Author: Stooge

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April 14, 2012 – Josh Brolin / Gotye (S37 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

BAR
in a bar, Mitt Romney (JAS) says “Good Riddance” to vanquished GOP foes

— Bill’s Rick Perry, regarding once being the frontrunner in the republican primaries: “I might’ve won the darn thing if I didn’t take a deuce every time I opened my mouth.”
— Kristen’s entrance as Michele Bachmann actually gets pretty big applause from the audience. Another thing that reminds me we’re in the homestretch of Kristen’s SNL tenure, and that her popularity among the audience is getting a little too big for the show, which tends to happen to some beloved SNL veterans towards the end of their tenure.
— Okay, I’m seeing that some of the other cast members’ walk-ons as republican presidential candidates are also getting some audience applause, though not as much as Kristen’s entrance, so I still maintain that the big applause she received has partly to do with her popularity as a cast member.
— A fun and out-of-the-ordinary setting for a cold opening centered around the republican presidential candidates, and I like how this is summing up all the things each losing candidate infamously did wrong during their campaign. In hindsight, something about the mock-melancholy, reminiscent, end-of-an-era atmosphere of this cold opening involving key members of this SNL cast also feels fitting for what ends up being near the end of the Kristen Wiig/Andy Samberg era.
— A nice group LFNY at the end, back in the days when group LFNYs were actually rare, and thus, were more meaningful when they occurred. From what I hear, group LFNYs have become a weekly thing in SNL’s most recent seasons, which is something I’m not looking forward to when I reach those seasons in this SNL project of mine. It annoyed me enough when group LFNYs became a regular thing for one year in season 39.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host presents live clip from Men In Black III with JAP as Will Smith

— Believe it or not, this is Jay’s first live speaking role in FOUR EPISODES. Unfortunately, it’s just him doing his overplayed Will Smith impression. Still, at least they threw Jay a bone after how horrible his airtime had gotten lately.
— Nothing much to say about this overall monologue at all. It wasn’t awful, but it pretty much just came and went for me.
STARS: **


HBO FIRST LOOK
13 year-old boy (ANS) makes sure there’s enough sex in Game Of Thrones

— I’m not 100% sure, but I think I heard that this was written by Kumail Nanjiani, during a guest writing stint he had at SNL this week.
— Pretty funny concept with Game Of Thrones’ creative consultant being a typical immature 13-year-old boy. Andy can play roles like this to perfection in his sleep by this late stage of his SNL tenure.
— Another example of how odd it feels hearing the audience be hesitant to laugh at the then-new Kate McKinnon, when you’re aware in hindsight of what a huge audience favorite she’d later go on to be. In this Game Of Thrones piece, the brief bit with Kate saying “Adam says this is my good side” while having her arms above and below her breasts barely got a single laugh from the audience, when it would’ve gotten an easy laugh from them had Kate done that in her subsequent seasons.
STARS: ***


THE CALIFORNIANS
Angeleno soap opera drama centers on driving directions

   

— Hoooooooooooooooooo, boy. The debut of not only one of my absolute least favorite recurring sketches of this SNL era, but one of my absolute least favorite recurring sketches of SNL history. As if this SNL era needed yet another bad recurring sketch that’s going to regularly make me state “(*groan*)” at the beginning of my review of each installment. (I’ve long ago lost count of how many of this era’s recurring sketches make me do that, though I get the feeling a huge majority of them are recurring sketches that happen to star Fred and/or Kristen, or are recurring sketches written by James Anderson and/or Kent Sublette. And yes, I realize there’s plenty of overlap between the list of this era’s bad Armisen/Wiig-starring recurring sketches and the list of this era’s bad Anderson/Sublette-written recurring sketches.)
— Given how Kristen is one of the performers heavily associated with the Californians sketches (at least to me), it’s easy to forget that it actually debuted in the homestretch of her SNL tenure. After the two Californians sketches this season, Kristen’s only appearances in any subsequent Californians installments are when she hosts in season 38 and when a Californians sketch is performed in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special.
— After Fred’s first comically-unintelligible delivery of “What are you doing here?”, the performers lose their composure and start breaking for the remainder of the first scene within this sketch. I have mixed reactions to that. The breaking is kinda making me chuckle, but at the same time, I feel too left-out, as something about this particular instance of breaking feels way too inside joke-y and self-indulgent for my likes, which is certainly nothing new for Fred’s later seasons.
— Ugh at the running gag with each character giving elaborate California-specific driving directions. Not remotely funny to me.
— Also not funny to me is the other running gag of this sketch, where we get various mock-dramatic sequences of the camera showing a close-up of each character mugging into the camera while a music sting plays. That’s also starting to give me vibes of another recurring sketch that spoofed soap operas, Besos Y Lagrimas, which makes sense, as one of the co-writers of these Californians sketches, James Anderson, also wrote Besos Y Lagrimas. At least Besos Y Lagrimas worked for me in its debut (and only in its debut). I can’t say the same for this Californians debut so far.
— And YET ANOTHER thing not funny to me is yet another running gag of this sketch, with how each scene within this sketch ends with the characters crowding around a mirror to admire their own looks. Yep, it’s safe to say this Californians debut is a big ol’ bust for me. And, from what I remember of subsequent installments of this sketch, it only gets even worse from here.
— A few minutes after the aforementioned bit with the performers starting to break, and Kristen’s still fighting her case of the giggles.
— At least I’m finding Kenan’s characterization somewhat funny and likable.
STARS: *½


AMERICA’S NEXT TOP EMPIRE STATE OF MIND PARODY ARTIST
Jay-Z (JAP) selects the show’s winner

— ls SNL aware that Weird Al Yankovic dropped the mustache and glasses many years before this point? Who knows, maybe SNL just felt that Andy portraying Weird Al with the mustache and glasses would be more comical-looking and more recognizable to viewers.
— Yikes, Kenan’s impression of the Chocolate Rain guy, Tay Zonday, is fucking wretched. He’s not putting any effort into imitating Zonday’s trademark deep voice.
— Speaking of bad impressions, I never liked Abby’s Ke$ha impression either. It’s surprisingly off for a performer who’s skilled at impressions.
— Okay, we at least get Jay’s always-dead-on Jay-Z impression, but, much like Jay’s Will Smith, SNL has done this impression of Jay’s to death by this point.
— I like Bobby’s dancing in the background during Vanessa’s singing of the chorus.
— I got a mild laugh from the bit with Fred’s redundant song getting impatiently cut off by Andy’s Weird Al.
— Meh, the concept of this sketch is starting to get a little old, despite the somewhat fun atmosphere. And there’s nothing I’m finding all that funny about how Jay’s Jay-Z gives each performance a perfect score.
STARS: **


LASER CATS 7
feline sci-fi mines Steven Spielberg’s [real] filmography

— Our seventh and final Laser Cats short, given the fact that this is Andy’s seventh and final season, and it’s been a tradition to do one Laser Cats short per year ever since Andy and Bill’s first season.
— A great evil villain accent from Josh.
— I love how this Laser Cats short is a comedic homage to Steven Spielberg’s filmography. And they way they’re executing it is fun.
— Bill, to an about-to-depart-from-Earth Andy: “What about your wife and kids?!?” Andy, after a long, pensive, dramatic pause: “F(*bleep*)k ’em.”
— The way this Laser Cats film ends with Andy’s character parting ways with Bill’s character by taking off in a spaceship is a fitting conclusion to this whole Laser Cats series. I wonder if this shows that Andy must’ve known at the time that he was leaving SNL.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Kimbra [real] perform “Somebody That I Used To Know”


WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM asks North Korea “What Are You Doing?” regarding failed rocket launch

Garth & Kat throw together some echoic songs celebrating spring

— We get another variation of “Really?!?”, with Seth introducing a new segment titled “What Are You Doing?”
— Meh, Seth’s overall “What Are You Doing?” segment completely washed right over me. I didn’t get a single laugh. Very bland humor there.
— I always like Seth breaking out a comical German accent during a joke about Germany. You can tell he always has fun doing that accent.
— (*Garth & Kat appear, Stooge grabs the laptop he’s watching this episode on and chucks it straight through his closed bedroom window while the Garth & Kat commentary is still playing on the laptop screen*)
— Also, didn’t we already get enough self-indulgent Armisen/Wiig breaking during that Californians mess earlier tonight? Oh, geez, and now I just realized this episode contains TWO of my least favorite recurring pieces of both this era and SNL history: The Californians and Garth & Kat. (*Stooge regathers his now-smashed laptop from outside, brings it back into his bedroom, and re-chucks it out of the already-smashed bedroom window*) All we need next is a Vogelchecks sketch to make the Trifecta Of Suck complete. (My reaction to that would be me throwing myself out of my already-smashed bedroom window.)
— 40 minutes later, this Garth & Kat commentary is STILL going on. Fucking hell.
— This is the second consecutive episode with a short Update that only contained one guest commentary. Well, a relatively short Update in this particular case. I can never call a Weekend Update with Garth & Kat all that short, because of the insane amount of airtime Garth & Kat’s commentaries freely eat up.
STARS: **


PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT
Ice-T (FRA), Ozzie Guillen (host) & others speak out

— Jason has been fairly invisible in tonight’s episode. I remember, when this episode originally aired, I felt Jason came off like he was so ready to leave SNL. There were rumors heavily circulating at the time that he, Andy, and Kristen were going to be leaving at the end of this season. As we know now, out of those three, only Kristen and Andy leave at the end of this season. Jason returns for one more season, and we had to wait until literally just three or four days before that season’s premiere to find that out (I kid you not). He must’ve reeeeaaaaaalllly been on the fence regarding whether he wanted to stay at SNL or not.
— I love Jason’s reaction to finding out that Casey Anthony has not gotten thrown in jail for the rest of her life like he incorrectly assumed.
— The return of Fred’s Ice-T impression. I liked it the first time, but his impression has really slipped tonight. I keep hearing too much of Fred’s natural voice in there.
— Jay’s thankfully getting a lot of airtime tonight, and for once in this episode, we’re getting an impression of his that SNL hasn’t run into the ground yet.
— I got a really good laugh from Nasim-as-Kim-Kardashian’s upbeat delivery of “I’m a zero threat!”
— Why are we seeing the return of Andy as the Super Bowl Wire Dancer guy? It made sense to have him in the previous Piers Morgan Tonight sketch, as that was just a week after that year’s Super Bowl, but by tonight’s episode, two months after that Super Bowl, wasn’t the Wire Dancer’s 15 minutes of fame already over?
— Did Andy unintentionally cut off Taran’s line just now? Sure seemed like it, as Taran was in the middle of doing his usual “Wha…wha…wha…” stammering routine that he often does as Piers Morgan, before Andy suddenly started speaking over him.
— Kind of a meh sketch overall, especially compared to the first Piers Morgan Tonight installment from earlier this season.
STARS: **


WOODRIDGE HIGH
in one hallway of a high school, everything happens in slow motion

— Some good and convincing slow motion acting and effects during Taran and Nasim’s entrance, and I like the concept of this sketch.
— When this originally aired, I remember that song that kept playing throughout this sketch got stuck in my head for the longest time.
— Fantastic execution from Bill when demonstrating where the hallway’s slow motion zone begins and ends.
STARS: ***½


GOTYE BACKSTAGE
ANS & TAK reenact “Somebody That I Used To Know” music video for musical guest

 

— Not only do we get a second billed Digital Short in the same episode, which is a rarity, but the usual opening “An SNL Digital Short” title screen is modified this time to state “Another SNL Digital Short”, with the word “Another” being displayed via special effect and in a special font.
— I’m really enjoying Andy and Taran’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” spoof/homage. Andy and Taran are a blast here. I also like how this feels kinda like a passing of the torch between the about-to-leave-the-show Andy and up-and-comer Taran. I remember that, back in these days when this originally aired, stuff like this made me so excited for Taran’s future on SNL. There were even some points during these days where I was 100% convinced Taran was going to be SNL’s next Will Ferrell.
— Gotye’s a good sport here.
— I laughed so much at Taran, in that wig and painted face, suddenly interrupting Gotye’s reading of a newspaper by popping into the shot and lip-syncing the “Used to knoooooowww!” lyric into Gotye’s face.
— Speaking of Taran in that wig and painted face, it’s making him look VERY Mark McKinney (screencap below).

— Overall, given the greatly diminished general quality of this season’s Digital Shorts, it’s nice to see that this episode was able to produce TWO strong shorts. This Gotye short can also be considered the final “normal” Digital Short during Andy’s tenure as a cast member. The only two remaining Digital Shorts before Andy leaves are special shorts, as one is a retrospective and the other is a special sequel to the first breakout Digital Short.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Eyes Wide Open”


PROM
Principal Frye & student-loving teacher (host) address prom attendees

— Jay’s surprisingly big night continues, with this being his FOURTH major live role tonight. A huge leap from him going three consecutive episodes without uttering a single word in any of his live appearances.
— This sketch has become recurring an entire year-and-a-half after its debut in the season 36 Paul Rudd episode.
— A laugh from Vanessa’s cheesy disclosure of how her high school prom consisted of her parents taking her to Arby’s.
— I’m glad Jay ditched this character’s trait of making a sharp inhale sound between each sentence, which got on my last nerves in the first installment of this sketch. This character comes off funnier without that trait.
— Much like his first time hosting, Josh, despite giving performances that are just fine, hasn’t been standing out much in tonight’s sketches, but that’s an exception in this sketch. He’s really solid and funny here.
— Jay starts helplessly cracking up during his report about the iguana.
— The audience is really into this sketch. Actually, they’ve been lively all night, come to think of it, but especially so in this sketch.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very up-and-down first half, which also contained a few wretched recurring or soon-to-be-recurring things, but the show mostly improved in the second half.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Laser Cats 7
Gotye Backstage
Bar
Woodridge High
HBO First Look
Prom
Weekend Update
Piers Morgan Tonight
Monologue
America’s Next Top Empire State Of Mind Parody Artist
The Californians


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Sofia Vergara)
a very slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Eli Manning

Posted on

April 7, 2012 – Sofia Vergara / One Direction (S37 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Mitt Romney’s (JAS) pandering fails to sway special interest audiences

— A fairly fun format with Jason’s Mitt Romney being shown giving a campaign speech at various, increasingly out-of-place events that he unconvincingly tries pandering to.
— I like Kenan’s delivery of “Are you crazy? This is a hell hole!”
— Kate McKinnon makes her very first SNL appearance, as this is her first episode as a cast member. Knowing what a hugely popular cast member she’d later become, I find it kinda amusing (though certainly understandable) to see in hindsight that her very first SNL appearance has her as a non-speaking, non-comedic background extra (seen to Jason’s left in the sixth above screencap for this cold opening).
— The scene with Jason’s Romney at a piercing convention is particularly funny, especially him disclosing the fact that he had his taint pierced.
— Ooh, a meta turn, with Jason-as-Romney’s next campaign stop being at SNL.
— A very nice, welcome, and funny way to shake up the usual LFNY routine. Kinda reminds me of the way SNL’s McLaughlin Group cold openings with Dana Carvey would always shake up the LFNYs.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— As I mentioned above in my review of the cold opening, Kate McKinnon has been added to the cast tonight.

Without checking, I think I implied in my review of the monologue from Kenan Thompson’s very first episode as a cast member (which was way back in season 29) that it’s going to feel odd when I eventually reach the debut of the second longest-tenured member of SNL’s current (as of 2020) cast: Kate McKinnon. And now that I’m finally at that point, yep, I was correct in that it indeed feels odd arriving at the tenure of a non-Kenan cast member who’s still on the show today. Not only does it feel odd, but it feels major in a way. It’s making me realize how closer and closer I’m getting to officially completing this SNL project of mine. I imagine that aforementioned odd, major feel I’m getting from reaching Kate’s debut will double when I reach the debuts of the also-still-currently-on-the-show-in-2020 Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong just a small handful of episodes from now.
— On another note about Kate, it also feels kinda odd in hindsight seeing her in the homestretch of the Kristen Wiig era. I often forget that Kate and Kristen’s SNL tenures overlapped for a few episodes.


MONOLOGUE
host relishes her success in America & introduces her son Manolo [real]

— Sofia Vergara’s accent is a little hard to understand at times here, but I find it kinda charming seeing a host with such a natural heavy foreign accent.
— Sofia gets a good laugh demonstrating how her accent can make the most un-sexiest words (e.g. gonorrhea) sound sexy.
— A pretty nice surprise to see that this ends up being a real monologue, with no involvement from the cast or anyone else but the host (not counting the non-speaking shots of Sofia’s family in the audience).
STARS: ***


JUST FRIENDS BOOTY SHORTS
Just Friends booty shorts belie guys’ protestations of heterosexuality

— A gay-themed premise that initially seems kinda cheap, but the visuals of a carefree Jason and Andy in the “Just Friends” booty shorts are goofy and jolly enough to make this commercial pretty fun. I especially like shot of Jason and Andy happily spinning each other around in a circle in Times Square. (IIRC, that shot would later be shown in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special during the highlight reel of SNL’s most New York City-centric moments.)
— Lately, Taran seems to be slowly taking over Fred’s place as SNL’s go-to performer for gay male roles.
— During the bit with Jason and Andy’s “Not” “Gay” matching tanktops, I got a laugh from the gag with Andy being approached by two gay guys at a bar when he’s left alone with just his “Gay” tanktop.
STARS: ***½


BEIN’ QUIRKY WITH ZOOEY DESCHANEL
Zooey Deschanel (ABE), Drew Barrymore (KRW) & Fran Drescher (host) are eccentric

Mayim Bialik (ANS) & Joey Lawrence (FRA) promote Old Navy

— The second and final appearance of this sketch.
— Like last time, the various random mini-segments within this talk show are fun.
— Also like last time, I’m enjoying all of Taran-as-Michael-Cera’s meek little interjections.
— Hmm, even Sofia Vergara can do a Fran Drescher impression?
— A good initially-disappointed reaction shot from Taran’s Cera when Abby’s Zooey Deschanel tells him, as a compliment, “You’re like a sister to me!”
STARS: ***½


ALMOST PIZZA
(BIH) is suspicious of pseudofood hyped by his wife (KRW)

— The premise reminds me a little of SNL’s That’s Not Yogurt commercial from season 18, but this is still good in its own right so far.
— A particularly funny gag with Kristen unconvincingly pretending to eat the pizza while having her face in a profile angle.
— Bill’s increasing frustration is solid.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½


NEWS TEAM PROMO
moronic (FRA) can’t execute simple turn during TV news team promo shoot

— Ugh. Like I said in a previous episode review, I know it’s not right to judge a non-recurring sketch from its first 15 seconds, but I can already tell from the early reveal of Fred as a slow-witted, dopey-voiced lead character that I am in for a looooooooong sketch.
— Fred’s character’s failure to do the simple task of turning towards the camera during the news team promo filming is not only unfunny, but it’s reminiscent of that really dumb sketch with Peyton Manning where Manning was an actor who kept failing throw a boulder that he was supposed to during the filming of a scene from the movie 300.
— Was that non-sequitur line from Sofia’s character about her boobs even necessary? They only seemed to throw in that line because this character is played by Sofia Vergara.
— I finally got one laugh, thanks to good ol’ Bill, with his delivery of “Don’t give me your wallet!” The line itself was nothing special; it was just something about the way Bill said it that tickled me.
— What an awful, awful ending.
STARS: *½


GILLY
Gilly antagonizes sex ed teacher (host) & foresees her own demise

— The first Gilly sketch in a year-and-a-half, and this ends up being the final Gilly sketch, not counting a brief pre-taped appearance she makes in Kristen’s monologue from the season 38 episode that Kristen hosts.
— Abby, who’s Paula character was introduced in the third-to-last Gilly sketch, continues to remind me of Melanie Hutsell with the open-mouthed mugging facial expression she makes at the end of every one of her lines as this Paula character.
— As I sheepishly admitted in my review of the Drew Barrymore installment of this recurring sketch, Gilly has begun to slightly grow on me after her first few sketches. I still don’t find her all that funny, but I do now find her tolerable and harmless enough. Call me crazy.
— What was with the random long pause from Sofia in the middle of her line after the Gilly theme song ended?
— It was weird enough to see Jason do Will Forte’s old “Gilllllyyyyyyyy” routine in the Gilly/Glee mash-up sketch, but it’s even weirder seeing Sofia Vergara do that “Gilllllyyyyyyyy” routine.
— Very funny visual gag of Bobby popping a boner under the books resting on his crotch, in response to a suggestive statement Sofia makes.
— Ooh, we get a big change of pace all of a sudden, with a fantasy sequence of an elderly Gilly on her deathbed. I’m really liking this.
— We get another change of pace at the very end of this sketch, where, after offending EVERYBODY in the classroom by going too far in telling Sofia, “Suck it, bitch”, Gilly uncharacteristically gives a very sincere apology many times in a row as the camera zooms in on her while her ending theme music plays. All of these changes of pace in tonight’s Gilly sketch have not only resulted in what is, IMO, easily the best Gilly sketch (not that that’s a high bar), but have offered nice closure to this recurring sketch. When this originally aired, all of these signs that this sketch was Gilly’s official retirement, along with rumors circulating at the time about upcoming departures of certain cast members (Kristen, Jason, and Andy), made some online SNL fans at the time, including myself (as seen here in my old 2012 review of this episode), speculate if this sketch was a sign that Kristen would be leaving at the end of this season. Also adding to that speculation was the late-in-the-season cast addition of Kate McKinnon, given the fact that some people who checked out Kate’s pre-SNL online comedy videos noted some Kristen Wiig similarities in Kate’s performance style, and this made those people wonder if SNL’s hiring of Kate was their way of preparing for Kristen’s upcoming departure.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What Makes You Beautiful”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Drunk Uncle isn’t looking forward to spending Easter with his family

— We get a glimpse of the voice that Seth likely would’ve used if he, instead of Jason, ever played Mitt Romney on SNL.
— The already-funny Drunk Uncle is getting even better and better with each passing appearance. My biggest laughs in his commentary tonight are from him exclaiming an annoyed “eBay of Pigs!” out of nowhere, him mistaking the then-upcoming Easter holiday for St. Patrick’s Day, and him saying, as a complete non-sequitur, “He’s still Cassius Clay to me, Seth.”
— Wow, Update’s over already? Surprised this had only one guest commentary, but it’s a nice contrast to how much space Update took up in the preceding episode.
STARS: ***


THE MANUEL ORTIZ SHOW
Latin rhythm engulfs (host)’s family reunion

— (*groan*) Figures they’d resort to bringing this sketch back tonight just because we have a Hispanic host. It’s like how SNL used to lazily resort to digging up the old Besos Y Lagrimas recurring sketch (which I think is from the same writer(s) of these Manuel Ortiz Show sketches) when they would have a Hispanic host. At least this ends up being the final Manuel Ortiz Show installment.
— I kinda chuckled at Taran’s intense delivery of “Si way!” after Sofia says “No way!”
— Is it just me, or does Bill wear that EXACT SAME wig and outfit in every single Manuel Ortiz Show sketch he appears in, despite playing a different character each time?
— When this originally aired, I and some other online SNL fans noted the fact that one of the One Direction guys looked eerily like Terry Sweeney in this sketch, with the fake mustache and the hammy facial expressions he was making (the guy second from the left in the last above screencap for this sketch). I don’t see the Sweeney resemblance quite as much anymore, but it’s still there a little bit.
STARS: *½


LIL POUNDCAKE
— Rerun from 10/1/11.
— Some major audio glitches at the beginning of this repeated ad.


WATCH WHAT HAPPENS: LIVE
Andy Cohen (TAK) chats with Desmond Tutu (KET) & others

— We get a Seth voice-over at the beginning, during the usual “You’re watching (insert TV network here)” bit that a lot of SNL’s TV show sketches in this era (including the Manuel Ortiz sketch that preceded this) open with.
— I’ve only seen a few glimpses of Andy Cohen, and thus, I can’t judge the accuracy of Taran’s impression of him, but Taran’s performance is pretty fun. However, it does further prove my earlier point about Taran playing more and more gay roles lately.
— I like the incongruity of Desmond Tutu appearing on a show like this.
— Kate McKinnon gets her very first SNL comedic role, in a small scene within this sketch in which she’s the only cast member present. I love the idea of that, but unfortunately, despite a decent performance from her, Kate’s scene itself isn’t doing much for me, maybe because I’ve never seen the Tabatha Takes Over show that Kate’s scene is spoofing.
— I feel crazy for saying this, but Kate somehow looks older to me in her first episode than she looks today, 8 years later.
— Kenan’s giddy portrayal of Desmond Tutu is amusing me throughout this sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Thing”


PANTENE COMMERCIAL
Penelope Cruz (KAM) is given tricky words in Pantene commercial with host

— Ah, after getting a sample of Kate in a comedic role during one portion of the preceding sketch, we now get to see Kate lead an entire sketch, in her first episode!
— Given what a very popular crowd favorite Kate would later go on to become, it feels bizarre hearing dead silence from the studio audience (who’s probably wondering, “Who is this woman??? Why aren’t we seeing Kristen Wiig out there instead???”) in response to Kate entering this sketch and saying her comical greetings to Sofia and Jason while playing directly to the audience (a Cheri Oteri-esque trait). That’s the kind of thing that would easily get automatic laughs (and maybe even some applause) from the studio audience if Kate did that in more recent years, where she has the audience wrapped around her finger.
— Kate’s accent as Penelope Cruz is amusing, and she wins the initially-hesitant audience over with her-as-Cruz’s constant mispronunciations of increasingly-hard-to-pronounce shampoo ingredients. Kate’s executing this pretty well, and is already coming off like an experienced SNL cast member.
— I’m noticing that Kate looks much more her age here than she did in her previous appearances tonight.
— A standout funny part with Kate’s Cruz mispronouncing one particularly long shampoo ingredient as “refrigerator”. I also like the bit afterwards where Sofia, when misunderstanding what the director wants her to clarify for Kate’s Cruz, clarifies to Kate’s Cruz how to pronounce “refrigerator” instead of the ingredient she was supposed to say.
— I just now realized how strange it is that this is the second sketch tonight where the basic concept is a promo or commercial being filmed and one actor keeps messing up the filming by having an inability to do a certain something in the script. (News Team Promo being the first of those sketches tonight.) Both sketches even end with us seeing the heavily-altered finished product of the promo/commercial, after the director of that promo/commercial gave up out of frustration. This Pantene sketch is definitely the superior of those two sketches, though.
STARS: ***


74TH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
reporter (host) interviews Katniss (ABE) & other Hunger Games tributes

— Oh, Jay Pharoah is still in the cast apparently. Could’ve fooled me. He makes his ONLY appearance of this entire episode in this 10-to-1 sketch, briefly popping up onscreen in a non-speaking, one-second little “cameo”. Yeesh. The poor guy’s airtime has been particularly rough lately. In fact, this is the THIRD consecutive episode in which he hasn’t had a single live speaking role.
— Bill’s slogan for one of the Hunger Games’ sponsors, Tylenol, is hilarious: “Got a spear in your head? Tylenooollllll!”
— Sofia is fun and likable as the reporter, and I got a laugh from her nonchalant delivery of “Okay, I’m dying now” after eating poisonous berries.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While nothing in this episode got a rating over three-and-a-half stars from me, the episode had a fairly comfortable consistency, with almost everything working for me except the News Team Promo and Manuel Ortiz Show sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Almost Pizza
Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel
Just Friends Booty Shorts
Road To The White House
Gilly
Pantene Commercial
Weekend Update
74th Annual Hunger Games
Monologue
Watch What Happens: Live
The Manuel Ortiz Show
News Team Promo


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jonah Hill)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Josh Brolin

Posted on

March 10, 2012 – Jonah Hill / The Shins (S37 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SHOW
marginal backers replace Rush Limbaugh’s (TAK) deserting sponsors

— Great to see featured player Taran starring in a solo cold opening for a change.
— The “motto” for Syria Tourism Board being “Aah! No! There’s nowhere to hide!” is hilarious.
— Some good laughs from the strange, low-budget companies that don’t exist in real life being the only sponsors Taran’s Rush Limbaugh has left. Also, am I correct in remembering SNL would later use this same concept of “Controversial right-wing TV/radio host lists off their show’s strange, low-budget, non-existent-in-real-life new sponsors, after losing most of their big-name sponsors due to recently saying something offensive” in a Laura Ingraham cold opening? In fact, I think it was in one of the last new SNL episodes I ever watched before starting my (still ongoing) hiatus from watching new episodes. So that would pinpoint the Laura Ingraham cold opening in question as being from about November 2018. In fact, coincidentally, it may have even been in that season’s (season 44) Jonah Hill episode. (For the record, the final new episode I watched before starting my hiatus was season 44’s Steve Carell episode. And, yes, the quality, or lack thereof, of that episode played a part in my decision to go on a long break from watching new episodes, though the main reason was my increasing dissatisfaction with SNL’s quality in general at the time.)
— I got a big “Oh, so wrong” laugh from the bit with the Fake Rape Whistles sponsor.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Tom Hanks [real] puts an end to Oscar nominee host’s week of pomposity

— A fairly fun monologue premise, with a video chronicling Jonah’s week at SNL.
— Interesting seeing SNL’s wardrobe room, which I don’t think we’ve seen all that often over the years, surprisingly.
— A particularly funny comment from Bobby pointing out Jonah’s glasses keep getting smaller while his scarves keep getting bigger.
— TOM HANKS!
— As always, Tom is reliably funny here, especially when he cruelly fakes Jonah out by acting like he was going to let Jonah have one of his Oscars.
STARS: ***½


SIX YEAR OLD
back at Benihana, 6 year-old Adam teases his dad’s (BIH) girlfriend (VAB)

— This character from Jonah’s first hosting stint has officially become recurring.
— This sketch of Jonah’s was solid the first time, and I don’t mind seeing it become recurring, but boy, is it lazy on SNL’s part to place this character in the EXACT SAME Benihana setting from his first sketch. There are so many settings you can place this character, so why keep him confined to the Benihana setting from his debut?
— At least we get a nice new addition to this sketch with Vanessa as Bill’s new girlfriend.
— It turns out that Jonah continues to do a solid job as this character, and, like last time, I’m getting good laughs from his Borscht Belt-esque one-liners, helping me overlook my frustration with SNL lazily reusing the Benihana’s setting.
— I notice that Jonah’s occasionally causing himself to break out into brief giggles in the middle of some of his lines, but it’s not detracting from the quality of this sketch or anything.
STARS: ****


SCIENCE FINDERS
tennis balls to the groin put stress on (host)’s heart; John MacEnroe cameo

— Not too sure about this concept. And after how bad a lot of this season’s Digital Shorts have been, I have a right to be wary of this short.
— The endless replaying of Jonah’s yell from the initial groin hit he suffers has a “So dumb, it’s funny” quality.
— A pretty good laugh from Jonah immediately getting hit in the groin a second time as soon as he removes the ice pack from his injured groin.
— John MacEnroe makes yet another SNL cameo.
— While the concept of this short remains a little questionable, the execution isn’t bad. Again, there’s a “So dumb, it’s funny” quality to this short, further helped by how it’s being presented in such a mock-serious way.
STARS: ***


J-POP AMERICA FUN TIME NOW!
samurai-wannabe (host) has bad swordsmanship

— A funny visual of the exams that Taran and Vanessa turned in, shown by Jason.
— For the first time, the guest in this recurring sketch is male.
— Holy hell at that samurai voice Jonah’s attempting.
— I love the photo of Taran and Vanessa hosting a Rastafarian version of this show. I actually would like to see them do that version of this sketch.
— All of a sudden, Jonah has begun helplessly laughing his way through his lines, for no visible reason. He would later reveal in an interview that the reason for his laughing in this sketch is because (and this is from my admittedly faulty memory, so some details may be a little off) he spotted a friend of his in the floor seats of SNL’s audience, and remembering the odd laugh that friend has induced a laughing fit from Jonah himself.
— No idea how to react to the song Jonah’s doing, but I can see a “So bad, it’s good” quality (which is probably what they’re going for).
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Simple Song”


WEEKEND UPDATE
diabetic Paula Deen (KRW) responds to family problems & charges of racism

ANS doesn’t realize how bad his Sarah Palin impersonation is

Stefon’s St. Patrick’s Day plans involve a long kiss with SEM

— Meh, not sure I need a second appearance from Kristen’s Paula Deen, after her first appearance in a sketch from the preceding season’s Scarlett Johansson episode. I was okay-ish with that sketch back then (probably only because I had just suffered through that St. Kat’s Middle sketch and was desperate for a laugh), but this impression of Kristen’s, and, more specifically, that voice she uses, are all better left in small doses. I didn’t even remember until now that this impression of Kristen’s ever made a second appearance.
— Well, just now, Kristen’s Deen made a passing mention of the Three Stooges (or, as she calls, “a three stooge”), so that’s something, at least (for me, anyway).
— What the hell was with that ending of Kristen’s Deen commentary??? Was that even an ending???
— Ha, Andy showing up doing Tina Fey’s trademark impression, Sarah Palin.
— I like the meta, self-aware direction this Palin commentary has gone, with a sotto voce Seth calling Andy out on all the inaccurate things he’s doing in his Palin impression, and how he should just leave this impression to Tina.
— Ha, speaking of meta, I love Andy quoting “Daaa Bears!” as one of Palin’s alleged catchphrases.
— Here’s our Stefon commentary. This particular one is fairly important, as a special moment happens at one point during it.
— Funniest comments from Stefon tonight are the mention of an old Pakistani woman that looks like a California Raisin, the trivia game “Shaun White or Bonnie Raitt?”, one of the clubs mentioned having the name “…………..(*looks around in a concerned manner*)…………Kevin????”, the mention of black Irish comedian Sinbad O’Connor (I wonder if the latter is writer John Mulaney making an intentional nod to a memorable line from SNL’s classic The Sinatra Group sketch), and Stefon’s explanation of what a Human Roomba is (the latter of which makes Bill bust up in particularly hard laughter, even moreso than he usually does in these Stefon commentaries whenever he reads a newly-rewritten line on the cue cards).
— And there’s the aforementioned special moment of tonight’s Stefon commentary, with him following his “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” button gift to Seth by suddenly giving the unsuspecting Seth a big, long kiss on the lips, complete with playful slaps to his face during the kiss. Certainly much more acceptable than most of SNL’s “men kissing each other for an unnecessary cheap laugh” moments from the late 90s to the early 10s, and it’s also yet another thing that continues the growth of the great story arc between Stefon and Seth.
STARS: ***½


PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER
(host) is outed as a racist zoophile by the ape he taught to speak (FRA)

— Good make-up on Fred, rendering him downright unrecognizable.
— A quintessential example of a “Jonah Hill as a character who gets humiliated by something personal about himself getting exposed” sketch that seems to be his SNL trademark (aside from the Six Year Old sketches), as this type of sketch (often involving Jonah getting called out on clogging a toilet) appears at least once in a lot of his hosting stints.
— I’m not enjoying this sketch. Even for “immature, crude humor” standards, it feels below par and isn’t remotely funny to me. Also not helping is Fred’s delivery. Something about the VERY slow-paced, beast-like, slightly-hard-to-understand delivery Fred’s deliberately using as the ape when disclosing all of Jonah’s deviant actions is getting on my nerves.
— Overall, oof. Didn’t care for this AT ALL.
STARS: *


LIZA MINNELLI TRIES TO TURN OFF A LAMP
on Cats’ opening night, Liza Minnelli (KRW) does what the title above says

— A variation of Kristen’s Ann-Margret Tries To Throw Away A Wad Of Paper Into A Trashcan sketch. I liked that one, but yeah, I did NOT need a follow-up.
— This version seems to be more well-known among people than the Ann-Margret version, which is odd to me, because I’m finding this one to be FAR inferior to the Ann-Margret one. Also, the concept of “Celebrity has a difficult time doing a simple task” was far more fitting & fun with the Ann-Marget dancing routine. Compared to that, this Minnelli sketch is doing too much by having Kristen’s Minnelli wandering around aimlessly and rambling about random things, and it’s not funny AT ALL to me. And at the risk of sounding redundant after what I just said about Fred’s voice in the preceding Primate Research Center sketch, adding to my lack of enjoyment of this Minnelli sketch is the annoying delivery Kristen’s using. I know she’s just trying to sound like Minnelli, but her attempt at it is annoying as hell to my ears.
STARS: *


SIDE NOTE: The mid-commercial break shot of SNL’s studio shows the set for a SportsCenter sketch finished being assembled on the home base stage while Jonah and Jay, both dressed in character (complete with wigs), can be seen among the performers taking their place for the sketch (screencap below).

However, when SNL comes back from the (very long) commercial break afterwards, what do we see? Jonah dressed as himself and standing by the audience while introducing The Shins again, who proceed to launch into their second musical performance. So…what the hell?!? What happened??? Why’d SNL decide at LITERALLY the last minute to cut the SportsCenter sketch, after going through all the trouble of getting the set assembled and getting all the performers into costume? I guess they realized during the commercial break that there’s not enough time to do that sketch AND the 10-to-1 sketch that we’ll be seeing after the second Shins performance. And, knowing in hindsight what the ending of the 10-to-1 sketch has in store for us, I assume SNL didn’t want to risk the ending of that 10-to-1 sketch getting cut off due to the show running long, so they decided to scrap the about-to-air SportsCenter sketch.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “It’s Only Life”


ANNIVERSARY SONG
(host)’s anniversary surprise for (KRW) turns into “C U When U Get There”

— A funny unexpected turn with the soft, classical music suddenly turning into upbeat hip-hop music, and Jonah breaking out into a singing of Coolio’s “C U When U Get There”, all to Kristen’s utter confusion. All the absurdity here is pretty fun.
— Now this has gotten even more fun with Kristen having a change of heart and deciding to happily go along with the “C U When U Get There” musical number, after Jonah wins her over with his big explanation for why he’s using that as their anniversary song.
— Oh, hell yeah. Now this has gotten EVEN MORE fun with all of the performers dancing their way off the set and, while still dancing and singing “C U When U Get There”, going through SNL’s studio and interacting with the audience.
— I like how, while the performers are going through SNL’s studio, Kristen and Jonah are starting to comically exaggerate their singing to each other, in a manner that you can tell they’re having so much fun with each other. They’ve both been having strong chemistry all throughout tonight’s episode. Even at the end of that Liza Minnelli sketch that I absolutely hated, we got to see Kristen and Jonah having fun together with the goofy dance they were doing while hamming it up in each other’s faces.
— Ha, an absolutely perfect ending, with the In Memoriam graphic of Coolio, which, as soon as it showed up, initially made some viewers back in 2012 (including myself) think “Wait, WTF? Coolio DIED?!? When did this happen? How come I’m just now hearing about this, in an SNL sketch of all things?”, until you notice the year they put for his death: 3162. Absolutely hilarious and awesome.
STARS: ****½ (the entire last minute of this sketch was great enough to bump the rating up)


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The first half of this episode was absolutely fine, but once Weekend Update ended, the show crashed-and-burned hard with the first two post-Update sketches (which worryingly seems to be becoming a trend for this season lately, given the fact that the post-Update half of the preceding Lindsay Lohan episode also fell horribly apart), only for the show to thankfully rebound nicely with the very enjoyable 10-to-1 sketch.
— This episode seemed to have a lower-than-usual number of sketches, which is odd, because nothing felt particularly long in this episode, aside from Weekend Update. Update must’ve been even longer than I thought if it took up THAT much of the show to the degree that it left a shorter-than-usual amount of time for sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Anniversary Song
Six Year Old
The Rush Limbaugh Show
Monologue
Weekend Update
Science Finders
J-Pop America Fun Time Now!
Liza Minnelli Tries To Turn Off A Lamp
Primate Research Center


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lindsay Lohan)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Sofia Vergara hosts. We also get a new female addition to the cast, a certain female who’s still in the cast today in 2020.

Posted on

March 3, 2012 – Lindsay Lohan / Jack White (S37 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

FOX REPORT W/ SHEPARD SMITH
Shepard Smith (BIH) checks in with Mitt Romney (JAS) & sons

— Feels a bit odd in hindsight seeing Kristen playing Ann Romney (which I forgot she ever did), given the fact that a certain upcoming new female cast member (joining the show two episodes from now) would have a breakout moment doing a well-received take on Ann Romney in a Weekend Update commentary the following season.
— The joke about America indifferently opting to vote for Mitt Romney “…….I guess” was already made on Weekend Update in a previous episode this season.
— Ha, for once in SNL history, there’s a shortage of white guys in the cast, to the degree that they’re forced to cast the Weekend-Update-only Seth Meyers and writer Mike O’Brien as two of Mitt Romney’s five sons in this cold opening.
— Bobby, as one of Romney’s five sons: “I’m the rebel…(*whispers into the camera*) because I eat sugar!”
— The disturbing back-and-forths that Bill’s Shepard Smith occasionally has with his mother’s skeleton are very funny.
— Bill’s Shepard Smith, after his interview with Romney’s five sons: “My thanks to Stephen King for creating those boys!”
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
despite JIF’s reassurance of trust in host, Jon Hamm [real] is on standby

— Long before the audience has stopped their opening applause, Lindsay Lohan oddly chooses to begin saying her lines (the lines after the usual “Thank you”s), causing the applause to drown out her lines a little bit at first. Is she that out of practice with SNL? Then again, it HAS been 6 years since she last hosted prior to this.
— Lindsay, regarding Kenan checking her eyes: “You know, I should be checking your eyes.” Kenan: “Oh, I’ll save you the trouble. I’ve been stoned since Good Burger.”
— As Kristen makes her exit, a woman in the audience can be heard maniacally shrieking at the top of her lungs in an excited manner, “KRISTEN WIIIIIIIG!!!!”
— Jimmy Fallon cameo.
— This monologue has been featuring lots of SNL desperately trying to remind us of the positive aspects from the earlier career of the troubled Lindsay Lohan. I mean, I get why SNL’s doing that, but I don’t like how it feels like they’re trying too hard, and something about that feels a little depressing to me. I wonder if the latter is also caused by me knowing in hindsight that, despite SNL’s efforts, this episode doesn’t end up jumpstarting a big comeback in Lindsay’s career that SNL intended.
— Ha, now we get Jon Hamm, a cameo I’m more happy to see (nothing against Jimmy, though). We also get a comical mention of him being on standby as tonight’s backup host, though sadly, that also reminds me of the real-life situation with SNL having Chris Rock on standby as a backup host for the season 23 Chris Farley-hosted episode, due to the horrible state Farley’s health was in at the time.
STARS: **


THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF DISNEY
Belle (ABE) & other Disney princesses misbehave

— A very fun and solid concept.
— A good laugh from the bit with Nasim’s Jasmine disclosing the fact that she unknowingly had sex with Iago, the parrot.
— I absolutely love the bit with the dwarves’ hands being seen high-fiving Vanessa’s Snow White in response to a witty remark she made in her confessional.
STARS: ****


2012 PSYCHIC AWARDS
In Memoriam reel at Psychic Awards honors not-yet-deceased clarivoyants

— Funny bit with the psychic nominees in one award category being shown reacting in disappointment over losing long before the winner is actually announced.
— Some amusing corny awards show-esque quips from Andy throughout this sketch.
— Odd how this is the second awards show sketch this season centered around an In Memoriam montage (the first sketch being the Adult Video Awards sketch from the Charles Barkley episode). However, there’s an original twist to this In Memoriam montage, with it being for the psychics and magicians we’re going to lose in the coming year.
— Some pretty solid gags during the In Memoriam part, such as the bird flu bit with Abby, and the diabetes bit with Bobby. Odd coincidence, though, that that’s the second sugar-eating joke with Bobby in tonight’s episode alone (the first was mentioned in my review of the cold opening).
STARS: ***½


SCARED STRAIGHT
Lorenzo McIntosh & host present teens with unpleasant prison scenarios

— This recurring sketch makes its first appearance in a year, and this ends up being its final appearance.
— A funny eventual reveal that Lindsay’s playing herself.
— Geez, Lindsay botched the punchline to that Tweety joke by pausing for an absurdly long time before delivering it.
— The usual laughs from this recurring sketch’s movie references and prison rape mentions, even if it’s old hat by now.
— More sloppiness from Lindsay, as she’s stumbling like crazy over her stretch of dialogue right now.
— Holy hell, I’m a bit surprised that AIDS joke was allowed to get through. Even Jason’s character expresses complete disbelief over hearing that (I know he usually does that in response to the crude prison rape mentions in these sketches, but it seemed especially believable when he did it this time).
— Yeah, the more this sketch is going on, the more Lindsay is killing the momentum of it for me. Her delivery here is so off.
— Ha, the usual bit at the end of this recurring sketch where Jason intentionally cracks the other performers up by hopping up in a sitting position onto the desk is even funnier than usual this time, with the performers laughing particularly hard, even Jason himself. That alone makes up for any shortcomings in tonight’s overall Scared Straight installment, and is actually a good and fitting note to officially end this recurring sketch’s run on.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Love Interruption”


WEEKEND UPDATE
James Carville (BIH) disparages Rush Limbaugh, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich

Snooki (BOM) may have been impregnated by Jon Hamm [real]

— Good to see Bill’s always-fun James Carville impression back. I recently learned that there was supposed to be a James Carville commentary on Update in the then-recent Zooey Deschanel episode, but due to an eye infection causing Bill to have to drop out from appearing on the show that weekend, the intended James Carville commentary was repurposed as an Arianna Huffington commentary for Nasim.
— I laughed more than I probably should’ve at Bill-as-Carville’s only-mildly-funny explanation for why he refers to his penis as his “Harry Connick Jr.”.
— A huge laugh from Bill’s Carville imitating what his penis looks like.
— I’m a bit surprised this is the first Update commentary Bobby’s Snooki has done in a somewhat long time.
— As I mentioned in previous episode reviews, Bobby’s one of the few people in recent SNL years who can make the hacky “man in drag” trope enjoyable.
— When discussing what the name of Bobby-as-Snooki’s baby might be, I loved Bobby’s Snooki responding to Seth’s “And if it’s a girl?” question by just saying “God help us all” in a deadpan voice.
STARS: ***


DELINQUENT GIRL TEEN GANG
in a movie, delinquent girl (FRA) dances in the street & gets hit by cars

— Those awful “funny” names during the opening title sequence, especially the name Skipper St. Junt (the type of name that’s one of James Anderson’s many horrible trademarks as an SNL writer) are already making me worried about this sketch.
— And here to make me even MORE worried about this sketch is the fact that the main role features Fred in drag. (*groooooaaaaaaan*) I said earlier in this review that Bobby has the ability to overcome the hackiness of the “man in drag” trope. Well, Fred, on the other hand, epitomizes the hackiness of the “man in drag” trope (in his later seasons, at least).
— Not even a mere chuckle from me in response to a dummy of Fred’s body being thrown into the shot after Fred’s character first gets hit by a car off-camera.
— Aaaaaaaaaaand the already-bad Fred-gets-hit-by-a-car-off-camera-followed-by-a-dummy-of-his-body-being-thrown-into-the-shot gag gets repeated over and over as the main joke of this sketch. Not only is this painfully unfunny, but it’s not even the first time SNL used this premise. The premise was previously done in that awful Nascarettes sketch (which was also written by James Anderson, IIRC) from the season 32 Jaime Pressly episode.
— Ugh at that ending with the camera showing a close-up of Fred exaggeratedly saying an angry “Yooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!” at Bill, a quintessential annoying Fred Armisen moment in these later seasons of his SNL tenure.
STARS: *


AFROS
a couple (ANS) & (KRW) shares large hair & wedding announcement

— First Digital Short we’ve gotten in two whole months, which is a shockingly long gap compared to the frequency these Lonely Island shorts typically appear. Yet another sign that the glory days of the Digital Shorts are sadly far behind us this season.
— WHAT IN THE…??? What am I watching?!? I feel like I should at least give credit for creativity, but the alleged creativity of this short ain’t exactly entertaining me.
— Kenan’s hammily-delivered interjections are providing the only thing close to amusement that I’m getting from this short so far.
— WTF at that “Save the date” reveal?
— A poor excuse for an ending.
— Overall, aside from Kenan, this short was wretched. The Digital Shorts continue to have a depressingly rough season. And, man, this short made for a terrible one-two punch with that Delinquent Girl Teen Gang sketch that preceded this.
STARS: *½


B108 FM
morning deejays Richard (TAK) & Buffalo (BOM) mask pathos with enthusiasm

— Bobby and Taran are fun in these roles.
— So far, the sketch’s humor is nothing particularly great, but it’s passable (especially compared to the two unwatchable segments that preceded this), and is helped by the non-Lindsay performers. (Lindsay’s not awful here, but she’s not adding anything for me.)
STARS: ***


CHANTIX
Rerun from 1/7/12


HOUSE SITTING
the mysterious phone calls terrorizing (KRW) are coming from her own butt

— When a neckbrace-wearing Kristen explains to Lindsay what happened to her neck, I kinda like the fake-out with her initially asking “You know what Wesson Oil is?”, and then saying “Yeah, I was on my way to buy some and I got hit by a car.”
— OH, NO. After an upswing (as mild as it was) that the dire quality of this episode’s post-Weekend Update half took with the B108 FM sketch and even the Chantix rerun, it looks like we’re back to awfulness, as Kristen’s tense, suspenseful phone calls throughout this sketch aren’t remotely funny, and are annoyingly repetitive, not helped by how irritating Kristen’s intentional mock-dramatic overacting is.
— A lame butt-dialing reveal.
— Ugh, terrible ending, and something about the execution of it seemed off.
STARS: *


VERIZON
Another repeated commercial (this time from 2/11/12), and so soon after the first repeated commercial tonight? Man, between how horrible most of the last few sketches/shorts have been, and now all of these repeated commercials, this episode has fallen off a cliff HARD in the post-Weekend Update half.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sixteen Saltines”


RUDE BUDDHA!
Rude Buddha (ANS) insults & harasses his disciples behind their backs

— Ah, good ol’ Andy, here to hopefully save the dire back half of this episode with his reliable goofiness. (Then again, he was responsible for that dreadful Digital Short earlier tonight, so…)
— Okay, even though I’m still enjoying Andy’s performance here, it turns out that the material of this sketch itself is kind of a wash. Just generic, cliched, ho-hum, “guy acts like an immature jackass” humor, but luckily for SNL, Andy is good at pulling that kind of humor off. In hindsight, knowing this ends up being Andy’s final season, I kinda see certain things about this sketch as a sign that Andy’s on his way out at SNL.
— The “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” ending had me howling.
STARS: ***


70’S ALBUM
Weird Guy By A Fire (JAS) yearns for a collection of music from the ’70s

— Hilarious fake-out with Jason, in the setting of a typical “person advertises an album of musical hits from a past decade” commercial, asking us “Wouldn’t it be great to get songs from the 70s on one 8-disc set?”, and then he just turns away from the camera and casually tends to the fire in his fireplace for a long time, before turning back to the camera and simply asking us, “That’d be great, right?”
— A funny “This has been a weird guy by a fire” ending title reveal. Rather Jack Handey-ish, which I love.
STARS: ****


70’S ALBUM
Weird Guy By A Fire burns his hand when the fireplace flares up

— Ooooookay, so a follow-up to the first 70s Album ad is airing IMMEDIATELY after it, with nothing separating them (not even a real-life commercial break, like what separated Kristen’s first two Glenda Okones For Mayor ads from this season’s Daniel Radcliffe episode)??? Apparently, that wasn’t originally planned, judging by the fact that a simple black screen with the words “70s Album #2” (which was apparently some kind of cue screen for the crew in SNL’s control room) accidentally flashes onscreen for a nanosecond right before this second 70s Album ad plays. Judging from this sloppiness, SNL must be scrambling to fill extra airtime at this point of the show. (I think I recall hearing that these two 70s Album ads originally got cut after dress rehearsal from a then-recent episode.)
— Jason, to us: “Remember that thing I was saying about the 70s music?” Uh, of course we remember, because we literally saw the first 70s Album ad just a few seconds ago. Yeah, more and more, it’s becoming clear that SNL intended these two ads to be separated farther apart in the show. A shame they had to bunch these two ads together in a last-minute mad rush to fill in extra airtime.
— Another funny ending title reveal (“This has been that same guy burning his hand”) after Jason’s reaction to burning his hand (which was funny in itself).
— This overall second 70s Album ad was somewhat marred by it being aired right after the first one, but it still worked well enough for me. I’ve never seen the rerun version of this episode, and I’m a little curious if SNL altered the lineup in it by placing the two 70s Album ads farther apart than they aired in the live show. Thanks in advance if anyone answers.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The first half of this episode was fine, aside from the monologue, but man, did that post-Weekend Update half have a lot of big problems. Even the sloppiness of SNL airing those two funny 70s Album ads back-to-back instead of spread apart like they were intended to added to the very “off” feel of the post-Update half. (That, combined with SNL airing two repeated commercials fairly close together in the back half, makes me wonder if something went wrong at the show that threw the episode’s scheduled timing off.) Thinking back, the post-Update half actually had as many (if not more than) good segments as it had bad segments, but 1) most of the good segments were nothing special at all and didn’t rise above an average level, and 2) all of the bad segments were so bad that they overshadow the good in that half of the show. Some of the worst segments of this entire season aired in the back half of this episode. As a host, Lindsay Lohan had a really rough go in the Scared Straight sketch, but otherwise, she didn’t hurt this episode. However, she didn’t help it either, and I didn’t get a single laugh from her all night, aside from her “And I’m Lindsay Lohan” reveal in the aforementioned Scared Straight sketch. (Then again, it’s not like she was known to be a laugh riot in her previous hosting stints either.)


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
70’s Album (Part 1)
The Real Housewives Of Disney
2012 Psychic Awards
70’s Album (Part 2)
Weekend Update
Fox Report w/ Shepard Smith
B108 FM
Scared Straight
Rude Buddha!
Monologue
Afros
House Sitting
Delinquent Girl Teen Gang


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Maya Rudolph)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jonah Hill

Posted on

February 18, 2012 – Maya Rudolph / Sleigh Bells (S37 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NEW YORK SPORTS NOW
Asian stereotype puns inspired by Jeremy Lin are OK

— The format of this reminds me of the Inside The NBA sketch from earlier this season, and even has most of the same cast members in the sports anchor roles, including Bill as the lead anchor.
— A good spoof of the “Lin-sanity” craze going on at the time, and the guys’ performances as the anchors are a lot of fun.
— Funny running bit with Jay and Kenan’s characters hypocritically calling Taran’s character out on his inappropriate black stereotype jokes, after Jay and Kenan’s characters themselves made plenty of Asian stereotype jokes about Jeremy Lin.
— I love Bill’s throwaway line at the end about how their next discussion about Jeremy Lin will be with Don Rickles and a crotchety WWII veteran.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
MAR sings “Do You Want To Funk?” to conquests including Paul Simon [real]

— To me, it feels kinda odd seeing Maya Rudolph hosting, though not odd in a bad way.
— Seems to be a thing for SNL to have some former female cast members jokingly mention in their monologue that their SNL tenure was filled with lots of behind-the-scenes sex, as Molly Shannon did the same thing in her season 32 monologue. The difference is that the sex thing was just a small portion of Molly’s monologue, whereas it’s the main premise of this Maya Rudolph monologue.
— It’s a given that Maya would do a musical monologue, but at least it has a fun vibe.
— A rare non-Update appearance for Seth.
— Speaking of rare non-Update appearances, we get freakin’ Stefon hanging out with Lorne and Paul Simon.
— I always like monologues like this where the host sings around the entire studio & backstage, especially when the host doing that is a former cast member (Mike Myers, Jimmy Fallon, etc.).
STARS: ***½


BRONX BEAT WITH BETTY AND JODI
crew members (ANS) & (Justin Timberlake) reciprocate flirting

— Much like Maya making a cameo in the preceding season’s Amy Poehler-hosted episode to do a Bronx Beat reprisal, we get Amy making a cameo in this Maya Rudolph-hosted episode to do a Bronx Beat reprisal.
— The usual funny banter from Amy and Maya in the pre-interview portion of this recurring sketch.
— Great ad-libs from Amy and Maya when Maya unintentionally starts literally getting choked-up when doing the crying routine she usually does in these sketches.
— Random Justin Timberlake out of nowhere.
— We actually get a change of pace in this recurring sketch, with the guests played by Justin and Andy basically being male versions of Amy and Maya’s characters, and hitting on them in the same manner that Amy and Maya’s characters usually do to their guests. I’m finding this to be very solid.
— Hilarious comment from a horny Amy about putting her phone on vibrate and calling herself over and over again.
STARS: ****


MAYA ANGELOU’S: I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD LAUGHS!
Maya Angelou (MAR) has a prank show

— Maya is playing Maya Angelou to utter perfection here.
— It took SNL three tries, but they FINALLY got a strong sketch out of the “prankster has friendly conversations with their victim after pranking them” concept. (The previous two instances of this concept was with Tim McGraw and Jeff Bridges.)
— A big laugh from the following exchange between Kenan’s Cornel West and Maya’s Maya Angelou, delivered in their usual noble, poignant, slow-paced manner: “Sister Maya, was this an act of malice?” “No, Brother West, it was an act of whimsy.”
— Bill was born to play Stephen King, given their natural facial resemblance to each other.
STARS: ****½


BABY BLUE IVY
Prince (FRA) & other celebs visit new parents Jay-Z (JAP) & Beyonce (MAR)

— A pretty good laugh from Maya’s Beyonce casually telling Andy, “Thank you, white butler.”
— Feels kinda weird seeing a reprisal of the “Prince whispers his statements into Beyonce’s ear” running gag from the old Prince Show sketches being done in THIS sketch.
— Nasim as Nicki Minaj?!?!?!? I…I have no idea what to say.
— Taran’s goofy “Bdaaaah!” portrayal of Brad Pitt is growing on me.
— Kristen’s speechless, humble portrayal of Taylor Swift always makes me laugh, especially in this particular context.
— The Bon Iver part is going on awfully long (gotta milk that sweet Timberlake airtime, I guess), but there are a few funny jokes within it.
— Not sure what happened, but somebody seemed to miss a cue at the end of this sketch, as Maya was forced to say “Byeee!” to us in a goofy voice TWICE, the second instance coming after a long stretch of silence, all the while Fred and Kristen’s Prince and Taylor Swift popped up in the background outside the window. Then, right before the screen fades to black while the audience is applauding, Maya laughs out of character at the awkwardness of what just happened. Again, not sure what went wrong, but this whole gaffe amused me.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Comeback Kid”


WEEKEND UPDATE
incredulous SEM & AMP say “Really!?!” to reactionary birth control talk

— The return of the Seth-and-Amy-helmed version of the recurring “Really?!?” segment.
— The funny Transvaginal/Lady Business bit from Amy during the “Really?!?” segment feels kinda Tina Fey-esque.
— Tonight’s overall “Really?!?” segment wasn’t all that memorable as a whole. It was carried by Seth and Amy’s always-fun chemistry with each other.
— A pretty funny transition regarding Seth “making” Amy stick around to tell Update jokes.
— Wow, a rarity, with tonight’s overall Update having no actual guest commentaries at all. As far as I know, as of November 2020, this is the last Update to feature no guest commentaries.
STARS: ***


WHAT UP WITH THAT? PRESIDENTS’ DAY EDITION
Bill O’Reilly & Kate Upton [real] for Presidents’ Day

 

— After retiring this recurring sketch with the special installment that appeared in the preceding season’s Ed Helms episode, SNL already brings it out of retirement. As I explained in my review of the Ed Helms installment, the reason for SNL un-retiring this recurring sketch so soon is because when Maya came in this week, she reeeaaaaallly wanted to do a What Up With That, so they brought it back, despite all the closure they gave it in the Ed Helms installment.
— Uh, what the hell happened during Taran’s intro of the three guests? He stumbled over a word at the beginning of it, then awkwardly paused for a long time while just staring at the camera, before finally continuing. Very odd. Did the cue cards accidentally get dropped on the floor during this part or something?
— No comment from me regarding Bill Fucking O’Reilly being one of the guests in this.
— A fairly fun and fitting character for Maya to play in this recurring sketch.
— Overall, as a whole, this What Up With That installment was fine and, as always, certainly fun, but it was just a standard installment, which feels a little forgettable compared to 1) all the special things they did in the last installment prior to this, and 2) the noteworthy things that happen in the next (and final) installment from the following season’s Martin Short episode.
STARS: ***½


SUPER SHOWCASE
game show models (KRW) & (MAR) present prizes not won

— A sketch well-known for featuring a laughing meltdown among the performers.
— Aaaaand there’s the point where things famously start going off the rails, when Maya and Kristen make a delayed entrance in a golf cart.
— Despite what a mess this sketch has unintentionally become, it’s a pretty fun mess. I’m not always forgiving of when sketches go off the rails (especially not when, say, Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz are involved), but I have no issues with this instance. While this laughing meltdown is no Debbie Downer-level classic for me personally, it’s infectious.
— Props to Vanessa for being the only performer managing to stay in character the whole time.
STARS: ***½


THE OBAMA SHOW
Barack (FRA) & Michelle (MAR) Obama copy The Cosby Show to fight obesity

— A great concept, doing a hybrid of the Obamas and the Huxtables.
— The recreation of the Cosby Show opening credits is absolutely spot-on and a lot of fun, right down to the very funny detail of Jason’s Joe Biden being credited as “Joe Jamal-Biden”.
— This is only the second of a mere THREE appearances that Fred’s Obama makes all season, and it’s easily one of Fred’s better Obama performances. He’s doing a solid mixture of Obama and Cosby’s voices.
— I always love Maya’s spot-on imitation of Clair Huxtable’s patented rants, which we previously saw Maya do in a Weekend Update commentary from season 30 where she and Kenan played Clair and Cliff Huxtable.
— Jason’s Biden entering in that trendy 90s outfit is hilarious.
— I like Maya’s ad-lib about eating the rice cake that’s unintentionally on the floor.
— Fun use of Amy’s Hillary Clinton at the end.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “End Of The Line”


HOW’S HE DOING?
black voters will unconditionally support Barack Obama

— The debut of this occasionally-appearing recurring sketch.
— Good to see Jay getting a lot of airtime tonight, which is rare for him this season.
— The “What Would It Take?” segment is particularly solid.
— I like how stumped the guests initially are over the question of if Obama would lose their vote if he was arrested for the 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur.
— The black-centric humor in this sketch feels refreshing and much-needed for this SNL era, and this sketch is succeeding at that type of humor more than the White People Problems sketch (from this season’s Charles Barkley episode) did for me. This How’s He Doing sketch feels a bit like a precursor to the black-centric humor that SNL’s current era (mid-2010s to present) is really good at doing.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid, fun, and very consistent episode. There were no segments I disliked, and several segments stood out as strong. Maya Rudolph’s performances added to the fun atmosphere of this episode.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Maya Angelou’s: I Know Why The Caged Bird Laughs!
The Obama Show
Bronx Beat with Betty and Jodi
How’s He Doing?
New York Sports Now
Monologue
Super Showcase
What Up With That? Presidents’ Day Edition
Weekend Update
Baby Blue Ivy


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Zooey Deschanel)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Lindsay Lohan

Posted on

February 11, 2012 – Zooey Deschanel / Karmin (S37 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROMNEY: BELIEVE IN AMERICA
Mitt Romney (JAS) puts a positive spin on his GOP primary losses

— Blah, another Jason’s-Mitt-Romney-speaking-straight-to-the-camera cold opening, after the weak one from two episodes prior. This is also the FOURTH consecutive cold opening centered around a republican presidential candidate, three of which feature the candidate just speaking straight to the camera, a cold opening trope that’s rarely fun to watch. Yes, I’m aware that this is during the 2012 republican presidential primaries, but 1) SNL needs to do more fun and creative stuff more often with these republican candidate cold openings, like they did with the Newt Gingrich: Moon President cold opening in the preceding episode, and 2) I wonder if the over-reliance on these republican presidential candidate cold openings lately is a byproduct of SNL intentionally(?) phasing out Fred’s Obama, given how little it appears this season. Not that seeing it more often would be a better alternative to these dull republican-presidential-candidate-speaks-straight-to-the-camera cold openings.
— Them playing the Debbie Downer “wah-wahhhhhh” sound effect when pointing out Newt Gingrich’s poor percentage at the Colorado primary is sadly the closest to an interesting thing in this cold opening so far.
— (*groan*) I’m tired of all these percentage points they keep showing. Even the audience’s laughter, which started out fine, is now starting to get kinda tepid.
— The dog endlessly barking in an alarmed manner when being approached by the “friendly” and “personable” Mitt Romney is pretty funny.
— A nice changing-up of the usual LFNY routine, with Jason’s Romney stopping mid-LFNY to plead to his dog to stop barking because it’s ruining Romney’s LFNY moment.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host plays ukulele & sings a song about a forgotten Valentine’s Day

— I can’t find anything at all to say about Zooey Deschanel’s Valentine’s song so far, but it’s fine and has some decent laughs.
STARS: ***


CHRYSLER
mad Clint Eastwood (BIH) denies Chrysler commercial is political metaphor

— Bill’s intense ranting as Clint Eastwood is hilarious, and a funny spoof of the real Super Bowl commercial that Eastwood did around this time.
— Bill-as-Eastwood’s angry exclamation of “Pussy!” towards Rick Santorum had me howling.
STARS: ****


PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT
Super Bowl halftime show spurs responses

— The debut of Taran’s Piers Morgan impression.
— Jason’s mere look as Redfoo is hilarious.
— A very amusing take on Piers Morgan from Taran.
— Zooey’s doing a good spoof of typical moral-outraged mothers, and the “decency strap” she displays is great.
— Funny line from Kristen’s Madonna about Cee Lo Green being dressed as Janet Jackson’s boob during his Super Bowl halftime performance.
— I like Kristen’s Madonna doing the Vogue hand moves while flashing her blurred-out crotch.
STARS: ***½


LES JEUNES DE PARIS
The Artist (Jean Dujardin) dances monochromatically

— Ooh, this recurring sketch, which I always enjoy, has certainly taken a very different turn right now, by suddenly becoming a spoof of The Artist, complete with an appearance from The Artist’s Jean Dujardin.
— This change of pace is an absolute blast so far, even moreso than this recurring sketch usually is. I can’t look away from the screen; I’m practically mesmerized by what I’m watching.
— Overall, I found this sketch to be absolutely perfect.
STARS: *****


LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA
Clint Eastwood (BIH) warns about Chinese in surprise Little Caesars spot

— More hilarious angry ranting from Bill’s Eastwood, and he had an especially funny line complaining about viewers “strokin’ it to those godaddy.com commercials”.
STARS: ****


NEWSPAPER
new reporter (host) can’t keep up with Front Page patter of (JAS) & (KRW)

— Our first sign that Bill Hader isn’t there live at SNL tonight, as he’s nowhere to be seen in this sketch filled with fast-talking 1940s characters, something that you know Bill would’ve been cast in (most likely in Jason’s role), as he’s a complete natural at pulling off old-timey roles like this. The reason for his absence in the live portions of tonight’s episode is because, IIRC, he suffered some sort of eye injury at some point that week (I don’t know the specifics of the eye injury) and wasn’t able to do the show that weekend. The only times we’ll be seeing him tonight are in pre-taped form. A little strange how some of the veterans in this cast have been absent from episodes lately, such as Andy in the Daniel Radcliffe episode and Bill in tonight’s episode.
— Even with the lack of Bill, the performers playing these old-timey, fast-talking characters are doing a fantastic job. Reminds me of how great SNL’s late 80s cast typically was at doing this type of sketch.
— Funny cutaway to Bobby’s insanely fast typing.
— Good line from Zooey: “Okay, straight-up – is everyone here on cocaine?”
STARS: ***½


THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Clint Eastwood (BIH) yields to Mexico, plugs Trojan Vibrations massager & The Dark Knight Rises

— A good cheap laugh from the visual of Bill-as-Eastwood’s pants being up to his chest.
— Another good visual, this time from Bill-as-Eastwood’s hair being blown back.
— The unexpected reveals of what unrelated product these Eastwood spots are advertising continue to be funny.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Broken Hearted”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Arianna Huffington (NAP) speaks to women’s issues currently in the news

Nicolas Cage [real] & his clone (ANS) complement & compliment each other

— The debut of Nasim’s Arianna Huffington impression, which would become a recurring Update feature. I remember, when this originally aired, I was bothered by Nasim taking over an impression that the undeservedly-fired-after-only-one-season Michaela Watkins previously not only did on Update (albeit only once), but had been doing prior to SNL, as seen by some online videos of her. Nasim’s Huffington appearances on Update would end up somewhat growing on me over time.
— After Nasim’s Huffington imitates President Obama’s supposedly-bad singing, I laughed at Seth responding to her, in an affable manner, “Yeah…that was WAY worse than when he did it.”
— Some good lines from Nasim’s Huffington, especially her bit at the end about Newt Gingrich.
— This Update keeps mentioning how successful the premiere of NBC’s then-new show Smash was. Feels odd seeing these mentions in hindsight, given that fact that, IIRC, Smash’s initial success sure didn’t end up lasting long, and the show would end up being canceled after only one or two seasons.
— A special edition of the recurring “Get In The Cage” segment, this time with Andy’s Nicolas Cage sitting alongside the real Nicolas Cage, the latter making his first SNL appearance in 20 years.
— Lots of fun interplay between the two Nicolas Cages, and it helps that SNL’s not going the corny, cliched route of “real celebrity confronts cast member impersonating them and disapproves of their impression”. I like the fact that the real Nicolas Cage is playing it completely straight by playing along with Andy’s Cage right from the start of this.
— Fantastic line about how all of the dialogue in a typical Nicolas Cage movie is either whispered or screamed.
STARS: ***


BEIN’ QUIRKY WITH ZOOEY DESCHANEL
Zooey Deschanel (ABE), Mary-Kate Olsen (host) & Bjork (KRW) act kooky

— Hmm, speaking of a celebrity being impersonated next to the real celebrity…
— Normally, I’d spew my usual complaints about SNL always over-relying on the tired “celebrity-hosted talk show” trope, but I’m just happy to see the usually-underused Abby get a rare lead role in a live sketch.
— Great to see Taran’s very funny Michael Cera impression back.
— Abby-as-Zooey’s brief song about garbage gave me a pretty good laugh.
— All the very random mini-segments throughout this talk show are pretty fun.
— I cracked up at the initial cutaway to Kristen’s Bjork shyly hiding in the doorway.
— I’m definitely finding this sketch more enjoyable than the usual celebrity-hosted talk show sketches in this era.
STARS: ***½


VERIZON
Verizon employee (BIH) confuses (FRA) with technology & handset options

— Some laughs from Bill’s increasingly-hard-to-follow, fast-paced technical mumbo-jumbo about phones to a confused Fred.
— The little “I live off a settlement” “You’re a Native American?” “Not on a settlement, off a settlement” non-sequitur between Fred and Bill was particularly funny.
— Pretty good punchline at the end.
STARS: ***½


PATIO PARTY
(KRW) & (host) build up guests’ hunger for crab legs at backyard cookout

— Was Bobby supposed to be seen jogging his way into the scene at the very beginning of this sketch, or was he genuinely late on his entrance?
— Blah, I am not caring for this at all so far. Also not helping this already-weak sketch is the fact that it features one of writer James Anderson’s worst trademarks: every character in it having goofy southern accents for no good reason.
— The ending actually kinda got a chuckle out of me, which is more than I can say for the rest of this sketch.
STARS: *½


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Whitney Houston marks her passing


WE’RE GOING TO MAKE TECHNOLOGY HUMP
electromechanical implements have sex

— The second and final installment of this sketch.
— I liked this as a creative, random one-time thing earlier this season, but I’m not sure I needed a second installment of it.
— I’m really liking the whole 1980s technology scene, featuring devices such as a Game Boy, a Duck Hunt gun, a pager, and a Rubik’s Cube.
— Despite my initial reservations, it turns out that I’m actually enjoying this second installment. Some really good gags here, such as the label-maker’s blurred-out crotch shot, and the label-maker printing out a paper that says “Yes” over and over during its lovemaking with a remote-controlled car.
— Ehh, wasn’t necessary to basically rehash the exact same viewer letter that was shown in the first installment of this.
— I love Andy’s sly delivery of “Now that’s a job I can do overtime!” as the voice of a power drill.
— Ha, the ending of the final technology-humping scene is great, with a child-aged phone walking in on its parents having sex.
— Overall, not only did this second installment prove my initial doubts about it completely wrong, but I actually liked it more than the first installment. While the first one was fine, my problem with it was that the three technology-humping scenes within it were too same-y for my likes, and thus, it got a little redundant by the third one. Tonight’s installment, on the other hand, had enough big and fun differences between each technology-humping scene to keep the whole concept fresh.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Told You So”


VICTORIAN LADIES
Victorian pen pal spinsters (KRW) & (host) will settle for doofuses

— I don’t like how this is basically a Victorian-themed variation of that weak Ferrari Calendar sketch from this season’s Anna Faris episode, only with this sketch actually showing the grotesque men that the characters played by Kristen and the host fawn over. Being able to see the grotesque men this time isn’t making this tepid material any funnier, nor is the fact that the grotesque men in this one have the added factor of having a low IQ.
— I did kinda laugh just now at the random bit with Kristen lovingly keeping the severed thumb of her deceased lover on a necklace she’s currently wearing.
— What…the…HELL was with that non-sequitur 1960s surfing ending??? I do like, though, how the SNL bumper photo that’s shown immediately afterwards is related to this sketch’s ending, by showing Zooey, as herself, dressed like a 1960s surfer, with a background image of a surfing wave.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good and consistent episode, other than a weak cold opening and two big misfires towards the end of the show. This episode also thankfully contained a higher number of standout strong segments than the preceding two episodes had.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Les Jeunes de Paris
We’re Going To Make Technology Hump
Chrysler
Little Caesars Pizza
Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel
Newspaper
Piers Morgan Tonight
The Dark Knight Rises
Verizon
Weekend Update
Monologue
Romney: Believe In America
Patio Party / Victorian Ladies (tie)


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Channing Tatum)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Maya Rudolph

Posted on

February 4, 2012 – Channing Tatum / Bon Iver (S37 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

NEWT GINGRICH: MOON PRESIDENT
in 2014, triumphant Moon President Newt Gingrich (BOM) sees Earth explode

— This is the third consecutive cold opening about a republican presidential candidate, the last two of which have been huge misses, but this is a refreshing and creative change of pace, with Bobby’s Newt Gingrich being the moon president two years in the future. This is fun.
— Interesting seeing Bill do a Ronald Reagan impression.
— Bobby’s Gingrich, as his salutation to Nasim: “And may divorce be with you.”
— Some funny insane embellishments in how Gingrich’s presidency will go.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
audience members deny having been customers of former stripper host

 

— A nice confident entrance from Channing Tatum, even sliding down the banister of the stairs in front of the entrance door, which I’ve never seen a host do.
— Good appearance from Kenan as “Big Ronnie”, Channing’s guard.
— A funny overconfident delivery from Taran of “I’ll have you know we haven’t had sex in 10 years!”
— Not caring at all for the turn with Channing’s whole interaction with Fred.
— Andy gets a laugh with his usual, reliable goofiness.
STARS: **½


IT’S GETTING FREAKY WITH CEE LO GREEN!
Matthew McConaughey (host) & Colonel Nasty (BIH) counsel

— The second and final appearance of this sketch.
— Only three segments into the first episode after Paul Brittain’s mysterious mid-season departure, and SNL has already had to replace a role of his. One of the horn players in the band within this talk show sketch was played by Paul in the first installment, and Fred has now taken over that role, even wearing the same wig Paul wore.
— A good Matthew McConaughey impression from Channing, but like I said in a previous episode review, McConaughey impressions are a dime a dozen.
— Much like in a typical Justin Timberlake-hosted episode, we have female audience members screaming at practically everything Channing says and does.
— This is still a fairly fun installment of this sketch, but I’m not finding it to be quite as fun or enjoyable as the first installment. It’s probably for the best that SNL ended up retiring this sketch after only two installments.
STARS: ***


DOWNTON ABBEY
Spike TV promo for Downton Abbey is geared toward a young audience

— Between the ESPN Bowl Madness commercial from two episodes prior and now this commercial, Andy’s carving out a niche for himself lately as a solid voice-over of a certain style of SNL commercials, which is interesting in hindsight, knowing we’re in the final months of Andy’s SNL tenure.
— Funny concept of Spike TV advertising Downton Abbey in their usual “x-treme”, bro-type manner.
— A solid ending line, with the voice-over opting to call Downton Abbey “Fancy Entourage”.
STARS: ***½


NBC FOOTBALL PROMO
NBC’s Super Bowl coverage team utters eccentricities during a promo shoot

— A good laugh from Kenan’s random breastfeeding line.
— A lot of funny odd, disturbing revelations from each anchor before they all do their lower-head-and-then-slowly-raise-it bits, though the latter is getting a little too redundant for me.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & probed astronaut (host) are ineffectual

— (*groan*)
— Hmm, the “funny story” that Bill recounts to us (him telling his wife, in regards to her new pantsuit, “If I wanted to make love to a man, I’d join the navy!”) is something I can picture Kenan’s future recurring character, Reese DeWhat, saying during the usual parts of each Cinema Classics sketch where he recounts a rude thing he once said to his wife. That makes sense, given the fact that these Secret Word sketches are written by the same writer(s) who would write the Cinema Classics sketches (James Anderson and/or Kent Sublette). I’m not 100% sure about that, though, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
— Channing’s character, while a change of pace for this recurring sketch, isn’t quite working for me the way most of the characters played by SNL hosts in these Secret Word sketches do. Bill’s seriously the only thing holding this sketch together for me.
— Ugh, somebody shut this Mindy Grayson character the fuck up already. This character, who was already annoying to begin with, continues to get even more and more on my nerves with each passing installment of this sketch lately.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Holocene”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Guy Fieri (BOM) presents some impractical Super Bowl party food ideas

Lana Del Rey (KRW) addresses negative reaction to her performance on SNL

— Seth, to Bobby’s Guy Fieri: “Guy, I’m excited for these recipes. Are you ready?” Bobby’s Guy Fieri: “I was born crazy!”
— Bobby’s always fun as Guy Fieri, and is elevating the okay material he’s been given in this commentary.
— Boy, Bobby’s delivery has suddenly started getting really stumbly during the portion of the commentary where he list off the many ingredients of a complicated meal. In his defense, he does have a lot of wordy dialogue in this portion.
— Ah, another instance of Update’s tradition of a tree frog joke always getting interrupted.
— Oh, turns out the interruption to Seth’s tree frog joke is caused by Kristen as Lana Del Rey, addressing the real-life backlash Del Rey received from her musical performances in the preceding episode. Interesting meta-ness here.
— So far, this Lana Del Rey commentary is basically SNL being preachy to us on why the internet is wrong in their heavy criticisms of Del Rey. I gotta say, though, SNL’s not wrong. And there are some laughs here from the points being made about the internet’s overreaction. I remember being very salty towards this preachiness from SNL when this originally aired, but now, I can see where they’re coming from.
— In one of the points Kristen’s Del Rey passive-aggressively makes about why the internet is wrong, she says she failed to reach the “high bar” set by previous SNL musical guests such as Bubba Sparxxx, Baha Men, and Shaggy. A funny line, but to nitpick, 1) Baha Men technically were never a musical guest, they were just uncredited special guests in one episode who randomly performed a brief snippet of their one hit during a going-to-commercial shot, and 2) are they seriously lumping Shaggy with Bubba Sparxxx and Baha Men??? Am I missing something? Since when is Shaggy a national joke? And I don’t recall his SNL performances being bad or ridiculed by viewers. From that same time period of musical guests (because SNL is apparently unaware that bad musical guests existed before and after the early 2000s), I’m sure SNL could’ve found a more ridiculous musical guest that deserves to be lumped with Bubba Sparxxx and Baha Men. Sisqo, anyone?
STARS: ***


BAT MITZVAH
neighbor (host) dances dirty with (NAP) at her bat mitzvah

— Some good laughs from the inappropriate wild dance moves that Nasim and Channing are doing, interspersed with appropriate tame dance moves that Nasim’s character’s mom taught them.
— Funny cutaway to Abby during the aforementioned inappropriate wild dancing.
STARS: ***½


RUBY TUESDAY
stocky Janet (BOM) hits on Tom Brady (host) on the eve of the Super Bowl

— I love Bobby’s opening line, when reacting to seeing Channing’s Tom Brady: “Oh, shut your moooooouuuuuth! Tom Brady at Ruby Tuesday?!?”
— Bobby has the ability to make a hacky “man in drag” role funny. I even laughed at him obnoxiously making raspberry sounds with his mouth while calling over the bartender.
— I think I recall there being a bit of controversy regarding Bobby’s character having the same name (Janet Peckinpaugh) as a real-life person who’s a congresswoman or something like that.
— Some funny oddball revelations from Bobby’s character about herself.
— Boy, SNL sure botched that freeze-frame on Channing, by accidentally freeze-framing on him too late when he started walking out of the shot to get ready for the next sketch (screencap below), AFTER he held a pose for a long time to allow SNL to do their freeze-frame on him.

STARS: ***


GO-TECHS FLEX
(host) & (KRW) amateurishly endorse Go-Techs Flex oddball exercise system

— Meh, this isn’t working much for me. Usually, I love random, bizarre humor, but the randomness and bizarreness of this particular commercial feels like it’s trying WAY too hard, and it feels like Kristen’s just playing a stock “zany character with a weird hairstyle” role that SNL loves typecasting her in during her later seasons.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beth/Rest”


BONGO’S CLOWN ROOM
retiring strip club deejay Tommy intros hardly-sexy male dancers

— An odd choice of a sketch to bring back, given the fact that Jason’s character was retiring from his job at the strip club in the first installment of this. And he’s retiring AGAIN tonight, a year later? I can’t complain, though, as Jason absolutely killed it in this sketch the first time, and I’m looking forward to another great performance from him.
— Has Channing danced in literally EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT he’s appeared in tonight (including the monologue)? Sure feels like it.
— Jason: “Got great news from my sister today: my nephew does not have ADHD, he’s just a little dickhead!”
— As usual for this sketch, tons of hilarious lines from Jason all throughout.
— Jason’s line about “that Sandusky fella” was so funny that it even caused Jason himself to crack up.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A better episode than I recall. (I remember kinda trashing this episode when it originally aired, and I think I ultimately deemed it to be the worst episode of this entire season.) It turns out this episode was decent and passable, but nothing special as a whole, with the only sketch I rated higher than three-and-a-half stars just being a retread (though a damn funny one).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bongo’s Clown Room
Newt Gingrich: Moon President
Bat Mitzvah
Downton Abbey
NBC Football Promo
It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!
Ruby Tuesday
Weekend Update
Monologue
Go-Techs Flex
Secret Word


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Daniel Radcliffe)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Zooey Deschanel

Posted on

January 14, 2012 – Daniel Radcliffe / Lana Del Rey (S37 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROMNEY: BELIEVE IN AMERICA
one-percenter Mitt Romney (JAS) can’t lay off the unemployment metaphors

— Meh, the second episode in a row with a “politician speaks dryly to the camera” camera cold opening, one of my least favorite cold opening tropes. Jason’s Mitt Romney is at least usually a little more amusing than Andy’s boring portrayal of Rick Santorum in the preceding episode’s cold opening.
— I love Jason-as-Romney’s mention of “my five human sons” when trying to come off relatable to normal Americans.
— I’m not caring at all for Jason-as-Romney’s unemployment metaphor-filled food questions to Abby.
— That’s it? The cold opening is over? Blah, aside from the aforementioned “my five human sons” line, this was pretty much just as bad as the preceding episode’s cold opening.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host is glad that lame Harry Potter skit ideas won’t be seen tonight

— Right out of the gate, Daniel Radcliffe and his English accent are coming off likable and charming.
— I like how they’re showing screenshots of all of the people who impersonated Daniel over the years on SNL: Bill, Hugh Jackman, and Rachel Dratch.
— Some funny walk-ons from the cast as rejected Harry Potter spoof characters. Even the Jersey Shore bit worked. (It helps that we haven’t seen Bobby’s Snooki in a long while.)
STARS: ***


GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
after the Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais (JAS) will emcee more awards shows

— Boy, this SNL era never stops getting mileage out of that “Brendan Fraser laughing weirdly at an awards show” clip. I lost count of the number of sketches this SNL era used that clip in.
— Pretty fun format with Jason’s Ricky Gervais being shown making his usual snarky comments at increasingly out-of-place award shows.
— The BET Awards scene at the end got a good laugh out of me.
STARS: ***½


TARGET
Target manager (BIH) likes Target stock boy (host) who likes Target Lady

— Much like Judy Grimes and Nicholas Fehn then-recently, we get a surprising return of a recurring character who hadn’t appeared in years. And much like those surprise returns of Grimes and Fehn, this ends up being Target Lady’s final appearance during Kristen’s tenure as a cast member. The character would be brought back in the season 38 episode that Kristen hosts.
— As I said in my review of the last Target Lady sketch prior to tonight’s (all the way back in season 34’s Justin Timberlake episode), I’ve surprisingly started coming around on Target Lady after spending the longest time not being able to stand her.
— Hmm, we get a random new addition to this already-established recurring sketch, with Bill as Target Lady’s odd, stern, hotdog-chomping boss. Despite the decision to make this character act unsettlingly predatory towards Daniel’s character, which feels unnecessary and strangely old hat (not old hat for this recurring sketch, but for SNL in general), Bill’s portrayal of this character is very funny.
— What the hell are they going for with Kenan’s character?
— Despite how I’ve come around on Target Lady, I still don’t like the regular gag with her always walking away from her cash register to get an item while she was in the middle of ringing up a customer. I don’t know why this recurring sketch STILL expects me to laugh at that same-old same-old gag after the umpteenth installment of this sketch, when I didn’t laugh at that gag the first time.
— Pretty funny bit regarding Taran’s character looking mad both in his ID photo and in person currently.
STARS: ***


YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!
uncriticized millennials show Dunning-Kruger effect

— Much like the Comments Section sketch from the Melissa McCarthy episode earlier this season, we get a similarly-formatted sketch featuring a timely spoof of internet culture.
— Some good sarcastic-but-affably-delivered comments from Vanessa and Bill towards their guests.
— Very funny how Daniel’s whole gimmick is combining Irish dancing and Chinese calligraphy. The dancing we see him doing is particularly hilarious.
STARS: ***½


SPIN THE BOTTLE
unlucky teen (host) has to kiss hobos at a party

— Feels kinda odd seeing this SNL era air a short like this that’s NOT a Lonely Island Digital Short.
— A cheap but amusing conceit with the randomly-appearing hobos who Daniel has to kiss.
— A laugh from how Fred’s character’s idea of “freshening up” is putting deodorant on his tongue.
— I love the cutaway to Bill as a “dead” hobo.
STARS: ***


DELAWARE FELLAS
Jersey Boys knockoff is rooted in the Blue Hen State

— Kenan’s intentionally-bad attempt at an Italian accent is very funny.
— The Jersey Guys knockoff details in this play are providing some laughs.
— Ha, if you pay attention to the portion of the sketch where Daniel announces the Delaware Fellas are breaking up, Taran can be seen starting to exclaim “Capisce!” too early (he’s supposed to say it in unison with his scene partners), and then, when realizing his mistake, he stops himself mid-sentence in an amusing way with a hilarious look on his face (screencap below).

— A funny “three-and-a-half trains” sound Jason’s Joe Biden makes.
STARS: ***


HOGWARTS ACADEMY
at Hogwarts in 2020, Harry Potter (host) can’t let go of his glory days

— Interestingly, this set-in-the-future Harry Potter parody takes place in our now-current year, 2020.
— Like in most of tonight’s sketches so far, Daniel’s delivery is very solid throughout this, and is making this sketch entertaining. That’s especially helpful for me, as I’ve never been into Harry Potter, and was naturally at risk for being bored by this sketch, before Daniel’s performance held my interest.
— A good laugh from Vanessa’s delivery of “He’s huuuuuge!” regarding her husband Hagrid.
— A funny Professor Snape appearance from Bill.
— A very well-delivered “Still got it” line from Daniel’s Harry Potter before he exits at the very end of this sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Video Games”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Kim Jong Un’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up (FRA) & (VAB) badmouth him via sotto voce

Casey Anthony’s recently-adopted dog (host) is disturbed by his new owner

— (*Two Best Friends From Growing Up appear, Stooge buries his face in his hands in an aggravated manner for three minutes straight*)
— A very rare instance of an SNL host (especially a first-time host) appearing on Update as a character. I love this rarity, and it’s fun seeing Daniel as Casey Anthony’s dog.
— Daniel is giving yet another solid performance tonight, and he has some great lines here. Even his little way of saying, in his dignified English accent, “a booty-shaking contest in Fort Lauderdale”, cracked me up.
STARS: ***


X27B THEATER
in 2112, theatergoers laugh at dramatization of 21st-century ignorance

 

— (*sigh*) Paul Brittain’s final appearance as a cast member. As a complete shock to SNL fans at the time, it would be announced the week of the following new episode that Paul has left the show, for reasons undisclosed to us. In fact, eight years later, the reasons still haven’t been disclosed. I heard recently that one rumor is that SNL fired Paul to make room for a certain female cast member who we’ll be seeing joining later this season, but I find that rumor to be dubious for many reasons that I won’t get into right now. Whatever the reason for Paul’s departure is, and whether he was fired or left on his own, it’s a damn shame. After being under the radar for his entire first season (though showing some promise when given the chance), he was slowly but surely making good progress in this second season of his, and had an especially solid night just an episode prior to tonight’s (Charles Barkley). The abruptness and mysteriousness of this mid-season departure of his is also eerily similar to that of Jeff Richards eight years prior. I also think I recall hearing that, much like Jeff’s departure, Paul’s departure coincided with the firing of an SNL writer (I forget who, but I believe it was a female writer), which supports people’s theory that Paul was fired and didn’t leave on his own (the latter of which the press wanted us to believe when they originally made the announcement of Paul’s departure). Also possibly supporting the “He was fired” theory is the fact that he would go on to be seemingly uncomfortable talking about his SNL stint. I remember reading an interview with him a few years after his SNL departure, where he was being interviewed about a current project of his, and when asked at one point about his SNL experience, he quickly tried to change the subject, though not in a rude manner (his answer was something like “I had fun at SNL, but I also had fun doing my current project, and THAT’S what I’d rather discuss right now”, and the person interviewing him got the hint and immediately changed the subject.)
— Speaking of changing the subject, let’s get back to this actual sketch I’m supposed to be reviewing.
— I love the concept of a sketch set in 2112 presenting a play set in 2012, exaggerating things that were the norm in 2012, and making some historical generalizations along the way (e.g. bizarrely using the 2003 song “Hey Ya” to represent the year 2012). Not only am I finding this concept pretty fun, but it’s an accurate spoof of the manner in how older time periods tend to be presented in contemporary dramatizations.
— Has half of Nasim’s roles this season been as old ladies?
— A particularly funny part with the characters in the 2012 play being exaggeratedly overconfident that Taylor Swift will never assassinate anyone, which slyly implies she really does end up assassinating someone later on in her life. Reminds me of how it feels looking back at certain pre-1994 stuff in which O.J. Simpson was innocently looked at by people as lovable and wholesome.
— I like how the levels of laughter from the individual fake audience members varies each time we’re shown them.
STARS: ***½


GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR 2012
mayoral candidate Glenda Okones (KRW) runs an attack ad against herself

— A good concept of Kristen as a politician doing an attack ad on herself, and the execution of it is decent.
STARS: ***


GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR 2012
for transparency’s sake, Glenda Okones reveals more character flaws

— Hmm, not only is this a runner, which I can understand, but did we need two of these airing back-to-back? Granted, there was a real commercial break separating them, but the copy I’m currently watching of this episode edits out all the commercial breaks, and thus, we see these two Glenda Okones pieces back-to-back, separated only by SNL bumpers.
— Funny line from Kristen’s Okones regarding loving her youngest daughter more than her oldest.
STARS: ***


THE JAY PHAROAH SHOW
JAP leans on impersonations in interview with host

— Hmm, a sketch with Jay, as himself, hosting his own talk show and interviewing tonight’s SNL host, seemingly in the tradition of stuff like The Chris Farley Show, Talking To The Stars With Rachel & Tracy, and The Julia Show.
— Turns out I’m not caring for where this sketch has been going so far. There doesn’t seem to be much of a joke besides Jay habitually breaking out into celebrity impressions (impressions that we’ve already seen him do before, no less) and displaying no interviewing skills. And that’s not even much of a joke. Am I missing some kind of clever, sharp satire this sketch is attempting in what they’re implying about Jay’s lack of range? Or am I correct that this is just a weak sketch?
— At least we now get a new impression from Jay, with him doing a Tracy Morgan voice. Not one of Jay’s better impressions, though.
— An actual pretty funny joke right now, albeit a quick throwaway one, with the ridiculously tall glass of water that Daniel is shown with.
— Aaaaand the sketch is over. Well…….THAT was a whole lot of nothing.
STARS: *½


GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR 2012
Glenda Okones isn’t ashamed to admit that she terrorized her own mother

— Briefer than the last two, but this contained a funny revelation from Okones about a physical attack she once made on her mother.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blue Jeans”


EXIT POLL
(KRW)’s exit poll of New Hampshire voter (host) extends beyond politics

— I like how this sketch feels like a throwback to Kristen’s earlier seasons, where SNL often utilized her in subtly-funny, saying-humorous-or-oddball-things-in-a-straitlaced-deadpan-manner roles, which is the type of role where Kristen’s true strength has always lied, rather than over-the-top, wacky, hammy, annoying roles that SNL has often been typecasting her in starting around 2008. The solid Audition sketch that appeared in a Jon Hamm-hosted episode a season prior to tonight’s episode similarly gave us a throwback to Kristen’s early-era saying-humorous-or-oddball-things-in-a-straitlaced-deadpan-manner roles.
— Good ending line from a now-unhappy Kristen to a walking-away Daniel, in regards to the exit poll: “I’m switching you to gay!….robot!”
STARS: ****


HEADZ UP
World-Tel’s Headz Up service alerts engrossed texters to meatspace perils

— Oddly, this pre-taped commercial, which was previously cut after dress rehearsal from many episodes this season, is Andy’s ONLY appearance all night. He apparently wasn’t at SNL at all this week (Daniel Radcliffe said at one point of a talk show interview just two or three days before the live show, “I still haven’t met Andy Samberg”). I can’t remember the reason for his absence (if we ever even found out what it was), but I think it might’ve had something to do with promotion for his movie Celeste & Jesse Forever. (I remember he was interviewed for that movie at some kind of film festival the following week or so, and at one point, the interviewer asked him about the backlash Lana Del Rey was facing over her poorly-received musical performances in this episode, and Andy defended her before admitting, with a nervous smile, that he hasn’t actually watched her performances.) In hindsight, this is probably one of the earliest hints that he’s on his way out as an SNL cast member.
— A fairly funny slow-motion shot of Bobby falling off a mechanical bull while still glued to his phone, but I think I’m just desperate for a laugh by this point.
— Overall, while this wasn’t awful, it was forgettable and came off too generic.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A (mostly) consistently decent episode, though barely any segments stood out as strong. Daniel Radcliffe exceeded my expectations by being a solid and likable host.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Exit Poll
X27B Theater
You Can Do Anything!
Golden Globe Awards
Hogwarts Academy
Glenda Okones For Mayor 2012 (all three parts)
Spin The Bottle
Monologue
Delaware Fellas
Weekend Update
Target
Headz Up
Romney: Believe In America
The Jay Pharoah Show


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charles Barkley)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Channing Tatum

Posted on

January 7, 2012 – Charles Barkley / Kelly Clarkson (S37 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM RICK SANTORUM
Rick Santorum (ANS) vows to bravely campaign in every county in the USA

— I’m currently two-and-a-half minutes into this, and I’m very bored. The dialogue from Andy’s Rick Santorum is a snoozefest. Typical overly-talky, dry-without-actually-being-funny writing from Jim Downey in his later, past-his-prime years. I don’t know why SNL, in this era, constantly thinks it’s a good idea to open the show with a dull cold opening that deals with one politician dryly speaking straight to the camera, with barely any (if any at all) actual amusing dialogue.
— I also don’t like how Andy changed his portrayal of Santorum. Prior to this, he always portrayed Santorum as panicky. That angle was working much better than the straitlaced, non-comedic way he’s portraying Santorum in tonight’s cold opening.
— A cheap attempt at a laugh with Andy-as-Santorum’s line about San Francisco being home to thousands of “angry pillow-biters and donut-bumpers”, though I know that’s just a dig at the real Rick Santorum’s homophobic views.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host is endorsing female-skewing brands like Weight Watchers & Ann Taylor

— Charles Barkley noticeably looking more lean here than he usually is in these years, as this is during his Weight Watchers stint, which he eventually mentions in this monologue.
— The usual laughs from Charles’ inherently-funny monotone, deadpan delivery, even with his constant stumbles over words.
— Funny ending with how Charles’ mention that the audience looks like turkey legs to him in his hungry state carries over into the “(insert musical guest’s name here) is here” tagline that SNL monologues typically end with. The monologue from Charles’ season 35 episode also ended with him changing up the usual monologue tagline.
STARS: ***½


CHANTIX
Chantix side effects make smoker (KRW) think about killing husband (BIH)

— A lot of very funny unsettling disclaimers of dangerous side-effects from the Chantix medication. Also some great worried, shifty-eyed looks from Kristen and Bill in response to those disclaimers.
— Good sequence with Kristen displaying each of the symptoms (e.g. droopy lip, Robert DeNiro face) in rapid succession.
— No idea who the woman is that’s doing the voice-over of this commercial (it doesn’t sound like Paula Pell, who’s done a number of voice-overs during these years), but she’s great, and she’s adding a lot to the humor here.
— A great ending tagline to this commercial: “Chantix: Just keep smoking”.
STARS: ****


INSIDE THE NBA
Charles Barkley (KET) & Shaquille O’Neal (host) goof off

 

— The mere visual of Charles as a thick-bearded, stone-faced, emotionless Shaq is hilarious, made even funnier by his simplistic dialogue.
— An accurate and funny spoof of the fun banter that typically occurs on the real Inside The NBA.
— When Charles as Shaq suddenly starts doing a Nostradamus bit, complete with a wizard hat and crystal ball, I love Bill’s Ernie Johnson asking, in an annoyed manner, “Who’s giving him all these props?!?”
— Charles as Shaq, during his Nostradamus bit: “I will predict…that Charles Barkley gonna be fat again.” As we know now, that actually ended up being an accurate prediction.
— Great comeback from Kenan’s Charles Barkley to Charles as Shaq: “Yeah, well, I’d rather be in Free Willy 2 than Kazaam 1.”
— A good laugh from Bill’s Ernie Johnson happily saying, in regards to him and his co-hosts, “We’re all black friends!” I remember someone on the now-defunct saturday-night-live.com message board had a theory that the other performers in this sketch weren’t expecting that line, because it causes them all (including Bill himself eventually) to break.
STARS: ***½


WHITE PEOPLE PROBLEMS
host shakes his head at complaining Caucasians

— A funny unexpected reveal of the “White People Problems” title of the show, after the serious, straitlaced beginning.
— Something about the approach to this sketch’s humor feels kinda cliched, but it’s coming off passable enough.
— Charles: “To those of you at home, ‘awkward’ is a white people word that can be applied to every situation.”
— Charles has some good lines to the WASP-y couple played by Kristen and Taran.
— I didn’t like the ending.
STARS: ***


ESPN BOWL MADNESS
corporate sponsors present oddball college football bowl games on ESPN

— The escalation to the odd brand/bowl name combos is reminiscent of that great Chicken Of The Sea/DynaCorp sketch from the season 29 Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey episode, only nowhere near as clever. This is still decent enough, thanks to the amusing nature of the increasingly random brand/bowl name combos.
STARS: ***


JOANN’S ANNOUNCEMENT
(host)’s fiance (PAB) & friends find it hard to believe she’s a lesbian

— The fact that it’s the inherently-funny-and-deadpan Charles Barkley in drag makes it more tolerable than the typical hacky “man in drag” trope.
— I like the randomness of Charles telling Kristen they’ve known each other for 200 days.
— Even more funny randomness, with Paul suddenly popping up from behind the couch in a casual manner, which none of the characters treat as odd.
— Great to see Paul in the spotlight here.
— The incongruous pairing of the tiny Paul Brittain and the huge Charles Barkley is very amusing.
— The oddball approach this whole sketch is taking is a little hard to figure, even for my oddball humor-loving self, but it’s still working well for me, especially with how all the silliness is being played so straight.
STARS: ***½


CHARLES BARKLEY POST GAME TRANSLATOR APP
host’s translator app reveals coaches’ & players’ true thoughts

— Tonight’s episode continues to get good mileage out of Charles’s inherently-funny personality, as this commercial is a great concept for him.
— I particularly love Charles’ translation for Dwyane Wade’s talk about Miami Heat’s famous “YES. WE. DID.” celebration: “I should shut my damn mouth. We haven’t actually won ANYTHING yet.”
— Good self-deprecating turn with Charles translating an old post-game clip of himself from the 90s.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stronger”


WEEKEND UPDATE
with her presidential bid ended, Michele Bachmann (KRW) can finally blink

a series of disclaimers precedes Nicholas Fehn’s planned critique of SEM

Drunk Uncle’s chosen New Year’s resolution is to lament cultural change

— Hmm, I strangely have no memory of Kristen ever doing an Update commentary as Michele Bachmann.
— I’m currently about a minute-and-a-half into Kristen’s Bachmann commentary, and yeah, none of this is ringing a bell for me so far. I can see why, though. The material that Kristen’s been given here is a whole lot of nothing. Centering most of an Update commentary on Bachmann being relieved to be able to blink again after her presidential bid is too thin a concept, and Kristen’s execution of it isn’t elevating it for me.
— I did get a laugh just now from Kristen-as-Bachmann’s final line, but otherwise, her overall commentary was pure “Meh”.
— Whoa, Nicholas Fehn making his first appearance in a long time. I forgot all about this character until now. He hasn’t appeared since 2009.
— Blah, even with the long hiatus, it turns out that I’m still burned out on Nicholas Fehn’s same-old same-old shtick, thanks to how quickly SNL previously ran it into the ground with Fehn’s way-too-frequent appearances back in 2008. I’m finding myself not having the ability to even so much as chuckle at Fehn’s typical routine tonight. His typical routine also feels a little out-of-place in a 2012 episode, for some reason.
— Quickly checking SNL Archives right now, I see this ends up being the final Nicholas Fehn appearance. Thank god.
— Drunk Uncle has officially become recurring.
— So far tonight, Drunk Uncle is coming off as hilarious as he did last time.
— Solid little bit regarding Drunk Uncle’s incorrect attempt to light a cigarette.
— I like the little detail of Drunk Uncle calling Seth “Amy” at one point while repeatedly asking him “Pull my finger.”
STARS: ***


LORD WYNDEMERE
Cecil’s girlfriend’s father (JAS) prefers impish frolics to football game

— The second and final appearance of this sketch.
— Paul has gotten TWO big roles tonight, continuing the slow-but-sure progress he’s been showing lately. Unfortunately, that’s very bittersweet in hindsight, given the fact that these end up being Paul’s final two big roles on SNL. He has only one episode remaining (and, IIRC, he has no big roles in it) before he suffers a similar fate to Jeff Richards.
— Good continuity with Jason’s character already being familiar with Lord Wyndemere after having met him in the previous installment of this sketch. Most recurring sketches in this era annoyingly lack this type of continuity, and instead feature stuff like each installment having their straight man characters act like they’ve never been through the oddness they’re experiencing from the lead character, despite the fact that EVERY SINGLE INSTALLMENT of that particular recurring sketch features those exact same straight man characters going through that exact experience (e.g. Andy’s Blizzard Man sketches, Kristen’s Sexy Shana sketches).
— Hilarious visual of Jason playfully chasing Lord Wyndemere around the room in an attempt to pinch his bottom so he’ll tell the riddle he promised.
— A nice change of pace with Charles being just as into Lord Wyndemere’s antics as Jason is, unlike the other straight man characters in this sketch.
— The visual of Charles happily carrying Lord Wyndemere in his arms is both funny and very charming. Tonight’s episode continues to get great mileage out of the huge size difference between Paul and Charles.
— Overall, even better than the first installment of this sketch. This was perfect, and was also a great unintentional swan song for Paul, which leaves us sadly wondering what could’ve been had his SNL tenure continued after the following episode.
STARS: *****


THE 17TH ANNUAL ADULT VIDEO AWARDS
In Memoriam reel at Adult Video Awards honors deceased porn practitioners

— Very funny sleazy line from Bobby’s Ron Jeremy about measuring “from the nuts”.
— The In Memoriam porn montage is getting increasingly hilarious, with great bits such as a photo of Seth(!) as a glory hole designer, a chronological video montage showing Nasim as a long-time pornstar working in porn from when she was young to when she was very elderly, a photo of a frowning Kenan as a clean-up crew member, and the whole porn scene with Charles in the woods (his facial expressions are priceless).
STARS: ****


CONVOLUTED JERRY
Convoluted Jerry’s (ANS) album contains songs with complicated syntax

— Boy, this short is just plain BAD so far, making this yet another example of how the magic of the Digital Shorts is sadly gone this season (with a few exceptions, of course) with the lack of involvement from Jorma and/or Akiva.
— Not even the Inception part (“It was a dream inside a dream inside a dream!”) could get a laugh out of me.
— Marvin “Gay” Jackson. I hate myself for chuckling at that name, but hey, at least SOMETHING in this short finally got a chuckle out of me.
— Leave it to Charles Barkley to provide what I consider to be the only actual legitimately funny moment of this entire short: him responding to Andy’s ghetto-glorifying song by asking him a taken-aback “Maaan, what the f(*bleep*)k are you talkin’ about?!?”
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mr. Know It All”


THE MAYAN CALENDAR
Mayan chief (host) takes issue with work of calendar makers (FRA) & (BIH)

— I like how the first SNL episode of the year 2012 is doing a historical sketch based on the Mayan calendar, given the well-known ancient Mayan apocalypse prediction.
— The humor here so far is rather mild, but there are some laughs from the low-key comedy. There’s a bit too much of a dead atmosphere to this, though.
— Didn’t care too much for the “talking calendar” ending, but I kinda liked the wiseass voice Paul used as the talking calendar.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

— A very classy, sweet, and amusing way that Charles gives the SNL cast their props for all their hard work.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode. The quality ranged from decent to great for almost the entire show, minus the dull-as-hell cold opening and the drop in quality during the last 15 minutes. Charles Barkley continues to be a strangely reliable host, and by this point, the show seems to have fully realized all the right ways to utilize his distinct personality. I like how it seemed to be becoming a tradition around this time for Charles to host the first episode of a calendar year every two years (2010, 2012). Unfortunately, that tradition stops after this episode, and we don’t see Charles host again until years later in a March episode from 2018 (and, for some reason, I’m having a very hard time remembering most of that episode’s content, but that might be because, back at that time in early 2018, I was growing increasingly checked-out during my viewing of new SNL episodes, due to my dissatisfaction with SNL’s then-current quality, which would eventually lead me to flat-out go on a hiatus from watching new episodes starting in December of that year, a hiatus that’s still ongoing.)


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lord Wyndemere
Chantix
The 17th Annual Adult Video Awards
Charles Barkley Post Game Translator App
Inside The NBA
Monologue
Joann’s Announcement
ESPN Bowl Madness
White People Problems
Weekend Update
The Mayan Calendar
Convoluted Jerry
A Message From Rick Santorum


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jimmy Fallon)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Daniel Radcliffe hosts. It’s also the abrupt end of Paul Brittain’s SNL tenure, after only one-and-a-half seasons as a featured player.

Posted on

December 17, 2011 – Jimmy Fallon / Michael Bublé (S37 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WINTER FORMAL
Sully & Denise see friend (AMP) while crashing old high school’s formal

— Good to see both the return of the Boston Teens and (especially) Rachel Dratch.
— Ah, Rachel-as-Denise’s fake ID has the name Evelyn Chang, which is actually a callback to the fake ID Denise used in some of the previous Boston Teens sketches from back in the day. Nice continuity, which is one of the things I’ve always liked about this recurring sketch. The continuity these Boston Teens sketches typically contain also add to their realistic, almost-slice-of-life-ish atmosphere.
— I like that SNL has appropriately aged these characters tonight instead of keeping them the same age they used to be.
— These characters are coming off as funny as ever tonight, and the fun vibe of this revival of them is so infectious, which is raising the quality of the sketch.
— Amy Poehler cameo. Now it’s truly starting to feel like the early 2000s again.
— We even get a “Nomaaahhh!” callback.
— An excellent energetic LFNY delivery from Jimmy.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
JIF sings “Christmas Baby Please Come Home” variant to mark return to SNL

— You can tell how much it genuinely means to Jimmy that he’s standing on this home base stage as the host. Again, much like with the cold opening, there’s a very infectious feel here.
— Jimmy: “So many memories: Barry Gibb Talk Show…Debbie Downer…Cowbell. (a beat) I laughed and ruined all of those sketches.” A great self-deprecating line, though to nitpick, he never laughed during any of the Barry Gibb Talk Show sketches. He gets so deep into character in those sketches that he refrains from his usual habit of cracking up.
— The infectious fun feel continues as Jimmy takes his Christmas song backstage. A rare instance of me being fine with this era doing a musical monologue.
— I love Jimmy calling attention to the still shots of two SNL Christmas classics on the monitors: Merry Christmas Dammit and Schwetty Balls.
— After Andy and Vanessa’s scene, there’s an unintentional laugh and charm from seeing Andy and Vanessa in the background quickly rushing past the camera in hopes that we can’t see them, as they get into place for their next bit in this monologue.
— Good gift exchange bit with Lorne, or, as Jimmy calls, “the white-haired gentleman”.
— Oh, as if this couldn’t get any more fun, now this ends with the entire cast energetically dancing onstage behind Jimmy.
STARS: ****½


TODAY
Regis Philbin (JIF) walks on set to join Kathie Lee Gifford (KRW)

— Surprisingly, this is the first appearance this recurring sketch has made in two seasons. This also ends up being its final appearance.
— Nasim takes over the seemingly-cursed Hoda Kotb role, and breaks the curse by not getting fired after this season like the previous two Hoda impersonators, Michaela Watkins and Jenny Slate, got after their respective one season on the show.
— Hoda, regarding the fake applause that Kathie Lee played from a tape recorder: “Okay, that was fake.” Kathie Lee: “So was your boyfriend.” Hoda: “No, I mean it was an electronic device.” Kathie Lee: “So was your boyfriend.”
— Nasim is fine in the Hoda role, but I still feel that Michaela did it the best.
— Interesting seeing Jimmy doing a Regis Philbin impression. He’s doing a solid job, as no surprise, as I’ve always found him to be a good impressionist.
STARS: ***


MICHAEL BUBLÉ CHRISTMAS DUETS
musical guest performs Christmas duets with Sting (JIF) & other artists

— Hilarious turn during the Bublé/M.I.A. duet, with Nasim’s M.I.A. suddenly pulling out a gun and firing gunshots in the air in time to the music.
— I love that Jimmy’s doing impressions of various celebrities in this. His Russell Brand impression is particularly spot-on.
— Fred’s Thom Yorke impression is easily one of the funnier things he’s done in this rough season of his.
— Such a fun impression showcase, and a big improvement over both of the impression showcase sketches from the preceding episode.
STARS: ****


DRESSING ROOM
JIF mulls upcoming onstage moves while talking to self (ANS) in mirror

— A sketch in the vein of the Mick Jagger mirror sketch that Jimmy and Mick Jagger once did 10 years prior.
— I think I recall hearing that Andy did this Jimmy Fallon impression in his SNL audition. I recall hearing that Taran also did a Fallon impression in his audition, but we end up never seeing it on SNL.
— Andy’s impression of Jimmy is far from spot-on, but it’s still acceptable, and it’s helped by Jimmy exaggerating his own voice to sound like Andy’s impression. I wonder if Jimmy learned that move from what Jerry Seinfeld did with him when they did a Point/Counterpoint together, with Jimmy doing his Seinfeld impression. As I mentioned in my review of it (seen here), Jerry let Jimmy know beforehand that he would exaggerate his own voice during the Point/Counterpoint to match Jimmy’s over-the-top impression of him.
— Speaking of Seinfeld, I like the bit with Andy’s Jimmy not being able to do the Jerry Seinfeld voice that Jimmy just did.
— Andy’s Jimmy: “We’re not doing [The Barry Gibb Talk Show], ’cause Timberlake couldn’t make it.” PRAISE THE LORD.
STARS: ***½


1920’S HOLIDAY PARTY
at a 1928 party, (JIF) is as reluctant to dance as Lilia is to sing

— Our first speed bump that tonight’s great episode hits, as we get the unnecessary return of the weak Don’t Make Me Sing sketch from two seasons prior. Did Jimmy request this sketch when he came in earlier this week, because I can’t think of any other reason why they’d randomly bring this one-off sketch back after a two-year absence.
— As a strange coincidence, the only two episodes this sketch has appeared in (the season 35 Jon Hamm episode and this) both happen to be episodes that Michael Bublé is SNL’s musical guest in.
— Jimmy’s performance is fun here, at least, though I don’t care for the “Don’t make me dance” conceit of his character, much like how I’ve never cared for the “Don’t make me sing” conceit of Kristen’s character.
STARS: **


HALF JEWISH HALF ITALIAN COMPLETELY NEUROTIC
Tommy Palmese’s (FRA) amateurish one-man show is self-centered

 

— Fred previously did a fantastic one-man-show bit in the Morning Announcements sketch from the season 31 Dane Cook episode, and even wore what appears to be the same wig he’s wearing in this commercial (screencap of him in the Morning Announcements sketch below), but that Morning Announcements sketch was years prior, back when Fred was still in his prime, long before he became stale. We’ll see how tonight’s one-man-show bit goes.

— The interaction between Fred and an uncomfortable Bill is making me laugh.
— Spot-on bit regarding Fred’s character opening his play in a corny manner by casually pretending to be a janitor onstage.
— Good bit regarding the bathroom behind the stage.
— I love the brief part with Fred inappropriately pointing a fake gun at the audience and yelling a threatening, psychotic “You think I’m losin’ my mind NOOOOOOWWWWW?!?!?!”
— Overall, for late-era Fred Armisen standards, I found this to be surprisingly pretty good. Between the Thom Yorke bit and this, Fred’s having one of his better nights in these later seasons of his SNL tenure.
STARS: ***½


SEASON’S GREETINGS
upon returning to SNL, HOS, CHK, TRM, JIF perform a happy Christmas ditty

— Hell yeah! I absolutely love seeing the return of this. If you remember my reviews of the early 2000s era, I was always a sucker for these bits.
— Tracy! Chris! A thin Horatio! Speaking of Horatio’s leanness, boy, does it feel weird to now see him 1) as thin as his good friend Jimmy, and 2) thinner than both Tracy and Chris are at this point.
— I was going to say it feels a little odd seeing this bit being performed on SNL’s 2003-present home base stage for the first time, after all of the previous appearances of this bit were performed on SNL’s 1998-2003 home base stage, but then I remembered we previously saw them do this bit on SNL’s 2003-present home base once, in the season 29 Janet Jackson episode. (Twice if you count the installment of this bit that Horatio did with the Muppets in the season 30 Robert DeNiro episode).
— Overall, this was just as much of a blast as this bit always was, especially after such a long absence.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Holly Jolly Christmas”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jude Law [real] learns Nicolas Cage (ANS) isn’t selective regarding roles

Weekend Update Joke-Off- JIF & TIF battle SEM & AMP on lap dance topic

 

— Kinda interesting seeing Andy’s Nicolas Cage impression tonight, given the fact that, earlier tonight in the Dressing Room sketch, both Andy and Jimmy were doing some of the same celebrity impressions in unison. If it weren’t for this Get In The Cage segment, Nicolas Cage might’ve been one of the impressions Andy and Jimmy did together in the Dressing Room sketch, given the fact that Jimmy previously did a Nicolas Cage impression in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
— Funny reveal from Andy’s Cage that he never reads the scripts of his movies beforehand, and thus, he finds out about the surprises in his movies at the same time as the audience.
— The return of the Weekend Update Joke Off segment, and with it, we get Jimmy, Amy, AND Tina Fey returning to their old Update stomping grounds.
— The WU Joke Off segment between the Fallon/Fey & Poehler/Meyers duos is so fun. I even love the little detail of Seth, Amy, Jimmy, and Tina each making various fake buzzer sounds whenever they ring in.
STARS: ***½


BEETHOVEN
Beethoven (JIF) introduces orchestra members at Ninth Symphony premiere

— A very fun and solid premise of Jimmy’s Beethoven introducing his orchestra the way a hip, more modern singer would introduce their band.
— Great bit with Paul as a Hitler ancestor.
— Jimmy’s Beethoven, on one of his orchestra members: “Funny story – his mother was killed by an ox.”
— Jimmy is navigating this sketch so well.
— There’s our obligatory Fallon/Sanz interaction, of course resulting in a little bit of giggling from Jimmy. Even that feels surprisingly nice to see again after a long absence.
— Ha, Triangle Sally out of nowhere.
— A solid inclusion of Kenan as B.B. King.
STARS: ****


WAR HORSE
low-budget War Horse (JIF) production confuses theatergoers (BIH) & (KRW)

— A promising concept with Jimmy ridiculously having to act out the part of a horse during a War Horse play.
— Jason’s old-timey song is hilarious, made even funnier by Jimmy incongruously doing The Robot in the background during it.
— I love the voice Bill’s using.
— Now this sketch has gotten even funnier with the boy in the play now being played by a hand puppet.
— A delightfully stupid sketch so far.
— A very funny little bit with Taran making his voice exaggeratedly fade as he walks away while saying “Good luck, English booooyyyyyy…”
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”


LOCKER ROOM
Jesus (JAS) accepts Tim Tebow’s (TAK) credit for the Broncos’ win streak

— Good premise, even if it feels a little derivative of the premise of the sketch where Phil Hartman as Jesus visited a constantly-praying housewife played by Sally Field.
— Something about the deep voice Kenan’s using is tickling me.
— Andy’s Matt Prater, to Jesus: “Wow, you pray to me? I didn’t know that.” Jesus: “Well, yeah…that’s ’cause I’m not in everyone’s face about it. (*stares down Taran’s Tim Tebow*)”
— Jason’s casual, laid-back portrayal of Jesus is absolutely top-notch.
— I like Taran-as-Tebow’s various overexcited reactions to Jesus.
— A funny parting line from Jesus: “By the way…uh, Mormonism: all true, every single word.”
— It’s fairly rare to see a host-less live sketch like this in this era. I think I recall hearing Jimmy was originally supposed to play Jesus in this sketch, but at some point during the week, he stepped down from the role for reasons I can’t remember. I can’t picture Jimmy making this Casual Jesus characterization anywhere NEAR as great as Jason did. Jason was just perfect for this characterization.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS
JIF, musical guest, special guests & cast members end the show from Rockefeller Center skating rink

— Ice skating goodnights, for the first time in several years! Always fun to see.
— I absolutely love how Jimmy’s wearing a bee costume, as an homage to the original SNL era. Given the scope of this SNL project of mine, I love whenever something on the show gives me a throwback to when I reviewed the original era, back when my SNL project first started. It makes me realize just how far I’ve come within this project. At this exact same time two Novembers ago, I was reviewing the original era, and now, in what feels like no time, I’m already reviewing episodes from as recent as 2011. Wow.
— This is actually the second time Jimmy closed an episode by wearing a bee costume, as an original SNL era homage. The first time was not during a regular episode, but rather a Fallon & Fey-hosted John Belushi tribute special that aired sometime in March 2002 (back when Jimmy and Tina were current SNL cast members), around the 20th anniversary of John’s death.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fantastic episode, and is one of the most consistently solid episodes I’ve ever reviewed. Even though no segments in this episode got a perfect five-star rating from me, a lot of segments got an impressive high rating, particularly in the post-Weekend Update half of the show, where nothing got a rating below four stars. And there was only one segment all night that I didn’t like (1920’s Holiday Party). Adding to the strength of most of the segments was the infectiously fun, Christmas-y, feel-good vibe running all throughout the night, helped a lot by Jimmy Fallon’s very energetic presence. Even Michael Bublé’s musical performances went along nicely with that fun, Christmas-y, feel-good vibe, with the traditional Christmas classics he performed.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Locker Room
Beethoven
Winter Formal
Michael Bublé Christmas Duets
War Horse
Season’s Greetings
Dressing Room
Weekend Update
Half Jewish Half Italian Completely Neurotic
Today
1920’s Holiday Party


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Katy Perry)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2012, with host Charles Barkley