously when it was shown during the “athletes on SNL” highlight reel in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special.
STARS: *½


TECH TALK
Chinese workers’ woes eclipse first-world problems of iPhone 5

 

— Maybe it’s because I just came from a sketch where I had to hear performers talk in exaggerated Californian accents non-stop for 5 minutes, but it sounds like Bill used a silly Californian accent when saying his opening greeting in this Tech Talk sketch.
— Okay, as Bill continues speaking, I now see he’s just doing a bit of a silly, nerdy voice, not a Californian voice.
— A good sudden turn with Christina bringing out the Chinese sweatshop workers who designed the iPhone 5, to come face-to-face with the guests on this show who expressed shallow complaints about the phone.
— A lot of strong lines from Fred, Nasim, and Cecily’s Chinese worker characters in their sarcastic remarks to the guests. It’s just too bad those strong lines have to be delivered in such broad, stereotypical Asian accents. I could see this strong material actually coming off MORE effective and maybe even more biting if the accents were downplayed to an extent. However, I sure as hell don’t consider this sketch itself to be “racist”, like I once saw someone on SNL’s Reddit claim. Obviously, the Asian characters in this sketch are the ones who get the upper hand on the American characters, and deservedly put the Americans in their place.
— Cecily’s handbag line has always been one of my favorite lines in this sketch.
— Oh, I love Nasim performing a slow motion sarcastic dance while Kenan is expressing more shallow complaints about the phone.
— Christina’s ending line seemed like it should’ve been funnier.
STARS: ***½


GIVE US ALL OUR DAUGHTERS BACK!
stars work the phones in revenge movie

— That opening shot of masked gunmen entering a daycare and pointing guns at frightened children reminds me that, IIRC, this entire pre-tape would later be removed from at least one NBC rerun of this episode after the Sandy Hook school shooting in December of this year (2012). Similarly, an Obama/Romney presidential debate sketch in the very next episode I’ll be reviewing has a small portion that would be removed from reruns for reasons related to the Sandy Hook shooting, as we’ll see when I review that sketch.
— Very funny and spot-on Liam Neeson impression from Taran.
— A pretty funny spoof of this prevalent movie trope.
— Jay-as-Denzel-Washington’s whole “Are you a sheep or a wolf? etc.” rant is fantastic.
— Bill’s Arnold Schwarzenegger voice is cracking me up, though his scene itself is nothing special.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Take A Walk”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Arianna Huffington (NAP) reviews Martha Raddatz vs. Joe Biden & Paul Ryan

Lance Armstrong doping scandal inspires a stand-up set from Jean K. Jean

— I love Nasim-as-Arianna-Huffington’s bit about likening a debate between two men to a penis-measuring contest, mainly because of her humorous, accented pronunciation of “penis” (“pennis”).
— Some really good comments from Nasim throughout this Arianna Huffington commentary. These Huffington commentaries of hers seem to get better and better with each passing appearance. I’m glad I’m now appreciating them, because when these originally aired, I think I unfairly dismissed them simply because Nasim wasn’t Michaela Watkins (who originally did an Arianna Huffington commentary on Update during her sole season on SNL).
— Kenan’s Jean K. Jean makes his first appearance in what feels like a long time. This also ends up being his final Update commentary, though he has one appearance remaining: a minor, non-speaking appearance he makes among many Update characters/impressions who are celebrating Stefon’s marriage to Seth in this season’s finale.
— As usual, some pretty good laughs and fun delivery from Kenan as Jean K. Jean. Also as usual, I could do without those dance breaks Jean does after some of his jokes, but at least this is the last time I’ll have to deal with that (until it’s repurposed years later for Kate’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg commentaries on Update, and I care for the dance breaks even less there).
STARS: ***


THE SIRENS
Sirens (host), (CES), (KAM) tempt Odysseus (JAS) with hits from the 1990s

— Meh at the comedic conceit of this sketch with the Sirens’ songs being hit 90s female-sung songs. That type of humor just isn’t for me, plus it feels like SNL already used a premise like this before, but I can’t remember when. Maybe I’m actually thinking of a sketch that would be done sometime after this: the Little Mermaid sketch with Anna Kendrick the season after this one, but, IIRC, that sketch actually works, for various reasons.
— Not even Jason’s giddy reactions to the girly songs can get me into this sketch, and I usually always love Giddy Jason Sudeikis.
— Okay, Jason’s giddiness towards the songs is now finally starting to get me smiling, though I’m still not caring at all for the main concept regarding the songs the Sirens are singing.
— I got a chuckle from Bobby saying “I do what everyone else dooooeees!” while flinging himself off of the ship like the other sailors did.
STARS: *½


HALLOWEEN BALL
Principal Frye reproves unruly students at literacy-themed Halloween ball

— I don’t seem to like these Principal Frye sketches quite as much as other people do, but I certainly have no problems seeing it return again.
— There goes Jay’s obligatory break that seems to happen at least once in these sketches.
— A bit of an awkward and confusing line flub from Jay at the end, where he starts addressing what he calls “a young woman who came dressed up as a leprechaun”, and then, after going on a little about said leprechaun-dressed student, suddenly refers to that student as “son”, then ad-libs “excuse me, it’s a boy”, which is an acknowledgment from Jay that he genuinely messed up his line when calling that student “a young woman” earlier. Despite that confusion, I still laughed at the punchline of the leprechaun bit.
— I can’t find anything else to say about tonight’s overall installment of this recurring sketch, except that I had my usual reaction to it that I always do. However, I didn’t like Christina’s character quite as much as I liked Josh Brolin’s character in the last installment of this sketch prior to tonight’s.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Carried Away”


DANCE STUDIO
dance instructor (host) ultimately imbues students with Bob Fosse gestalt

— Another sketch tonight where, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear Christina is intentionally doing a Kristen Wiig imitation. The similarities Christina’s character voice and mannerisms in this sketch have to a typical Wiig character are downright UNCANNY.
— I’m currently more than halfway through this sketch, and I’ve yet to get a single laugh. Typical James Anderson-written material that’s a complete chore for me to watch. Kenan’s character is humorous-seeming, at least, but I’m still not finding myself actually laughing at him.
— Geez, Christina even did a Wiig-like wheezing laugh just now. Yeah, I’m starting to wonder, did writers James Anderson and/or Kent Sublette sit Christina down and have her study a whole bunch of old Kristen Wiig tapes or something? Do Anderson & Sublette miss Kristen that much?
— Such a corny and unfunny turn with all the students, one-by-one, suddenly “getting” how to do Christina’s confusing dance moves.
STARS: *


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good first half, but a disappointing second half. Even what I found to be the only good sketch in the second half (Halloween Ball) was merely average to me. Tonight’s episode also ends this season’s impressive streak of episodes that contain very few things I disliked. However, despite containing more lows than any of the prior episodes this season did, at least tonight’s episode contained better highs than the forgettably-average preceding episode with Daniel Craig did.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Vice Presidential Debate
Gillette
Tech Talk
Give Us All Our Daughters Back!
Weekend Update
Halloween Ball
Monologue
The Sirens
The Californians
Dance Studio


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Daniel Craig)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Bruno Mars

Posted on

October 6, 2012 – Daniel Craig / Muse (S38 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Barack Obama (JAP) loses focus during first debate with Mitt Romney (JAS)

— Well, here we go, the first debate sketch of this election season. The political satire in this election season doesn’t seem to be all that remembered among SNL fans, especially compared to the election season that preceded this (the 2008 one). However, I recall this season’s second Obama/Romney debate sketch being solid, and I recall absolutely LOVING this season’s VP debate sketch between Jason’s Joe Biden and Taran’s Paul Ryan, which airs in the following episode.
— Much like in the 2008 election season, SNL brings Chris Parnell back to reprise his Jim Lehrer impression.
— Jay continues his streak of having the lead or co-lead role in every cold opening so far this season.
— A funny split-screen shot of Jason’s stone-faced Mitt Romney staring coldly at Jay’s President Obama.
— A laugh from Jay’s Obama having a “whatever”-type reaction to being told Jason’s Romney claimed to have killed Osama Bin Laden.
— The conceit of us hearing Jay-as-Obama’s various inner thoughts is a somewhat interesting and unique angle for a presidential debate sketch, and an okay spoof of how uncharacteristically distracted and uninterested Obama acted at the real debate. This isn’t exactly biting political satire, nor is it memorable in regards to SNL’s presidential debate sketches over the years, but it’s decent enough.
— A fairly funny turn with us now hearing Chris-as-Lehrer’s inner thoughts.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— This season’s new theme music is being played at a faster tempo tonight than it was in this season’s previous episodes. This faster tempo will remain for the rest of this theme song’s run (2012-2014).


MONOLOGUE
host plays In Memoriam reel of the people he’s killed in the movies

— At the end of Daniel Craig’s entrance, after the camera shows the usual brief shot of the host from behind while we see the audience applauding, we get a change of pace tonight with the camera showing a brief side shot of Daniel from the angle of the floor seats (screencap below).

This new camera angle shot becomes a regular thing at the beginning of hosts’ monologues for the remainder of the 2012 half of this season, then stops for some unknown reason in the 2013 half of this season.
— A fun concept of showing an In Memoriam reel for characters that Daniel killed in his movies. The result is only average, though.
— I like Daniel’s side comment asking to Shazam the song that’s playing during the In Memoriam reel.
— The “The Dog Who Saw Too Much” bit was a decent ending of the In Memoriam reel.
STARS: ***


CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
unlike the other construction workers, (host) isn’t very good at catcalls

— Pretty funny delivery from Kenan during his catcalls throughout this sketch.
— The premise isn’t all that great, but Daniel’s execution of it is decent and likable.
— A funny sleazy “If You See Something, Say Something” reference from Bobby.
— A big laugh during the flashback scene where Bill’s character gets shot out of nowhere by the woman he catcalled.
STARS: ***


BOND 50
DVD collection has forgotten, unsexy Bond girls like Diane Keaton (VAB)

— Fun premise, and a decent excuse for the female cast to do celebrity impressions.
— A solid Diane Keaton scene with Vanessa.
— For some reason, I had no memory of the portion with Vanessa’s Molly Ringwald, even though I remember everything else in this.
— A lot of funny fictional Bond movie titles.
— Kate is stealing this whole thing with her respective scenes as Jodie Foster and Ellen DeGeneres, the latter scene of which is particularly funny.
STARS: ***½


THREE DAYS LATER: A LOOK BACK AT THE OBAMA DEBATE DISASTER
Rachel Maddow (CES) & MSNBC pundits assess Obama’s weak debate showing

— Cecily takes over the Rachel Maddow impression that the no-longer-on-the-show Abby Elliott used to do. I’m finding Cecily’s Maddow impression to be much better than Abby’s. Cecily’s nailing both the facial mannerisms and the voice well enough.
— Speaking of taking over former cast members’ impressions, we get Jason playing Chris Matthews. Feels odd seeing Jason in this role. Also, this doesn’t end up being the only time this season where Jason takes over an impression that Darrell Hammond used to frequently do. In what I’m sure a lot of SNL fans don’t remember (hell, I myself didn’t remember it until just now), Jason plays Donald Trump in a sketch later this season. I kid you not.
— While Jason isn’t exactly dethroning Darrell as SNL’s most accurate Chris Matthews impersonator, I’m absolutely loving Jason’s impression. His performance and delivery are SLAYING me in this.
— Kate gets a laugh from her “gloating” as S.E. Cupp.
— Some funny insane theories from Kenan’s Al Sharpton throughout this sketch.
STARS: ***½


LONG ISLAND MEDIUM
Theresa Caputo (KAM) reads fellow Italian-Americans

— A funny exaggerated crying outburst from Taran.
— We get our very first onscreen interaction between Kate and Aidy, who would later go on to be inseparable castmates. Their interaction here is very brief, though.
— Another standout Kate McKinnon performance. She’s been killing it these past two episodes.
— I love Cecily’s mere facial expressions and demeanor as a supermarket customer who accepts Kate’s Theresa Caputo just randomly coming up to her and immediately giving her a psychic prediction.
— Bobby steals the supermarket scene with his perfectly-delivered “Hey, f(*bleep*)k you!”
STARS: ***½


MARS MISSION
Mars-bound, baby-talking Kirby (BOM) goes on about missing his kitty cat

— Oh, I forgot all about this “I miss my little kitty cat” character of Bobby’s. From what I remember, I pretty much hated these sketches when they originally aired, but I get the feeling I’ll have a bit of a different reaction during these re-watches.
— So far, such an odd, one-note character from Bobby, and I can see why I and certain others were annoyed by him, but in my current viewing, I’m finding Bobby’s portrayal of this character to be somewhat entertaining and strangely endearing in the way that only Bobby can make it. Also, I’m oddly getting a bit of a Chris Farley vibe from Bobby’s characterization and look here.
— Daniel is rather stumbly with his lines throughout this sketch.
— Bobby’s emotional screaming outburst (another Farley-esque trait) when thinking his cat got destroyed in the duffel bag is making me simultaneously laugh and, strangely, almost shed a sad tear. Bobby is such a lovable performer in general that he has the strange ability to tap into my emotions sometimes.
— For some reason, the fact that Bobby, while still under the impression that his cat got destroyed, yells “I hate this trip! I hate it so much!” is cracking me up.
— An actual cute ending.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Madness”


WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM groups those affected by presidential debate into Winners & Losers

political football Big Bird (Caroll Spinney) reacts to recent attention

unrepentant Ecce Homo defacer Cecilia Gimenez (KAM) wants her money

— Another edition of the Winners/Losers segment, a segment that’s usually hit-and-miss.
— Seth manages to work his spot-on Hugh Grant impression from back in the day into one portion of tonight’s Winners/Losers segment.
— Tonight’s overall Winners/Losers was easily the best edition of that segment. Seth had a lot of great quips in tonight’s edition.
— A noteworthy moment right now, as we get a Big Bird appearance on SNL, in response to Mitt Romney’s infamous “Don’t get me wrong, I like PBS, I like Big Bird” remark at that week’s presidential debate. Seeing Big Bird on SNL feels special, and actually warms my heart.
— This Big Bird commentary has a lot of tame, lighthearted humor, but that’s very understandable for this particular character (obviously, SNL’s not going to have him do dirty late-night-worthy humor or make a politically-divisive statement in regards to Mitt Romney), and he’s making it lovably charming instead of corny or cringeworthy.
— After having her breakout SNL moment in her very first Update commentary just one episode prior, Kate already appears in her second Update commentary.
— Kate’s solid night continues, as she’s cracking me up all throughout her Update commentary tonight. And the goofiness and looseness of her performance is coming off fresh in this early stage of her SNL tenure. As I said in my last episode review, the stage presence Kate has is very impressive for someone so new on SNL.
STARS: ***½


A SORRY LOT WE ARE
sad sack working-class Brits commiserate at the pub

— A promising idea of such a British-centric sketch. Good casting of Bill in this, as he always nails British-centric roles.
— A decent spoof of depressing British tropes.
— Ugh, Fred’s appearance as a guy who’s eager to see the “poofter convention” is cringeworthy. And SNL’s casting of Fred in this particular homoerotic role is sadly so on-brand for him in his later seasons.
— Aidy gets the most noteworthy role she’s had up to this point of her SNL tenure, and that’s still not saying much. (It takes a while this season before Aidy starts getting really good parts that showcase her talents well. She definitely has a slower start than her two fellow newbies Cecily and Tim.) I remember, when this originally aired, I was bothered by the fact that the first noteworthy role SNL gave to their very first plus-sized female cast member was a disgusting, unappealing character, which was exactly the type of role that I remember I and some other online SNL fans were worried SNL would typecast Aidy in when we first learned of her hiring and found out she’s plus-sized. In my current viewing of this sketch, I’m not bothered anymore by the decision to cast Aidy in this role, probably because I’m now aware that Aidy doesn’t go on to be typecast in disgusting roles. Aidy’s making this amusing enough, and in fact, I’m not even finding this character all that disgusting in my current viewing, which may be a testament to Aidy’s likability as a performer.
STARS: ***


LOVING COUPLE
at a dinner party, (host)’s girlfriend Regine (FRA) is sensual & smug

— Uggggggghhhhh. Not only is this Fred’s second drag role of tonight’s episode alone, but it’s the debut of a character of his who I absolutely DESPISE. (*Insert my typical, overdone rant here about how Fred has gotten so unbearably annoying in his later seasons and should’ve left years ago*)
— I’m also tired seeing Fred spoof pretentious people like this. He did that so much better in his earlier seasons when he was in his prime.
— Oh god at all of the “Watch her face while I (insert sensual action here)” bits throughout this sketch, which are just an excuse for Fred to mug in the most exaggerated, hammiest way possible.
— I finally got one laugh in this sketch, when the camera did a cutaway to Bill’s stone-faced angry look in response to Fred’s Regine refusing the drink Bill’s giving her, because “I wanted it then, not now.”
— Oh, now this sketch somehow gets even MORE unwatchable, with Fred now spreading his legs apart and letting us see up his skirt.
— Our first of what I recall many instances this season of Fred and Bill causing each other to break, basically becoming SNL’s new-age Fallon & Sanz. However, it turns out Bill is actually doing an okay job in his attempt to keep a straight face here. It’s mostly Fred who’s breaking at this moment.
— And now, after starting to break, Fred has gotten too loose in his performance and has taken to practically screaming the remainder of his lines in an exaggerated manner. (*groan*)
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Panic Station”


LOW-INFORMATION VOTERS OF AMERICA
— Rerun from 9/22/12…which was just ONE EPISODE AGO. Is this the first time in SNL history where a commercial was re-aired just one episode after its debut? Even that Will Forte/Amy Poehler-starring Morgan Stanley commercial from season 31, which was re-aired an insane amount of times in the first half of that season, wasn’t re-aired in the episode that followed its debut. I get the feeling I did once review an episode that re-aired a commercial just one episode after its debut, but I’m blanking on it right now.


GOODNIGHTS

— Such a sweet visual of an eager, starstruck Bobby slowly giving Big Bird a hearty hug.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode. So much so, that the episode feels forgettable. There wasn’t a single segment that I gave a rating over three-and-a-half stars to. On the other hand, there was only one segment I gave a rating below three stars to, so I can’t complain too much. At least this season continues its impressive streak of having episodes that contain almost no bad segments. I recall online SNL fans considering Daniel Craig to be a dud of a host in this episode, but I never understood that, as I had no problems with him as a host, aside from his stumbliness in the Mars Mission sketch. He was an adequate host, though nothing memorable. I’m a little curious to see how he does in his season 45 hosting stint, which aired during my ongoing hiatus from watching new episodes.


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

 


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Long Island Medium
Bond 50
Three Days Later: A Look Back At The Obama Debate Disaster
Weekend Update
First Presidential Debate
Monologue
A Sorry Lot We Are
Mars Mission
Construction Workers
Loving Couple


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Christina Applegate

Posted on

September 22, 2012 – Joseph Gordon-Levitt / Mumford & Sons (S38 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

LIVE WITH KELLY & MICHAEL
Robert Pattinson (BIH) broods

— Wow, I’ve actually forgotten that “Live with Kelly & Michael” was a thing, even though it lasted several years.
— So far this season, Jay is 2-for-2 in starring in cold openings, which alone shows how much better his airtime has gotten this season.
— Some fun interplay between Jay’s Michael Strahan and Nasim’s Kelly Ripa, and some amusing comments from them about their incongruous pairing. I especially like the comment about how they look like the poster for The Blind Side.
— The interview with Bill’s Robert Pattinson is okay, but isn’t doing a whole lot for me.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— The SNL logo is displayed in a much smaller size tonight than it was in the debut of this opening montage in the preceding week’s season premiere.
— Much like in the preceding week’s season premiere, this season’s new theme music is still being played in a noticeably slower tempo than it would later go on to regularly be, but am I crazy, or is this opening montage being played in a much faster speed tonight than it was in the season premiere?
— Kate McKinnon’s photo from the season premiere’s opening montage (first screencap below) has been changed to a different photo tonight (second screencap below).

— The respective live-action background footage used for the musical guests’ photo and the hosts’ photo in the season premiere’s montage has been switched with each other tonight.
— Yet ANOTHER change to the montage tonight: the season premiere’s montage ended with a shot of the camera panning up an exterior shot of 30 Rock (first screencap below), whereas tonight, that final shot has been replaced with the camera showing a shot of the lights under the neon NBC Studios marquee (second screencap below).


MONOLOGUE
host, TAK, JAP, BOM do strip club routine inspired by Magic Mike

— Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a very tough act to follow after his absolutely epic monologue (the “Make ‘Em Laugh” musical one) from his previous hosting stint.
— Well…out of absolutely nowhere, this turns into Joseph re-enacting a stripping sequence from one of that summer’s hit movies, Magic Mike.
— I like the subtle joke with the overweight Bobby having a vest under his vest when he and the other guys remove their vests in unison to reveal their bare torsos.
— This whole Magic Mike thing is VERY random, and partly (if not fully) seems to be an excuse to pander to the ladies watching the show. Didn’t SNL already do that enough in Channing Tatum’s monologue from the preceding season?
— Nasim’s smiling-but-uncomfortable facial reaction to Joseph repeatedly thrusting his crotch towards her made me chuckle, at least.
— Overall, let’s just say Joseph’s “Make ‘Em Laugh” monologue has absolutely nothing to worry about in terms of competition from tonight’s monologue.
STARS: **


LOW-INFORMATION VOTERS OF AMERICA
undecided voters ask stupid questions about the presidential race

 

— When this originally aired, I remember initially kinda thinking Cecily’s lead role in this was randomly being played by an extra, because I wasn’t familiar with Cecily’s looks yet, and she looked so drastically different to me in each appearance she made in her early episodes (especially when playing Rachel Maddow in the following episode).
— Some good laughs from the idiotic voter-related questions being asked by citizens.
— Among the cast members each asking questions, we get a random Asian actor as one of them (who even gets a laugh from the audience at one point in response to a line of his), as if he’s a cast member.
STARS: ***½


TRES EQUIS
The Most Interesting Man In The World’s son (host) plugs Tres Equis beer

— Odd how this is the second pre-taped commercial airing back-to-back, though there was a commercial break between them. Even odder, though, how this pre-taped commercial is airing immediately after a commercial break, especially when there’s a live sketch that will be airing immediately after this. Maybe they needed an extra minute or two to finish getting that live sketch set up.
— We get another random Asian actor playing the type of role you’d sometimes expect a cast member to play.
— Pretty solid spoof of Dos Equis commercials.
— Even without speaking, Cecily’s mere airheaded, unfazed facial expressions while Joseph is speaking are making me laugh, showing how good she is even at non-speaking roles.
STARS: ***½


PRIVATE DETECTIVE
detective (BIH) offers caricatures as proof of (host)’s wife’s cheating

— As I always say, Bill is a complete natural at playing old-timey roles like this.
— Funny reveal of Bill’s “evidence” of Joseph’s wife cheating on him just turning out to be caricatures Bill made of Joseph’s wife doing innocent things.
— I love the “You’re a monster!” “I’m not a monster – that’s a monster!” exchange between Joseph and Bill, ending with Bill showing a drawing he made of a fictional monster.
— Uh, WTF at that ending??? Talk about a good sketch ending with a whimper.
STARS: ***½


TRES EQUIS
The Most Interesting Man In The World (JAS) is fed up with his loser son

— Joseph continues to be funny in the footage demonstrating his character’s typical immature actions.
— A very funny sudden turn with Jason as The Most Interesting Man In The World crashing this commercial and having a shouting match with Joseph as his son. This is hilarious, especially thanks to Jason’s great commitment during his furious outbursts. He’s always been one of SNL’s best angry yellers.
STARS: ****


HYPNOTIST
hammy audience member (TAK) pretends to have been hypnotized by (host)

— Oh, I remember loving this sketch so much when it originally aired. And it’s yet another example of how, back in these days, Taran excitedly had me convinced in his early seasons that he would go on to be SNL’s next Will Ferrell. Back then, I found Taran’s performance in this sketch to not only be a display of Ferrell-esque fearlessness and leadership, but even the little detail of how the fake mustache added to his comical look was a Ferrell-esque trait.
— I absolutely love Taran interspersing his crazy dinosaur sounds by cheesily and hammily mouthing things to the audience to let them know he’s faking his hypnotic trance.
— Taran shirtless for the second time tonight?
— Ha, now Taran disrobes even further, all the way down to just his tighty whities.
— Taran is going ALL OUT in this sketch, especially in his humping of Kenan while wearing nothing but briefs. Yep, I can definitely see why I got those fearless Ferrell-esque vibes from Taran when this originally aired.
— Wow, a great turn with Taran hypnotically revealing he’s having an affair, causing his now-distraught wife to walk out, only for it to turn out that this is a trick they’re both playing on the hypnotist.
— Very strong sketch overall. I found this to be pretty much just as great as I had remembered it, even when I’m now fully aware that Taran’s SNL tenure doesn’t end up taking a Will Ferrell-esque legendary trajectory like I had predicted at this time in 2012.
STARS: ****½


G.O.B. TAMPONS
(VAB) uses G.O.B., the tampon designed by old white male Republicans

— Solid spokesman performance from Vanessa.
— Good concept to this fake ad, and there are some amusing features of the advertised tampon.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Will Wait”


WEEKEND UPDATE
What Are You Doing?- SEM advises Obama not to interrupt Romney’s mistakes

Bashar al-Assad’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up (FRA) & (VAB) badmouth him via sotto voce

Beyonce fan Ann Romney (KAM) unapologetically defends her husband

name-dropping Stephen A. Smith (JAP) says Tim Tebow is a detrimental Jet

— Ha, a mention of the real-life incident in which Mitt Romney showed up to a Spanish TV broadcast seemingly in brownface. Even all these years later, thinking about that incident always cracks me up.
— I think this “What Are You Doing?” segment (basically one of many thinly-veiled variations of Seth’s “Really?!?” segment) was previously used for that lousy, completely laughless North Korea rant Seth did in an Update from towards the end of the preceding season. Oof. Hope the segment goes better this time.
— Ah, some good comments from Seth throughout tonight’s “What Are You Doing?” segment, especially the comment about the queen of England. A big improvement over the aforementioned North Korea edition of “What Are You Doing?”
— OHHHHH (*insert an insanely long, continuous, frustrated scream here*) Another appearance from those wretched, painfully unfunny, one-note Two Best Friends From Growing Up characters. By this point of tonight’s episode, I had actually forgotten Fred is even still in the cast. Shit like this Two Best Friends bit and that Rodger Brush reprisal in the preceding week’s season premiere, combined with Fred’s decreased airtime this season, shows that Fred had absolutely NO plausible reason to return this season (even moreso than the past few seasons, where Fred already should’ve been long gone) and should’ve went out the door with Wiig & company back in May. That being said, Fred actually does have some shining moments we’ll be seeing this season, but this sure as shit ain’t it.
— I admit to at least getting a laugh in spite of myself at Vanessa’s whispery delivery of “Screeewww. Yooouuu.” when her Two Best Friends character quotes something she said towards Bashar al-Assad.
— This Ann Romney commentary is something that ends up being an important moment for Kate in this early stage of her SNL tenure.
— It had been so long since Kate’s last big role that it feels like a novelty seeing her in her own Update commentary tonight, her very first of MANY Update commentaries over the years.
— Even early on in this Ann Romney commentary, Kate’s already having a lot of funny lines, which are being well-delivery by her.
— I love Kate-as-Romney’s oddly-accented, poignant delivery of Beyonce’s name throughout this commentary.
— For someone who’s so new on SNL, Kate is impressively leading this Update commentary with total ease and fantastic stage presence.
— Funny random appearance from Bill’s Rick Perry when Kate’s Romney summons him by saying his name three times.
— Kate’s Romney comically breaking out into some lyrics from a Beyonce song is priceless, especially her various gestures during it.
— Overall, even after years of getting used to Kate on SNL and eventually growing very tired of her after loving her on the show for several years (full disclosure: from about 2014-2017, she was my favorite current cast member), it’s not hard for me to see today in 2020 why this Ann Romney Update commentary was Kate’s breakout moment, why it was a great revelation about her as a performer after she was somewhat under the radar before this point, and how it led to her getting more and more noteworthy comedic roles. This Update commentary is fully deserving of the hype it received at the time, in my opinion, and it still holds up for me today.
— The on-air debut of Jay’s Stephen A. Smith impression, which ends up becoming a recurring Update bit. It actually debuted in the dress rehearsal of the preceding season’s Mick Jagger-hosted finale, but got cut from the live show. A video of it would be put up online by NBC.com and/or Hulu shortly after that episode’s original airing.
— Blah, I’m not caring at all for Jay’s Stephen A. Smith constantly going from praising a person he’s talking about to suddenly going on a heated rant against them. I also notice that, during those heated rants, Jay keeps occasionally raising the pitch of his voice in a comically-squeaky manner, which isn’t necessary and is just coming off desperate for laughs. Oh, and is it really true that Robert Smigel and Adam McKay, of all people, write these Stephen A. Smith commentaries? Please say it ain’t so. They are both SO much better than this material.
— I did at least get a laugh just now from Jay’s Stephen A. Smith saying “Tim Tebow’s throwin’ arm is proof that there is no God.”
STARS: **½


LONDON
“You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” stirs (host) & other icky reminiscers

— This Song Memories recurring sketch makes its first appearance in two seasons, and this ends up being its final appearance. Kenan replaces the no-longer-on-the-show Andy Samberg as one of the “icky reminiscers”, after Andy himself replaced the then-no-longer-on-the-show Will Forte as one of the “icky reminiscers”.
— An odd but fairly interesting choice to have the three new cast members, Aidy, Tim, and Cecily, as bar patrons in the background of this Song Memories sketch. Not sure why they’ve been cast in those background roles, given the fact that they have nothing to do or say in this sketch, but I kinda like that we’re seeing all of this season’s newbies paired together.
— Another interesting choice, with the music in this particular Song Memories installment being provided live in person by Mumford & Sons, playing a Beatles cover band. A very nice change of pace for this recurring sketch.
— Kenan is not only fitting in as one of the “icky reminiscers” better than you might’ve expected, but the “gold medal” that his “Michael Phelps” character displays is hilarious.
— As typical of some of the later installments of this recurring sketch, some of the punchlines to the guys’ stories tonight are meh, but their delivery and the general atmosphere of this particular installment of this recurring sketch are so damn likable, fun, and infectious that the meh punchlines are easily forgivable.
— Now this sketch gets even more fun at the end, with the fourth wall break of all the performers on the set (even the cue card guys!) taking their singing of “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” off of the sketch’s set and through SNL’s studio and audience. Reminiscent of the great ending of that Coolio sketch from the preceding season’s Jonah Hill episode, and a charming way to officially end the run of this recurring Song Memories sketch, whether the latter was SNL’s intention or not.
STARS: ***½


THE FINER THINGS
fashionistas (KET) & (JAP) epitomize hip-hop gone soft

— Jay’s stock continues to rise this season, with him getting his third lead role tonight.
— I got a laugh from Kenan and Jay’s fashion line being called Unstankable.
— Seeing Joseph playing an urban-speaking character is funny in itself. He’s committed to selling the hell out of it, in a comical way.
— Funny visual of Kenan’s over-excited, leg-kicking reaction to Joseph’s mention of a new line of “scar-digans”.
— As usual, fun supporting work from Bobby.
— This seems to be one of those talk show sketches that you can tell was probably set up to become recurring, only for us to end up never seeing it again after its debut. No big loss in this case, though this sketch isn’t bad.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Below My Feet”


MY DAUGHTER
(FRA) & (KAM) musically present flawed daughter (host) to suitor (TIR)

— When this originally aired, I remember thinking Kate was playing a role that Kristen Wiig definitely would’ve played if she were still on the show. Kate, in this early stage of her SNL tenure, comes off more fresh in this role than Kristen would’ve at this point in 2012.
— Something else I also remember thinking when this sketch originally aired is that the wig Tim wore strangely kinda made him resemble Bronson Pinchot.
— Pretty entertaining conceit of Fred and Kate singing an epic entrance song for their daughter while she does an interpretive dance. The song is also kinda catchy.
— Lots of amusing actions from Joseph during his interpretive dance.
— I love Kate’s “She was hiding inside meeeeee” lyric.
STARS: ***½


POWERS REALTY
butts & wieners are appearing on ads of married realtors (TIR) & (NAP)

— Great to see Tim in his second consecutive big role tonight.
— I’m liking the pathetic-sounding delivery Nasim’s using in this, especially when saying stuff like “First of all: nooo. Second of all: dooon’t.” Also, the character voice she’s using here sounds so much like the voice of her season 35 fellow newbie Jenny Slate.
— Good reveal of Joseph, as Tim and Nasim’s son, being the culprit of all the obscene things drawn on their ads.
— Due to the show running long, this sketch gets abruptly cut off mid-progress when Joseph starts writing an obscene message on the Tim/Nasim poster in the background. Aww, I kinda wanted to see whatever that was he was writing.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Two episodes in, and Season 38 remains solid and refreshing. Much like the season premiere, I enjoyed almost every single segment in tonight’s episode, though there weren’t as many standout great segments as the season premiere had. Still a lot of enjoyable stuff all throughout the show, though. The only low points of this episode for me were the monologue and Weekend Update (the latter of which was dragged down by two lousy guest commentaries).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Hypnotist
Tres Equis (Part 2)
Tres Equis (Part 1)
Low-Information Voters Of America
G.O.B. Tampons
Private Detective
My Daughter
London
Powers Realty
Live with Kelly & Michael
The Finer Things
Weekend Update
Monologue


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Seth MacFarlane)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Daniel Craig

Posted on

September 15, 2012 – Seth MacFarlane / Frank Ocean (S38 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

DEMOCRATIC RALLY
campaigning Barack Obama (JAP) lets Mitt Romney (JAS) defeat himself

— Jay (rightfully) takes over the Barack Obama impression that Fred had been doing since 2008. Interesting idea to have Fred basically pass the torch to Jay on camera by playing a normal character who introduces Jay’s Obama and, at one point, asks the crowd a lighthearted “Wouldn’t want his job, right?” The latter is a nice meta, tongue-in-cheek moment, and shows Fred to be a good sport after SNL presumably took the Obama impression away from him.
— Huge audience applause for Jay’s entrance as President Obama. Nice to see.
— As expected, Jay’s doing a good Obama impression. And after how much he consistently struggled for airtime the preceding season and would have some moments his first two seasons in which he would come off rather green and stumbly, it feels good to see him leading a cold opening with total ease and poise. He’s come a long way.
— Good conceit with the “secret weapon” that Jay’s Obama has turning out to be him just letting his opponent, Mitt Romney, make a fool of himself.
— Pretty funny bit regarding the Sanford & Son theme song, though I’m always a sucker for references to that show.
— Taran’s Paul Ryan: “I’m just terrible with numbers. Now…let’s talk budget!”
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— New montage.

— The new theme music being used tonight is in a noticeably slower tempo than it would soon go on to regularly be.
— For the first time since all the way back in season 25, the opening montage has the cast members being shown in still photos instead of moving shots.
— Vanessa Bayer, Taran Killam, and Jay Pharoah have been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— Aidy Bryant, Tim Robinson, and Cecily Strong have been added to the cast.


MONOLOGUE
Family Guy creator host sings about how his head is filled with voices

— Some good dark humor right out of the gate with Seth MacFarlane fulfilling his childhood wish of what he always wanted to say in his SNL monologue: “Please go out with me, Farrah Fawcett!”
— Pretty fun seeing MacFarlane seamlessly transition between all of his main Family Guy voices.
— It’s a given that MacFarlane would do a musical monologue, but it helps that 1) MacFarlane built up so much goodwill earlier in this monologue that I don’t mind him breaking out into a song, and 2) the heavy reliance on musical monologues in these late 00s/early 10s years (particularly season 36) was greatly reduced in the season that I’ve just completed my coverage of yesterday (season 37), which I didn’t even realize until now.
— Some great celebrity voices MacFarlane breaks out into during the song, especially Michael J. Fox and Kermit.
STARS: ***½


OBAMA FOR AMERICA
anti-Romney ad documents dickish behavior toward laid-off (BIH) & (KET)

— Good to see tonight’s episode continue to make it known that Jay is SNL’s new Obama.
— This brings back memories of the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth commercial spoof SNL did in 2004 about John Kerry, which, like this commercial, aired in the season premiere of an election year (season 30).
— Some great bits from Kenan.
— A laugh from the “Mitt Romney probably gave Dan’s wife herpes” disclaimer.
STARS: ***½


SEX AFTER 50
Rodger Brush doesn’t want to hear about seniors’ sex lives

— (*groan*) And here to remind me, after the shred of goodwill he earned from me at the beginning of this episode’s cold opening, how way-past-his-prime he is and how he should’ve left years prior is Fred with the return of THIS damn recurring sketch.
— Surprisingly, this is the first appearance this recurring sketch has made since the Paul Rudd episode from two seasons prior. It completely skipped season 37. Thankfully, tonight’s installment ends up being the final one.
— Ah, Cecily Strong. Much like what I said about Kate when covering her first episode towards the end of the preceding season, it feels interesting arriving at the first SNL appearance of the still-currently-on-SNL-in-2020 Cecily Strong, though her “appearance” in this sketch is just in still photos during the opening title sequence.
— Ugh, cue the tired, annoying regular gag with how Fred’s Rodger Brush can’t hear what the audience members ask him.
— Only one sketch in, and Tim Robinson’s lovably goofy natural demeanor that I fondly remember from when this season originally aired is already a welcome sight in my current viewing. It’s gonna be fun reviewing him in what (sadly) ends up being his sole season as a cast member.
STARS: **


EASTWOOD AND CHAIR
Clint Eastwood expands iffy political satire into a one-man show

— Very funny idea for a spoof of the Clint Eastwood/chair incident.
— I got a good laugh from how Jay’s testimonial just has him asking a deadpan “Man, what the f(*bleep*)k was that?”
— The third and final appearance of Taran’s sassy testimonial-giver character (who previously appeared in the Meryl Streep On Ice and Rock’s Way pre-tapes from the preceding two seasons), who always has a funny one-liner.
STARS: ****


LIDS
on-demand “Gangnam Style” performances enliven a hat store; Psy cameo

— Only two sketches in, and MacFarlane has been disappearing well into the characters he’s playing.
— Jason’s hairstyle in this sketch is reminiscent of the one he regularly had in his early seasons.
— Boy, a sketch based on the Psy/Gangnam Style sensation sweeping the nation at the time. Talk about a time capsule.
— Very funny addition of Taran and Bill.
— Good bit with Bobby’s Psy and Taran’s…uh…green suit guy not knowing where to exit.
— A very thin sketch, but it’s fun enough.
— Now we get a cameo from the real Psy, making this sketch even more of a time capsule in hindsight.
— Ha, look at how cocky Psy is coming off in response to all the huge applause the audience is giving his entrance. Enjoy your 15 minutes while it lasts, my friend.
STARS: ***


PUPPETRY CLASS
troubled vet Anthony Peter Coleman (BIH) darkens playful puppetry class

— Oh, hell yes! A legendary Bill Hader sketch.
— A priceless incongruous placement of this traumatized war veteran character in a puppetry class. And Bill is selling this to utter perfection.
— A particularly funny bit with Bill’s character, through his puppet, using typical internet lingo in a dark context when telling Vanessa’s Valley Girl-type puppet disturbing war details.
— Fantastic visual of Bill’s puppet smoking a cigarette and impressively even blowing smoke out of its mouth.
— Yet another standout bit, with Bill’s puppet strangling Kenan’s puppet to death when reminiscing about one war incident.
— Bill continues to be perfectly committed to this sketch, this time by going all fucking out when making out with Vanessa’s puppet.
— Overall, an absolute classic. Great way to kick off what ends up being Bill’s final season. This sketch is a prime example of how, even in his final season, Bill hasn’t lost a step in the strength he’s always had as a performer.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Thinkin Bout You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Honey Boo Boo (VAB) & Mama (BOM) weigh in on the presidential election

dumb & hunky Ryan Lochte (host) mumbles about the fall TV schedule

Latina teenager Mimi Morales (CES) wants to increase voter turnout

— SNL gets in their required spoof of the then-inescapable Honey Boo Boo and Mama June. I remember online SNL fans made predictions shortly before the original airing of this episode that if SNL spoofed Honey Boo Boo and Mama June, new cast member Aidy Bryant would play Mama June. SNL ended up throwing SNL fans for a loop by casting Bobby in the role instead. I think I can see why they refrained from giving Aidy that role. Given the fact that Aidy is SNL’s very first plus-sized female cast member, having her play the heavyset Mama June in her very first episode might’ve been considered a little unfortunate and too on-the-nose.
— Feels rare seeing Vanessa playing this type of sassy, over-confident role. It’s fun seeing her do this.
— I like the bit with the subtitles translating Honey Boo Boo and Mama June’s mumbly conversation to each other.
— A fairly short and sweet Bobby/Vanessa commentary.
— Ha, I love the audience’s loud gasp in reaction to the Meyers’ un-PC “Say hello to my little friend” joke regarding Al Pacino playing Joe Paterno.
— Always a nice rarity to see a host doing an Update commentary.
— MacFarlane’s Ryan Lochte: “I was…America in ‘lympics.”
— MacFarlane’s moronic portrayal of Ryan Lochte is absolutely killer.
— Very memorable part of the Lochte commentary, where he mistakes the title “Go On” for “Goon”.
— MacFarlane’s Lochte: “Oh, man, it feels so weird to be dry.”
— An overall fantastic Ryan Lochte commentary.
— Cecily Strong making her live SNL debut playing a Hispanic character. Back at this time, I and some other online SNL fans were under the incorrect assumption that Cecily herself was Hispanic, based on how she looks. I’m also the same guy who, two years later, incorrectly assumed Pete Davidson was half-black when I initially saw a photo of him doing standup with a really short hairstyle in an article announcing SNL’s hiring of him.
— A likable and believable performance from Cecily here. Her lines themselves are only okay, but she’s selling them.
— Jay doing funny character work without even uttering a word.
— When this originally aired, I remember thinking SNL was setting up Cecily’s Mimi Morales to become a recurring Update character. We end up never seeing her again after this episode. Cecily’s first breakout Update character actually ends up being a certain conversational character who makes her debut just two weeks after tonight’s episode, in a Weekend Update Thursday special.
STARS: ***


DRILL SERGEANT
army privates contend with drill sergeant’s (host) speech impediment

— MacFarlane continues to do solid character work tonight.
— Funny bit with Tim Robinson’s confused answer to MacFarlane’s unclearly-worded question.
— Great bit with MacFarlane trying to get out of a stuttering block by softly singing his “How’d you learn to dress yourself?” question, then getting angry at Bobby for playfully singing his response to that question.
— Fred’s hair looks like it’s starting to gray by this point of his SNL tenure, which, combined with how his face is also starting to look older, really drove home to me back in 2012 how long he had been on SNL. I remember feeling the same way about Meyers in tonight’s Update, as his hair also looked to me back then like it was starting to gray.
— Great ending regarding the push-ups MacFarlane’s character tries ordering his men to do.
— An overall original, simple, and strong sketch.
STARS: ****


STEVE HARVEY
it suits Steve Harvey (KET) to make over (host) in his own image

— Lots of airtime for Vanessa in tonight’s season premiere. When this originally aired, with this being the first post-Kristen Wiig episode (and boy, do I remember how weird and refreshing it felt back in 2012 to see a new episode without Kristen in it, after having gotten so used to her dominant presence for so many years), some online SNL fans assumed that Vanessa’s heavy utilization in this episode meant she would take over Kristen’s spot as SNL’s lead female who gets cast in a majority of the main female roles. Funny to think back on that assumption in hindsight, given the fact that it’s absolutely NOT how the remainder of Vanessa’s tenure ends up playing out.
— Very funny initial visual of MacFarlane entering in his Steve Harvey-looking makeover.
— MacFarlane, regarding his new look: “I feel like an Iranian DJ.”
— Funny mention of an Earth, Wind & Fire cover band named Dirt, Water & Heat.
— I absolutely love Kenan-as-Steve-Harvey’s amused delivery of “Ain’t no white guy in Boyz II Men!”
— MacFarlane, when asked how he feels about the very unexciting prize he won: “I’m not gonna say no on TV in front of everybody!”
— Overall, it’s amazing how SNL was able to wring a good amount of laughs out of what initially seemed like a very thin and unexciting concept.
STARS: ***½


FIRST DATE
on a blind date, (host) & (NAP) vocalize their emotions with funny voices

— A nice use of Nasim, who has seemed really invisible tonight before this sketch appeared. Also a fitting use of MacFarlane’s famous knack for doing voices.
— Hilarious part with MacFarlane, after starting to do a stereotypical black guy voice, immediately cutting himself off and self-consciously saying “No, I’m not gonna do that.”
— Oh, wow. By this point of tonight’s episode, I actually had forgotten all about new cast member Aidy Bryant until now, given the fact that she’s making her first and only appearance of the night in such a late-in-the-show sketch. When she showed up in this just now, I was initially taken aback, basically wondering “Wait, what’s 2020 cast member Aidy Bryant doing so early in my SNL project???”, before remembering this is her first episode.
— A brief but funny appearance from Aidy. Wish she got more to do for her first episode, though.
— Kenan (who’s been having a strong night in general) delivering the goods with his various displeased reactions to Nasim and MacFarlane’s constant voices.
— This sketch has a cute, funny, and very well-executed premise that feels timeless, like it would fit well into any SNL era. Come to think of it, you could also say that about the Drill Sergeant sketch from earlier tonight.
— I love the audience’s gasping laughter when Nasim lightheartedly reveals that her sister is dead.
— Bill steals this already-solid sketch with his walk-on.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pyramids”


WOODEN SPOON WAREHOUSE
Amish (host) & (TIR) spell out the URL of their wooden spoon company

— Great to see Tim Robinson front-and-center in his first episode, again being lovably goofy in a natural, subtle way.
— I absolutely love the letter-by-letter breakdown of the Amish-themed symbol that each letter in Wooden Spoon Warehouse’s website URL stands for. Fantastic.
— The “The river what took my son” bit, complete with MacFarlane lowering his head in a mourning, respectful manner, is the standout moment of this great piece.
— And already, we’re out. Short and absolutely sweet. I found this to be an overall perfect and unique little sketch. I heard that the dress rehearsal version of it was actually longer, with MacFarlane and Tim following their letter-by-letter breakdown of the URL by doing a number-by-number breakdown of, I think, their company’s phone number. I guess the show was running long, forcing SNL at the last minute to do away with the phone number portion of this sketch. Probably for the best, actually, because I think this sketch worked better in its live brevity. Having an extra scene at the end of it might’ve been pushing things a bit.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong season premiere. Aside from the Sex After 50 sketch, I enjoyed every single segment, and found several of them to be particularly strong, including two all-time favorites of mine (Puppetry Class and Wooden Spoon Warehouse). In addition, there was a certain vibe and flow to this episode that I absolutely loved, especially in the post-Weekend Update half of the show. Part of that could be because of all the solid original premises we saw throughout the night, which feels refreshing coming immediately after the recurring sketch-heavy Kristen Wiig era. A promising sign for SNL’s future. Seth MacFarlane fit in perfectly as a host and added to the episode’s strength, not exactly by being a show-y host with lots of flashiness like some great hosts are, but by doing lots of quiet but solid character work and displaying lots of range.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Puppetry Class
Wooden Spoon Warehouse
First Date / Drill Sergeant (tie)
Eastwood And Chair
Democratic Rally
Monologue
Obama For America
Steve Harvey
Weekend Update
Lids
Sex After 50


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2011-12)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Posted on

May 19, 2012 – Mick Jagger with Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, and Jeff Beck (S37 E22)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
Dooneese pursues Italian singer (Jon Hamm)

— Tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour begins with the return of this recurring sketch.
— Ugh, I am so tired of the dumb sexual-related finger jokes this recurring sketch always has Fred’s Lawrence Welk do.
— When this episode originally aired, it wasn’t publicly confirmed beforehand that this was Kristen and Andy’s final episode. We only had rumors to go by. But as soon as I saw Jon Hamm show up as Kristen’s love interest in this cold opening (making this the second consecutive episode he’s cameod in), I knew for certain that this was indeed Kristen’s final episode.
— A funny brief appearance from Kate.
— The woman of the hour, Kristen Wiig, makes her first appearance of the night, to a huge round of applause from the audience.
— Same-old, same-old Dooneese stuff. Jon is at least fun in his performance, though.
— Hmm, Dooneese’s sisters leave early, before the conclusion of the musical number? That’s actually different.
— And now we get another change of pace, with Dooneese actually getting her man for once. For all of my criticisms of this recurring sketch in general, Dooneese getting her man was actually a nice, fitting way to officially end it (before SNL, of course, fails to resist reviving this sketch in Kristen’s season 38 hosting stint and, for some asinine reason, Paul Rudd’s season 39 hosting stint).
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host answers questions that he is frequently asked about his career

— A lot of charm from Mick Jagger in this nicely simplistic, old-school-feeling monologue.
— A nice bit of a variation of the usual “Stick around, we’ll be right back” tagline.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & fey tough-guy actor (host) blab the answers

— Tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour continues with another recurring sketch that I will absolutely not miss seeing on a regular basis anymore.
— Bill seems to be giving his Secret Word game show host character a bit of a sillier tone in these past few Secret Word installments, mainly that goofy laugh that he’s added.
— Meh at writers James Anderson & Kent Sublette’s (or is it just Anderson who writes these sketches?) on-brand decision to have Mick’s character be a “closeted” gay actor.
— Ugh, cue all of Kristen-as-Mindy-Grayson’s constant musical numbers.
— Wait, the sketch is already over? Wow, I’m glad they actually kept this installment fairly short, and we only got one musical number from Kristen’s Grayson. Too bad they didn’t attempt to do anything different and special with Grayson to end this final Secret Word installment (before SNL, of course, brings it back in Kristen’s season 42 hosting stint), like they did with Dooneese at the end of the cold opening.
STARS: *½


KARAOKE
Mick Jagger karaoke mimicry wows all insurance conventioneers but (host)

— Well, it’s certainly nice to see an actual original sketch for once tonight.
— A pretty fun Mick Jagger imitation from Fred.
— An obvious conceit with Mick playing against type in this particular sketch about people imitating Mick Jagger’s singing style. There’s at least a pretty fun charm to the execution of this.
— Funny turn with Bobby’s horrible Mick Jagger impression still wowing the crowd.
— Good ending with Mick, while alone in the room, sadly singing a very somber version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. Also a nice touch with the screen doing an iris out on him.
STARS: ***½


LAZY SUNDAY 2
CHP & ANS rap about a trip to see the Sister Act musical

— Ah, our final Digital Short during Andy’s SNL tenure.
— The audience goes absolutely WILD when the “Lazy Sunday 2” title shows up onscreen.
— Much like how the Jon Hamm cameo in the cold opening made it official to me back at this time in 2012 that this was indeed Kristen’s final episode, I realized back in 2012 that this was indeed Andy’s final episode right from the decision to have tonight’s Digital Short be a Lazy Sunday sequel.
— Parns!
— This sequel will obviously never top or even match the original Lazy Sunday, but it’s still a fucking blast so far. Much like the original, I am absolutely loving the combo of Andy and Chris’ furious hardcore rapping, the catchy beat, the ridiculous things Andy and Chris are rapping about, and the onscreen graphics & text.
— Ooh, an awesome sudden turn halfway through this short, in which Andy and Chris stop the song and update its beat to sound more 2012-ish.
— Andy, in one lyric: “Still waitin’ on a f(*bleep*)kin’ YouTube check!”
— The final lyric of this short, delivered mostly by Andy: “On these New York streets, I honed my fake rap penmanship, that’s how it began, and that’s how I’mma finish it! (*thrusts arms at the camera before the screen cuts to black while a gunshot sound effect plays*)” I cannot think of a more perfect, epic, and poignant way to close out Andy’s final Digital Short as a cast member. This overall Lazy Sunday sequel was absolutely great, and doubles as a fantastic send-off for Andy.
STARS: ****½


POLITICS NATION WITH AL SHARPTON
Al Sharpton (KET) muddles coverage of economic issues

— Boy, I don’t envy Kenan having such a tough act to follow. Seems like an odd choice to place this Politics Nation sketch IMMEDIATELY after that epic Lazy Sunday 2 short with nothing in between, not even a commercial break.
— More of the same from the previous installment of this sketch earlier this season, with Kenan-as-Al-Sharpton’s constant misreadings and mispronunciations, but it’s still working.
— Some decent back-and-forths between Kenan and Jason.
— A very funny random emphysema line from Kenan’s Sharpton at the end of this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Arcade Fire perform “The Last Time”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Stefon’s summer entertainment advice is characteristically off-the-mark

— Stefon’s popularity has now gotten to the point where, while Seth is in the middle of introducing Stefon’s commentary, the audience (who have been very lively all throughout this episode) starts cheering enthusiastically well before Seth even utters Stefon’s name, as they can tell Stefon’s about to appear just by what Seth’s saying early on in the intro.
— This ends up being Stefon’s final appearance before his writer, John Mulaney, leaves SNL. Stefon does continue making appearances the following season (Bill’s final season), but it’s a noticeably much smaller number of appearances, all of which require Mulaney to come back to SNL to guest write.
— Stefon: “The whole thing is hosted by crossdressing founding father Ginjamin Franklin.” Didn’t I once hear that Ginjamin Franklin was a cut-after-dress-rehearsal Will Forte-starring piece from Will’s SNL tenure?
— Funniest bits in tonight’s Stefon commentary are his explanation of what Roaming Draggers are, his “I went to prom with her” addendum to his mention of a deep-voiced female bodybuilder, and his demonstration of Jewish Fireworks.
— Wow, not only has tonight’s Update already ended, but Seth didn’t even say his usual sign-off (“For Weekend Update, I’m Seth Meyers”), and instead simply said to us, right after Stefon’s commentary ended, “That’s Stefon! Have a great summer!” I like that change of pace.
— Another reason I’m shocked at how soon tonight’s Update ended is because I misremembered it having a Garth & Kat commentary as part of tonight’s Kristen Wiig Farewell Tour. (Maybe I was getting this Update confused with the one from the episode Kristen hosts the following season.) Thank god this didn’t have a Garth & Kat commentary, plus it would’ve really dragged down what was Seth’s first decent Update in a while, after his Updates had been in a slump lately.
STARS: ***


SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AT AN OUTDOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL
grungies groove at a competition

— This is Abby’s last of many celebrity impressions over her four-year tenure, as this ends up being the last episode before her firing. At least she’s going out doing one of the more amusing impressions she’s gotten to do in a while (Jewel). Certainly better than the weak Ke$ha impression she did in a then-recent reality show sketch (America’s Next Top Empire State Of Mind Parody Artist) in which she, much like in this sketch, played one of three celebrity judges.
— Fitting casting of Mick as Steven Tyler, and he’s giving a funny performance.
— I got a good laugh from the “Hey, YOU tell me another one of my songs” bit regarding Fred’s Santana always relying on the same song.
— Bill’s Dave Matthews impression is coming off even more fun than it usually does.
— Despite all the praise I’ve been giving to Bill and the performers playing the celebrity judges, the actual main comedic body of this sketch (the dance sequences from the contestants) isn’t making me laugh at all. These dances aren’t remotely funny. Hell, not even Taran can get a laugh from me, and I’m usually always a sucker for getting to see him comically dance.
— Good gag with Fred-as-Santana’s mustache turning out to be a removable one that’s attached to his hat when he tips it. Between Fred’s pretty fun Mick Jagger imitation in the Karaoke sketch and some solid moments he’s having in this So You Think You Can Dance sketch, why oh why couldn’t this be Fred’s final episode??? He would’ve went out on an actual good note with the funny moments he’s been having in this episode, after being so badly past his prime these past few seasons. Can’t believe I still have another season to put up with him. (Then again, he does end up going out on a good note with some highlights in his actual final episode.)
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Foo Fighters perform “19th Nervous Breakdown”

host & Foo Fighters perform “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll”

— I just realized an interesting coincidence: Foo Fighters have been the musical guest of Kristen’s first AND last episode as a cast member. As far as I know, the only two other cast members in SNL history who’s respective SNL tenures are bookended by the same musical guest are, coincidentally, members of this season’s (37) cast: Bill and Vanessa. (The musical guest of Bill’s first and last episode is Kanye West, and Vanessa’s is Katy Perry.) And I’m not counting one-episode-only cast members, so don’t any of you point out that Emily Prager and Laurie Metcalf technically count as cast members who’s respective SNL tenures are bookended by the same musical guest, you smart alecks. 😉


THE CALIFORNIANS
long-lost father (host) & amnesiac (Steve Martin) slur

— This sketch has officially become recurring, joining what I call “The (*groan*) Club” (which is a large group of this era’s dreadful recurring sketches that make me type out “*groan*” at the beginning of my review of each installment.) Hopefully, the number of sketches in “The (*groan*) Club” will decrease significantly now that Kristen’s leaving, as I recall SNL cutting back big-time on recurring sketches the following season (which is just one of the things that makes that season so refreshing).
— Feels odd seeing a Californians sketch buried towards the end of an episode.
— Far less breaking in tonight’s Californians installment than the first one.
— Ugh, the usual painfully unfunny parade of “comical” California accents, mock-dramatic close-ups of performers mugging into the camera, characters crowding around a mirror to stare at themselves, and bad soap opera cliches.
— I didn’t want to laugh at Bill’s exaggerated Californian delivery of “I’m your broooooooooo, bro”, but I giggled in spite of myself.
— It’s at least nice to see Abby get her own bit in this sketch, as this ends up being her final actual sketch role.
— I got a laugh from Vanessa’s “Ay, no!” during the mock-dramatic close-up of each character saying “No way!” into the camera.
— Steve Martin out of absolutely nowhere.
— Hmm, hate to say it, but it’s kinda cringey seeing Steve do the obligatory goofy Californian accent, which is coming off way too tryhard when he does it, at least at his then-current age. (I could see 1970s Steve Martin making it somewhat funny, or at least natural.) He’s doing absolutely nothing to save this sketch, unfortunately.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Tea Party” with Jeff Beck & SNL Band


SHE’S A RAINBOW / GOODNIGHTS
cast members & LOM dance with departing KRW to “She’s a Rainbow”

CHK, AMP, RAD, CHP, WLF sing “Ruby Tuesday” with cast members & others

— Well, folks…….this is it. The very special send-off of Kristen Wiig.
— You can tell from the look on Kristen’s face as soon as she joins Mick onstage how emotional it’s going to be for her to get through this piece. Man, just looking at her genuinely emotional facial expression is putting a lump in my throat right now. As I said in some earlier episode reviews, a byproduct of doing this SNL project on a daily basis is that it causes me to develop a certain attachment and a (albeit one-sided) connection to the respective casts I review, even casts and individual cast members who I have some issues with. And Lord knows I’ve had my share of issues with Kristen during the later years of her SNL tenure, though my issues are far more with how SNL mis-utilized and over-utilized her.
— Interesting visual of Kristen dancing with each of her castmates. It’s a novelty seeing what Kristen’s real-life dynamic with her castmates is like, since it feels like we’ve rarely seen Kristen act as herself on camera during her SNL tenure. It’s always been hard for me to get a bead on what her real-life personality is during her SNL tenure.
— Aww, Bobby. Talk about putting a lump in my throat. Poor Bobby is clearly fighting back a lot of tears during and after his dance with Kristen.
— The decision to have Kristen’s generally-overshadowed and often-reduced-to-playing-second-fiddle-to-her female castmates grouped together (instead of each having their own moment with Kristen one-by-one, like each of Kristen’s male castmates are getting) and circling around Kristen all feels sadly fitting in a (bad) way. Seeing Kate among those women just feels odd, though, for various obvious reasons. Seeing Abby among those women just feels depressing, given what we now know of her SNL future (or lack thereof).
— A fun silly dance that Kristen and Seth do together, again showing the different dynamic Kristen has with each of her individual castmates.
— Much like Bobby, Jason is visibly choked up during and after his dance with Kristen. I remember some SNL fans at the time wondered if Jason’s emotions here were partly due to the fact that he himself may possibly be leaving the show, which was rumored at the time. (He ends up returning one more season, though it apparently took him a long time to come to that decision.) There was also a lot of disappointment among those SNL fans over the possibility of this being Jason’s last episode, because he got next-to-nothing to do tonight, and his only actual sketch appearance had him in a dull, completely forgettable straight man role. Even when introducing Mick Jagger’s second musical performance, Jason did it in such an overly serious, almost somber manner, as if he wasn’t in a very good mood, or was dreading how tough and emotional he knew it would be for him to get through the Wiig farewell piece coming up later in the show. I’m sure I’m looking too much into that, though.
— As more apparent signs that Andy’s leaving with Kristen, 1) he gets the special honor of playing the piano (no idea if he’s actually playing or not, though) next to Mick and Arcade Fire during this Wiig farewell piece instead of playing one of Kristen’s fellow “graduates” like the rest of the cast is, and 2) he gets the honor of being the final cast member who Kristen dances with here.
— Wow, when the “She’s a Rainbow” song transitions into the more upbeat “Ruby Tuesday”, former cast members Chris Kattan (who, with that hairstyle, I initially thought was future cast member Beck Bennett, until I realized that would be impossible), Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and Chris Parnell can suddenly be seen joining the celebration. I could swear I had remembered Will Forte (who would’ve been making a cameo for the second consecutive episode, much like Jon Hamm) being among those former cast members who show up here, but during my current viewing, I can’t spot Will anywhere. Was I misremembering his appearance, or is he there and I’m just having a hard time finding him onstage?
— Interesting segue into Mick giving the goodnights speech that hosts typically give, while this special Kristen Wiig celebration is still going on.
— I love that the Wiig celebration and singing of “Ruby Tuesday” continues as the ending credits roll. I’m always a sucker for special goodnights where SNL does something out of the ordinary for it.
— Overall, well, what a farewell. I feel like I should take some issues with it, like I’ve seen some online SNL fans take over how overly sentimental it was and how it (especially the decision to have Lorne himself come out and dance with Kristen) supposedly overinflated the importance that Kristen had to SNL. Maybe I’m starting to become a softy at my ripe old current age of 36, or maybe it’s because of that aforementioned attachment that doing this SNL project makes me develop towards cast members I have to watch and review on a daily basis, even cast members I have issues with, or maybe I’m just always biased towards whenever SNL does something special and meta for the final segment of a season finale, but, aside from the part with Kristen’s female castmates, I actually liked this Wiig farewell. That’s all I can really say, as simplistic as it sounds. I can’t find any detailed, persuasive ways to defend this Wiig farewell piece more than all the stuff I said above, but, yep, I…I liked it.
STARS: N/A (not sure this warrants a rating, and even if it does, I wouldn’t quite know what to give it)

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Definitely a special-feeling episode, particularly the two big sendoff pieces (Lazy Sunday 2 and She’s a Rainbow) for our departing veterans. Having the usual show-stealing Stefon commentary on Weekend Update also added to the episode’s big atmosphere. And I love how the special musical performances Mick Jagger did with various famous groups/artists added even further to the big, unique, exciting feel of this episode. A lot of the normal live sketches, however, including the cold opening, were weak, with the only exceptions being Karaoke and Politics Nation. Mick Jagger was a fun and likable host in this episode. Makes it kinda hard for me to believe John Mulaney’s claim that Mick was a grouch behind the scenes all week, but I guess maybe that was something Mick was able to switch off whenever he was on camera.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lazy Sunday 2
Monologue
Karaoke
Weekend Update
Politics Nation with Al Sharpton
So You Think You Can Dance At An Outdoor Music Festival
The Lawrence Welk Show
Secret Word
The Californians


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Will Ferrell)
about the same


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

 


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2010-11)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 38 begins, with host Seth MacFarlane and three new additions to the cast

Posted on

May 12, 2012 – Will Ferrell / Usher (S37 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BIDEN’S ROOM
petulant Joe Biden (JAS) commiserates with his buddy George W. Bush (WIF)

— Not only is this merely the third and final appearance Fred’s Obama has made all season, but it’s the final appearance his Obama ever makes. At the very beginning of the following season, the Obama impression would (rightfully) be handed off to the then-newly-promoted-to-repertory-player Jay Pharoah. Good fucking riddance to Fredbama. Four-and-a-half damn seasons I had to suffer through that lousy impression.
— Good conceit with the “sympathetic father/angsty adolescent son” dynamic between Fred’s Obama and Jason’s Joe Biden. An interesting and fun new angle on Jason’s Biden impression, and he’s pulling this new take on Biden off well.
— Fred’s Obama: “You’re a great vice president.” Jason’s Biden, in an aggravated manner: “Well, you know, some people say I’d make a great president!” In hindsight, it feels quite significant hearing that in 2020, for obvious reasons.
— The very welcome return of Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush. HUGE applause from the audience in response to him appearing in this.
— I like this pairing of Jason and Will, as well as the concept of Bush being Biden’s imaginary friend. Lots of very fun interplay between them here.
— Will’s Bush impression actually seems more accurate than usual tonight, with him imitating Bush’s distinct hand mannerisms, something Will never did in previous Bush appearances.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
for Mother’s Day, WIF goes script-free to express love for his mom [real]

— I’ve been noticing that Will’s voice seems hoarse throughout this episode. I think I recall it later being revealed that he was a bit under the weather the week of this episode, but I can’t remember for sure.
— Will’s mother, Kay, makes her third SNL appearance. The previous two were: 1) in SNL’s Mother’s Day Special from 2001, back when Will was still a current cast member, and 2) during the goodnights of Will’s season 30 hosting stint, where Will’s mother, father, and wife were shown seated together in the audience.
— I remember, when this originally aired, an online SNL fan pointed out that Will looks as old as his mother. Heh, I hate to say it, but it’s true. Will has always looked older than his actual age, even when he was an SNL cast member (rather hard to believe he was only 28 when he first joined), but I’ve noticed he’s especially seemed to age A LOT in recent years, starting somewhere around this time in 2012. Hell, he’s a year younger than then-current cast member Fred Armisen, yet you sure couldn’t tell from looking at them in this episode.
— Funny bit with Will’s supposedly off-the-cuff “Wally, lower the cue cards!” being seen on the cue cards that Wally lowers.
— A very funny topical reference to the Time Magazine breastfeeding cover photo controversy.
— Some pretty good laughs from Will’s clumsy, awkward Mother’s Day speech.
— A genuinely sweet ending between Will and his mom.
STARS: ***½


ONE-A-DAY EXTRA STRENGTH NASAFLU
(KRW) hopes Nasaflu will put an end her husband’s (WIF) sneeze-yells

— At least Will’s naturally-hoarse voice this week is fitting for a commercial where he plays someone with a cold. Is that why they wrote this?
— Will’s odd-sounding sneeze is hilarious.
— Kristen’s playing a good straight man here. Feels interesting, by the way, seeing this particular pairing of her and Will, especially in the homestretch of her SNL tenure.
— Okay, this is starting to get a little old, despite Will’s amusing sneeze-yells. The writing is VERY thin.
— Good ending.
STARS: **½


ALTERNATIVE PROM
Marty & Bobbi perform a medley at an LGBT prom

— A surprise return of The Culps AND Ana Gasteyer! I’m glad we’re seeing these solid Culps characters again, 10 years after their last appearance.
— Given how heavily associated these characters are with the late 90s and early 00s, it’s an interesting novelty hearing them make mention of modern technology like WiFi and mobile devices.
— It’s also an interesting and fun novelty seeing The Culps cover popular 2010s songs during their usual medley.
— Even after a 10-year hiatus from playing these characters, Will and Ana are just as great at playing them as they’ve always been.
— Overall, the usual quality entertainment from these Culps sketches, further heightened by how refreshing it felt seeing these characters after such a long absence.
STARS: ****


STAY FREE MAXI PADS LADIES LONG DRIVE CHAMPIONSHIP 1994
Pete Twinkle & Greg Stink cover female golfers during O.J. Simpson chase

— Another surprise return of a recurring sketch co-starring a former cast member. Feels very random seeing the return of both this sketch and Will Forte tonight of all episodes, but I would certainly never NOT welcome a Forte cameo with open arms. I also love that we’re getting a cameo from him in a Will Ferrell-hosted episode, as it gives us a gathering of the two legendary Wills of SNL history. Too bad we don’t get any direct interaction between them tonight, though.
— Speaking of Forte, it’s great hearing his cameo actually receive the audience applause it deserves, unlike his cameo in the preceding season’s Elton John episode, which was frustratingly met with dead silence from the audience.
— Interesting change of pace with this recurring sketch suddenly turning into a breaking news special report of the O.J. Simpson car chase, complete with SNL showing the famous footage of the White Ford Bronco speeding down the highway. Footage of that being used in a comedic context always automatically cracks me up.
— Interesting seeing then-writer Mike O’Brien in such a visible, front-and-center (albeit brief and silent) appearance.
— Decent way to work Ferrell into this sketch. I’m glad they didn’t resort to just lazily having him dress in drag to play Kristen’s female opponent.
— Jason: “When your uterine lining looks like the elevator from The Shining!…………(*long pause*)………..Stay Free Maxi Pads!” Other than that great one-liner, the feminine hygiene slogan one-liners from Jason aren’t quite as strong or standout as they usually are in this recurring sketch.
STARS: ***½


THE 100TH DIGITAL SHORT
ANS, Jorma Taccone & Justin Bieber [real] celebrate greatest hits of 100 Digital Shorts

— Ah, a celebration of this being the 100th Digital Short.
— Speaking of which, SNL Archives claims this is actually the 101st Digital Short (see here). Which short are they including that Lonely Island themselves aren’t? Not everything that SNL Archives and Lonely Island count as a Digital Short was actually billed on the air as a Digital Short (e.g. the Peyton Manning-starring United Way ad, and at least one of the Virgania Horsen pieces), which further adds to the confusion over what does and doesn’t count as a Digital Short.
— WHAT THE FUCK??!?? Are you kidding me, SNL?!? Justin Motherfucking Bie– oh, forget it. Bieber’s not worth me tainting my review of this wonderful celebratory 100th Digital Short by launching into another one of my anti-Bieber bitchfests.
— Great throughline, with the “Tonight, we’re going to suck our own (*bleep*)” gag.
— Reba! Shy Ronnie! Punched Before Eating! Ras Trent! Laser Cats! Threw It On The Ground! And many more! I am absolutely LOVING all of these returns and callbacks, and I also love how it’s reminding me of when I reviewed each of those shorts.
— Speaking of Reba, I kinda mentioned this in my review of the preceding episode, but I think Kenan’s Reba appearance in this short ends up being his final drag role on SNL before he would publicly take a stand in 2013 against dressing in drag on SNL. We’ll see, though.
— Lots of hilarious fast-moving gags and callbacks all throughout this. So fast-moving, that it’s hard for me to catch them all in one straight viewing.
— Fantastic cameos from several celebrities who starred in an iconic Digital Short in the past.
— Hilarious bit with Will crashing this short to “suck his own dong”.
— Will: “Three Best Ofs – count ’em, bitch!”
— Ah, there’s Akiva, showing up with Andy and Jorma during the conclusion of the song. Where the heck was he before that? I guess he wasn’t able to make it to the filming of those portions of this short. At least his replacement, Bieber, managed not to ruin this short.
— Overall, wow. An absolutely phenomenal and epic celebration. Knowing in hindsight that this ends up being the second-to-last Digital Short before Andy’s departure from SNL also adds to the meaningful feel. Speaking of which, Lazy Sunday, the short that the following episode’s Digital Short will be a special sequel to, wasn’t mentioned AT ALL in this 100th Digital Short celebration. This omission baffled SNL fans at the time, given Lazy Sunday’s popularity and huge importance in how it was the first Digital Short to become an online sensation, but knowing in hindsight about the following episode’s short, I guess that’s why they intentionally left out a Lazy Sunday mention in this 100th short.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Scream”


WEEKEND UPDATE
incredulous SEM says “Really!?!” to Time Magazine breastfeeding cover

Nicolas Cage (ANS) pictures himself in Liam Neeson’s [real] movie roles

— Another solo-Seth-helmed edition of “Really?!?”, though unlike the other solo Seth ones, the title screen of this one doesn’t have the words “with Seth” under the word “Really?!?”. It looks naked without it.
— Meh, some of Seth’s quips during tonight’s “Really” segment are pretty corny. His delivery is fairly on-point here, at least.
— Hmm, is it really necessary to continue the Get In The Cage segment AFTER the epic one with the real Nicolas Cage? That one seemed like the logical time to retire this segment. (Then again, SNL is the same show that continued the Joe Pesci Show and Judge Judy recurring sketches from the late 90s AFTER the respective cameos from the real Joe Pesci and Judge Judy.)
— Ugh, there goes Seth’s annoying habit of loudly giggling off-camera during guest commentaries, this time during the Get In The Cage bit.
— Andy-as-Cage’s “Puerto Rican Beetlejuice” line was particularly funny. The rest of this commentary, on the other hand? Meh. Old hat. It’s washing right over me.
— Hmm, another Germany joke from Seth? Are we in for another instance of Seth working in a fun German accent after the punchline?
— Yep, there it is.
STARS: **½


THE 2012 FUNKYTOWN DEBATE
groovy mayoral candidates (KET) & (WIF) face off

— Certainly a fun-seeming and unusual premise.
— I mentioned before that it feels odd in hindsight seeing the SNL tenure of the then-new Kate overlap with that of the on-her-way-out Kristen, but the same goes for seeing Kate paired with the also-on-her-way-out-whether-she-knows-it-or-not Abby.
— Fitting use of Usher.
— I’m not exactly finding myself laughing at this sketch so far.
— Holy hell at that…that…that voice Fred’s doing.
— Yeah, I’m currently three minutes into this sketch, and I’m still patiently waiting for the actual humor or entertainment to finally start.
— I remember, when this originally aired, a number of online SNL fans were bothered by the goofy, bug-eyed camera-mugging Kate kept doing when she and Abby were seen dancing in the background throughout this sketch whenever Taran was shown speaking. There’s been one or two other sketches in this early stage of Kate’s SNL tenure where I’ve also noticed her making unnecessary “funny” faces at the camera when somebody else is speaking. Kinda disheartening to see that her habit of mugging the camera for attention and audience approval, which is something I see modern-day online SNL fans complain about Kate often doing in 2020 as if that’s a new habit she recently developed due to staying at SNL too long, was actually a habit of hers right from the very beginning.
— Yet another Kristen Wiig entrance that receives automatic applause from the audience.
— Jay making his entrance in a diaper and pacifier kinda made me chuckle, at least, but that’s probably just me being desperate for an actual laugh by this point of the sketch. And I can’t help but feel kinda bad that making a non-speaking walk-on in a diaper and pacifier is the ONLY thing Jay does in this entire episode. After his huge upswing in airtime in the Josh Brolin episode, Jay’s airtime has unfortunately gone right back in the crapper. He does almost NOTHING in the final three episodes of this season.
— Overall, what a colossal disappointment. Sure, this sketch’s atmosphere, performances, and costumes were fun on the surface, but that got extremely old once you realized this sketch had absolutely NOTHING ELSE going for it. Not sure why that works for What Up With That, but not this sketch. Then again, What Up With That has actual JOKES.
STARS: *


BROADWAY SIZZLE
(WIF) accidentally sings women’s parts on cable access

— Hmm, SNL debuting a potentially-recurring Kristen Wiig-co-starring TV show sketch in Kristen’s second-to-last episode as a cast member? A questionable decision, to say the least.
— Speaking of which, SNL later does try to bring this sketch back in the following season’s Martin Short-hosted episode, but the sketch doesn’t make it past dress rehearsal that night. In that version, Kristen’s co-host character is replaced by a new co-host character played by Kate.
— Once again, as I’ve said in some past episode reviews, I know it ain’t right to judge a non-recurring sketch by its first 30 seconds, but my god, I’m already getting the horrible feeling that I’m going to be bored to death by this Broadway-themed sketch. The mixture of James Anderson and/or Kent Sublette’s typical style of writing (I can’t remember if this was written by both of them or just Anderson when I once saw the writing credits for this sketch long ago) and the Broadway-centric humor is a deadly combo for my comedic tastes.
— I just realized that this sketch is surprisingly Bill’s first appearance all night. Geez. Really, SNL? And unfortunately, his first appearance of the night has to be in this laughless, dull tripe. Hell, knowing Anderson and/or Sublette, I’m surprised they didn’t have Fred in Bill’s role in this sketch, as that casting choice would’ve been completely on-brand for them, for various reasons.
— Oof. Not even Will’s comical delivery can save this dull-as-hell material.
— Overall, not a single fucking laugh from me at any point during this sketch. Man, what the hell has happened to tonight’s episode ever since Update ended?
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Climax”


ANNIVERSARY TOAST
Hamilton & other unwanted toasters mar a 25th wedding anniversary party

— A random return of the “wedding/funeral speeches” sketches from all the way back in season 34, last done in that season’s finale that Will hosted, though he’s playing a different character in tonight’s installment of the sketch than the one he played in the installment from the season 34 finale.
— Will: “You loaned me money for chef’s school. Fast-forward 3 months, now I’m a professional psychic.”
— Bobby’s “WHAAAAAAAAT?!? (*mic drop*)” routine in this recurring sketch manages to get me every time.
— Great to see the return of Will Forte’s Hamilton character. As usual, his lines are killer.
— Didn’t care for Kristen’s ending line, “There’s a finger in my salad!”, as it felt like a very inferior variation of her funnier “There’s a body in the bathroom!” ending line from the first installment of this sketch.
— Overall, this sketch as a whole was okay, but paled in comparison to the two previous installments of this sketch.
STARS: ***


ALMOST PIZZA
Rerun from 4/7/12


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A certainly fine pre-Weekend Update half, including some really strong stuff, but the episode was never the same once Update ended. Hell, even Update itself was kinda meh, but Update’s been in a slump these last few episodes in general. Reminiscent of this season’s Lindsay Lohan and Jonah Hill episodes, this episode suddenly crashed-and-burned HARD with two horrible segments that immediately followed Update. And even the rebound the show experienced afterwards with the 10-to-1 sketch was only mild and that sketch wasn’t quite as funny as previous installments of it were. Despite reportedly being a bit under the weather, Will Ferrell provided plenty of laughs in this episode and was as strong as ever when stepping into his old characters/impressions (Marty Culp, George W. Bush), but not even he could do anything for the aforementioned doomed first two post-Update sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The 100th Digital Short
Biden’s Room
Alternative Prom
Stay Free Maxi Pads Ladies Long Drive Championship 1994
Monologue
Anniversary Toast
One-A-Day Extra Strength Nasaflu
Weekend Update
The 2012 Funkytown Debate
Broadway Sizzle


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Eli Manning)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 37 comes to an end, with host Mick Jagger. It’s the final episode for veterans Andy Samberg & Kristen Wiig, as well as four-season cast member Abby Elliott.

Posted on

May 5, 2012 – Eli Manning / Rihanna (S37 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FOX & FRIENDS
Obama is criticized while Rupert Murdoch (FRA) is defended

— Good to see this new-ish recurring sketch now being used as a cold opening for the first time.
— The usual funny idiotic statements from the three hosts, especially Bobby’s Brian Kilmeade.
— A particularly hilarious line from Bobby’s Kilmeade, during the discussion of a hologram Tupac Shakur: “But if Tupac was a hologram, the bullet would’ve gone right through him.”
— Good bit regarding the whole “What’s black and white and lies?” joke.
— The rapidly-scrolled list of fact corrections seemed shorter than they usually are in these Fox & Friends sketches.
— I like Taran playfully messing with Vanessa during his, her, and Bobby’s group LFNY.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host gives audience members bad advice regarding authentic NYC culture

— For an athlete, Eli Manning’s delivery is coming off well here.
— Corny premise, but Eli’s likability and execution of the material is making it come off decent.
STARS: ***


AMAZON.COM
the most-desired Mother’s Day gift from Amazon is Fifty Shades Of Grey

— A rare SNL sighting of Jason’s natural beard.
— A hilarious conceit with various moms each being walking in on while pleasuring themselves to Fifty Shades Of Gray. Feels like an interesting novelty seeing a comedy piece do this type of “somebody getting walked in on masturbating” humor with women instead of men.
— Some great laugh-out-loud moments, such as Kristen’s daughter innocently mistaking Kristen’s vibrator for a microphone, a masturbating-in-the-bathtub Vanessa immediately following her family’s cheerful greeting of “Happy Mother’s Day!” by angrily saying “Get the f(*bleep*)k out of here!”, the reveal of Vanessa wearing a dish-washing glove under the bathwater during her self-pleasure, and Taran noticing Nasim happens to have a photo of Joel McHale next to her during her washing machine humping.
STARS: ****½


MOTION CAPTURE
host tries out victory moves during Madden NFL motion capture session

 

— Taran’s Tim Tebow, when asked if he’s ready: “Thy will be done.” Jason: “Let’s leave it at the door, Tim, alright?”
— What the heck was that sound glitch with the music after Jay’s Victor Cruz stops dancing?
— Much like the monologue, the main premise is pretty dumb, but Eli’s execution is making it work.
— A huge laugh from Kenan’s Ray Lewis saying, in regards to the motion capture suit, “I’m not wearin’ them funky-ass pajamas.”
— I love Eli’s delivery during the following exchange between Jason and Eli in regards to the grenade-throwing bit Eli mimed: “You’re a quarterback; that’s how you throw?!?” “That’s how I throw a grenade.”
— Hilarious bit with Eli eating the sandwich that he mimed making and dropping onto the floor.
— Andy doing his usual good work in his usual scene-stealing goofy walk-on, one of the last instances we’ll ever get to see of him doing that as a cast member.
STARS: ****


TEXT MESSAGE EVIDENCE
embarrassing flirty texts exonerate defendant (host) in murder trial

— Some laughs from the increasingly embarrassing texts that Eli explains and re-enacts in a very straightforward manner. Part of why that’s working is because it’s Eli Manning, of all people, doing that.
— I absolutely howled at Bill’s amused delivery of “I was gonna say……..” after Eli explains that the banana in the photo is larger than his actual penis.
— Jason’s straitlaced, deadpan readings of texts like “You out?” “You up?” “Who dis?” “Sup?” is very funny, and an example of the type of thing Jason always has the great ability to easily mine laughs out of.
— Bill’s eagerness to hear the rest of Eli’s embarrassing internet search history is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


LITTLE BROTHERS
host participates in Little Brothers program to avenge fraternal bullying

— Ah, doing an Eli Manning-starring variation of the classic Peyton Manning-starring United Way ad, I see.
— A priceless turn with Eli’s horrible, brutal treatment of the first big brother shown in this commercial.
— A particularly dark and hilarious archery bit.
— Strong reveal that Eli’s only doing all of this to get even with how his own big brother, Peyton, treated him.
— While this commercial, for me personally, doesn’t quite reach the classic status that the aforementioned Peyton Manning-starring United Way ad did, it’s still VERY strong.
STARS: ****½


WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
ancient Herb Welch holds no truck with Occupy Wall Street protesters

— Jason has been all over tonight’s episode so far. Very nice to see that after how invisible and on-his-way-out he came off in the preceding episode. I also find it interesting how tonight’s episode is heavily utilizing him in the type of “glue” roles that Phil Hartman was regularly utilized in during the second half of his SNL tenure.
— I’m glad we got a bit of a break from this recurring sketch until this episode, as the formula was showing slight signs of weariness in the last installment prior to tonight’s. Tonight’s installment also ends up being the final one during Bill’s tenure as a cast member, despite the fact that Bill still has one season remaining as a cast member. I’m surprised that this is the final installment of this sketch (not counting the one that would later appear in Bill’s season 40 hosting stint) after only two seasons and five installments, because it feels to me like it appeared more often. I guess SNL wanted to end this recurring sketch before it got completely stale. If only they could show that self-awareness with recurring sketches more often.
— A particularly funny un-PC comment from Herb Welch when Nasim’s Hispanic news anchor character is speaking to him: “I’m trying to press 2 for English.”
— A change of pace with the Herb Welch-made Occupy Wall Street video package.
— The ending of the Herb Welch report (before Jason’s character asked the crew to cut away from Herb) felt kinda weak.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Talk That Talk”


WEEKEND UPDATE
tanning mom Patricia Krentcil (KRW) overestimates her attractiveness

Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) & Martin Scorsese [real] plug

— I remember, back at this time in May 2012, I desperately wanted the “Tanning Mom” who was in the news at the time to be played on SNL by the then-new Kate McKinnon, as I felt she looked very fitting for that particular role. I ended up being disappointed to see that SNL went the easy route of just casting the popular veteran Kristen Wiig in the role. The funny thing about that is, if that Tanning Mom lady was in the news in, say, 2018 instead of 2012, I can picture some SNL fans wanting Tanning Mom to be played on SNL by one of the newer women in the cast at that time, like, say, Heidi Gardner, only to end up getting disappointed that SNL ended up going the easy route by casting the popular veteran Kate McKinnon in that role.
— Not caring for the gasping-for-air thing Kristen’s Tanning Mom keeps doing throughout this commentary. The rest of this commentary isn’t doing much for me either, for that matter. The writing is meh, and Kristen’s performance is coming off strangely kinda bland, like she’s kinda going through the motions or something. Perhaps a sign that she’s counting down the days until her final episode.
— I know Seth has an annoying habit of sometimes being heard giggling off-camera while an Update correspondent is doing their bit, but even for his standards, he’s giggling WAY too loudly and openly off-camera during one portion of the Tanning Mom commentary right now.
— Quite a number of Seth’s jokes tonight are getting a bit of a tepid reaction from the audience. I can’t blame the audience much, though. Tonight’s jokes ain’t that great. Between the preceding episode and this one, Update’s been in kind of a slump lately.
— Ah, a Sacha Baron Cohen cameo as The Dictator, much like how we got a Sacha Baron Cohen cameo as Borat when the first Borat movie came out in 2006. (Why didn’t Cohen make an SNL appearance in 2009 when his Bruno movie came out? Then again, come to think of it, Bruno was a summer movie, IIRC.)
— I’m getting my expected laughs from Cohen’s Dictator shtick, though I liked his Borat cameo from 2006 better.
— An even bigger surprise to this Sacha Baron Cohen cameo is a Martin Scorsese cameo within it. Scorsese’s a good sport to do this.
STARS: **½


IN MEMORIAM
a clip of Adam Yauch on SNL marks his passing


WHAT IS THIS?
game show emcee (ABE) quizzes (host) on their relationship

 

— A true shocker, as we get Abby in a starring role in a live sketch as an original, non-celebrity character, for the first time in all four years she had been on the show. (That Deidra Wurtz: Downsizing Expert piece from the preceding season also starred Abby as an original, non-celebrity character, but that was pre-taped, not live.) I wonder if that’s a record for the longest a cast member was on the show before they got to lead a live sketch in a non-celebrity-impression role.
— Ah, Vanessa’s always solid at getting laughs out making cheesy, light-hearted statements, like her opening statement here.
— Good turn with how the “What is this?” that Abby asks Eli is a serious, emotional question about their relationship, unlike the far-more innocent “What is this?” questions she asked the other two contestants.
— Abby is executing this well, making me wish we got to see her get non-impression lead roles like this more often during her SNL tenure. When this episode originally aired, I saw this sketch as a sign that Abby was suddenly trying to prove her worth because she was aware there was a possibility she might get fired over the approaching summer. Sadly, despite her pretty solid effort, this sketch still doesn’t prevent her from getting fired that summer. (Then again, I’ve heard some conflicting stories regarding the circumstances of her departure, so please correct me if she wasn’t fired.) She got a raw deal getting fired just when she FINALLY started slowly but surely finding her niche on the show with some pretty well-done stuff in the second half of this season (this sketch and the Bein’ Quirky With Zooey Deschanel sketches). Plus, it’s possible that her airtime could’ve increased the following season with Kristen no longer there to hog up all the female roles. (Then again, if they kept Abby that season, either Cecily Strong or Aidy Bryant might not have gotten hired.)
— I like the running gag with Bill’s odd names for simple things (e.g. referring to the moon as a “nighttime sun”).
— For some odd reason, the audience seemed to completely stop laughing during the entire final minute of this sketch. I feel bad for Abby in that regard.
STARS: ***½


HELGA LATELY
Swedish version of Chelsea Handler, Helga (KAM), is a boozy floozy

Catch Up Mit Du Khlardashians- (NAP), (VAB), (ABE) mirror USA’s Kardashians

— Second consecutive sketch starring a female cast member who’s either new or underused. Great to see the then-new Kate already starring in her second sketch in only her third episode.
— A fairly fun and out-of-the-ordinary way to do a Chelsea Lately parody. I’m glad they’re taking this approach instead of just generically doing a direct parody.
— Taran playing yet another sassy gay role.
— For obvious reasons, it feels so weird seeing Kristen playing a supporting character in a Kate McKinnon-starring sketch.
— Showing how new she is, Kate accidentally started saying her “We’ll be right back… etc.” line too early when Fred was supposed to speak. Knowing what a pro Kate would later go on to be, it’s actually kinda charming in hindsight to see this display of early-era greenness from her.
— Pretty fun to see Kate start really getting loose in the second half of this sketch, during her one-on-one interview with Eli. In particular, her casually sitting with her legs spread comically apart is something that would later go on to be a recognizable Kate McKinnon trait.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Where Have You Been”


MISS DRAG WORLD
tall queen (host) is upset about not winning Miss Drag World 2012 title

— James Anderson strikes once again, I see.
— Fred in drag strikes once again, I also see.
— At least there’s no Kenan in his usual drag. Speaking of which, is it safe to say we’re officially past the point where Kenan’s final drag role appeared on SNL? I don’t think he’s played a woman all season. I think we can pinpoint that Disney Channel School Of Acting commercial from the preceding season’s Miley Cyrus episode as containing Kenan’s final drag role.
— Wait, I just remembered, the very next episode has Kenan reprising his Reba McEntire role, in the special 100th Digital Short.
— I’m only a minute into this sketch so far, and it’s already coming off PAINFUL. Is SNL fucking kidding me putting this on the air?
— I know it’s usually considered fun seeing athletes do ridiculous, silly things on SNL, but I just feel embarrassed for Eli in this sketch. The material he’s been given here is WRETCHED and is doing him no favors.
— Ugh, there’s Fred doing that damn Paul Lynde-esque laugh that he does way too often when playing gay men (which itself is something he does way too often on SNL, though Taran’s slowly been taking that away from him lately, as I’ve been noting).
— WTF at the casting of Kristen in this particular role?
— Overall, yeah, this sketch was a straight-up disaster.
STARS: *


THE ESSENTIALS WITH ROBERT OSBORNE
square (host) didn’t mesh with Cheech (FRA) & Chong (BIH)

 

— That first Cheech & Chong clip with Eli’s Richard character came and went without a single laugh from me. How is this supposed to be funny?
— Yeah, as this sketch continues to go on, it’s continuing to not work AT ALL. The humor of the incongruity between Eli’s Richard and Fred & Bill’s Cheech & Chong is coming off lame as hell. Boy, did tonight’s pretty solid episode die off horribly ever since that Miss Drag World sketch reared its ugly head.
— I did kinda get a chuckle just now from Eli’s cheesy smile as the camera zooms in on him at the end of the moon scene (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Fun delivery from Jason at the end when his Robert Osborne gets high from smoking weed. Leave it to good ol’ Jason to add some much-needed life to this boring-as-hell sketch.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Minus Weekend Update, this episode was consistently good until the show suddenly bottomed out with the terrible last two sketches. Several really strong pieces in this episode.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Little Brothers
amazon.com
Fox & Friends
Motion Capture
Text Message Evidence
What Is This?
WXPD News New York
Helga Lately
Monologue
Weekend Update
The Essentials with Robert Osborne
Miss Drag World


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Josh Brolin)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Will Ferrell