Author: Stooge

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

 

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


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


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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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


CITIZENS FORUM
Bakersfield city council hears extrajurisdictional requests from citizens

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


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


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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

Posted on

October 3, 2015 – Miley Cyrus (S41 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM DONALD & MELANIA TRUMP
Donald (TAK) & Melania (CES) Trump defend his campaign trail statements

— The debut of Taran’s short-lived and now-forgotten Donald Trump impression. Because of how short-lived and now-forgotten it is, it feels very surreal to review it now.
— Also the debut of Cecily’s Melania Trump impression.
— I have very mixed feelings on Taran’s Trump impression so far in this cold opening. I definitely see what he’s going for in the Trump voice and mannerisms, and he’s nailing certain aspects of that, but his normal voice is sticking out way too much in his Trump voice, and in general, I’m just kind of having a hard time buying him as Trump. He just feels miscast to me in this role.
— I feel unsure of how to react to some of Taran-as-Trump’s comical lines, probably due to hindsight in regards to Trump’s notorious presidency. I’m actually getting more laughs from Cecily’s Melania in this.
— Okay, I got a laugh just now from Taran’s Trump saying “Clearly I don’t hate immigrants” while discreetly pointing towards Cecily’s Melania.
STARS: **½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding season.
— The “40” from the preceding season’s SNL logo (as a commemoration of SNL’s milestone 40th season) has been removed.
— Beck Bennett, Colin Jost, Kyle Mooney, and Sasheer Zamata have been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— Jon Rudnitsky has been added to the cast.


MONOLOGUE
host sings “My Way” as ephemeral summer 2015 personalities say goodbye

— Maybe it’s just me, but something about Miley Cyrus’ familiar voice is coming off even more raspy-sounding than usual tonight, which is saying something.
— A unique monologue concept, having Miley sing a song comically honoring people who made the news in the summer while we see cast members playing each of those newsmakers one-by-one. I’m finding this to be a lot of fun, and a creative way for SNL to address big news stories they missed over the summer.
— Took me a second just now to remember who Kim Davis is. Boy, am I glad to have forgotten about that woman.
— I love how even the usually Update-only Colin and Michael are appearing in this full-cast monologue. Speaking of Colin, he’s hilarious as one of the Entourage guys in this monologue. Seeing him, of all people, mugging the camera with goony, wiseguy-type facial expressions (complete with his tongue hanging out of his mouth) is inherently priceless (screencap below).

Also, seeing Colin and Jon Rudnitsky standing side-by-side here, I notice they look like they could be brothers. Their faces eerily look EXACTLY THE SAME in this monologue.
— A funny random re-appearance of Aidy’s Kim Davis during Sasheer’s Lenny Kravitz scene.
— I absolutely love Bobby’s whole bit here, with him initially playing Jared Fogle and making cheesy, lighthearted facial expressions into the camera, then Bobby turns his back to the camera, simply removes his glasses, and re-faces the camera while making a stern, intimidating facial expression as we’re told he’s now playing Josh Duggar. Bobby pulled that off perfectly.
— Never mind what I said about this being a full-cast monologue, as I just realized Leslie is nowhere to be seen anywhere in this. Aw, they couldn’t find a summer newsmaker role for her to play?
STARS: ****


ABILIFY FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY CAN BE PRESIDENT
medication awakens GOP hopefuls

— Funny reveal of Taran and Cecily playing Rick Santorum and his wife, after this initially seemed like it was going to just be a normal medication commercial featuring average joes.
— Feels odd seeing Miley in this particular commercial.
— A promising topical concept for a commercial, and the execution of it is decent.
— Bobby as Mike Huckabee: “One time during a debate, I cut Donald Trump off and I said, ‘No, you listen!’ What was I thinking??? That’s our future president! (*audience reacts by laughing uproariously over the mere outlandish, implausible idea of Trump EVER becoming president*)” Uh, needless to say, hoooooooooo, boy.
STARS: ***


50’S DANCE
at a 1955 homecoming dance, (JOR) & anachronistic bad girl (host) pair up

— Jon Rudnitsky ALREADY getting a co-starring role in the post-monologue lead-off sketch of his first episode. Enjoy it while it lasts, Jon, ’cause that good airtime sure ain’t lasting long.
— Ugh, this sketch. I mentioned in my negative review of the Booty Rap sketch from the preceding season’s premiere that there’s a similar bad sketch in the following season’s premiere. This is the sketch I was talking about.
— Another ugh, this time at the following incredibly corny, tongue-in-cheek exchange between Taran and Cecily in regards to Miley’s character: “She’s from Montana, right?” “I don’t think she’s been ‘from Montana’ in a long time.”
— We at least get a funny Kenan walk-on to somewhat salvage this bad sketch.
— Licked by Miley Cyrus in your very first actual sketch on SNL. At least Jon can cross that off his checklist.
STARS: *½


BAR TALK
Hillary Clinton (KAM) tells her troubles to bartender (Hillary Clinton)

— Oh, I had forgotten that this sketch is in this episode. For a “Hillary Clinton impersonator meets the real Hillary Clinton” sketch, I’ve always actually really liked this one and found it to be far superior to the Amy Poehler version of this concept when Hillary previously cameod in season 33.
— One of the reasons why this sketch works much better for me than the aforementioned Amy Poehler sketch is that, instead of playing herself, the real Hillary plays a character when interacting with her impersonator.
— Something about most of the camera angles during Taran’s small appearance look odd and sloppy.
— Very sharp humor and reality subtext with Kate, while in character, harping on the fact that Hillary could’ve supported gay marriage sooner.
— The real Hillary is coming off as a great sport here, and she’s performing well for a non-actor.
— I love the dopey-voiced Trump impression Hillary does.
— Uh-oh. That part with Kate’s Hillary saying she wants Trump to win the primaries just so she can easily destroy him in the election afterwards and mount his hair in the Oval Office. For anyone keeping count, this is #2 of this episode’s “Trump will NEVER be president” jokes. I’d better get used to those jokes for a while. I remember them being particularly prevalent in the first few episodes of the following season (e.g. a certain poorly-aged small portion of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s monologue).
— I love Darrell-Hammond-as-Bill-Clinton’s horrified line when seeing both Kate’s Hillary and the real Hillary: “Oh my god, they’re multiplyin’!”
— Even Kate and Hillary’s “Lean On Me” duet is very charming, as you can tell they’re both having a blast, which is infectious. And given the fact that “Lean On Me” was my graduation song, that song holds a special place in my heart.
— Great ending.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Karen Don’t Be Sad”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Pope Francis (KYM) uses hip lingo to describe his partying in the USA

PED admits he’s ignorant of politics & the race for president

LEJ gives first-hand experience of the effect of texting on relationships

— The burgundy color motif of the preceding season’s Update graphics has been changed to blue in this season premiere. We’ll see how long this lasts, as I recall the season 39 premiere also updating the preceding burgundy color motif to a blue one before immediately going back to the burgundy one for the remainder of that season.
— I love Colin’s breakdown on how boring the upcoming democratic debate is going to be.
— Michael has a solid breakdown of his own about the Pope and Kim Davis.
— Hmm, I see they’re still using the burgundy color motif for the chyron of Update guests’ names. I guess it’s only the Update photo graphics that have a blue color motif this season.
— Kinda funny seeing Kyle play the Pope in two separate segments tonight.
— Kyle’s ridiculous “hip” portrayal of the Pope is pretty funny, though I notice Kyle randomly slipped into his Bruce Chandling character when saying “major snooze”.
— Ehhh, after a promising start, I’m not sure where the heck this Pope commentary of Kyle’s is going, especially when he’s making those emoji faces. Apparently, the audience feels the same way as me, as they seem confused and their laughter at this material is mild at best.
— Man, I should’ve been prepared for the ENDLESS amount of Donald Trump mentions throughout this entire season premiere. These endless Trump mentions also serve as a very unfortunate reminder of the horror that awaits me three episodes from now (hint: the host of that episode).
— Lots of wild cheers from the audience at the beginning of Pete’s commentary.
— Very funny comment from Pete about his racist grandpa’s feelings about Colin and Michael, respectively. We also get a hilarious cutaway to Colin giving the camera a cheesy thumbs-up and smile (the third-to-last above screencap for this Update) in response to being told that Pete’s racist grandpa is a huge Colin Jost fan.
— Interesting analogy Pete makes between Trump and Sanjaya from American Idol, in that they both only made it far into the competition they each were in because they were initially considered by a lot of people to be a “joke contestant” who folks thought would be funny to vote for to see them undeservedly survive the competition week after week, until people eventually came to the panicked realization that they’ve made it too far into the competition over much more worthy contenders.
— Nice to see that both Pete AND Leslie are each doing a commentary in tonight’s season premiere Update, much like the preceding season premiere’s Update.
— As usual in her Update commentaries, Leslie is absolutely killing it here, and is great at getting the audience both hyped up and on her side.
STARS: ****


THE MILLENNIALS
entitled twentysomethings are heroes of workplace drama

— A very blah sketch so far. I’m all for a comedic takedown of this specific type of millennial, but the result of this particular spoof isn’t doing it for me. I don’t know why exactly this isn’t working, but it just isn’t.
— I finally got a laugh just now, from a deadpan Taran and Kenan encouraging Jon Rudnitsky’s suicide-threatening millennial character to go through with his suicide after his fellow millennials all beg him not to do it.
STARS: *½


KATZ’ DELICATASSEN
(LEJ)’s orgasms are strangely specific in the When Harry Met Sally diner

— Funny running gag regarding Vanessa’s character’s pride over her Billy Crystal impression.
— A good Leslie showcase. Her insane and overly-specific orgasm demonstrations are cracking me up, especially in how they tell a story.
— A hilarious initial cutaway to Kate, and I also got a good laugh from her subsequently saying the famous “I’ll have what she’s having” line from When Harry Met Sally. I didn’t care for her line after that, though.
— I love Cecily’s delivery of her confused “…..I’m not the waiter” line to Kate.
STARS: ***½


THE SQUAD
movie depicts a post-apocalyptic world ruled by Taylor Swift

— Clearly a variation of the highly-acclaimed Beygency short, mixed together with the also-well-received Swiftamine commercial. I have very little recollection of this Squad short, which suggests it’s nowhere near as epic as The Beygency. We’ll see, though. I’m going into my current viewing of it with an open mind.
— Kenan is very solid in his first scene.
— A pretty good amount of little laughs throughout this short, and this short is very well-filmed and performed. However, this indeed feels like it’s trying way too hard to be the new Beygency for my likes, and is coming off very inferior to that. Had this preceded The Beygency, I’d probably be much higher on this.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Twinkle Song”


AMERICAN VOICES
late-night talk show pioneer (LEJ) didn’t let racism go unchallenged

— Wow, a huge night for Leslie, who’s been getting tons of showcases in this season premiere. Makes me feel less bad about her being left out of this episode’s otherwise-full-cast monologue.
— On an opposite note – poor, poor Sasheer. You’d be forgiven for forgetting she was even still in the cast by this point of this episode, as I myself honestly started to. And her appearance in this particular sketch is only a dull straight role where she just sets up comedic scenes starring the more standout black female performer in this season’s cast: Leslie. And keep in mind this is Sasheer’s first episode as a repertory player, and Leslie’s still only a featured player.
— Adding to my sympathy for Sasheer, I can’t help but detect an undertone of genuine hurt and sadness in her in this sketch, like she’s fully aware she’s being overshadowed by Leslie and has come to the depressing realization that her own airtime is probably never getting any better than this. Maybe it’s just me, but she’s coming off very distracted in her performance in this sketch, and her smile seems so forced. It hurts me to watch her in this sketch.
— Moving on, I really like the concept of Leslie playing an oppressed 1950s black female talk show host.
— A clip within a clip? (I’m referring to the movie clip Miley’s Hayley Mills throws to in the clip of her interview on Leslie’s character’s talk show.)
— During the tense moment between Miley’s Hayley Mills and Leslie, I absolutely love Kenan nervously telling someone to his side, “Do me a favor – make sure my car runnin’.”
— Wait, what?!? That comical “Please Stand By” bit is the end of the sketch? The hell kind of ending was that? It legitimately felt like this sketch got cut off too early by accident or something. Is the show just starting to run long? There’s still a pre-taped short left before the show ends, but maybe SNL cut this American Voices sketch off early so they could have enough time to fit the pre-taped short in.
STARS: ***


MILEY WEDDING TAPE
KYM resists the charmed life that results from his marriage to host

— A sequel to the Miley Sex Tape short from Miley’s season 39 episode. I like how this has become a recurring thing when she hosts.
— Beck has noticeably lost a lot of weight over the summer. He looks so lean in this short compared to how he looked in his preceding two seasons on the show.
— I love Kyle’s goofy impression of Miley’s voice.
— I strangely got a big laugh from Kyle’s very dumb and random “Miley Siiiggghhh-rus…like it’s a sigh” comment. As expected, the audience had no idea how to react to that comment.
— Much like in the aforementioned Miley Sex Tape short, I’m enjoying the insanely rapid speed that Kyle and Miley’s married life is progressing. I especially like the funeral ending, complete with an old lady playing an elderly version of Miley.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good season premiere. A few strong highlights, a lot of pretty good segments, and only a few lowlights to complain about. I also found Miley Cyrus more tolerable and likable here than in her season 39 hosting stint, probably because she took a backseat tonight by not being the main focus for most of the show, and, aside from the 50’s Dance sketch, there was less of her “rebellious, in-your-face” persona from her 2013 twerking phase.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bar Talk
Monologue
Miley Wedding Tape
Weekend Update
Katz’ Delicatassen
Abilify For People Who Think They Can Be President
American Voices
The Squad
A Message From Donald & Melania Trump
50s Dance / The Millennials (tie)


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2014-15)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Amy Schumer

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “American Oxygen”


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ship To Wreck”


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

COJ & MIC read jokes texted to them by their mothers

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

unduly-optimistic Willie offers words of wisdom for recent graduates

 

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


THEATER SHOWCASE
didacticism of Student Theater Showcase rankles parents in audience

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


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

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


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

 

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What Kind Of Man”


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


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

Posted on

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

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
prom queen (host) makes ratchet determinations

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


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


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

COJ struggles to find an appropriate comedic take regarding Bruce Jenner

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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Dem Boyz”


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

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


GOODNIGHTS

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


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


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


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Reese Witherspoon

Posted on

April 11, 2015 – Taraji P. Henson / Mumford & Sons (S40 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ELECTION VIDEO
Hillary (KAM) & Bill (DAH) Clinton shoot candidacy announcement video

— Interesting seeing Vanessa appearing in the same scene as Kate’s Hillary Clinton, given the fact that this is the second Hillary cold opening after the Hillary impression went from Vanessa to Kate.
— Interesting novelty having most of this sketch be shot live from a phone…or is that just one of SNL’s cameras filming Kate during the phone shots?
— A funny intimidating “personable” message that Kate’s Hillary directs towards citizens.
— Good straight man performance from Vanessa.
— Darrell Hammond makes his first onscreen appearance in a regular episode since becoming SNL’s announcer. Fitting that his first appearance would be as Bill Clinton.
— The usual funny lines from Darrell’s Clinton.
— A fun “The Clintons are back!” announcement, even though it kinda feels like that was already done in an Amy Poehler-starring Hillary/Bill cold opening (the one when Amy returned to SNL after her maternity leave, I think).
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
gospel choir helps host sing “I Made It” to celebrate fates she avoided

— I’m enjoying Taraji P. Henson’s enthusiasm for being here at SNL.
— (*sigh*) Our THIRD consecutive musical monologue. I was able to excuse the previous two, because I had always been a big fan of them (particularly the Michael Keaton one), but I have no particularly positive memories of this one.
— Not many laughs in this song so far, but I do really like the way Taraji’s performing it.
— Kenan, on a fate he thankfully avoided: “I could’ve been the oldest cast member in Good Burger 7.”
— Leslie coming in immediately adding a good atmosphere to this.
— Overall, while most of the material itself was nothing to write home about, this monologue got by for me on fun energy alone.
STARS: ***


DEPEND LEGENDS
(Bill Corsair)’s adult diapers have senior-favorite faces

— Mixed feelings on this premise, but I think I’m leaning slightly more towards the “Don’t care much for it” side.
— A laugh from the grandfather proudly showing his family his adult diapers while wearing them.
— A likable performance from the actor playing the grandfather.
STARS: **½


HOT FOR TEACHER: THE JANET JOHNSON-LUNA CIVIL TRIAL
trial shows teen Gavin Daly (PED) got kudos after sex with teacher (CES)

— I love Cecily’s coy, playful delivery of “You’re stupid.”
— Good sequence with Pete running off the many names that his peers called him.
— Kenan perfectly selling a very Kenan-like role as the judge complimenting Pete.
— Okay, the occasional cutaways to Cecily delivering coy one-liners are starting to get old.
— Very funny cutaway to Bobby as Pete’s proud father, as a contrast to Kate’s demeanor as Pete’s mother.
STARS: ***½


HOME 2
Nicki Minaj (host) & other musicians provided voices for Home 2

— A very spot-on and funny Jim Parsons impression from Taran.
— A celebrity impression showcase sketch in the tradition of those duets album ads that the show had been doing these past few seasons.
— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary use of Pete in the Die Antwoord scene, which is one of the better parts of this pre-tape.
— Taraji’s pretty fun as Nicki Minaj.
STARS: ***


QVC
actress (KAM) can’t recall permutations for 3-way poncho for sale on QVC

— So far, an extremely flimsy premise that’s not doing a thing for me.
— Now we’re getting other bad attempts at random humor.
— I can’t tell if Taraji is badly overacting, or just doing an accurate imitation of typical QVC hosts.
— Not even a brief, potentially-sketch-stealing cutaway to Bobby can save this.
— That’s the whole sketch? Boy, this was worthless. Not a single thing about this worked for me.
STARS: *


JOHN SINGLETON’S GAME OF THRONES
black characters join Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in Westeros

 

— Solid concept.
— Che in a sketch!
— Sasheer’s reaction to getting shot by an arrow made me laugh.
— This overall pre-tape ended up not being as funny as I was expecting, but it was well-made, well-performed, and I like how genuinely badass it came off.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Wolf”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Cecilia Gimenez (KAM) loves the ugly features of a Lucille Ball statue

Jacob & his podiatrist father Dr. Henken (BIC) talk about Passover

— Michael, on how police are happy that the new Apple watch doesn’t have a camera: “Cops hate pictures. It’s, like, their least favorite thing to shoot.”
— Like the last time she appeared, Kate’s Cecilia Giminez is making me laugh in her commentary tonight, and Kate’s fun in this role.
— I love Colin’s little “Heeey” wave into the camera after Michael expresses jealousy over how white people can riot in the streets with no consequences.
— (*groan*) Yet another Jacob commentary.
— I did get a laugh from Michael awkwardly responding “Yeah, I wasn’t gonna” one of the times Jacob says “But don’t quote me on that!”
— Oh, this is the Jacob commentary where Billy Crystal appears as Jacob’s father. I had mis-remembered this as happening in the following season.
— At least Billy Crystal as Jacob’s father shakes things up a little bit in this Jacob commentary, and Billy’s doing a good emulation of Vanessa’s Jacob characterization.
— This would’ve been a good choice for a final Jacob commentary, but I’m aware this character makes at least one more appearance, in one of Vanessa’s final episodes as a cast member.
— I admit to laughing at the “You look mahvelous” fake-out, with Billy subverting that catchphrase by ending it differently.
STARS: ***½


HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT
dumb game show tries Jane Lynch’s (KAM) patience

 

— Taran’s Vin Diesel impression from the Bambi short returns.
— Was it necessary to have Beck play Nick Offerman again, after he already played him in the previous installment of this sketch?
— Cecily’s Marion Cotillard “crying in French” is fairly funny.
— Taraji’s cracking me up as Wanda Sykes.
— Tonight’s installment of this sketch feels like a poor man’s hybrid of Celebrity Family Feud and Celebrity Jeopardy.
— Okay, I’m starting to feel a little iffy about Taraji’s performance here, particularly how some of her line deliveries seem a little off.
STARS: **½


HOW 2 DANCE WITH JANELLE
Janelle & mom (host) sandwich Teddy (KYM)

— The second and final installment of this sketch.
— Some funny reactions from Kyle to the arousal-inducing actions happening around him.
— More fun energy from Taraji tonight, this time when demonstrating various suggestive dance moves.
— Good bit with Kyle being thrusted back and forth between Sasheer and Taraji.
— A decent ending, and certainly better than the awkward-as-hell ending from the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


SESAME STREET (OR TARAJI P. HENSON’S MUPPETS)
Cookie (host) brings Empire sensibilities to the Muppets on Sesame Street

— I couldn’t resist giving this segment that alternate title above (“Taraji P. Henson’s Muppets”), given the subject matter of this segment and the fact that Taraji coincidentally has the same last name as Jim Henson.
— A very solid concept, and equally solid usage of Taraji’s Cookie character from Empire. It’s also pretty impressive that SNL did this with the actual Sesame Street puppets and actors.
— A particularly funny part with the reveal of Cookie’s new fur coat being Elmo.
STARS: ****


CINEMA CLASSICS
fellow female baseballers shun (host) in ripoff of A League Of Their Own

— Kenan-as-Reese-De’What’s typical story about a rude thing he once told his wife wasn’t as funny as usual tonight.
— Some funny comments from the baseball players about Leslie’s size.
— Overall, nothing much that I could find to say about to this, but I found this sketch to be fine.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Believe”


CONNECTATRON
robot component pilot (host) gets promoted from leg to head

— I love Bobby’s hokey, kiddie-show delivery of the line “He just crushed my favorite hoagie shop! Let me at ‘im!”
— Not too sure about Taraji’s delivery of some of her lines here. The audience apparently agrees with me, judging from their uncomfortable silence in reaction to some of her lines.
— That…that’s the whole sketch?!? What kind of “ending” was that??? This sketch had to have been truncated at the last minute due to the show seemingly running long. In fact, I think I recall hearing that the version of this sketch that SNL/NBC put up online the day after this episode’s original airing was the dress rehearsal version, which was longer and felt more complete.
— Overall, pretty blah, sloppy, and incomplete-feeling, the latter two of which I guess isn’t the writer’s fault, for reasons mentioned above.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. Barely anything stood out as strong, but I was satisfied with a lot of the episode. Taraji P. Henson had a nice energy as a host, but her delivery could be a bit much at times.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Taraji P. Henson’s Muppets
Weekend Update
Election Video
Hot For Teacher: The Janet Johnson-Luna Civil Trial
John Singleton’s Game Of Thrones
How 2 Dance with Janelle
Cinema Classics
Home 2
Monologue
Depend Legends
Hollywood Game Night
Connectatron
QVC


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Keaton)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Scarlett Johansson

Posted on

April 4, 2015 – Michael Keaton / Carly Rae Jepsen (S40 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR
Mike Krzyzewski (TAK) says biology test trumps basketball title game

— Quite a number of sports-related cold openings in the second half of this season. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts, as this probably ends up being the final season I’ll cover where there’s a good amount of non-political cold openings.
— No Shaq in this line-up of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley impressions?
— A good goofy appearance from Bobby.
— Some funny lines from Kenan’s Barkley, including a genuinely botched delivery of one particular term.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
fans TAK & BOM want host to play Batman & Beetlejuice with them

— Much like Dwayne Johnson’s “Franchise Viagra” monologue in the preceding episode, I can excuse tonight’s musical monologue, as it’s always been an absolute favorite of mine.
— The “Will you play Batman/Beetlejuice with us, Michael Keaton?” song is very memorable, and the geeking-out from Taran and Bobby is so damn charming and fun.
— A hilarious part with Bobby, after his reveal that he has only six weeks to live, explaining “It’s just a guesstimate based on the choices I’ve made” while gesturing towards his body.
— I love the running gag with Taran and Bobby’s angry outbursts at Jay’s walk-ons, especially when he has an angry outburst of his own back at them.
— The pre-taped Batman/Beetlejuice sequences are absolutely priceless, and really puts this already-strong monologue over the top.
— I love the long, deadpan, tense stare Keaton does into the camera before his poignant delivery of “I’m Batman”.
STARS: *****


CNN NEWSROOM
amateurish reenactments fail to shed light on news items

— A pretty good laugh from the cheap animated reenactment, and the comparison of it to the music video for Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing”.
— Some more pretty good laughs from other cheap reenactments, one with puppets and another with a local performance arts group.
— Odd usage of tonight’s host.
— A pretty fun silly sketch overall.
STARS: ***½


PROM QUEEN
high school student (MOB) asks loser teacher (host) to be his prom date

— I remember, when this originally aired, I thought to myself upon seeing that new hairstyle of Mike O’Brien’s, “Is he trying to look even more like Sam Smith than he already does?”
— A very solid premise, and, as usual for Mike’s shorts, he’s perfectly blending comedy and sentimentality.
— Vanessa’s selling her “neglected wife” role to perfection.
— Love the turn with Mike winning Keaton back in the door entrance of Keaton’s house.
— Excellent ending, and that little twirl Mike does towards the camera as the screen irises out on him is such a great touch.
— Overall, Mike does it once again with another phenomenal short.
STARS: *****


CALL YOUR GRANDPARENTS
despite the downsides, (SAZ) suggests calling your grandmother for Easter

— An amusing juxtaposition of a sexy late-night phone ad and the concept of calling your grandparents.
— Kate using her Ruth Bader Ginsburg voice for this generic grandma role. In Kate’s defense, though, her RBG voice hadn’t become a recurring part of her RBG appearances yet at this time.
— A nice novelty seeing Sasheer in such a front-and-center role.
— I had absolutely no prior memory of this sketch, though Leslie’s scene kinda rang a bell to me just now. I think I previously got her scene and the rest of this sketch mixed up with that pre-taped “Alexa for old people” commercial from an episode within these next few seasons.
— Some good relatable humor here.
STARS: ***½


AD AGENCY
advertising boss (host) interjects incongruous sex & violence into pitches

— I like Leslie’s unhappy reaction to how her corny, lighthearted joke didn’t get the laughs from her co-workers that Kenan’s corny, lighthearted joke did.
— I’m laughing out loud at all of Keaton’s off-kilter, immature, pervy suggestions to the employees’ more traditional, family-friendly commercial ideas.
— Even the random side gag with the blood stain from Keaton’s stomach is absolutely working for me, and is adding a twisted feel that I like.
STARS: ****


NEUROTOLOGY
annotations show fates of those in 1990 Church Of Neurotology music video

— I’m not familiar with the actual Scientology music video this is spoofing, but I don’t need to be to have always absolutely loved this short and found it to be a classic.
— Such a biting takedown of Scientology.
— The annotations of every Neurotology member’s grim future are fantastic. Not only are they funny as hell, but I love the creepy, dark, unsettling vibe they’re giving this short.
— All of the little details in making this look like an authentic 1990 video are pitch perfect.
— An absolutely hilarious cutaway to a cheesily-smiling Colin, making a rare non-Weekend Update appearance.
— Even the melody of this intentionally-corny song is catchy.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Really Like You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
mistaking him for a zombie, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) shoots stoned PED

Jebidiah Atkinson thinks television has always been a vast wasteland

— A good Lethal Weapon bit from Colin.
— Some okay if slow-paced (even if that may be the intention) bits in Pete commentary, but it picks up with the whole Walking Dead turn towards the end.
— The Jost/Che era of Update continues to be on a hot streak within these past few episodes, suggesting that we have indeed reached the point where this Update era has fully hit its stride. (Colin has especially shown improvement.) I could not be happier about that, given how, as I disclosed in a previous review, this is one of my top 3 favorite Update eras of all time.
— Yes! As if tonight’s Update wasn’t already solid enough, we now get Jebidiah Atkinson! Believe it or not, this sadly ends up being his final appearance.
— Damn, Jebidiah’s slams are starting out hot tonight, with his “Hey, AMC, if I wanted to know what life was like in the 1960s, I’d move to Indiana!”, which receives loud “Ohhhhhhh!”s from the audience. Usually, the audience doesn’t react that wildly to a slam of his until a few minutes into his respective commentaries.
— Jebidiah, on The West Wing: “The best lines on that show were the ones that went up Sorkin’s nose!”
— Jebidiah, on Lost: “Sure, it started out good, but I haven’t seen a final season that bad since Joe Paterno’s! (*the audience reacts in shock and Jebidiah mocks that reaction*) If you don’t like that joke, just do as Joe did and turn a blind eye!”
— Jebidiah, in a meta moment, commenting on Saturday Night Live: “The same tired characters repeating the same tired catchphrases. (*throws his index card into the air*) NNNNEEEEXT!!!”
— I like the audience genuinely groaning as soon as they realize Jebidiah’s about to bash I Love Lucy.
— The overall usual great Jebidiah Atkinson commentary. I’m going to miss the hell out of him; one of my all-time favorite Update characters by far. I never understood why they suddenly stopped using him after only a handful of appearances. Maybe I should be happy they refrained from running him into the ground.
STARS: ****


SMART HOME
inventor (host) & wife (CES) show toaster & couch concepts to neighbors

— (*sigh*) Between everyone’s exaggerated southern accents and the completely random gag involving the guests standing outside the front door, we’re ALREADY starting off with a whole bunch of gags that are aggressively James Anderson & Kent Sublette-y.
— I liked the “googly eyes on inanimate objects” gag better when Christopher Walken did it.
— Ugh at the sequence with Cecily and Keaton describing the tube that anally recognizes you.
— I am at least liking Cecily’s laid-back performance, which I find strangely kinda comforting. That’s the only positive I can find in this whole thing.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “All That”


AN EASTER MESSAGE
host presents his Easter basket contents with Portia (KAM) & Jordan (BOM)

— Good to see another variant of this sketch, previously done with Steve Buscemi and Edward Norton. These always work for me, though I’ve never had the time to watch the cut-after-dress ones that were posted online.
— Solid side character from Kate, and an improvement over Bobby’s side character from the Edward Norton installment of this sketch.
— Keaton: “This is unleavened bread, which means, unlike Jesus, it doesn’t rise. Jesus: 1, bread: nothing.”
— Keaton, on Cadbury eggs: “I gave these up for Lent last year. Know what I gave up this year? Cocaine…………………almost.”
— I love Keaton’s creepy delivery of his random line, “Something’s wrong with me.”
— Speaking of Bobby and side characters, he actually shows up as this sketch’s second side character, and is a lot funnier here than he was in the Edward Norton version of this sketch.
— Very funny gag with Kate feeding her “child chicken” a McNugget.
— Keaton, about Kate’s character: “This kid has aaaallll the warning signs.”
— Keaton, on his chocolate bunny being hollow: “Some people like the solid ones, but then, how would you get your little wiener in there?”
— Great reveal at the end that Keaton was playing himself in this sketch the whole time.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I had always liked this episode a lot in the past, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how big I was on this episode in my current viewing. I mean, man – THREE five-star-rated segments in this episode, lots of other very strong segments, and only bad segment all night. Such a great episode. Odd structure to it, though, with how minimal the amount of segments in the post-Weekend Update half was. Clearly, a sketch got cut at the last minute, made even more obvious by the fact that our “10-to-1” for the night was just a shot of the SNL Band playing the show back to commercial after the show had just come from a commercial break. I think I once heard that the cut-at-the-last-minute sketch in question was a Nick Rutherford-written Pee Wee’s Playhouse pastiche that would later be posted online (seen here). I’ve never watched it myself, but if that sketch is as strong as I’ve always heard it was, it’s a damn shame it got cut at the last minute, as it would’ve made this already-fantastic episode even better.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Neurotology
Prom Queen
Monologue
An Easter Message
Ad Agency
Weekend Update
CNN Newsroom
Call Your Grandparents
Road To The Final Four
Smart Home


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dwayne Johnson)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Taraji P. Henson

Posted on

March 28, 2015 – Dwayne Johnson / George Ezra (S40 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE ROCK OBAMA
anger turns First Couple into The Rock Obama & She Rock Obama (LEJ)

— Feels a little odd to see that old pre-taped “Obama going through a Hulk-like transformation” sequence being used for Jay’s President Obama, when you remember that Fred Armisen’s Obama was the one going through the Hulk-like transformation the previous times that footage was used.
— As usual for this recurring sketch, the violence and physical actions are pulled off well. However, there could at least be more variety. The violent things that The Rock Obama is doing to others (e.g. throwing them through a window, ripping off their arm/hand) were already done in previous installments of this sketch.
— Very fun twist with Sasheer’s Michelle Obama transforming into She Rock Obama, played by Leslie. Solid use of Leslie, and this reminds you of just how much the SNL cast has changed since 2009 when this The Rock Obama sketch last appeared.
— I wanted the She Rock Obama portion of this sketch to go on longer, but maybe they couldn’t figure out anything else to do with her besides the small bit that they did here.
— Unsurprisingly, Leslie is a total natural for an energetic, shouty delivery of “Live from New York…”. Tonight’s LFNY delivery of hers (and Dwayne’s) is probably one of my favorite LFNYs of recent years.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host boasts that his box office success makes him “Franchise Viagra”

— Not only another musical monologue, but another musical monologue with Dwayne Johnson, after his (mediocre) one from 2009. However, I can’t complain about this particular instance, as I’ve always been a big fan of this “Franchise Viagra” monologue.
— Lots of funny examples Dwayne musically gives of movie franchises that he could add new life to.
— A great exchange between Aidy and Dwayne, with him responding to her “Another Smurf movie?” question with a very blunt “NO.”
— I love the computerized “Can you smell what Stephen Hawking is cooking?” lyric.
— An overall solid and fun monologue.
STARS: ****


PEP BOYS
customers shy away from Pep Boys’ discussions of gender & sexual identity

— A very funny concept and spoof of Starbucks’ “#RaceTogether” campaign.
— Another good use of Vanessa’s great knack for playing characters who flash an empty big smile to hide their uncomfortable feelings in the situation they’re in.
— Great satire throughout this short.
— I love Kyle’s little “Anywaaayyyyyyy”.
STARS: ****


WRESTLEMANIA PROMO
Koko WatchOut (host) demoralizes Trashyard Mutt (BOM) during WrestleMania promo

— A huge laugh from “He has herpes!” being Dwayne’s idea of wrestling trash talk towards Bobby.
— We’re getting lots of other hilarious overly-personal “trash talk” about Bobby.
— Bobby’s a fantastic straight man here.
— Not quite sure why we need that running side gag with Taran’s character always being occupied with his phone before suddenly going into “professional announcer” mode whenever the filming starts.
— I absolutely love Taran’s random, over-the-top delivery of “TOO FAAARRR, KOKO!!!!” while walking off at the end of this sketch.
STARS: ****½


BAMBI
host stars in live-action Bambi inspired by The Fast & The Furious films

— An absolutely priceless concept of Dwayne as himself starring in a Fast & The Furious-esque live action Bambi remake.
— Great delivery from Dwayne of his “deer-ly” pun.
— Very funny Vin Diesel voice from Taran.
— They couldn’t be bothered to give Cecily’s Michelle Rodriguez a big intro line like all of the other main characters in this had?
— Love the bit with the butterfly on Bambi’s nose.
— That “Here’s a sign: deer crossing, mother(*bleep*)!” line of Dwayne’s was freakin’ EPIC.
— Overall, this was fantastic.
STARS: *****


DINNER DATE
boorish (host) & girlfriend Gemma (CES) crash (KET) & (VAB) dinner date

— The debut of the Gemma sketches. A lot of people at the time seemed to consider this recurring sketch to be some of the better James Anderson/Kent Sublette-written sketches, but I’ve never agreed. These sketches never made me laugh much, but I’ll go into my current viewing of its debut with an open mind.
— Pretty funny throwaway bit regarding Kenan once, in jury duty, sending a guy to the chair because Kenan “just wanted it to end”.
— The concerned questions that Vanessa occasionally asks Kenan in regards to if he indeed has a boner or not (e.g. “You’re not hard, are you, Gene?”) are making me laugh.
— Dwayne’s performance is solid throughout this.
— Overall, while I found a few merits, I’m still not big on this sketch as a whole. Aside from the highlights listed above, I either didn’t care much for or flat-out disliked everything else in this.
STARS: **


ESCAPE FROM JUNGLE ISLAND
(KAM) wishes she could suck poison from adventure movie hero (host)

— Kate’s desperation in wanting to suck poison out of Dwayne’s various body parts is pretty funny.
— A cheap big laugh from darts being shot into Dwayne and Pete’s crotches. Their loud simultaneous yells of “OHHHHHH!” in particular sold it.
— Normally, I’d consider all of the homoerotic gags between Dwayne and Pete to be cheap and lazy, but between Dwayne and Pete going so all out in selling it (I’m particularly surprised that Pete agreed to do the bit where he places his lips on the side of Dwayne’s bare butt), and the conceit of Kate’s character, the homoerotic gags are somewhat working comedy-wise.
STARS: ***


BROGAINE
medicine is tailored for bald fraternity brothers like (BEB)

— Sasheer’s facial reaction to seeing a bald Kyle strutting through the campus is pretty funny.
— Amusing visual of Dwayne in that ridiculous long hair.
— Why did Dwayne’s “So, we doin’ this?” bit at the end feel so awkwardly executed?
— I’m not sure why exactly they ended this commercial by having a voice-over randomly say a Borat-esque “Brogaine – EEES NIIIIIICE!”, but it made me laugh out loud anyway.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Budapest”


WEEKEND UPDATE
fatalistic Olya Povlatsky broods over bleak Russia’s poverty & frigidity

COJ suggests equally-inappropriate theme music for The Jinx miniseries

Willie greets awful events with sunny responses & awkward aphorisms

— Kate’s Olya Povlatsky does her first Jost/Che-era Update commentary.
— As usual, lots of funny lines from Olya Povlatsky, and a very likable performance from Kate.
— I love Colin and Michael’s conversation with each other about the Starbucks’ “#RaceTogether” campaign. Even the unintentionally-awkward way it ended was amusing (which prompted a hilarious ad-lib from Michael).
— Wow, Colin and Michael have been on a hot streak in their jokes these past few minutes. Between the preceding episode’s fantastic Update and now tonight’s strong Update, I feel like we’ve officially reached the point where the Jost/Che era of Update has fully hit its stride.
— I love the segment with Colin breaking down the inappropriateness of the theme song for The Jinx’s opening credits, and offering even more inappropriate theme song suggestions.
— Kenan as Willie, regarding eating out of a litter box: “A little cat dookie cain’t hurt’cha!”
— Tonight’s Willie commentary is an improvement over his already-funny debut earlier this season, as they’ve upped the ante on the disturbing humor tonight. I particularly love his lines, “It’s like they always say: ‘Wolves raped your dog again, Willie!’” and “I bet she’d still be with me today if I’d just listened when she said ‘Hit the breaks, Willie!’”
STARS: ****


COOKING WITH PAUL
probation officer (host) bars Paul’s (KET) online illegality

— That sex offender reveal makes me feel like I’m watching a leftover Will Forte sketch. I’m not sure if I can buy Kenan in a sex offender role, as least not as much as I could buy Forte in that role.
— The running gag with the laptop is cracking me up, and this is a rare case of where a sketch with a dumb, one-note, predictable nature actually turns out to be good.
— Good decision by Kenan to play this creep role in a coy, playful, “I’m a naughty little rascal” type of way.
— A funny reveal of the portapotty-involved crime that Kenan’s character once got busted for.
STARS: ***½


IMPROV SHOW
improv troupe draws inspiration from creepy life of Robert Durst (KAM)

 

— Pretty funny dancing entrance from the improv performers.
— Ah, the days before Kate playing men became cliched.
— Man, I am LOVING Kate’s portrayal of Robert Durst here. This was another Kate McKinnon performance that, back at this time in the mid-2010s, made her my favorite current cast member during these 2014-2017 years (her peak years), and made me feel like I was watching a legend in the making.
— The debut of Cecily’s Jeanine Pirro impression.
— I’m surprised by how short this overall sketch turned out to be, but I guess I can’t complain. Plus, the short length, coupled with the fact tonight’s host was nowhere to be seen in this, kinda made this feel like a sketch from the 70s or early 80s.
— Speaking of Dwayne not being in this sketch, he apparently was originally supposed to appear, according to the Camera Blocking Rundown sheet that was shown during the preceding commercial break (screencap below).

STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blame It on Me”


INTERROGATION
(VAB) & (host) employ good-cop odd-cop interrogation technique with (TAK)

— Lots of funny nonsensical, dumb lines from Dwayne in his “intimidating” interrogation of Taran. Dwayne’s selling this material so damn well.
— Dwayne’s so funny here that even his constant stumbling during the “Friends theme song” bit didn’t hurt it.
STARS: ****


THE CIRCUS WITH KYLE
KYM has difficulty finding worthwhile interview subjects

 

— Yes!!! Our second (and sadly final, IIRC) SNL short with Kyle doing his “awkward man-on-the-street interviewer” routine from his pre-SNL days. There was, I believe, one cut from SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special earlier this season and would subsequently be posted online.
— Kyle has been having a huge night, being a lot more prominent than usual and seeming really comfortable playing various roles. Between the Dakota Johnson episode and now this, Kyle’s really come into his own lately.
— The tense back-and-forth between the father and son is very funny, as well as how uncomfortable it makes Kyle.
— I love the kid who confidently talks about how he could join the circus one day.
— Like the previous “awkward man-on-the-street interviewer” short of Kyle’s, there are pretty much non-stop laughs here.
— Another great kid, the one who just bluntly says a nervous “I don’t wanna” when Kyle comes up to him while asking a question.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, and one of this season’s best. An impressively large number of highly-rated segments, and only one segment all night that I didn’t care much for (Dinner Date). Dwayne Johnson continues to be more and more of an extremely dependable host with each passing hosting stint.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bambi
WrestleMania Promo
The Circus with Kyle
Pep Boys
Weekend Update
Improv Show
Monologue
Interrogation
Cooking with Paul
The Rock Obama
Brogaine
Escape from Jungle Island
Dinner Date


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chris Hemsworth)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Michael Keaton

Posted on

March 7, 2015 – Chris Hemsworth / Zac Brown Band (S40 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A MESSAGE FROM HILLARY CLINTON
driven Hillary Clinton (KAM) is unconcerned about email scandal threat

— The official debut of Kate’s Hillary Clinton impression, a role that was last regularly played by the still-on-the-show-at-this-point Vanessa Bayer. We previously got a sample of Kate’s Hillary in a sketch where several women played Hillary in separate, different-themed biopics (Kate played a Breaking Bad-themed version of Hillary in that).
— There’s the very first display of what’s now known as Kate-as-Hillary’s trademark laugh (“Ha-HAAAAAAA!”). That Hillary laugh of Kate’s always gets me.
— Right out of the gate, Kate is fantastic in her Hillary portrayal here, and is coming off so at ease, likable, and effortlessly funny in her execution of this material. No slight intended towards Vanessa, who’s obviously a great performer in general, but Kate’s Hillary is definitely a gigantic step up from Vanessa’s version.
— This cold opening’s material itself is only pretty funny for the most part, though there are a few strong bits, like the displayed email that Hillary sent to her husband Bill.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Kellam Hemsworth (KET) joins brothers host, Liam, Luke [real] onstage

— Liam Hemsworth makes his second monologue cameo this season alone.
— A cheap laugh from the initial sight of Kenan entering as one of the Hemsworth brothers.
— The second consecutive “audience interaction” monologue. I’m getting season 19 vibes. Where’s Sarah Silverman when you need her?
— A decent performance from Kate, but I could’ve done without her working in a variation of her “Ha-HAAAAA!” laugh from the Hillary cold opening. That almost makes her come off like a one-trick pony, though I know she’s not. Also, now that I think of it, she’s always done a similar laugh in the Sheila Sovage sketches.
STARS: ***


AMERICAN EXPRESS
American Express member host had an easy path to Hollywood success

— An okay spoof of the real American Express commercial(s) of this kind that aired around this time.
— I particularly like the line from Chris Hemsworth about the hardships of stumbling around Hollywood for days.
— This is the kind of thing that normally might come off as too genuinely self-indulgent and ego-stroking under certain types of hosts, but Chris Hemsworth manages to come off likable in this.
STARS: ***


BROTHER 2 BROTHER
twins Marky (TAK) & Matty (host) are easy to identify

— I wonder if this is a Mikey Day-written sketch, knowing how skilled he is at writing accurate spoofs of children’s entertainment, which the first half of this sketch certainly is.
— A pretty good laugh from Cecily’s overly detailed and self-esteem-damaging descriptions to Taran’s character of the differences between him and his twin brother, while Taran’s character stands there with a forced smile, constantly trying to change the subject.
— Aidy (in her only appearance all night, by the way) getting into the pointing-out-the-differences-between-the-twin-brothers act is also pretty funny.
— A good line with Taran’s character desperately blurting out “My dick’s bigger!”
— An audio gaffe, as the ending theme music fails to play during the closing title sequence. It’s pretty funny, though, hearing nothing but Taran’s off-camera sobbing while the closing title sequence is playing.
STARS: ***½


EMPIRE
out-of-place white character (host) brings diversity

— Che in a sketch!
— An okay premise of Chris as a new, out-of-place white character on Empire.
— I can’t speak to the accuracy of the specific Empire-isms being spoofed in this commercial, but they’re still coming off decently funny even without me having much familiarity with the real show.
— I got a laugh from the way Chris walks backwards out of the room after cheerfully walking in with balloons and immediately witnessing a violent confrontation.
STARS: ***


SPACESHIP
spaceship is saved when chicken captain sacrifices herself via microwave

— Uh…..what a concept.
— I’m starting to get an I Married A Monkey vibe from Cecily’s interaction with the chicken.
— Chris’ ad-libs when trying to get the chicken to look at him during his romantic speech to her are giving me even further I Married A Monkey vibes. I’m strangely enjoying this, probably because of how much I typically liked the I Married A Monkey sketches and how they got mileage out of SNL’s live format. While Chris Hemsworth is no Tim Kazurinsky, he (and Cecily, too) is selling this well with how perfectly straight he’s playing his interactions with the chicken.
— Even the microwave gag is working for me.
— Kenan gets a good moment at the very end.
— Overall, probably one of the better James Anderson/Kent Sublette-written sketches from around this time.
STARS: ***½


THE IGGY AZALEA SHOW
Iggy Azalea’s (KAM) rap appropriation bugs Azealia Banks (SAZ)

— Boy, that is some unconvincing-looking butt padding Kate’s wearing as Iggy Azalea. Looks more like she’s hiding Tupperware inside the back of her pants.
— So far, this sketch hasn’t been doing it for me. Your standard boring, uncreative “celebrity-hosted talk show” sketch that SNL relies too often on, and rarely works for me in recent eras like this. Did they only come up with the idea for this particular sketch because Chris is Australian, like Iggy Azalea?
— I am starting to kinda like Sasheer’s cranky performance, which is more than I can say for anything else in this dull sketch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Homegrown”


WEEKEND UPDATE
whether via foot or subway, getting around Manhattan frustrates LEJ

COJ & MIC trade jokes on Ben Carson’s “homosexuality is a choice” quote

telling a penis-size joke meant for MIC backfires on COJ

The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party is superior & wrong

— I sometimes try to guess from what Colin says in his commentary intro if he’s introducing a Leslie Jones commentary, and this time, I was finally correct.
— I love Colin’s “Good transition” ad-lib to Leslie at one point of her commentary.
— Some of the usual funny loud outbursts from Leslie here, and I love her delivery of “Did rat feces dust…just fly…into my MOUTH?!?”
— I like Leslie demonstrating her intimidating “Compton stare”.
— A surprisingly good Valley Girl imitation from Leslie.
— When Colin responds to a shocking story of Leslie’s by saying “Daaaaaamn!” in an urban manner, I got a pretty good laugh from Leslie immediately telling him, “Shut up! Don’t you EVER say that again!”
— Hilarious comment from Michael, after Leslie’s commentary ended with her expressing sadness over losing her ability to scare people: “She still scares the HELL outta me.”
— Oh, are we doing the “Update anchor(s) tells the same joke multiple times in a row, with a different punchline each time” gag from the Meyers/Poehler and solo Meyers eras of Update?
— Yep, we are! As much as I’d don’t like how some of the lesser aspects of the solo Meyers, Meyers/Strong, and Strong/Jost eras of Update have carried over into the early Jost/Che era, I’m always a sucker for the “Update anchor(s) tells the same joke multiple times in a row, with a different punchline each time” routine. It never fails to be damn fun.
— Michael is even stumblier tonight than he usually is in these early Updates of his, though it’s not hurting this Update for me.
— The bit with Michael letting Colin take his next joke is, in hindsight, a precursor to the famous and well-loved joke-swapping routine that would later become a tradition of Jost/Che Updates in either every Christmas episode or season finale. (I can’t remember which, as it’s been a few years since I’ve last seen a new episode. Do they do the joke-swapping thing in both the Christmas episode and season finale? Or is the season finale when they do their favorite jokes that were previously cut after dress rehearsal?)
— A priceless and very memorable gaffe during the “Colin reads a joke that was written for Michael” segment, where Colin accidentally misreads “3.6 inches” as “36 inches” when telling us the average length of a male’s flaccid penis. An off-camera, loudly-laughing Michael delivers a solid ad-lib during this: “See? My jokes ARE harder to read!”
— Man, tonight’s whole “Colin tells a joke originally written for Michael” segment is freakin’ classic, partly helped by Colin’s gaffe. This segment is an important moment, as it’s one of the very first (if not THE first) official things that solidifies the success of the Jost/Che teaming. I can definitely see why this bit would end up turning into an annual “Colin and Michael swap jokes” routine.
— Girl At A Party: “If you took all the homeless men in the world and stacked them on top of each other…(*makes a ‘fwoosh’-type vocalization*) Jenga, Michael. JENGA.”
— Girl At A Party, on her spring break plans, after Michael shares his run-of-the-mill spring break plans: “(sternly) I’m bringing democracy to Syria! Via Instagram!”
— Overall, the best Jost/Che-era Update to air up to this point, and probably remains one of their best-ever Updates to this day in 2021. This is also the first time in what feels like ages that I’m giving a Weekend Update this high of a rating. (I wonder if the Norm Macdonald era of Update was the last one to receive this rating.)
STARS: ****½


ACTION NEWS 7 SPECIAL REPORT
media hound Thor (host) is jubilant following Avengers’ defeat of Ultron

— For some reason, it feels kinda funny seeing Cecily playing a very normal, straitlaced, professional character immediately after seeing her play her Girl At A Party character at the end of Update. That Girl At A Party voice gets so in my head that it was kinda jarring immediately going from that to hearing her speak in a normal voice.
— Not all that crazy about this concept itself, as it seems pretty corny. However, Chris is fun and likable here, and is executing this decently enough.
— Judging from that voice he’s using and that cocky gum-chewing he’s doing, Taran seems to think he’s playing Burt Reynolds instead of Iron Man. I do like his performance here, though.
— Something about Pete’s concerned delivery of “I think I ate a guy!” made me laugh even harder than it was probably intended to.
— There’s something I find unintentionally funny about how SNL didn’t even commit to that “dumping a bucket of Gatorade all over Nick Fury” gag. First of all, there was only a tiny amount of Gatorade in that huge bucket, yet Jay’s Fury reacted like he got a TON of Gatorade dumped on him. On top of that, that “Gatorade” was clearly just plain water. SNL didn’t even bother using a colored liquid. Something about all of this cheapness is strangely amusing to me. Maybe SNL’s live constraints prevents them from being able to dump a large amount of liquid on a performer, which would explain the absurdly tiny amount of water dumped on Jay in this sketch. Oh, but then again, that Whale Park sketch with Chris Farley, people. And probably lots of other live sketches I’m forgetting that had a performer getting doused with a huge amount of liquid.
— I love Bobby’s pained reaction after being high-fived by Thor.
STARS: ***


MOVIE SET
acting coach from The Jeffersons (KET) elicits cartoonish takes in drama

— Meh, a showcase of the typical hammy tendencies and odd word pronunciations that are a frequent staple of both the writing of James Anderson & Kent Sublette and Kenan’s performances earlier in his SNL tenure (before he became a more grounded performer and toned his hammier tendencies down to a degree).
— I don’t get why they’re using The Jeffersons as the show where Kenan’s character originally taught these silly double take techniques. Since when was The Jeffersons ever known for having over-the-top, cartoonish double takes?
— Ah, never mind. It’s just now been revealed that Kenan’s character was an acting coach on The Jeffersons for only one day.
— A few of Kenan’s double take demonstrations are admittedly making me chuckle, but Kate and Chris’ double takes are not working much for me.
STARS: **


REALITY HOUSE
reality show manufactures conflict among housemates (KYM), (BEB), (host)

— Beck has been pretty invisible tonight. I almost thought this was the first time we’ve seen him all night, until I remembered his small, forgettable appearance as Captain America.
— A funny and very random reveal that this normal scenario is actually a typical reality show, complete with confessionals.
— This is nailing so many reality show tropes, in such a humorous way. I’m loving this, particularly the way such mundane things are causing typical reality show drama and tension.
— I like how this is now even featuring an elimination sequence, ala The Bachelor and other dating reality shows.
— A very funny sudden angry, violent outburst from Beck and Kyle at the end.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Chris Cornell [real] perform “Heavy Is The Head”


DOLCE & GABBANA
(host) & vacuous ex-porn stars endorse Dolce & Gabbana

— The last two prior installments of this usually-strong recurring sketch were disappointingly lackluster. Hopefully, it returns to form here.
— Vanessa: “We’re not porn stars anymore, but that doesn’t mean we can’t smell a great deal when we snort it off a mirror.”
— Vanessa: “Adios, a-sea-ghost.” Cecily: “(said like ‘arrivederci’) I-reamed-a-donkey!”
— Vanessa: “What’s that thing you press it and it sprays out?” Cecily: “Prostate.” Vanessa: “No, no, but…it holds all the liquid.” Cecily: “Mouth.” Vanessa: “Bottle.” Cecily: “Oh, right, bottle.”
— I just now realized how odd it is that Cecily’s Girl At A Party character and these ex-porn starts characters are appearing in the same episode (can’t remember if that happened before or not), as both recurring pieces rely on malaprop-filled one-liners, and I think Colin is the writer behind both recurring pieces.
— Overall, while still not reaching the glory days this recurring sketch used to have, this was definitely an improvement over its last two prior installments.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average episode. Not many things to praise as particularly strong, but not many things to complain about either. Chris Hemsworth was a better host than I would’ve expected. While far from being the funniest host, he had a total ease as a performer that made him come off likable, and his charm helped elevate some of the iffier premises he was given. A welcome contrast to what an awkward, iffy, and lacking-in-confidence host Dakota Johnson was in the preceding episode. I can see why SNL brings Chris back as a host later this same calendar year.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Weekend Update
Reality House
A Message From Hillary Clinton
Brother 2 Brother
Spaceship
Empire
American Express
Action News 7 Special Report
Monologue
Movie Set
The Iggy Azalea Show


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Dakota Johnson)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Dwayne Johnson

Posted on

February 28, 2015 – Dakota Johnson / Alabama Shakes (S40 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

GIULIANI BIRDMAN
Birdman (BEB) personifies Rudy Giuliani’s (TAK) post-9/11 glory days

 

— A fairly interesting novelty to see Vanessa’s Gretchen Carlson impression appearing outside of the Fox & Friends sketches and leading her own sketch.
— Initially, the utter lack of effort that the usually-good-impressionist Taran Killam puts into sounding like Rudy Giuliani is very jarring and off-putting, and I remember how that, coupled with the fact that Taran was considered way too young-looking to pass as Giuliani, made some people on an SNL message board say things like “See? This is exactly why SNL desperately needs an older male in the current cast.” However, it turns out there’s a twist coming in this cold opening that I guess explains why Taran’s not making an attempt to imitate Giuliani’s voice.
— Ah, there’s the twist, with this turning out to be a Birdman spoof. I love the idea of this, and it’s being executed pretty well.
— Solid Michael Keaton imitation from Taran once the Birdman twist starts. Taran even has a natural facial resemblance to a young Keaton when making certain expressions, which I previously pointed out when he played Keaton in the memorable You’re A Rat Bastard, Charlie Brown pre-tape.
— Great use of SNL’s backstage, and it’s also unintentionally funny seeing the attempt SNL made at hiding the fact that this is their own backstage and not the backstage of Gretchen Carlson’s show, by taping wallpaper over the usual SNL photos on the walls.
— Not much in terms of actual laugh-out-loud humor here, but the emulation of Birdman’s style is being pulled off so damn well that I’m still enjoying this.
— Great delivery from Beck of his very first solo LFNY.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— For some reason, the SNL Band makes a huge change to the usual arrangement of one small portion of the theme music: the one around the Pete Davidson/Leslie Jones/Colin Jost section of this montage. Not sure why the change, especially since this ends up being the ONLY episode with this altered arrangement of the season 40-43 theme music.


MONOLOGUE
host’s parents Don Johnson & Melanie Griffith [real] are in the audience

— Oof. Dakota Johnson’s very iffy, poor, low-volumed delivery of jokes so far is not giving me much confidence in her as a host.
— At least Kyle has shown up to add some much-needed comic relief.
— Turns out Kyle’s (and Kate’s) bit is only mildly funny at best, but it’s still a welcome alternative to watching a shaky Dakota Johnson struggle to deliver jokes.
— I do like the nod that Dakota gives to her mother, Melanie Griffith, having once hosted SNL in 1988. Is it true what Dakota says about her father, Don Johnson, proposing to Melanie immediately after the episode Melanie hosted, and Dakota being born nine months after that?
STARS: **


ISIS
proud father (TAK) says goodbye to his daughter (host) as she joins ISIS

— After that extremely rough Shark Tank sketch from this season’s Chris Rock episode, I’m not sure I needed another dodgy ISIS-themed sketch. I hope they at least don’t screw this one up as badly as they did the previous one.
— Seeing Taran in this dad role is yet another reminder of how some online SNL fans felt that he was too young-faced to be believable in middle-aged, utility roles like this.
— Not a bad comedic twist, and I admit that, yes, it made me laugh.
— Kyle delivering the statement “Death to America” in a mock-dramatic, soft-spoken, poignant manner gave me a decent laugh.
— Overall, an improvement over the Shark Tank sketch. It probably also helps that this was a commercial parody, meaning it was too short to belabor the touchy point like the Shark Tank sketch did.
— Unsurprisingly, there would end up being a fairly big controversy over this commercial. Can’t remember if it led to this commercial initially being pulled from online or not. As for whether or not this commercial was pulled from the NBC rerun, this episode in general never received an NBC rerun (though I’m not 100% sure on that). I recall briefly catching a portion of a syndicated 60-minute rerun of this episode on a cable channel once, but I didn’t see if this commercial was left in there or not.
STARS: ***


CINDERELLA
Cathy Anne (CES) is third wheel as Cinderella (host) meets Prince Charming (TAK)

— Ugh, stop trying to make Cathy Anne work as a sketch character, SNL. As hindsight has taught us, she would work far better later on as a Weekend Update character.
— Was it necessary to have Cathy Anne repeat that exact same “C U Next Thursday” line from her previous sketch appearance?
— This sketch at least isn’t quite as cringe-inducing as that unbelievably wretched Magic Bridge sketch that Cathy Anne previously appeared in. That being said, there still isn’t a single laugh or merit to be found here.
STARS: *


SAY WHAT YOU WANNA SAY
women eschew social niceties & say what they wanna say

— For some reason, I had mis-remembered this as appearing in season 41. Maybe I was getting it mixed up with the similarly-styled Bad Girls pre-tape from that season’s episode hosted by……uh…….He Who Shall Not Be Named (as of now).
— A good comedic conceit to this, a format that’s both pretty fun and funny, and the ladies are all performing well. However, I don’t know what exactly, but there’s something about the execution of this that isn’t making me find it to be quite as strong as I feel like I should. I’m still enjoying it, though.
— Kate’s bathroom scene is very funny. Speaking of which, another similarity between this short and the aforementioned Bad Girls short is they both feature Kate sitting on the toilet in one scene.
STARS: ***½


PRESS JUNKET
young reporter (KYM) unsettles host at Fifty Shades Of Grey press junket

— It feels like Kyle has been a lot more prominent in this episode than he usually is.
— The concept of this reminds me an awful lot of that pre-tape where Andy Samberg played a 13-year-old consultant on the set of Game of Thrones.
— Interesting character voice from Kyle, which I’ve never heard him use in any other sketches. And I like the charming innocence he’s giving to his characterization, which is helping this not come off as too much of a copy of the aforementioned Game of Thrones pre-tape.
— Something about the camera angle in all of the close-ups of Kyle throughout this sketch looks odd (seen in the first above screencap for this sketch), like it’s off-centered and/or showing too much space above Kyle. Is there a chance that’s intentional, as a way of emphasizing the small size of Kyle’s child character?
— Dakota’s timing continues to be a little iffy tonight.
STARS: ***


I CAN’T
complainers (BOM), (host), (CES) downplay officemate’s (AIB) broken arms

— Oh, no. I had completely forgotten all about this “I literally can’t even…” sketch, and am blindsided by the sight of it in my current viewing. I now recall HATING this sketch when it originally aired, and considering it to be emblematic of so many things typically wrong with James Anderson and Kent Sublette’s writing on SNL.
— Speaking of Anderson and Sublette (because it’s so damn hard for me not to do when reviewing a typical bad sketch of theirs), what is their fascination with having Aidy play characters with two broken arms? First that awful Steakhouse sketch from the preceding season’s Seth Rogen episode, and now this.
— Aidy’s delivery of this unfunny material is at least good, which is more than I can say for her delivery in that aforementioned Steakhouse sketch. Maybe it helps that she’s not speaking in an exaggerated southern accent here like she and all the other performers did in the Steakhouse sketch.
— At least this overall sketch was short. I was pleasantly surprised by how early the end came.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Wanna Fight”


WEEKEND UPDATE
contented Ruth Bader Ginsberg (KAM) burns things worthy of derision

Kanye West’s (JAP) self-aggrandizing apology is “Good Morning” variant

Riblet upstages MIC with his newsreading skills before dropping the mic

— Oh, right, this was around the time that ridiculous “Is this dress blue and black or white and gold?” debate took the nation by storm. (That also brings to mind the similar “Yanny or Laurel?” debate from later in that same decade.)
— That “possible presidential run” joke about a certain someone (the fifth above screencap for this Weekend Update)…oh, season 40, why must you keep reminding me of the nightmare that awaits me in this SNL project of mine?
— This is the first Weekend Update appearance from Kate’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg impression, which previously appeared in one of those Kickspit Underground Festival commercials, where Kate used a voice that was completely different from the one she’d famously use in all her subsequent RBG appearances.
— Most of tonight’s RBG commentary is working for me, but I could do without those CONSTANT “Ya just got Ginsburned!” dance routines, which are coming off like a warmed-over reprisal of the dance routines that Kenan’s Jean K. Jean character used to do, and it was a chore enough for me back then.
— Speaking of Kenan, I just now realized he hasn’t made a single appearance in tonight’s episode so far. Very surprising at this point of his SNL tenure.
— I was worried that the punchline of Colin’s “runaway llamas” joke would be yet another use of the Yakety Sax chase music, which has been an overused Weekend Update punchline since the Seth Meyers days. Thankfully, the punchline of Colin’s joke ended up not going in that direction.
— Ha, that real-life Kanye apology tweet to singer Beck (“I would like to publicly apologize to Beck, I’m sorry, Beck.”) always cracks me up.
— Meh, Jay’s Kanye song isn’t doing much for me, aside from a few lyrics.
— Ha, I love Michael ad-libbing a deadpan utterance of “So dumb” after Colin’s extremely lame ADD Study joke.
— The return of Riblet, this time making his entrance by suddenly blocking the camera while Michael is mid-joke.
— Even though tonight’s Riblet commentary is just treading the same ground as his previous commentary, it’s still working for me, Bobby’s still killing it in his performance, and his Update jokes tonight are actually genuinely funnier than the ones he told last time.
— I absolutely love the gag with Riblet going a step further in his one-upping of Michael by removing his own urban clothes, revealing a newscaster suit he has on underneath, and pulling off the sides of his hair (accompanied by a great “Yoinks!” vocalization by Bobby and accidentally-delayed “pop” sound effects from SNL) to look more professional.
— Then-writer Mikey Day walking on in a speaking role! (The last above screencap for this Weekend Update, though the FedEx hat obscures his face a little). This is the second thing tonight that I had mis-remembered as appearing in season 41, as I had recalled Mikey getting a few speaking roles in the homestretch of that season, shortly before he gets added to the cast in season 42. Anyway, it feels interesting hearing Mikey’s now-familiar voice this early in my SNL project. When this episode originally aired and a lot of online SNL fans (including myself) had no idea who that was playing Mikey’s role, I remember thinking Mikey’s voice sounded very Jost-esque, a resemblance I no longer hear now that I’ve gotten so used to Mikey’s voice over the years.
STARS: ***


EMERGENCY ROOM
patient (TAK) dies while surgeon (KET) explains why he’s dressed as Worf

a photo of Leonard Nimoy as Spock marks his passing

— Well, I guess those Worf prosthetics show why Kenan was M.I.A. in this episode until now. However, those prosthetics don’t look extensive enough that it would take the entire first half of this episode to apply. Even Bill Hader was able to get those Cat In The Hat prosthetics applied to his face in only about 15 minutes when he hosted earlier this season.
— Funny cutaway to Leslie’s very deadpan face in response to a line of Kenan’s.
— Yikes. When Kenan asks Dakota to look into his eyes, what was with Dakota’s giggly, very hesitant, low-volumed delivery of “I can’t” and “No, I can’t. You look so stupid”? Her delivery of that was absolutely horrible, and made it seem like she was going off-script, dropping character, and genuinely saying those things as herself instead of as her character, though I doubt that was actually the case, since Kenan seamlessly responds to it like it was in the script (unless that’s just a sign of what a damn good pro Kenan has developed into over the years).
— Uh, what the hell kind of sketch am I watching? I don’t know what to make of it, despite Kenan’s best efforts and likable performance. I think this is going for a “So bad, it’s good” sketch. If so, they apparently forgot the “it’s good” part of that. I can actually see some people finding the badness of this sketch to be good, but I’m afraid I can’t agree.
— Man, it can’t be said enough how much I hate Dakota’s delivery throughout tonight’s episode.
— I did get a laugh just now from Vanessa’s overly concerned question to Kenan of if his Worf face was the last thing her grandfather saw before dying.
— That…that’s the end of this sketch??!? That incredibly lame “Worf M.D., coming this fall to NBC” twist?
— When the screen is fading to black during the sketch-ending audience applause, Kenan, who apparently isn’t aware that his mic is still on, can be heard dropping character and saying, in his real voice, “Cue that applause” in a relieved, breathless manner, as if he’s acknowledging how bad the sketch was and that he’s glad it’s finally over with. Kinda reminds me of him dropping character, getting up from the floor, and casually walking right off the set before the screen even faded to black at the end of that extremely-questionable St. Kat’s Middle sketch (a.k.a. the “Kenan falls out of a wheelchair over and over for five minutes” sketch), which is another sketch that lots of people seemingly find to have a “So bad, it’s good” quality, but I unfortunately am not able to.
— The In Memoriam photo of the then-recently-deceased Leonard Nimoy, while certainly well-meaning on SNL’s part, feels kinda wrong coming at the very end of such a baffling, unfunny, seemingly-intentionally-bad sketch that we even heard audio of Kenan openly admitting was rough.
STARS: *½


NET EFFECT
online archetypes struggle to explain net neutrality concept

— Another reference tonight to the “Is this dress blue and black or white and gold?” debate.
— In my last review, where I covered SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, I mentioned having a strange liking of the odd-couple dynamic between Pete and Leslie in the segment they did together in that special, and I expressed disappointment that we, as far am I’m aware, rarely get to see them interact over the years after that. It’s funny how the episode that immediately follows those comments of mine gives us two rare Pete/Leslie interactions in two separate segments (the Say What You Wanna Say pre-tape and this sketch).
— Bobby’s angry pornos tirade is hilarious and steals the sketch. There ain’t much to steal, though, as the rest of this sketch hasn’t been doing much for me. (I feel like I’m saying that about a lot of things in this episode.)
— The mere visual of that silly-looking thick white beard on Taran’s face is cracking me up. However, I don’t care much for the gag with him entering this sketch just to slap each panelist in the face, because it’s just a knock-off of Bill Hader doing the same thing in that The Comments Section sketch from the season 37 Melissa McCarthy episode.
— After having nothing but negative things to say about Dakota’s general hosting performance throughout this review, I will say that her delivery of “Harder!” after getting slapped in the face was decent.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Gimme All Your Love”


MR RIOT FILMS
(KYM) & (BEB) use hidden camera shams to raise social consciousness

 

— Kyle’s big night continues.
— Funny characterizations from Kyle and Beck here.
— I love the odd way Kyle and Beck’s characters keep pronouncing the word “bully”.
— The title of each segment within this short is cracking me up.
— I’m kinda surprised these two characters of Kyle and Beck’s end up never becoming recurring. I wouldn’t have minded seeing a least one more short with them.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty mediocre episode, and a disappointing showing for SNL’s first regular episode after their huge 40th Anniversary Special. I found myself being very bored throughout a number of segments in tonight’s episode, and there was very little that I found to be above average. Even some of the better segments of this episode didn’t reach the heights that I felt they had potential to (Giuliani Birdman and Say What You Wanna Say). Going along with the subpar quality of this episode, Dakota Johnson was a bad host, like an even worse version of Katie Holmes’ awkward, iffy hosting performance in season 26. Perhaps it was nerves on Dakota’s part. Even SNL themselves seem to agree this episode is weak, as it never received an NBC rerun, as mentioned earlier.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mr Riot Films
Giuliani Birdman
Say What You Wanna Say
Weekend Update
ISIS
Press Junket
Net Effect
Monologue
Emergency Room
I Can’t
Cinderella


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING REGULAR ONE (J.K. Simmons)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Chris Hemsworth