Author: Stooge

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March 8, 2014 – Lena Dunham / The National (S39 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Liam Neeson [real] targets Vladimir Putin with Barack Obama (JAP) video

— Good involvement from Liam Neeson, which thankfully prevents this from being another full-fledged “politician sits behind a desk and talks straight to the camera” cold opening, a format that’s rarely exciting to watch.
— An entertaining Putin-like action pre-tape of Jay’s Obama.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host endures sexual oversharing from VAB, AIB, BOM, her grandmother (KAM)

— Very funny lines from Vanessa.
— The predictable route this monologue takes is basically a Girls-themed variation of Kerry Washington’s Scandal-themed monologue from earlier this season, right down to the format of three cast members coming up to the host one-by-one asking for advice. However, this is being executed decently.
— Interestingly, the voice Kate’s using as Lena Dunham’s grandmother is the same voice she would later regularly use as Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
STARS: ***


OOH CHILD
GPS navigation voice interrupts carpooler’s (host) singalong

— A pretty funny conceit with Lena’s growing frustration as each attempt she makes at a singalong of “Ooh Child” always gets cut off by the GPS voice.
— A solid dark twist at the end.
STARS: ***½


SCANDAL
newly-hired (host) is in over her head on Olivia’s (SAZ) team

— Funny how I mentioned Scandal in my review of the monologue.
— Funny how I also mentioned derivative premises in my review of the monologue, as the concept of this sketch reminds me a bit of the 1940s newspaper office sketch from the season 37 Zooey Deschanel episode.
— Is it Lena’s known trademark to often ask “I have 1,000 follow-up questions”? She said it in both the monologue AND this sketch.
— Funny interaction between Sasheer and Taran.
— Lots of good comments from Lena throughout this.
— Hilarious comment from Jay revealing he’s already taken the trip to Mexico that he was asked to go on just a minute ago.
STARS: ***½


WHAT’S POPPIN’
lily-white self-styled rap group performs on hip-hop show

— A laugh from the names of Kenan and Jay’s characters: LeGod Williams and Lil’ Taint Anthony.
— A decently funny odd concept to this “rap” group.
— (*groan*) Cue the obligatory cutaway to the straight man characters having frozen shocked looks on their faces while witnessing something weird, which is such an overused SNL trope in recent eras.
— Lena: “Break it down now, girls!” Mike: “…and Tim.”
— A good laugh from Aidy’s “Hey! My flute amp!” line.
— Some good lines during Kenan and Jay’s angry confrontation of the “rap” group. I also love Mike’s reveal that Tim is just his rapper name.
— The running bit about Sprite is too much of a weak non-sequitur that’s not necessary to this sketch.
STARS: ***


GIRL
Adam Driver (TAK) & host portray Adam & Eve in Garden Of Eden reimagining

— An okay idea for a Girls spoof.
— One of the newspaper reviews stating “If this is feminism, then I’m confused” is pretty funny.
STARS: ***


WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING? YOU’RE BEING CRAZY
teens (NAP) & (host) are flirty; Jon Hamm cameo

— The set-up of this kinda reminds me of the My Brother Knows Everything one-off sketch that Nasim did in season 36.
— Meh, so far, this feels too generic for an “adolescents host a talk show” sketch. Nothing much to get excited about here.
— At least Bobby is funny in his side role as the brother.
— Random Jon Hamm. Always nice to see him on SNL.
— I love Jon worriedly asking, “Is this like a Dateline/Chris Hansen thing?”
— Bobby: “Is that freakin’ Josh Hamm?!?”
— Jon’s uncomfortable demeanor continues to be funny. I probably would like this overall sketch better if there wasn’t so much mediocre lead-up to the Jon Hamm part. I personally didn’t need the Kyle interview that preceded the Jon interview.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Graceless”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey (TAK) offers more enigmatic wisdom

Vladimir Putin’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up (FRA) & (VAB) badmouth him via sotto voce

— Third consecutive episode with Taran doing an Update commentary, all of which he has knocked out of the park. His Matthew McConaughey impression here is spot-on and very funny, and his nonsensical “deep” ramblings are priceless.
— I don’t like how it’s becoming more and more of a regular thing lately for Cecily to do a “character voice” as the punchline to an Update joke. She’s relying on that particularly heavily tonight. That’s taking too much of a goofy approach to Update that doesn’t work for me in this format.
— Nothing to really say about Colin in his second Update. I see a slight improvement over his first showing in the preceding episode’s Update, but he’s still suffering from the same problems and is still practically doing leftover Seth Meyers material.
— Aaaaaaaaand in an apparent attempt to drive me insane, not only do we get yet another season 39 Fred Armisen cameo, but it’s the return of those fucking dreadful Two Best Friends From Growing Up characters. SNL really went out of their way to bring THIS tripe back???
— Also, at this point of the season, it’s starting to feel like Fred never even left the damn cast. In fact, I’m pretty sure his total amount of airtime this entire season outnumbers that of actual cast member John Milhiser (who will be nowhere to be seen in tonight’s entire episode, by the way, which only further proves my point).
— Ugh, and that overlong and insufferable Two Best Friends commentary is how they chose to end this Update? Talk about going out with a whimper (though it’s not like this Update had anything else going for it besides Taran’s McConaughey commentary).
STARS: **


JEWELRY PARTY
at a jewelry party, Venezuelan (CES) grasps her boyfriend’s (MOB) sexism

— A rare instance of Mike getting quite a lot of live airtime in an episode. Also interesting how both of his lead roles tonight have him paired up with a group of women.
— Fairly funny reveal of Mike being a men’s rights activist.
— The execution of this is letting me down. There’s an interesting premise there, but the approach is too flat, uncomfortable, and boring.
— I have very mixed feelings towards Cecily’s performance here, but I like some of what she’s doing.
STARS: **


PIMPIN’ PIMPIN’ PIMPIN’ WITH KATT WILLIAMS: OSCAR EDITION
Katt Williams (JAP) interviews crazy white celebrities

— During the TV One station I.D. bit at the beginning, we get a funny mention of a year-long “Martin” marathon.
— Not only is this another talk show sketch tonight, but SNL makes a typically lazy decision to place Jay’s solid Katt Williams impression in the ol’ “celebrity-hosted talk show” setting. If Jay had to continue doing this impression, I’d rather see it in other venues.
— It turns out that Jay’s Williams at least has good lines towards his guests.
— Yet another hilarious celebrity impression from Taran tonight, this time doing an absolutely PRICELESS Harrison Ford.
— I love Jay’s “Oh, shut it up” ad-lib towards an SNL audience member who is heard responding “Ohhh!” to Jay-as-Williams’ Rob Ford slam.
— Hearing Lena Dunham speak throughout an entire SNL episode makes me appreciate Noel’s impression of her even more than I did when it appeared earlier this season. Too bad that 1) Noel’s impression is only a brief part thrown in at the very end of this sketch, and 2) it’s Noel’s ONLY appearance all night.
— Further making me think that “I have 1,000 follow-up questions” must be something Lena Dunham is known to often say, Noel says a variation of it here as part of her Dunham impression.
— Overall, this was actually not bad for a celebrity-hosted talk show sketch. I also notice that it felt like this was set up to eventually become a recurring sketch, especially with how this sketch opened with Jay’s Williams saying each episode of this new talk show of his will feature him interviewing crazy white celebrities. We end up never seeing this sketch become recurring.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Need My Girl”


PLANNING
co-workers (KYM) & (BEB) embroil (BRW) in cockamamie outing planning

— A great increasing absurdity in regards to the email planning, absurdity that’s made even funnier by how straight Beck and Kyle are perfectly playing this.
— Good touch with how each transition title screen stating the day of the week is playing a snippet of the Fresh Prince theme song.
— Brooks is a solid straight man here. Back at this time, stuff like the 12 Years A Slave and Cowboys segments from the preceding episode and now tonight’s Jared Leto bit in the Katt Williams sketch and the straight man performance in this short made me think Brooks was finally “making it on the show” (to quote Bill Murray), and that he now had a decent chance of coming back the following season. Unfortunately, all of that ended up being dead wrong, and the progress that Brooks showed in these past two episodes ended up being short-lived, as he sadly goes right back to being used extremely little for most of the remainder of the season.
— The “Will Smith doesn’t do concerts anymore!” realization is very funny.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The absolute epitome of an average episode. Most of this episode was just fine, with barely anything standing out as strong, and very little standing out as weak.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Planning
Ooh Child
Scandal
Pimpin’ Pimpin’ Pimpin’ with Katt Williams: Oscar Edition
Presidential Address
Monologue
Girl
What’s Poppin’
What Are You Even Doing? You’re Being Crazy
Weekend Update
Jewelry Party


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jim Parsons)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Louis C.K.

Posted on

March 1, 2014 – Jim Parsons / Beck (S39 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ELLEN
Barkhad Abdi (JAP) is pranked & Johnny Weir (host) is dapper

— I like Kate’s Ellen confessing that, in regards to always forcing herself to dance for the audience’s entertainment, “Wish I hadn’t danced in my first episode. Wish I just sat the heck down and had a smoothie.”
— Nasim in her ONLY appearance all night, and it’s not even a role with any lines (even if her silence in this sketch is part of the joke in her and Vanessa’s appearance). As I said in my last episode review, Nasim was busy around this time filming the pilot of John Mulaney’s then-upcoming sitcom, so that may account for her being almost completely non-existent in this episode.
— A very funny creepy turn towards the end of Jay’s scene as Barkhad Abdi.
— Interestingly, this is the fourth cold opening of these past five episodes in which the host actually appears.
— I remember that, when this originally aired, Jim Parsons playing a flamboyant gay role here made me worried that SNL was going to typecast him in that type of role all night, due to Jim’s real-life sexual orientation. Thankfully, my worries turned out to be wrong.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— Colin Jost has been added to the cast tonight.

By this point of the season, there are now almost as many featured players as there are repertory players. It feels like the featured player portion of tonight’s opening montage goes on forever.


MONOLOGUE
host & other actors with signature roles sing “I’m Not That Guy”

— Oof, Jim botched that “rebroadcast 18 times a week” joke early on in this monologue, causing it to die with the audience.
— (*groan*) A musical monologue, and not even an interesting premise for one this time. This premise is lame.
— I assume this ends up being the last time Bill Cosby is portrayed in an innocent, lighthearted way on SNL, given what comes out about him later this same calendar year…
— None of the TV character walk-ons are particularly funny.
STARS: *½


PETER PAN
Tinkerbell’s brassy half-sister Tonkerbell (AIB) joins Peter Pan (host)

— Aidy’s performance is good, but I’m not caring AT ALL for this actual character she’s playing, and the writing for her is bad.
— Weak ending.
STARS: *½


THE BIRD BIBLE
parents (MOB) & (KAM) endorse avian spin on Christianity

— I love the one son just bluntly saying to his family, “This sucks”, and immediately walking off.
— Great delivery from Mike of the line, “What’s the matter, kiddo? Lose another friend?”
— The idea of this feels rather derivative of the Myowling Bible commercial from season 12 (a commercial for a version of the bible that has photos of cats as biblical characters), but I’m actually finding this Bird Bible commercial to be far superior. The execution of it is solid, there are a lot of funny visuals, and I love the low-key execution of all the absurdity.
— A very funny cold look Mike briefly shoots towards his son after calmly telling him, “Let’s just enjoy it for what it is”, after the son suggests the Three Wise Men should’ve been owls.
STARS: ****


THE KILLER FILES
conspicuous serial killer (host) stalked TV dance shows

— Jim is perfectly cast as a killer, given his naturally creepy look.
— Good detail of Jim’s killer character having three names (Marc Allen Henry), like a lot of famous serial killers.
— A big laugh from Jim’s unsettling description of himself during his intro on Soul Train.
— The phone call transcription part is great.
— Hilarious part with Jim looking straight into the camera, flat-out saying “I’m the Dance Floor Killer!”, then giving a creepy smile.
STARS: ****


OSCAR PROFILES: 12 YEARS A SLAVE
reading for racist roles made 12 Years A Slave auditioners uncomfortable

— I like Brooks’ gravelly-delivered “Nooooo…” when initially giving the script a look-over and seeing all of the horribly racist lines he’s required to deliver.
— Another great line from Brooks: “You guys have any north parts?”
— Hilarious how Vanessa and Cecily are asking Jim to read a racist statement directly into the camera operated by a VERY stern-looking black man.
— The mere look of Bobby’s character is hilarious, especially those sideburns.
— After Bobby’s character’s very convincing racist tirade into the camera that’s operated by the aforementioned stern-looking black man, we get an absolutely priceless reveal that Bobby’s just a janitor and wasn’t even aware they’re filming auditions.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blue Moon”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Charles Barkley (KET) & Shaquille O’Neal (JAP) discuss NBA current events

Jebidiah Atkinson pans Best Picture nominees & winners from years past

— Colin Jost has become Cecily’s new Update co-anchor.
— A slightly-revamped version of the Update opening title sequence from earlier this season.
— When Cecily welcomes Colin to Update at the beginning of this, Colin takes the time to sincerely tell us he’s so grateful to be here, and that this is a dream come true for him. I remember the decision to have Colin disclose those things really bugged some online SNL fans at the time, including myself, as we felt it was Colin basically begging us to like him and not dare criticize him. I’m a little less salty towards it now (maybe because I’m aware in hindsight that I would eventually go on to like Colin a lot as an Update anchor starting at some point in the following season), but there’s still something about the “It’s a dream come true for me” disclosure that feels very unnecessary to me.
— Feels odd seeing Cecily tell the first Update joke for once, after she previously was always the second anchorperson to deliver jokes in each of this season’s Updates, presumably due to Seth Meyers’ seniority.
— As expected, it also feels so odd no longer seeing Seth delivering Update jokes, after having gotten so used to him doing that in every single Update for these past eight seasons I’ve covered.
— I don’t like how some of the jokes Cecily and Colin are doing tonight feel like ones Seth would’ve done (e.g. the comical Boston accent Colin used when saying Derek Jeter’s last name during the “First openly gay athlete” joke, and Cecily’s “Yakety Sax chase music” joke, the latter of which Seth actually did do at least twice in the past). A huge sign that Colin’s new presence at the Update desk still isn’t changing the undeniable fact that the style of Update itself is in dire need of a complete overhaul (which we would thankfully get the following season).
— When Kenan and Jay’s Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal make their entrance, the camera accidentally cuts to an odd-looking brief close-up of Cecily shaking her head while looking at Kenan and Jay in amazement with an open-mouthed smile on her face (screencap below).

After this camera gaffe, Kenan seems to be aware something went wrong, as he ad-libs an amused “What just happened???”, and a now-off-camera Cecily is then heard ad-libbing “I was enjoying you!”
— This Barkley/Shaq commentary is so fun that even Jay’s accidental delay in his delivery of a punchline at one point comes off affable and funny instead of hampering the joke.
— Jay’s Shaq childishly imitating Kenan-as-Barkley’s hand movements when Kenan’s Barkley is speaking to Colin reminds me of Alex Moffat’s Eric Trump regularly doing that in the later Update commentaries that he and Mikey Day’s Donald Trump Jr. would do together.
— So far in this first Update of his, Colin is indeed coming off stiff, bland, and Seth Meyers-lite (the latter of which is the last thing Update needs after so many damn endless years of affable blandness from Seth himself), just like all the critics said about him back at this time, but I’m not finding all of these things about Colin to be quite as bad in hindsight (again, probably because I’m now aware of how much I would later like him on Update the following seasons). However, he’s still coming off as a pale shadow of his future, more-developed Update self.
— Jebidiah Atkinson! This character always kills.
— (*groan*) Did Cecily inherit Seth’s annoying habit of loudly laughing off-camera when a guest is doing their commentary?
— A fantastic unscripted bit right now during the Jebidiah Atkinson commentary, in which an index card that Taran throws in the air ends up unexpectedly landing neatly on top of the cards in Taran’s hand (seen in the last in the above group of screencaps for this Update), leading Taran to ad-lib a great “Couldn’t do it again if I tried.”
— Jebidiah Atkinson: “I’d rather let Woody Allen watch my kids than watch this again! (*audience reacts in offended amusement*) So let me get this straight – you all trust him?!?”
— At the end of this inaugural Update they have together, Colin and Cecily do their own version of the traditional Seth/Cecily “fist bump” move by doing a “finger bump”.
STARS: **½


MURDER MYSTERY
murder mystery participant (host) is unhappy with his assigned character

— Funny blooper with Taran’s “Dinner will be sherved…” line flub, resulting in a taken-aback smirk from him as he tries his best to stifle his laughter. The fact that Taran doesn’t usually break often makes his flub here come off likable, as does something about the fact that he just played the ad-lib-heavy Jebidiah Atkinson right before this sketch.
— A pretty funny “harmless, oversexed nutball” description of the Simply Dudley character that Jim’s assigned.
— I like Jim’s delivery of “Now what the HELL does that mean?!?” when reading the direction, “Simply Dudley goes to town.”
— A laugh from the “fabulous fanny tickler” glove Jim is given for his Simply Dudley character, as well as the very negative reaction that both Kate and Taran have when Jim uses the glove on a playing-dead Kate.
— After a very frustrated Jim asks “Well, what do you guys want me to do?!?”, I love Cecily aghast delivery of “Not tickle a dead woman’s ass!”
STARS: ***


SPOTLIGHTZ!
Laura Parsons & Spotlightz! peers act in Best Picture nominee adaptations

— I wonder if SNL got the idea to bring this sketch back tonight because Jim shares the same last name as Vanessa’s Laura Parsons character.
— Having the movies the child actors perform be this years Oscar-nominated films is a good way to change this up a bit from the previous installment of this sketch.
— Good performance from Noel, but I didn’t care much for her scene with Jim.
— I like Jim’s character mouthing Laura Parsons’ lines and subtly imitating her gestures.
— This overall sketch wasn’t quite as good as the previous installment of this from earlier this season, but was still decent.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wave”


ELEVATOR
boss who crapped his pants (host) shares elevator ride with his employees

— Given what an awkward live performer he usually tends to be, Mike is surprisingly not bad in his live appearance here.
— I like the realization us viewers gradually come to that the mentioned loud boom from a nearby construction site was the cause of Jim’s “dirty undergarment”.
— While this is a juvenile concept, and poopy humor is worryingly starting to feel like it’s becoming a regular thing in the second half of this season between that game show sketch with Jonah Hill and this, this particular Elevator sketch is actually being executed well, surprisingly.
— Though I hate admitting to laughing at it, I love the jarring contrast that Kenan’s loudly-delivered “Aw, dayum! Smell like dookie in here!” has to the quieter tone this sketch had prior to his appearance. That tone shift was pulled off well.
— Good ending reveal of this taking place in a very tall building, though it doesn’t make sense why Jim is heard exclaiming “Oh, no!” during that exterior shot of the tall building, as if he’s finding out the same time we are of how tall this building is, despite the fact that he’s, you know, A BOSS WHO WORKS IN THAT BUILDING, and thus, should’ve already been well-familiar with how lengthy that building is. A minor nitpick, though.
STARS: ***½


COWBOYS
on the range, (host) pushes for birthday surprise for fellow cowboy (BEB)

— I’m loving Jim’s character’s commitment to his increasingly harebrained popping-out-of-the-ground birthday surprise idea. I especially laughed at the odd detail that he’ll paint his body brown to match the dirt.
— Brooks is doing a really good job blending in with the rest of the cast in this sketch. He doesn’t feel like an underused rookie at all here, and is instead coming off like a comfortable, familiar veteran.
— Even the out-of-place jolly contemporary music played during the “The next day” scene transition is adding to the fun silly nature of this sketch.
— Very funny ending.
— An overall underrated sketch. I not only liked it a lot as a silly little 10-to-1 piece, but I also love how this felt like something I can picture airing in SNL’s late 80s era. More specifically, it had the feel of a typical silly, oddball idea that writers Jack Handey or Conan O’Brien would’ve come up with in that era, and Handey and Conan are two of my personal favorite SNL writers of all time. I can even picture specific late 80s cast members playing the roles in this sketch, such as Phil Hartman in Beck’s role, Dana Carvey in Kyle’s role, Jon Lovitz in Kenan’s role, and Kevin Nealon in Brooks’ role.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I take it this is a notorious episode that’s considered by a number of people to be pretty much a disaster, judging from 1) recent things I’ve heard about this episode, and 2) an online article published shortly after this episode’s original airing that was titled something like “SNL Has Their Worst Episode Ever”. Frankly, I don’t get the hate AT ALL. While this episode did have a real rough and worrisome beginning with that monologue and Tonkerbell sketch, things improved greatly afterwards, with the post-Tonkerbell segments in the first half of the show all being strong, most of the sketches in the second half of the show being decent, and the final sketch of the night (Cowboys) being good-ol’ Jack Handey/Conan O’Brien-esque silliness. I assume that that poopy-pants elevator sketch is just one of the reasons for the ire that a number of people have towards this episode, but come on – I usually hate that type of humor, too, and even *I* can admit that SNL executed it well in this particular sketch. All-in-all, I’m taking the apparently unpopular route and saying this episode was fine, minus a worrisome start and a mediocre Weekend Update debut for Colin Jost.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Oscar Profiles: 12 Years A Slave
The Bird Bible
The Killer Files / Cowboys (tie)
Elevator
Murder Mystery
Ellen
Spotlightz!
Weekend Update
Peter Pan
Monologue


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Melissa McCarthy)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Lena Dunham

Posted on

February 1, 2014 – Melissa McCarthy / Imagine Dragons (S39 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HALFTIME SPECTACULAR
Broadway performers are last-minute Super Bowl halftime show replacements

— Kyle’s delivery in the beginning of his appearance cracked me up.
— Funny how the preceding episode’s cold opening had a gentle, fancy sport (ice skating) being presented in an uncharacteristically masculine way, while tonight’s cold opening has a masculine sport (football) being presented in an uncharacteristically gentle, fancy way.
— It’s sadly on-brand for SNL that they don’t even bother putting any lighting on poor, neglected John Milhiser in the close-up of him during his brief appearance (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Meh, I’m finding myself losing interest in this as it goes on. This Broadway Super Bowl halftime show concept would’ve been funnier as some kind of quick cutaway gag rather than an actual full-length cold opening.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host & BOM settle an old score by fighting while suspended from wires

— A funny backstage pre-tape of Melissa McCarthy and Bobby, and I like how we get a rare instance of the traditional backstage Abraham Lincoln, showgirls, and/or llama actually being acknowledged by someone, with Melissa rudely shoving Lincoln and randomly taking the llama with her as she exits the building.
— Boy, was that cutaway back to Bobby live in the studio after the pre-tape really awkward.
— Ooh, I like this out-of-the-ordinary monologue concept, with Melissa and Bobby engaging in a battle while raised in the air on wires. Some pretty fun visuals and humor here.
STARS: ***½


CVS
girlfriends hate Some Dumb Little Thing From CVS for Valentine’s Day

— Am I crazy, or can you hear a crying baby in the background when Taran realizes at CVS that he forgot Valentine’s Day?
— A solid spiritual successor to the Teddy Bear Holding A Heart commercial from season 31.
— I love Bobby’s smug, shameless delivery of “One minute ago” when Aidy asks him, regarding her cheap Valentine’s gift, “When did you get this?”
— Good voice-over work from Cecily throughout this.
— Absolutely fantastic delivery from Aidy when frankly telling Bobby, “You have hurt me today.”
STARS: ****


DELAWARE 1 NEWS SPECIAL REPORT
newscast airs video of congresswoman Sheila Kelly’s arrogant rampage

— I like that they’re trying to make it a running thing in Melissa McCarthy-hosted episodes to spoof a male figure currently in the news for aggressive, abusive behavior by using Melissa’s Sheila Kelly character as the female version of that figure. This running theme stops after this episode, but in a lot of ways, the Sean Spicer sketches that Melissa would later do are like a repurposed version of these Sheila Kelly sketches.
— Funny escalation to this with the succession of different types of cameras filming Sheila Kelly.
— According to the Camera Blocking Rundown sheet shown during the teaser in the middle of the preceding commercial break (screencap a little below), Melissa was originally going to make a live appearance at some point in this sketch (Melissa and Taran are the only people in the Camera Blocking Rundown sheet’s cast list, which means that the cast list was excluding the pre-taped portions of this sketch, which had various cast members), but her planned live appearance seemingly got scrapped after dress rehearsal.

— Overall, this wasn’t quite as strong or memorable as the basketball coach version of this sketch from Melissa’s season 38 episode, but this was still fine and enjoyable.
STARS: ***½


WOMEN’S GROUP
(host)’s vengeful goals are out of place at housewives’ group meeting

— A huge rarity in recent SNL eras for two full-length live sketches to air back-to-back without a commercial break separating them (even if a majority of the preceding sketch was pre-taped).
— A laugh from how the darkness of Melissa’s character’s opening reveal about herself contrasts with the other women at this group meeting.
— Very funny part with Melissa randomly having yogurt as part of her disturbing, violent collage, like Nasim did.
— Melissa is selling this dark humor well with a solid understated performance.
— I love the reveal from Melissa that the box she brought to the meeting consists of “mostly ears and one penis”
— Melissa, to Vanessa: “How do you feel about gunfire in your home?” Vanessa: “Well…I asked you to take off your shoes, so…”
— A questionable decision to end this sketch by immediately following Melissa jumping through the living room window by showing the same exterior shot of the house that this sketch opened with (a staple of director Don Roy King), where we can clearly see that there’s no shattered living room window.
STARS: ****


PROMO

— Well, this may be a first in SNL history: the “Next live episode” promo just has “SNL” listed in place of a host or musical guest. Obviously, the show must not have had the next host or musical guest booked yet by this point, and I guess the only reason they’re showing this promo tonight is to have Don Pardo’s voice-over let us know the date that SNL returns live after the month-long hiatus they’re about to take due to the Winter Olympics.


GUESS THAT PHRASE!
weird contestant (host) completely fails at game show

— Meh, not caring for this character piece for Melissa, basically being one of the lesser-quality instances of the all-too-familiar “Melissa McCarthy plays an awkward weirdo” trope that dominated her previous two hosting stints. Quite a number of these “Melissa McCarthy plays an awkward weirdo” showcase pieces tend to blend together way too much, as is the case here.
— Beck is a solid straight man game show host here.
— Vanessa, in a consistently cheery manner, regarding what letter she’s picking: “Well, my daughter’s name is Erica, so I’ll pick ‘e’. (a beat) Uh, screw my daughter! ‘T’!”
— I did get a laugh from Melissa discreetly disclosing to Beck the dirty meaning behind the “Pass the mash” phrase.
STARS: **


28 REASONS
high school Black History Month report has slavery rebuke

— A huge laugh from how, after the very lighthearted first reason to hug a black guy, reasons 2-28 are a very-bluntly-and-sternly-delivered-by-Jay “SLAVERY.”
— Between the Resolution Revolution short from two episodes prior and now this short, SNL seems to be trying to make it a regular thing for Sasheer to sing the chorus of their music videos.
— A hilarious twist to the “Raise your hands in the air” part, with Kenan suddenly changing his tune and sternly telling the hands-still-raised-in-the-air white students, “Keep ’em up if your ancestors OWNED US.”
— Great part with a stiffly-rapping Bobby starting to play devil’s advocate, only for Kate to immediately put an end to that.
— I’m loving the cutaways to Kate’s various non-verbal reactions to the song.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Kendrick Lamar [real] perform “Radioactive”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Buford Calloway (TAK) dramatically recalls two inches of Atlanta snow

AMP, Stefon, ANS, David Paterson (FRA) wish SEM farewell on his last SNL

— Seth’s final Weekend Update, after a whopping 8 years behind the desk.
— Taran is always killer in his Update appearances around this time.
— I like Taran’s Southern gentleman character referring to Seth as “Sethory” throughout this commentary.
— I absolutely howled at “Obama’s white friend” being one of the names Taran’s Southern gentleman calls snow.
— Taran’s delivery is tickling the HELL out of me throughout this commentary. He is priceless here.
— Ah, Seth’s final Update joke, which Cecily acknowledges right afterwards. Speaking of which, Seth actually kinda flubbed that final joke of his, mistakenly pronouncing “police” as “poluce”, but I’m glad he didn’t acknowledge that minor flub (or maybe he didn’t even catch it), as acknowledging it would’ve put a damper on the special-ness of it being his final Update joke.
— The initial transition to Seth’s special farewell segment feels kinda awkward and forced, though I know SNL means well here.
— Bill Hader in his very first cameo after leaving the cast.
— I like Stefon’s callback to the club name “…………..(*looks around in a concerned manner*)…………Kevin????”, originally mentioned in one of Stefon’s previous appearances.
— I love Stefon’s various catty, jealous outbursts towards Cecily.
— Andy Samberg out of nowhere, joining in on the Seth farewell.
— Andy’s innocent “It’s your last show???” question after singing a brief farewell song to Seth gave me a pretty good laugh.
— A nice heartfelt goodbye speech that Seth delivers into the camera, and I like the continuity of him referring in passing to Stefon as his husband.
— Amy’s voice is noticeably very hoarse all of a sudden when it’s her turn to say her sign-off at the end of Seth’s goodbye speech. That speech of Seth’s must’ve made Amy get choked-up. I know she and Seth are close friends, which could account for her emotions here, but I wonder if a bigger reason for her getting choked-up is because she and Seth joined SNL together, and, for that reason, perhaps she feels a special connection to Seth saying goodbye.
— And we close out Seth’s farewell by having Fred Armisen’s David Paterson showing up out of nowhere, doing his usual “pop up lost in front of the camera” bit right before the screen fades to black. A very random but decent way to get Fred’s Paterson involved without giving him any actual lines, and this is probably the only one of Fred’s many season 39 cameos that I’ll be tolerant of.
STARS: ***


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Pete Seeger marks his passing

Not included in the copy I’m watching of this episode


ART EXHIBIT
museum technician (host) disrupts Frida Kahlo portrayer (NAP) in live art exhibit

— Ooh, I recall this being a notorious, absolutely dreadful sketch. A part of me is morbidly fascinated to review this.
— Yikes, the awkwardness of Melissa’s entrance is ALREADY setting a bad tone for this sketch, as SNL keeps mistakenly cutting to the wrong camera, causing Melissa to not even be visible onscreen for the entire first 15 seconds she’s in this sketch while angrily ranting to someone.
— This tense back-and-forth between Nasim and Melissa is going absolutely NOWHERE and isn’t remotely funny. In fact, a lot of it isn’t even coming off like it’s intended to be comedic, though I’m sure it IS intended to be. I will say, though, that I did like Nasim’s very pissed-off delivery of “I’m Frida Kahlo, you FULL IDIOT.”
— Not only is Nasim and Melissa’s back-and-forth bickering continuing to be comedy poison, but something about the raw tenseness of it is getting downright uncomfortable to watch.
— What is with all of Melissa’s damn references to this mysterious “Danny Tranz” character? That’s yet ANOTHER aspect of this sketch that’s going absolutely nowhere and is resulting in zero laughs.
— And now this sketch has progressed to Nasim and Melissa’s characters physically fighting each other? In a non-comedic way, to an uncomfortably dead audience? Man, this sketch just gets harder and harder to both figure out AND sit through. I also recall one online SNL fan being under the impression that this physical fight between Nasim and Melissa was actually REAL, instead of being part of the sketch. You see, shortly after the next new episode, when some people on IMDB’s (now-defunct) SNL message board were wondering why Nasim made only a brief, non-speaking appearance that entire night, and some people speculated that that brief, non-speaking appearance of Nasim’s may not have even been live (she was said to be busy that week filming the pilot of John Mulaney’s doomed then-upcoming sitcom, which Nasim would soon leave SNL altogether for after this season ends), the aforementioned online SNL fan said the reason for Nasim making her only appearance of the night in a possibly-pre-taped brief shot was because SNL was punishing her for getting into a real fight with the preceding episode’s guest host, Melissa McCarthy, on live TV. Wow. I know that Nasim/Melissa fight had an uncomfortably believable vibe in how straight and humorless it was being played, but geez, it actually made an SNL fan think that it was REAL? That two utmost professionals like Nasim and Melissa got so angry with each other during a sketch that they came to GENUINE BLOWS on live TV? Heh, I find it far more amusing than anything in this actual sketch that an SNL fan took this obviously-scripted fight as being 100% real, almost like SNL was trying to pull some Andy-Kaufman-on-“Fridays” mess.
— And mercifully, this utter trainwreck of a sketch is now over, and absolutely lived up to my horrible memory of it. I’d really like to know what the flying fuck whoever wrote this sketch was attempting with this.
STARS: *


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
Morgan’s divorcee friend (host) has Hawaiian beau

— Huh? What’s this recurring sketch doing on so late in tonight’s episode? All of the previous installments of this sketch aired in the very cushy, coveted post-monologue lead-off spot. Now, all of a sudden, it’s thrown on around the 12:40 timeslot, just 20-25 minutes before the show ends? Perhaps a sign that even SNL themselves are aware that this recurring sketch has lost the promising steam it started out with in its first two or so installments. Pretty telling for this recurring sketch that not only is it being buried unusually late in the show tonight, but that even the “Danny Tranz” debacle of a sketch somehow got a better timeslot in this episode than Girlfriends Talk Show did. Ouch!
— Ah, at least we get a change of pace with Aidy’s character finally getting to be the one to choose the guest, instead of being blindsided ONCE AGAIN by Cecily’s character choosing the guest without her knowledge. Not only that, but the guest Aidy’s character brings on is Donna, the adult divorcee character who was mentioned in previous installments of this sketch as someone Aidy’s character frequently hangs out with. Nice continuity. All that being said, I’m still very wary on know this sketch will turn out, given the fact that the last installment of this sketch prior to tonight’s episode tried to change up the formula a bit, and that still didn’t stop the sketch from feeling stale and old hat.
— (*sigh*) And, just as I predicted above, the “change of pace” in tonight’s installment ends up going the same damn direction this recurring sketch always goes in.
— Ugh, and there’s goes yet another beyond-tired staple of this recurring sketch, with Aidy and the guest each saying a different thing in unison when revealing what today’s topic is.
— I do like Aidy’s delivery of “That gay silver fox is miiiine!”, regarding her bedroom poster of Anderson Cooper.
— Solid ad-lib from Melissa when she has a hard time getting one of her lines out.
— Geez, did we need TWO instances tonight of the “Aidy and the guest each say a different thing in unison when revealing a topic on the show” trope?
— A good “5-0” double entendre from Melissa.
— Cecily’s obligatory “My boyfriend’s crazy” story is somewhat of a step up from the weak one she had in the last installment prior to this.
— Blah, unlike the aforementioned “5-0” double entendre, Melissa’s second double entendre, the “lei” one, was lame and cliched.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Demons”


SUMMER IN A DAY
(BOM) romanticizes brief park bench encounter with obnoxious Diane (host)

— Meh, yet another “Melissa McCarthy plays a disgusting, awkward weirdo” sketch. I do kinda like the unusual format of this particular sketch, though.
— Bobby’s narration is decent, though the sketch itself isn’t making me laugh all that much.
— Melissa: “Watch my shit, I gotta pee.” Well, oooookay. A very casual and random s-bomb from a three-time host. I remember there was a little debate on SNL boards regarding whether Melissa said the actual ‘s’ word or just a similar-sounding substitute. Although she said it in a fairly mush-mouthed manner, due to having food in her mouth, that word sure sounds like “shit” to me, no matter how many times I watch it.
— Weak ending.
STARS: **½


SUPER CHAMPIONS WITH KYLE
in Times Square, doubletalking KYM interviews Super Bowl fans

— Yesss!!! Kyle doing his “awkward man-on-the-street interviewer” routine that he used to do pre-SNL on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live and Sports Show With Norm Macdonald. Those shows were where I originally discovered Kyle, how I instantly became a fan of his oddball comedy, and why I was so happy a year or so later when it was announced he was joining the SNL cast.
— Kyle’s awkward mumbliness and bizarre interactions with people on the street are hilarious.
— A very funny touch with the incredibly bad, low-budget computer graphics shown during scene transitions, which also used to be a staple of this man-on-the-street routine of Kyle’s in the aforementioned shows he originally did it on.
— All of this is a true riot so far.
— I love Kyle’s “That’s not what he sounds like!” response in regards to the voice that the guy in the Super Mario costume speaks in.
— Unless I’m forgetting something, this is the first Good Neighbor SNL short to not have Beck in it.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good pre-Weekend Update half, though not without its problems. But the show’s quality took a real dive in the post-Weekend Update half, including one of the most uncomfortable, unfunniest sketches (Art Exhibit) I’ve ever had to sit through for this SNL project of mine. And some of the same-ol’ problems that plagued the previous two Melissa McCarthy-hosted episodes crept up tonight, in which there’s an overabundance of “Melissa McCarthy plays an awkward weirdo” showcase pieces, which I always run extremely hot-and-cold on, and SNL having a night full of them starts feeling too same-y and tired. If those “Melissa McCarthy plays an awkward weirdo” showcase pieces at least had consistently good writing instead of being so wildly hit-and-miss, maybe I wouldn’t complain much about them dominating Melissa’s episodes.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Super Champions with Kyle
CVS
28 Reasons
Women’s Group
Delaware 1 News Special Report
Monologue
Weekend Update
Summer in a Day
Girlfriends Talk Show
Guess That Phrase!
Halftime Spectacular
Art Exhibit


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jonah Hill)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jim Parsons hosts. We also get the addition of a new cast member/Weekend Update co-anchor.

Posted on

January 25, 2014 – Jonah Hill / Bastille (S39 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE U.S. MEN’S HETEROSEXUAL FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
heterosexual male figure skaters (BOM), (JAP), (BEB) lack flamboyance

— Funny concept of ridiculously-heterosexual male figure skaters, as a result of the controversy regarding that year’s Winter Olympics.
— Pretty solid performance from Bobby.
— Beck is very funny during the pairs team scene, especially the lengths he goes through just to take an upskirt photo of Kate with his phone.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
Leonardo DiCaprio [real] deflates Oscar nominee host’s self-admiration

— It feels a little rare to see questions-from-the-audience monologues anymore in these past few seasons that I’ve been covering. At least this monologue format is a way for some of this season’s very underused featured players to get much-needed-albeit-still-too-brief airtime, much like how the (many) questions-from-the-audience monologues in season 19 gave some much-needed-albeit-still-too-brief airtime to very underused featured player Sarah Silverman.
— The conceit with all of the audience members’ questions to Jonah Hill just being about his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio feels derivative of a few other questions-from-the-audience monologues (e.g. Jason Priestley).
— It’s very surprising that this is the first (and, I believe, only, as of 2020) SNL appearance DiCaprio has ever made.
— I like the What’s Eating Gilbert Grape reference Jonah drops to Leo.
— Some okay interplay between Jonah and Leo, but this feels drawn-out and a little corny at times, and I’m finding myself getting a little bored at certain points.
STARS: **½


SIX YEAR OLD
6 year-old Adam once again uses Benihana as a venue for his comedy material

— This staple of Jonah Hill episodes returns, and, as usual, he appears in that same-old Benihana setting. (*groan*) I actually like this character a lot (probably more than most people do), but damn, SNL, would it kill you to put this character in a non-Benihana setting for once? There are so many fresh, promising settings this character can be put in. It’s so lazy to always relegate this character to only appearing in a Benihana.
— Nice continuity and passing-of-the-torch by having the guardian who’s accompanying Jonah’s Adam Grossman character tonight be his now-stepmother, who was introduced as Adam’s father’s new girlfriend in the last installment of this sketch prior to this episode. A good way to work around Bill Hader no longer being around to play Adam’s father.
— As usual, Jonah’s very good in this role and is cracking me up all throughout this, even if I can’t find much to say about this.
STARS: ****


THE HIT
gunmen (KET), (TAK), (JAP) are enchanted by nighttime snowfall

— Pretty funny conceit with hardcore gangsters gradually and uncharacteristically speaking glowingly about the snowfall, to the degree where Jay’s the only sane one left in the bunch.
— Good ending with Kenan and Taran immediately driving off in a casual manner after Jay gets gunned down.
STARS: ***½


COUPLES QUIZ!
game show contestant (host) admits to clogging toilet

— Not crazy about this premise, though I got a laugh from Kenan’s friendly, innocent delivery of “So, uh…….who did this???” when trying to get the contestants to confess to clogging the toilet.
— They seem to be trying to make it a regular thing for Kenan as a game show host to have an angry “NO!” outburst and rant towards someone, after the New Cast Member Or Arcade Fire sketch from earlier this season.
— I continue to have very mixed feelings towards this premise. It’s way too juvenile and questionable for my likes, and the fact that they would end up making this premise a semi-staple of Jonah Hill-hosted episodes sours me somewhat even more in hindsight, but the ridiculous lengths that the characters are going through just to get Jonah to confess are making me chuckle, as are some of Kenan’s outlandish reasons for why this game show is making such a big deal about a mere clogged toilet.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pompeii”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Miami police officer (KET) was amused during his arrest of Justin Bieber

miserable Olya Povlatsky can’t fathom why the Olympics would pick Russia

— Ha, that Bieber mugshot photo always cracks me up (the first above screencap for this Update).
— Kenan’s good in his laid-back commentary as the cop who arrested Justin Bieber, and he has some funny lines, especially his remarks about Bieber’s father.
— Cecily’s drunk Scottish fish joke (“YOU…DON’T…KNOW…ME!”) is probably her most-remembered Update joke from her entire short-lived Update tenure.
— I like how Seth, after a weak joke, ad-libs a callback to Cecily’s “YOU…DON’T…KNOW…ME!” line by quoting it, leading into an all-too-rare instance of actual interaction and chemistry between Seth and Cecily.
— Another ironic SNL instance of Kate playing a character who says at one point, “I wish I was gay.”
— As usual, Kate’s Olya Povlatsky is very funny and likable, and has some great lines.
STARS: ***


WILLOW
a horse kicks, headbutts, bites, brands its groomers (host) & (CES)

— A laugh from the first hit that Cecily receives from the horse.
— Boy, after the aforementioned first hit, this sketch has fizzled out for me FAST. The comedic conceit is one-joke and weak. Maybe if the horse’s violent actions were increasingly outlandish, over-the-top, and non-horse-like, I’d find this funny.
— I remember an online SNL fan back at this time in 2014 saying this felt like a throwback to Jack Handey-written sketches from the late 80s and early 90s. When I initially read that comparison, after having not enjoyed this sketch during my original viewing the night it originally aired, my ears perked up (Handey’s my personal favorite SNL writer of all time), so I then followed that by giving this sketch a re-watch with that new perspective, and I ended up enjoying it. However, all these years later, during my current re-watch, I’m no longer finding myself enthusiastic at all about this sketch, nor do I find the sketch to be Handey-esque. Handey likely would’ve done much more creative, oddball stuff with this premise if he wrote this.
— Okay, so they actually fulfilled my wish for the horse’s violent actions to be more outlandish and non-horse-like, with the ending of this sketch having the horse brand Cecily’s face. Unfortunately, even that fell completely flat for me.
STARS: *½


ME
Theodore Twombly (host) is narcissistic with surrogate (Michael Cera)

— A somewhat interesting concept for a “her” parody.
— Pretty solid scene with Jonah and Vanessa in an elevator.
— Figures that Michael Cera would be cast in this particular role.
STARS: ***


BOSS DINNER
at his boss’ (BEB) house, unnerved (host) yells at himself within earshot

— Another sketch tonight with a thin, dumb, and repetitive premise, but Jonah is actually making this one work. His delivery of his off-camera yells has me in absolute STITCHES. I guess I can place this sketch in the “guilty pleasure” file.
— Jonah’s “Jeffrey has a tummy-ache!” bit, and his reaction to that, is very funny.
STARS: ****


INSIDE SOCAL
laid-back teens (BEB) & (KYM) make TV at a house party

— A trunk piece from Beck and Kyle’s pre-SNL days on YouTube.
— Funny cutaway to Mike and Brooks, though there’s also a lot of reality subtext there, whether intended or not, as Mike and Brooks’ appearance here is brief and just features them standing there with awkward looks on their faces, not saying a single word, all of which sadly sums up the way SNL typically under-utilizes them (and a lot of this season’s other featured players). This also ends up being the ONLY appearance Mike and Brooks make all night (and it’s not even a live appearance), so…yeah.
— Some pretty good laughs from the intentional stilted, low-budget presentation of this show, especially the bad segment jingles.
— Great walk-on from Bobby as Jonah’s pissed-off father.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Oblivion”


LAMBORGHINI
(host) & vacuous ex-porn stars endorse Lamborghini

— Vanessa’s monotone “Meep meep” made me laugh.
— Vanessa: “Hasta la vista, scabies.”
— There’s something I loved about Cecily’s extremely random “Why I oughtaaaa…!” non-sequitur.
— Vanessa, when trying to remember the word for pedals: “What are those things you press with your feet?” Cecily: “Testicles.”
— Cecily: “One time, I thought I banged Seal Team Six, but it was actually 16 seals. I was like, ‘Thanks, America! Arf arf.’”
— Vanessa’s whole funeral story is very funny.
— Cecily: “I thought I was in the movie Alien, but it was just a big penis in my stomach.”
— Jonah’s “Well, I don’t know if you can fit a whole car…” line during his confusion about Lamborghini being a vaginal device made me laugh out loud.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode, though, for some reason, I’m left feeling it was kind of forgettable. Despite the good ratings I gave out throughout the review, I can’t help but have kind of a nagging “It was fine, but in a very average, unexciting, ‘just there’ kind of way” gut feeling towards this episode, which, in some ways, is kinda par for the course in regards to how I typically feel about Jonah Hill-hosted episodes.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lamborghini
Boss Dinner
Six Year Old
The U.S. Men’s Heterosexual Figure Skating Championships
Inside SoCal
The Hit
Weekend Update
me
Monologue
Couples Quiz!
Willow


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Melissa McCarthy hosts. It’s also the final episode for 13-year veteran Seth Meyers.

Posted on

January 18, 2014 – Drake (S39 E11)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PIERS MORGAN LIVE
Chris Christie (BOM), Alex Rodriguez (host), Justin Bieber (KAM) respond to their scandals

— This ends up being the final appearance of both this recurring sketch and Taran’s Piers Morgan impression.
— I got a laugh from how one of the “positive” New Jersey qualities that Bobby’s Chris Christie lists off is “a vague chemical smell”.
— Drake already showing what a fun host he’ll be tonight, as he’s doing a solid job here in his scene as Alex Rodriguez.
— The debut of Kate’s Justin Bieber impression, back in the days when Kate playing a male in a cold opening was actually rare.
— Kate is absolutely priceless and spot-on in her Bieber impression here, especially the gestures.
— Kate’s Bieber, when asked what his age is: “I think I’m 40. Maybe I’m 5…I don’t know, my brain is broken.”
— That LFNY from Kate seemed abruptly thrown in out of absolutely nowhere. Makes me wonder if this wasn’t originally the cold opening in dress rehearsal. The fact that Drake appears in this supports that theory of mine, given how rare it is for hosts to appear in cold openings in recent SNL eras.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Sasheer Zamata has been added to the cast tonight, as SNL’s answer to all of the criticisms they faced this season for having no black women in the cast while hiring an overabundance of new white cast members.


MONOLOGUE
black & Jewish halves of host’s family commingle at his bar mitzvah

— Drake is immediately coming off very likable here.
— A rare instance of a sketch within a monologue, utilizing a different set and everything. This could be fun.
— Some good corny lines from Vanessa and Jay as Drake’s parents.
— I like the little bit with Drake’s mom making him change his new “Drake” moniker to the Jewish-sounding “Drakob”.
— It sure didn’t take them long to drop the comical pretense of this bar mitzvah taking place in 1999, as the rap that Drake is doing is oddly making references to celebrities like LeBron James, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West, none of whom I believe were famous yet in 1999.
STARS: ***½


HIP HOP CLASSICS
hip-hop artists got started on unlikely TV shows

— A fun and promising concept.
— Taran’s Eminem impression always cracks me up, and his “CHOOSE YOURSELF! YOUR INTERNSHIP’S IMPORTANT!” line from this sketch has stuck in my memory over the years.
— Boy, does this Family Matters spoof really take me back to my childhood in the 90s.
— Kenan’s Carl Winslow/Reginald Vel Johnson voice is absolutely spot-on and hilarious.
— The spoof of the Blossom opening credits is something else that’s taking me back to my 90s childhood.
— Jay’s 2 Chainz is very funny during his angry confrontation of Kate and Noel.
— The Wonder Years/Flavor Flav scene is pretty awful, and is kinda hurting the momentum of an otherwise good sketch.
STARS: ***½


NANCY GRACE
to Nancy Grace (NOW), legalized Colorado marijuana is a cause for alarm

— A rare Noel Wells showcase. It’s about damn time, SNL.
— Is Drake going out of his way to do ALL of the impressions from Jay’s repertoire? (Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, and now Katt Williams.) Drake has been funny in all those roles, though, so I’m not complaining.
— As much as I want to root for Noel, I’m having very mixed feelings towards her Nancy Grace performance here.
— I’m also noticing that the audience isn’t all that into Noel’s performance either. They’re laughing less and less at her as this sketch progresses, to the degree that her last “WHAT ABOUT THE BABIES?!?!?!?” outburst receives a long, uncomfortable stretch of absolute dead silence from the audience. Ouch! If this sketch had any chances of convincing SNL to give Noel more airtime, the bad audience reaction must’ve put the kibosh on that fast. This would sadly end up being her final lead role on SNL, despite the fact that the woman still has, you know, HALF A SEASON remaining on the show. While I’m iffy on her performance in this sketch, she still deserved another chance to prove herself after this.
STARS: **½


RESOLUTION REVOLUTION
(TAK), (host), (JAP) undergo willpower failure

— Very catchy opening song from Taran. I kinda wanted it to go on longer before it cut off.
— The abruptness of the cutaway to Jay’s sex doll-humping scene is very funny.
— I like the randomness of how extended the cosplay scene goes on, and how that scene starkly contrasts to the rest of this music video.
STARS: ***½


SLUMBER PARTY
at a slumber party, Melanie (AIB) yearns for girl’s (SAZ) dad (host)

— Drake is surprisingly PERFECT as a cheesy middle-aged dad. And I’ll never forget some people on an SNL board jokingly referring to his character in this sketch as “Black Ned Flanders”, based on his look.
— Interesting kid voice from Kate. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her use that voice before or after this.
— Aidy’s doing well in this, and has good lines all throughout.
— Very funny ending regarding Aidy suggestively lying face-down on a beanbag with her hands under her body.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Started From The Bottom” & “Trophies”


WEEKEND UPDATE
spacey Jacqueline Bisset (VAB) has trouble getting from audience to stage

Arianna Huffington (NAP) mulls Hillary Clinton’s presidential viability

— I’m loving Vanessa’s bit as Jacqueline Bisset in SNL’s audience, spoofing Bisset’s appearance at the then-recent Golden Globes. This is not only funny and features solid execution by Vanessa, but the studio audience setting is a refreshing change of pace for an Update segment.
— For the second time this season, my growing tolerance towards Cecily as an Update anchor unfortunately gets set back by her regressing, though I don’t put the blame all on her this time. She’s been saddled with a lot of corny, weak jokes tonight that I’m not sure any Update anchor could’ve made work.
— This ends up being the final appearance of Nasim’s Arianna Huffington.
— As usual, some good comments from Nasim’s Huffington, even if I feel she’s had some better commentaries in the past.
— Given the trend the last few Updates prior to this of Update guests getting emotional over Seth’s soon-to-come departure, and also given the trend of Nasim’s Huffington always flirting with Seth, I’m surprised tonight’s Huffington commentary went by without her saying anything about how much she’s gonna miss Seth. Maybe SNL felt they overdid the “guests emotionally say goodbye to Seth” thing in the last few Updates, especially since Seth ends up staying a little longer than SNL originally expected, reportedly.
— A good continuation of Vanessa’s Jacqueline-Bisset-in-the-audience bit.
— Cecily’s punchline to the news story about a man who experienced an erection for five weeks after falling off of his mountain bike: “So…I know what I’m gettin’ my boyfriend for Valentine’s Day…..” Ugh. While that’s actually a funny joke in itself and Cecily’s delivery sold it, it’s a little disturbing when you realize Cecily’s real-life boyfriend at this time was her castmate Mike O’Brien. And thus, that mountain bike/erection joke of Cecily’s plants an image of Mike in my mind that I could’ve happily lived the rest of my life not ever having.
— The conclusion to the Jacqueline Bisset runner was somewhat predictable, but Vanessa executed it well.
STARS: **½


DISNEY WORLD SHOW
at Disney World, language barrier hamstrings would-be Indiana Jones (NAP)

— Nasim, upon her entrance, constantly repeating “I…am…Rahat” to increasingly dead silence from SNL’s audience makes me worried for what kind of sketch awaits me.
— And now, we get another often-repeated line from Nasim’s character: “This is my rice.” Blah.
— Most of Nasim’s character pieces work for me, but this is a big ol’ miss for me.
— Drake gives yet another fantastic performance tonight, and he is spot-on as a typical upbeat amusement park host (whatever the official title for that occupation is). He’s making me laugh far more than the actual main comedic focus of this sketch: Nasim’s Rahat character.
— Great line from Drake about a video of this whole Rahat situation being put up on YouTube.
— The ending was just plain dumb. And why did Nasim fall down a full second BEFORE the boulder “knocked her over”? And then she gets up and randomly throws herself onto the boulder??? Why???
STARS: *½


DETENTION
Miss Meadows brings her love of poetry to students serving detention

— A cute and oddly likable character from Vanessa the first time she appeared earlier this season, but I’m not sure I needed a second appearance from her, especially one that’s in the exact same classroom setting as last time.
— Oof, Brooks’ delivery of his one line in this sketch was pretty rough.
— When Vanessa’s Miss Meadows character asks if the students have any poetry-related questions, I love how the question Drake asks her is a concerned, “I’m just tryin’ to make sure, like, are you alright?”, in regards to her odd behavior and vocalizations.
— So far, this is way too much of a lazy carbon copy of the first installment of this sketch, right down to having the exact same two cast members (Aidy, Kenan) read a poem in front of the class. I did like Aidy’s poem in tonight’s installment, though.
— This continues to be a lazy carbon copy of the first installment, as Drake now reads a love poem that becomes increasingly clear that it’s about Miss Meadows, leading to Drake suddenly kissing Meadows on the neck, all of which Miley Cyrus previously did in the first installment.
— Continuing to show what an awkward live performer he is, Mike breaks in response to Vanessa’s over-the-top vocalizations while Drake is flirting with her.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Hold On We’re Going Home”
host & Jhené Aiko [real] perform “From Time”


MORNIN’ MIAMI
(host) & fellow Mornin’ Miami anchors are only sunny when the camera’s on

 

— Not only is this the SECOND consecutive sketch tonight that’s being brought back from this season’s Miley Cyrus episode, but these two consecutive sketches also aired back-to-back in Miley’s episode (separated only by a musical performance, much like tonight), though in the opposite order than they’re airing tonight.
— Unlike the Miss Meadows sketch, this retread is actually working, thanks to the fact that the bizarre promos that the three Mornin’ Miami hosts deliver into the camera are not only new in each installment of this sketch, but are hilarious. I especially like Bobby’s “One fish, two fish, red fish, Jew fish” line, and his mention of Orthodox fisherman Schmooley Majors.
— Like last time, I can forgive the repetitiveness of the sequences with the three hosts angrily sitting in miserable silence between promo shoots, but it was very unnecessary to repeat one particular gag from the first installment of this sketch, where Kate breaks the miserable silence by starting to sing, only to IMMEDIATELY get shut down by Bobby.
— I like the running gag this recurring sketch has with the mentions of “actor Topher Grace”.
— Like last time, we get a funny reveal of what Bobby’s character’s “B.F.” initials stand for. This time, instead of “Bitch Fantastic”, it’s “Burt Fingerblast”.
STARS: ****


I KNOW
(KYM) annoys (BEB) with nonstop casual claims of omniscience

 

— First time we’ve gotten a Beck/Kyle short in quite a while.
— A good and realistic situation for Beck and Kyle, and I’m enjoying all the fast cuts from Beck and Kyle at one location to another.
— I laughed at the intentionally bad, unconvincing way Kyle slipped on the floor.
— More laughs from intentionally bad cheesiness, this time with the visual of Kyle’s ghost and his stilted delivery.
— Speaking of Kyle’s delivery as his ghost, I like the little touch with the humorous “poignant” manner in which he says the word “smart” (“sss…mart”).
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Drake gives a special shoutout to newbie Sasheer, and asks the audience to give her a round of applause. Between the fairly large amount of appearances Sasheer made in this debut episode of hers, and now this special moment she gets during the goodnights, plus the special attention that her hire in general got in the media due to the many complaints SNL previously received for not having any black women in this season’s cast, I remember this episode made me think at this time in 2014 that Sasheer was a cast member we would be seeing PLENTY of over the years. Little did I know…….

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode, even if there were barely any segments that stood out to me as particularly great. Drake was a strong host, being fun, funny, and likable, and adding something to every single sketch. He even came off engaging during the longer-than-usual goodnights speech he gave, and even managed to throw in a funny mention of Lorne at the end of the second musical performance.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mornin’ Miami
Slumber Party
Hip Hop Classics
i know
Resolution Revolution
Piers Morgan Live
Monologue
Weekend Update
Nancy Grace
Detention
Disney World Show


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jonah Hill

Posted on

December 21, 2013 – Jimmy Fallon / Justin Timberlake (S39 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

WRAPPINVILLE
singing & dancing mascot & gift bag (JIF) contend with a wrapper (AIB)

— Pretty funny singing from Aidy early on in this cold opening.
— (*groan*) Yet another one of Justin Timberlake’s tepid Dancing Mascot sketches. On the bright side, 1) this thankfully ends up being the final one, and 2) at least there’s a slither of a change of pace by having Jimmy Fallon partnered up with Justin. Having Jimmy in this actually makes sense, given the fact that the style of the typical song parodies in these Dancing Mascot sketches is similar to the song parodies Jimmy often used to do on Weekend Update while playing the guitar. (In fact, one of the songs he and Justin spoof in tonight’s Dancing Mascot sketch, Ludacris’ “Rollout”, was even previously spoofed by Jimmy in one of his Update song parodies.)
— What in the WORLD is with that off-camera female audience member who keeps interrupting this sketch by shouting a very annoying cheer like a lunatic (“AY-YA-YA-YA-YAAAA!”) whenever Aidy tries to speak each time after a Timberlake/Fallon musical number ends? At one point, that audience member’s shouting forces poor Aidy to basically drop character while in the middle of delivering a line, and, in a taken-aback manner, briefly acknowledge the audience member’s yells before going back on-script. Shortly after one of those yells from the audience member, Justin also ad-libs, “Quiet, mom.”
— Meh at Justin and Jimmy’s homoerotic “deck-sacking” disclosure.
— I am at least finding some of the hit songs being spoofed here to be catchy, especially “Somebody That I Used To Know”, “Thrift Shop”, and the aforementioned “Rollout”.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
JIF & Paul McCartney [real] sing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

— I got a laugh from Jimmy bluntly disclosing, “Unfortunately, they can’t be here”, after getting the audience’s hopes up by telling them which legendary singers he’s supposed to do a musical number with.
— A fairly fun format with Jimmy having to run from mic to mic while imitating the legendary singers who he was supposed to do this number with, even if most of these are impressions that we’ve previously seen Dana Carvey do either just as well or better. Jimmy at least does a better David Bowie than I think I’ve ever seen anyone on SNL do.
— It’s getting less and less surprising to see Paul McCartney show up on SNL, given the frequency of his SNL appearances, but I guess it’s still pretty nice seeing him assist Jimmy here.
STARS: ***


CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD
CBS & NBC network stars do battle

— The first of many Steve Harvey-hosted Celebrity Family Feud sketches.
— Pretty solid Jim Parsons impression from Jimmy, even nailing the mouth movements.
— A meta aspect with Justin (who’s starting to feel like a co-host of this episode) playing Jimmy. Even if this feels very inside joke-y between Justin and Jimmy (you can tell this is designed to make the easily-breakable Jimmy break hard), I’m finding Justin’s impression of Jimmy to be pretty good.
— Lots of very funny lines from Kenan’s Steve Harvey throughout this sketch.
— Hilarious Ice-T impression from Jay.
— Speaking of meta, we get a very memorable meta bit with Brooks randomly playing himself as one of the contestants on the NBC team, and making fun of his own lack of screentime at SNL. I remember loving this meta bit when it originally aired. I don’t know if Brooks eventually getting fired after this season now casts a pall over this meta bit in hindsight or not, but it still works for me, and it adds to how likable and relatable Brooks typically is as a performer.
— There’s our obligatory breaking from Jimmy in response to Justin’s impression of him when both of them are up at the main podium together. When Jimmy turns his head away from the camera to hide his giggling, I do kinda like how Justin actually imitates that head-turn, keeping up the impression he’s doing.
— I generally like Noel as an impressionist, but something about her Alyson Hannigan impression here feels like she’s trying too hard to be funny.
— During our second obligatory display of breaking from Jimmy in response to Justin’s impression of him, Jimmy literally DUCKS BEHIND HIS PODIUM to hide his laughing from the camera (the last above screencap for this sketch). I remember hearing about something similar once happening at a party that both Jimmy and Ben Affleck were at. (This was many years ago, I think back when Jimmy was still a cast member on SNL.) At one point during that party, Ben suddenly pulled out an impression of Jimmy to impress the other partygoers, and that made Jimmy get so shy and embarrassed that it resulted in him immediately dashing out of the room (while giggling, of course) and hiding in another room.
STARS: ***½


(DO IT ON MY) TWIN BED
sex during the holidays is awkward in women’s childhood rooms

— Our very first of many instances of the female cast starring together in a music video. And what a very famous first instance this particular one is.
— And with this being the first female cast-starring music video, we get our very first mention of Aidy’s classic moniker, “Lil’ Baby Aidy”.
— A perfect mixture of both an excellent song and subject matter, and the female cast is great in this.
— Very funny bit from Aidy regarding “a whole thing with Jean”.
— Great small appearance from Beck as Noel’s uncle.
— One of my absolute favorite parts of this has always been the sequence in which we see a childhood photo of each of the girls and Jimmy. I always find it so fun seeing what cast members looked like as kids, which reminds me that Reese Witherspoon’s Mother’s Day-themed season 40 monologue is coming up soon, and if you remember that monologue, you’ll know why I’m reminded of it and why I’m looking forward to covering it.
— Overall, a true classic. I recall SNL having a fairly hit-and-miss track record with their subsequent female cast-starring music videos, but this one definitely still holds up for me.
STARS: *****


THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
Madonna & Barry Gibb [real] take part

— (*groan*) Much like with the cold opening earlier in this episode, I’m sure you readers know how I feel about seeing this sketch return.
— At least it was refreshing to get a much-needed break from this sketch the last time both Jimmy and Justin each hosted (separately). And, much like the Dancing Mascot recurring sketch, this thankfully ends up being the final time this sketch appears (at least as of 2020).
— So are we just supposed to ignore the fact that the real Robin Gibb had been dead for a year-and-a-half by this point? They don’t even try to acknowledge that in this sketch, not even in a humorous way like they memorably did in one brief point of the Joan Allen-involved Space The Infinite Frontier sketch that Will Ferrell did not too long after the real Harry Caray’s death. (Joan Allen: “Please forgive me for asking this, but didn’t you die?” Harry Caray: “Yes I did. What’s your point?”)
— Random Madonna.
— Hmm, a change of pace with Madonna actually standing up to Jimmy’s Barry Gibb, and taming him. As much as I appreciate them trying something different with the formula for once, I’m still left a little underwhelmed by this confrontation between Madonna and Jimmy’s Barry. And whatever Madonna was attempting with that grille she put in her mouth during the confrontation didn’t land with me nor the audience.
— Some of Jimmy-as-Barry’s typical angry rants at the guests are coming off hard to decipher here.
— A sudden cameo at the end from the real Barry Gibb, hopefully there to intentionally give this sketch its official sendoff so we can NEVER SEE IT AGAIN FOR THE REST OF HUMANITY.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Only When I Walk Away”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Billie Jean King (KAM) relishes bringing gayness to the 2014 Olympics

JIF, SEM, Michael Bloomberg [real] will soon be leaving their jobs

— Another then-innocent Donald Trump joke that’s interesting to hear years later in hindsight (for obvious reasons), this particular joke being about Trump’s announcement that he’s considering running for governor of New York (wait, what???): “Explained Trump, ‘If I’m not constantly in the news, I will die.’”
— I like Cecily’s little “I’m from Chicago, I can do that” ad-lib after her Kim Jong-Un/Dennis Rodman joke. These past two Updates, I’ve gradually been warming up to Cecily as an Update anchor.
— Tons of cliched lesbian jokes in Kate’s Billie Jean King commentary, and there have been funnier “Kate McKinnon plays a brash hardass” bits elsewhere on SNL. Probably not a good sign that Kate doing this type of “brash hardass” characterization is ALREADY starting to feel stale and cliched when she had only been on SNL for a little over a season-and-a-half by this point. Because of how somewhat-new she still is by this point, and knowing in hindsight that the upcoming 2014-2017 years would be Kate at the peak of her strength as a performer (or at least, that’s how I felt at the time; we’ll see if that opinion of mine holds up in my re-watch of those years), I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt here and assume that it’s just the tepid writing that’s to blame for her “brash hardass” characterization feeling stale and tired here. That being said, I’m actually still getting a few laughs from her in this commentary.
— Meh, I’m not caring much for this Jimmy Fallon/Michael Bloomberg commentary.
— At one point during the Fallon/Bloomberg commentary, the choked-up voice Jimmy uses when comically holding back tears sounds JUST LIKE Mike Myers whenever his Linda Richman character would get “a little verklempt” in Coffee Talk sketches. Possibly another sign of how much Jimmy idolized that early 90s era of SNL. (In the “SNL In The 90s” documentary, Jimmy talks about how exciting it was for him to watch the Bad Boys years in the early 90s, because, as he says, that was the first SNL era to speak to his generation. Plus, you can see some Adam Sandler and Mike Myers influences in some of Jimmy’s character work during his SNL years.)
— For the third consecutive Update, an Update guest gets sentimental when bringing up Seth’s soon-to-come departure from SNL. I do like how Jimmy mentions here that he got to introduce Seth the very first time Seth ever did an Update commentary. (Just for kicks, below are a few screencaps of how young Jimmy and Seth looked during that very first Update commentary of Seth’s.)

— I never realized until now that Michael Bloomberg’s voice sounds kinda John Malkovich-esque at times.
STARS: **½


WAKING UP WITH KIMYE
Kimye’s Christmas message is similar to “Bound 2” video

— Jay’s overdoing the “HEHH!” exclamations as Kanye West in tonight’s installment.
— The spoof of Kanye’s “Bound 2” music video is very funny. Unfortunately, that’s the only real standout part of this sketch. The rest of this hasn’t been anything special.
— A rare post-2010 live sketch to not have the host in it. Jimmy actually was originally going to appear in this as Ed Sheeran, but he got cut from the live version. Not sure if he would’ve given this sketch a much-needed boost, but I am a little curious what his take on Ed Sheeran was like.
STARS: **½


NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL CHRISTMAS
Shakira (KAM) & others do covers on CD

— Interesting how Jimmy is playing Michael Bublé here, given the fact that Jimmy’s previous hosting stint not only had Bublé as the musical guest, but at one point in that episode, Bublé starred as himself in a Christmas album ad that’s similar to this one.
— Noel’s Zooey Deschanel scene was way too brief compared to most of the other scenes in this commercial (perhaps yet ANOTHER sign of how much Noel keeps getting screwed over by SNL). I wanted to see a little more of her take on Deschanel, as that’s an impression she was born to do.
— Boy, that is a TERRIBLE Axl Rose impression from Kyle. I love Kyle, but impressions have never been his niche, which SNL refuses to believe, for some reason. A year after this, in another one of these “Christmas duets” album ads, I recall Kyle doing a Macklemore impression that’s laughably bad.
— Funny scene with Bobby as Andrea Bocelli.
— Solid Billie Joe Armstrong impression from John.
— I don’t get what Kate’s going for AT ALL in her Lorde impression. She couldn’t sound less like Lorde if she tried.
— An overall fairly fun piece, but was nowhere near as strong as the aforementioned “Christmas duets” album ad from Jimmy’s previous hosting stint.
STARS: ***


A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Ebenezer Scrooge (TAK) realizes his homosexuality outweighs miserliness

— Oh, I don’t like where this is going…
— Yep, this is just a lame and hacky “What if young Ebenezer Scrooge was gay?” sketch. Are we really still doing “It’s funny because it features a man acting gay!” humor in 2013? Did James Anderson pull this out of his old “cut-after-dress-rehearsal sketches I wrote in season 30” file? This sketch would’ve felt right at home with James Anderson-written horrific gay-themed duds that dominated season 30 like Gay Frankenstein and Gays In Space. I almost included the equally-horrific Gay Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde sketch in there, before I remembered that was actually from season 35, in the notorious January Jones episode.
— Not a single redeeming moment to be found here, overall.
STARS: *


BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
(JIF) & (CES) reverse roles in second verse of “Baby It’s Cold Outside”

— Hmm, this appears to be an interesting and out-of-the-ordinary piece for this SNL era, and I like how it’s set on SNL’s home base stage.
— I really like the conceit of this, theorizing what Baby It’s Cold Outside possibly went like AFTER the song ends.
— A really nice, sweet turn this sketch takes at the end.
— Overall, a strong, well-done, and refreshing piece. I also like how old-school this felt in a positive way, as this is one of those sketches that I can easily picture appearing on SNL in the 70s and 80s (the aforementioned fact that this sketch was set on the home base stage adds further to the “70s/80s SNL” feel), and is the type of thing I wish recent SNL eras would try more often.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pair of Wings”


GOODNIGHTS
CSR joins JIF & cast members onstage

— Chris Rock out of absolutely nowhere. I like how even he’s doing comical “Hey, I don’t know why I’m here, either!” gestures.
— Mike O’Brien noticeably looking quite sullen and lonely during these goodnights, while everyone around him is in a jolly, Christmas-y mood. You can just hear Mike sadly thinking in his head, “This cast member gig isn’t working out for me, is it?” He made no live appearances in this episode (besides these goodnights, obviously, which don’t count), and, in fact, hasn’t gotten ANYTHING significant to do in a live sketch in…what, two months? I think the Edward Norton episode was the last one in which Mike got a meaty role in a live sketch, and that was all the way back in October! Geez. Plus, I’m sure he’s aware of how painfully awkward he tends to come off whenever he gets a speaking role in a live sketch. Looks like SNL has already given up on him as a live performer and has begun phasing him out of live sketches by this point. By the final quarter of this season, in April and May, Mike’s practically relegated to only appearing in his own short films. That would eventually lead to him continuing to appear in his own short films the next few seasons even after being fired from the cast and returning to the writer’s room.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An episode that was all over the place, and sadly didn’t come REMOTELY close to measuring up to the fantastic Christmas episode that Jimmy Fallon previously hosted in season 37. Two strong pieces tonight, including one beloved classic (Twin Bed), and there were also a few okay sketches, but we also got quite a number of sketches I really could’ve done without.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
(Do It On My) Twin Bed
Baby It’s Cold Outside
Celebrity Family Feud
Now That’s What I Call Christmas
Monologue
Weekend Update
Waking Up With Kimye
The Barry Gibb Talk Show
Wrappinville
A Christmas Carol


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (John Goodman)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2014, with host Drake. We also get the new addition of a black female cast member, in response to the public outcry for one.

Posted on

December 14, 2013 – John Goodman / Kings of Leon (S39 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
fake sign-language interpreter (KET) gets on Barack Obama’s (JAP) nerves

— SNL gets in their obligatory spoof of the clueless sign language interpreter at the then-recent Nelson Mandela memorial service.
— Kenan’s doing a decent job, but this feels like an inferior reprisal of the translator bit in the preceding season’s Hurricane Sandy Press Conference cold opening, which worked much better for me. SNL should’ve gone with a more original angle in this spoof of the Mandela translator.
— A good laugh from Kenan’s sign language for the word “thrilled” being him doing the Thriller dance.
— I like how there’s a growing story arc in Kate’s Angela Merkel appearances, with us finding out more and more about her crush on President Obama.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host & KET sing “All I Want For Christmas Is Booty”

— Boy, does it feel nice seeing John Goodman entering the home base stage again for the first time in 13 years. It’s also a novelty seeing him entering this particular home base stage for his first-ever time, which just goes to show you how long it’s been since he last hosted, given how extremely long this particular home base stage had been used by this point (and would continue to be used long afterwards, to this day in 2020). Hell, Goodman’s last hosting stint prior to this was so long ago that not even Kenan was in the cast yet back then.
— Goodman brings up the fact that he hosted SNL every year from 1989 to 2001. To nitpick, he didn’t host in 1991. And, if by “year”, he meant season, he didn’t host in season 26.
— Only two segments into tonight’s episode, and we’re already getting an early sign of how extremely dominant Kenan will be in tonight’s episode.
— Catchy song, but the lyrics themselves aren’t anything special, and this isn’t exactly the type of monologue I want to see Goodman doing for his big return after a long hiatus. This feels like a monologue they could do with almost any host.
STARS: **½


GUY FIERI’S FULL THROTTLE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
bad taste characterizes Guy Fieri’s (BOM) Christmas special

— For some bizarre reason, when the camera is on a close-up of Brooks (who looks unrecognizable in this) as Kid Rock showing us his Bud Lime Gazpacho drink, his line about the drink is completely muted out, even though the background music still plays as normal. What the hell?
— Hilarious occasional animation sequences of Bobby’s Guy Fieri punching various famous Christmas characters in the face.
— I have no familiarity with Big Ang, but Kate is hilarious as her here.
— I remember an online SNL fan back at this time in 2013 mistakenly thinking that the Duck Dynasty guys were played by four of the five new male featured players, as SNL’s way of doing a meta joke about how supposedly interchangeable the new male featured players are (I don’t agree with that latter part, for the record). Heh, that’s actually Kings of Leon playing the Duck Dynasty guys.
— Pretty funny seeing Bobby as all of the Pawn Stars guys.
— Throughout this commercial, in various groups shots of celebrities, you can see Noel as one of the celebrities, but she never gets a line, a close-up, nor does this commercial even bother to tell us who she’s playing. According to various people who saw the full version of this commercial one way or another, Noel’s playing Reba McEntire, who she would play again later this season in a Celebrity Family Feud sketch. In the shortened on-air version of this commercial that I’m currently reviewing, all of Noel’s main parts are completely cut. (*sigh*) Yet ANOTHER sign of how this season’s new featured players keep getting screwed over.
STARS: ***


DANCE OF THE SNOWFLAKES
snowflake-costumed (host), (VAB), (KET), (AIB) rue holiday pageant dance

— Goodman’s delivery of his first inner thought, “Oh, no. Is this…….DUMB???”, gave me a good laugh.
— I love Kenan’s first inner thought: “Hooollllyyy f(*bleep*)!”
— A nice out-of-the-ordinary structure to this sketch with almost all of the dialogue being pre-taped inner monologues.
— More good lines from Kenan throughout this, especially “My wife’s never gonna wanna see my penis again.”
— An unexpected and interesting happy ending with the characters suddenly convincing themselves to be proud of what they’re doing.
STARS: ***


THREE WISE GUYS
wise guys (host), (Sylvester Stallone), (Robert De Niro) go to see Jesus

— Ohho, no. NO. I recall this sketch being absolutely DREADFUL, and one of the nadirs of this season.
— I wish I could be more excited about a Sylvester Stallone cameo. The DeNiro cameo, on the other hand? Get him off my screen.
— Ugh, so many bad, hacky, and groanworthy wiseguy lines throughout this. Not even that camel toe one-liner of Stallone’s could elicit so much as a smirk from me.
— Making this already-painfully unfunny sketch even worse is the fact that it is SO damn sluggishly paced.
— Aaaaaaand there goes that obligatory halting, delayed delivery from DeNiro that you can always depend on whenever he appears on SNL. At one point here, he even squints hard when struggling to read the word “Frankincense” off the cue card.
— Overall, yep. This lived up (or down?) to my extremely negative memory of it. Pure oof.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Temple”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Santa Claus (KET) makes an appearance to reveal that he is indeed black

Drunk Uncle & his Drunker Uncle (host) take issue with the holiday season

— Some good comments from Kenan all throughout his Santa commentary.
— Seth and Cecily’s jokes tonight are an okay improvement over their very blah jokes in the preceding episode’s Update.
— A big laugh from Drunk Uncle’s opening “I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas” bit.
— Drunk Uncle: “We got Black Friday now???? Barf! Wasn’t February enough?”
— Tonight’s Drunk Uncle commentary feels faster-paced than usual. He’s still a riot as usual.
— Nice inclusion of Goodman as “Drunker Uncle”.
— (*groan*) Freakin’ Seth and that damn habit he often has of loudly laughing off-camera during a guest commentator’s segment. His loud off-camera guffawing made it a little hard to hear the ending of Goodman’s funny opening line: “All I want for Christmas…is my two neighbors not to be Chinese anymore.”
— A sweet ending with even the harsh Drunk Uncle giving Seth a sincere goodbye hug because, as is acknowledged here, this is the final Update that Drunk Uncle and Seth are appearing in together before Seth’s soon-to-come departure. (Between Vanessa’s Jacob commentary in the preceding episode’s Update and now this Drunk Uncle commentary in tonight’s Update, SNL is kinda making Seth’s departure seem like it’s coming sooner than you’d think. We still have four episodes left of him after this.) Speaking of which, seeing Goodman’s Drunker Uncle also hug Seth during this acknowledgment of Seth’s departure makes me realize something: Goodman’s last hosting stint prior to this was all the way back in Seth’s fourth episode as a cast member (and an important night for him, as that was his breakout episode, after he quietly spent his first three episodes not standing out at all and being considered by SNL fans to be interchangeable with one of his fellow newbies, Jeff Richards), and now Goodman’s return as host just so happens to be one of Seth’s last episodes as a cast member, which means Goodman basically bookends Seth’s SNL tenure. Interesting coincidence. This also makes you realize just how extremely long Seth has been a cast member.
STARS: ***


TOO HOT
lawyer (CES) argues that (BEB) fired mannish (host) for being too sexy

— I love how Taran’s opening argument to the “Fired for being too hot” claim made about Goodman’s female character is just Taran saying “I meaaannnn…” while gesturing towards Goodman.
— Mixed feelings towards this concept, given how hacky “men in drag” humor can be in more recent decades, but Goodman seems like he can make this work, especially after we’ve gotten such a long break from seeing him host SNL.
— Goodman’s “Tee hee!”s are cracking me up, and it turns out he’s indeed making this material work. The supporting performers are also helping make this work, especially Taran, who’s a solid straight man here.
— Funny dance moves from Beck (who’s stuck in nothing but two non-speaking roles all night) at the end.
STARS: ***½


FIRE SAFETY
fireman’s (host) holiday safety message is flipped completely by Shallon

— Like last time, Nasim is very funny as this character.
— Yikes, Milhiser clearly missed a line at one point, as the camera cuts to a close shot of him when he’s supposed to say his second line in this sketch, only for him to just sit there blankly, unaware that it’s his turn to deliver the next line, leading to long awkward silence before an off-camera Goodman tries to keep the sketch moving by jumping ahead of the script a little and saying his own next line. Right as Goodman does this, Milhiser FINALLY starts saying his line, only to immediately cut himself off because Goodman is now speaking. I like Milhiser and generally feel really bad for how screwed-over he got in terms of airtime this season, but man, you’d figure he’d cherish the few lines he got in this sketch, given how little he gets to speak or do anything on SNL. I remember how, back at this time in 2013-2014, gaffes like the one Milhiser made here contributed to me feeling that most of this season’s newbies came off awfully green, and made me wonder if THAT was the reason why they barely got any airtime this season. In my re-watch of this season, I’m not finding the newbies to be all that green, minus Mike O’Brien and the gaffe that Milhiser made here.
— So far, this is just a variation of the first installment of this sketch from earlier this season, only with the kids’ van fascination being replaced with a fireplace fascination. This variation, while still providing a few laughs, isn’t working anywhere near as well for me as the first installment did.
— A good laugh from Aidy randomly saying, when the kids are proudly saying which dangerous fireplace-related location they’re going to hide in, “I’m gonna hide in a dry cleaning bag!”
— Goodman is quite stumbly with his lines throughout this sketch. Also, I’m not finding him to be as good a straight man as Edward Norton was in the first installment of this sketch. Goodman’s performance seemed especially off towards the end of the sketch right before Kate came back into the classroom.
STARS: **½


HALLMARK CHANNEL COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS
Hallmark Channel is chock-full of tedious holiday movies with minor stars

— A good laugh from the “Phylicia Rashad’s Christmas Nap” movie title.
— An overall quick, simple, and decent-enough piece.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wait For Me”


THE CHRISTMAS WHISTLE
movie’s titular noise drives characters crazy

— Two-and-a-half minutes into this sketch, and the only thing I can think of to say in my review is that the whistle sound is pretty annoying. Yes, that’s the point, but that doesn’t automatically make it funny, which it certainly isn’t. And nothing else funny has been happening in this so far.
— Bobby’s off-camera yell of “What the hell is a Christmas whistle?!?!?” made me laugh, only because of his delivery.
— We at least get a decent bit regarding Kate’s mother, played by Aidy.
— Not even Taran’s walk-on at the end can save this, as much as I like the characterization he’s doing here.
STARS: *½


H&M
(JAP) & Wale [real] rap about H&M’s cheap, colorful, undersized clothes

— What the heck is that (admittedly catchy-sounding) lyric that Jay keeps singing at the beginning of his song? I can’t understand the last few words of it, despite how frequently he keeps singing that same lyric over and over: “You an H&M shoppin’ (something something something)”. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer my question.
— This is another segment tonight that I’m having a very hard time finding anything to say about. Aside from a few amusing cutaways of Kyle and Mike suavely looking into the camera while wearing stylish clothes, and the brief sequence with Goodman straining when putting on skinny jeans, I’m not even sure this music video is supposed to be funny or entertaining as an SNL piece. It’s become white noise to me after a while. For all I know, this could be a legit H&M commercial that just so happens to feature SNL cast members and John Goodman. It might as well be, because it sure ain’t working as a comedy piece.
— Overall, blah. I guess not all of this season’s music videos can be winners.
STARS: *½


LAST CALL
drunk & lonely (host) & Sheila Sovage settle for a sad make-out session

— Kenan’s extremely busy night concludes. He’s been all over this episode, far more than most of his fellow repertory players. I remember this really bothered a number of online SNL fans at the time (including me, though I’ve gained a much bigger appreciation for Kenan in these re-watches of mine), who were not pleased with SNL’s decision to make Kenan the cast’s new utility player this season in general.
— A very funny “66” bit from Kate.
— As usual in this recurring sketch, Kate’s delivery absolutely kills, and also as usual in this recurring sketch, we get some good gross-out humor here. But so far at this point of SNL’s run, there has yet to be a Last Call installment that comes close to measuring up to the great first one. I believe that eventually changes, as I recall some really strong installments with Woody Harrelson, Larry David, and Dave Chappelle, though my memories of what actually occurs in those installments are fuzzy. I’m pretty eager to revisit them.
— Sheila Sovage: “My heart and my genitals say ‘no’. But my hypoglycemia says ‘yes’.”
— Great whipped cream make-out session between Sovage and Goodman, both of whom are going all out.
— An absolutely hilarious and outrageous sequence with Goodman motor-boating Sovage as she makes cat orgasm noises. Tonight’s Last Call installment is getting funnier and funnier as it goes along. While it, for me personally, still doesn’t quite measure up to the first installment, it’s very close.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mediocre episode. A lot of pretty forgettable stuff, some flat-out weak stuff, and one of the worst sketches in recent memory (Three Wise Guys). The only segment all night that I gave an above average rating to happens to be a sketch that didn’t air until the very end of the episode (Last Call). Hell, there was almost nothing in this episode that even got so much as a mere three-and-a-half-star rating from me. An overall letdown for John Goodman’s big hosting return. Not only that, but it doesn’t even lead to Goodman going back to hosting regularly or at least semi-regularly. After his return in this episode, he’s seemingly gone back to no longer hosting the show.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Last Call
Too Hot
Dance of the Snowflakes
Guy Fieri’s Full Throttle Christmas Special
Weekend Update
Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas
Monologue
Fire Safety
Presidential Address
H&M
The Christmas Whistle
Three Wise Guys


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Rudd)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jimmy Fallon hosts the Christmas episode

Posted on

December 7, 2013 – Paul Rudd / One Direction (S39 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SOUND OF MUSIC: LIVE & CONDENSED
The Sound Of Music featuring Dooneese and Lawrence Welk (FRA)

— Former cast member Kristen Wiig out of freakin’ nowhere. And why tonight, of all nights? After all, there was a big announcement earlier in the week of this episode that we’d be getting cameos from Paul Rudd’s fellow “news team” members of the then-released Anchorman 2: Will Ferrell, David Koechner, and Steve Carell (and with that, the big announcement also revealed that Anchorman 2 director Adam McKay was returning behind-the-scenes at SNL to write a new installment of a certain late 90s recurring sketch we’ll be seeing at the end of this episode). That announcement was certainly exciting, but how am I supposed to also get excited about this episode throwing in an additional cameo from a former cast member who 1) comes from a much more recent era than Ferrell and Koechner, 2) appears on the show too often after she left just a mere year-and-a-half prior to this, and 3) is reprising an overdone character that only worked for me the first time?
— Oh, wow, folks. There goes Dooneese fondling somebody’s nipples with her baby hands. Something we’ve totally NEVER seen her do a million times before. [/end sarcasm]
— I can’t even enjoy this change in setting for Dooneese. She’s just doing the same old crap she always does.
— I did get a laugh just now from Taran’s Captain Von Trapp angrily ordering the kids to “march outside and stare at the sun!”
— Showing how Kristen’s recurring characters tend to blend together, wasn’t that butt-whistle gag that Dooneese did just now already previously done in one of Kristen’s Sexy Shana sketches?
— Aside from a few chuckles from some of the non-Dooneese parts of this Sound Of Music spoof, I’m miserable while watching this.
— (*groan*) Aaaaaaand now we get a Fred Armisen cameo (his first of way too many this season), as this Sound Of Music sketch concludes by randomly turning into yet another Lawrence Welk Show sketch, making this Dooneese appearance fully complete. Ugh. Very unnecessary.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host, musical guest, WIF, DAK, Steve Carell [real] do “Afternoon Delight”

— Paul Rudd mentions being overshadowed by a musical guest in his prior two hosting stints. To nitpick, it wasn’t just musical guest Beyonce who overshadowed Paul in his first episode. Remember, Justin Timberlake also made a few random cameos that night, and you know a Timberlake cameo is automatically going to take away the spotlight from someone.
— A very welcome sight of Paul’s “man band”: his Anchorman co-stars. And, man, it feels so great seeing David Koechner on the SNL stage again for the first time since he was unfairly fired after only one season as a cast member two decades prior. And seeing him and Will Ferrell onscreen together in an SNL segment makes me nostalgic for season 21.
— Steve Carell, to One Direction: “Why don’t you kids sit on Santa’s lap and ask for a pair of balls?”
— Not much to laugh at in the musical number, but it’s likable enough. However, I’m still not sure why they chose this as the monologue for the “Best Of This Season” special that aired in the middle of this season. (Is that the last time to this day that a season had a “Best Of” special?)
— Will Ferrell is so front-and-center for most of this monologue that, every time I watch this, I keep expecting him to be the one to say the usual monologue tagline (“We’ve got a great show for you tonight, etc.”), as this monologue tends to make one eventually forget that Paul is the host, not Will.
STARS: ***


POLITICS NATION WITH AL SHARPTON
Huffington Post contributor (host) discusses Obamacare

— Kenan’s Al Sharpton yelling “It’s fixed-ded!” reminds me of Kenan’s “FIX IT!” character from season 34.
— So far, the same-old same-old routine, but this recurring sketch somehow manages to always work decently for me.
— I got a good laugh from the ending with Kenan-as-Sharpton’s “Coming up next” announcement being him unknowingly reading off of the label on the side of one of the TV cameras.
STARS: ***


ONE DIRECTION’S #1 FAN
grown man Dan Charles (host) considers himself musical guest’s #1 fan

— A promising concept for a pre-taped Paul Rudd showcase.
— Paul is great in his execution of this, and it’s refreshing that they’re not taking this the predictable and overdone route of having Paul’s character act like a sexual predator towards the young girls.
— A big laugh from Paul’s excited initial reaction to One Direction making their entrance, made funnier by a spitwad being seen flying from Paul’s mouth when excitedly saying “It’s them!”
— Speaking of One Direction’s entrance, why are Jay and Brooks standing in the background as bodyguards? They have absolutely nothing to do or say in these roles, nor does the camera even focus on them at any point. They’re just silently standing in the background. What, SNL couldn’t be bothered to put two extras or writers in those roles?
STARS: ****


DIVORCE
divorcing (host) & (VAB) can’t resist grooving to “I Don’t Want To Know”

— Pretty funny bizarre bit about Paul’s new girlfriend being Wiccan.
— Another funny bizarre bit, this time regarding the pronunciation of the name of Vanessa’s new boyfriend, Dunkin Danish.
— A repetitive conceit with Paul and Vanessa always breaking out into jolly dancing whenever “I Don’t Want To Know” suddenly plays, but Paul and Vanessa are making this a lot of fun. I especially love Paul’s very energetic, spastic dance moves.
— Lots of funny oddball clarifications from Paul and Vanessa about their new lovers.
— Good reveal of “I Don’t Want To Know” turning out to be playing from Kenan’s phone, as it’s his ringtone.
— I like Paul knocking his chair backwards when getting up to energetically dance once again at the end of this sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Story Of My Life”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jacob outlines Hanukkah & gets emotional over SEM’s pending departure

Jebidiah Atkinson lays waste to beloved Christmas TV specials & movies

— (*groan*) Yet another Jacob commentary, continuing to beat that same one note into the ground.
— The only positive thing I can say about this Jacob commentary is that it at least ends on a different note, with him getting emotional over Seth’s soon-to-come departure from SNL.
— Oof, most of tonight’s Update jokes are awful so far, even for Seth and Cecily’s standards.
— We get a rare instance of interaction between Seth and Cecily, in a brief ad-lib they make towards each other after one of Cecily’s jokes. I’m probably forgetting something, but I think this is the first time we’ve Seth and Cecily interact with each other since their very first Update together. Sad how the only interaction between them since then was just a brief ad-lib. SNL’s not even trying to develop a chemistry between these two anchors, but then again, I guess SNL figured “Why even bother?”, considering Seth is outta here in February. But even when his mid-season replacement, Colin Jost, comes in, it’s not like SNL ends up trying to establish much chemistry between him and Cecily either.
— The great Jebidiah Atkinson has officially become recurring, only TWO EPISODES after his debut, which I guess shows how very well-received his first commentary was.
— Ha, SNL even openly acknowledges Jebidiah’s extremely-soon return, in the following exchange between Seth and him: “In case anyone forgot, the last time you were here, you shared your negative review of the Gettysburg Address.” “How could they forget it, Seth? It was only three weeks ago. Run things into the ground much?” That nice meta, self-deprecating bit sadly receives practically NO reaction from the audience.
— Man, the audience is kinda lousy during this Update in general. Some of Jebidiah’s great slams aren’t getting the big reactions they deserve. I blame Seth and Cecily’s lame-ass Update jokes for probably being what killed the audience’s mood.
— I love Jebidiah explaining “Time is not linear for me!” when Seth questions the credibility of Jebidiah’s statement about National Lampoon’s Vacation preceding Jesus’ birth.
— I admit tonight’s Jebidiah commentary is not as strong as his previous appearance, but he still has a lot of good lines here, and he’s certainly far preferable to anything else that this blah Update threw at us.
STARS: **½


MICHELANGELO’S DAVID
Michaelangelo (TAK) based David sculpture on (host), small penis & all

— Cecily’s delivery of “Oh, my god” when initially seeing the small penis on the David sculpture kinda made me laugh.
— Paul, when pointing out the size of the sculpture’s hands: “You know what they say about a man and his hands.” Cecily, pointing to the penis on the statue: “N-no. I can see it.” Jay, popping up out of nowhere: “Really? *I* can’t!”
— Another funny one-liner from Jay: “Man, kill yo’self!”
— Taran’s performance is kinda sloppy in this sketch, to the degree that he even flat out forgets at one point that it’s time for him to deliver a line, causing an awkward stretch of long silence.
— Other than the aforementioned lines, this sketch is nothing but a juvenile “small penis” joke, and not even a particularly good one.
STARS: **


WHITE CHRISTMAS
host stars in White Christmas, the black holiday movie for white people

— Funny concept.
— This is nailing a lot of tropes of black holiday movies, even if this isn’t turning out quite as strong as I feel it has the potential to be.
— Feels like Aidy has been almost non-existent in this episode. Geez, is this pre-taped short her first appearance all night???
— The black magazine review of this movie just stating “Can’t we have anything?” was funny.
— I got a huge laugh from another black magazine review, calling this “The Macklemore of movies”.
STARS: ***


SANTA’S WORKSHOP
elves don’t like skinny & health-conscious Santa’s (host) new attitude

— I feel like that opening exterior shot of “Santa’s Workshop” (screencap a little below in this review) is recycled from a previous sketch from years prior. It looks strangely very familiar. It was possibly used in the famous Glengarry Glen Elves sketch with Alec Baldwin in 2005, but I don’t have enough time to check right now.

— (*sigh*) Yet another sad reminder of how invisible SNL keeps making a lot of this season’s new featured players, as this sketch feels like the first time we’re seeing a lot of them tonight.
— Shortly after the reveal of Paul as a newly-thin Santa, something about this sketch is already giving off weak vibes.
— Yeah, it’s now a minute-and-a-half later, and I haven’t been caring for this sketch AT ALL.
— Not even Kate can steal this sketch in her walk-on.
— Okay, I do love Aidy’s (who’s finally making a live appearance in this episode, by the way) innocent delivery of “I don’t wanna hear Santa say…..’my junk’.”
— Overall, a real bummer. Aside from Aidy’s aforementioned line delivery, I got absolutely NOTHING from this sketch.
STARS: *½


PAST LOVERS
embarrassingly, (CES)’s memories of lost loves include pizza guy (host)

— I’m liking the structure to this sketch.
— Very solid acting from Cecily throughout this.
— A pretty good goofy characterization from Paul.
— Interesting turn with one of Cecily’s past lovers being a woman.
— I like the hint at the very end that Paul’s character isn’t an imagined spirit after all, but is unsettlingly actually there in person at Cecily’s apartment.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Through the Dark”


BILL BRASKY
(host) & fellow drunk businessmen laud Bill Brasky at Chuck E. Cheese’s

— YEEEESSSSS!!! The special return of Bill Brasky, one of my personal favorite recurring sketches of all time.
— David Koechner: “Brasky’s testicles have an I.Q. of 91!”
— Taran: “Brasky’s ejaculate can cure leprosy!” David: “I wish I had leprosy!”
— Man, Taran is coming off as an absolute NATURAL as one of the Brasky guys. He is nailing the usual characterization of these guys. He either must’ve been a big fan of this recurring sketch back in the day, or he binge-watched all of the Brasky sketches after being cast as one of the Brasky guys in this week’s reprisal of this recurring sketch. I’m guessing it’s the former and not the latter.
— Paul is also fitting in well as one of the Brasky guys.
— It would’ve been great if Steve Carell was also one of the Brasky guys here, not only so all of the Anchorman 2 stars who appeared earlier in tonight’s monologue could play Brasky guys here, but also because Carell seems like he’d fit in well doing a “Brasky guy” characterization.
— Cecily appearing in Ana Gasteyer’s usual “Would you men please quiet down?” role from previous installments of this sketch.
— Now Kenan appears in Tim Meadows’ usual “Hey, you guys talkin’ about Bill Brasky?” role. I recall hearing that Tim later disclosed he was bothered by the fact that SNL didn’t call him up to reprise this role.
— Overall, an absolute treat, as anticipated. This did not let me down.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An okay episode, but nothing special as a whole. A little better than I had remembered, but there were still a few real bummers in here (the Dooneese cold opening, some of the non-Jebidiah Atkinson portions of Weekend Update, the Santa’s Workshop sketch). Despite being “overshadowed” by One Direction and the various special guests of the night, Paul Rudd still held his own tonight and had some shining moments, moreso than he had in either of his prior two hosting stints.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bill Brasky
One Direction’s #1 Fan
Divorce
Past Lovers
White Christmas
Monologue
Politics Nation with Al Sharpton
Weekend Update
Michelangelo’s David
The Sound Of Music: Live & Condensed
Santa’s Workshop


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Josh Hutcherson)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Goodman makes his hosting return after a long 13-year hiatus

Posted on

November 23, 2013 – Josh Hutcherson / HAIM (S39 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PIERS MORGAN LIVE
George Zimmerman’s latest trouble is discussed

— For some reason, I have no memory of Kate’s part of this cold opening from my previous viewing.
— A pretty funny coy smile from Kate after saying “He stole my heart.”
— Good part with the ankle monitor footage of George Zimmerman.
— Bobby gets his usual laughs.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host dissuades cast members from killing each other a la Hunger Games

— Pretty funny Hunger Games-themed idea of the cast about to violently battle each other.
— Ooh, I like the idea of Noel getting airtime as herself, as well as the mention that she’s a new featured player.
— Aww, and, in what’s sadly very fitting, as soon as Noel stands onstage and optimistically says, “At least I’ll get some screentime”, she’s IMMEDIATELY interrupted by Cecily (who’s basically this season’s “It girl”) jumping in front of her and taking the attention away from her, causing her to sheepishly exit the monologue. I know that’s just a gag, but damn, SNL. There’s way too much unfortunate reality subtext in that gag for me to laugh at. Besides, didn’t poor Noel already have this same thing basically happen to her in the Miss Universe sketch from the Kerry Washington episode? SNL’s not very good at hiding their waving-off of most of this season’s newbies.
— Very funny brief walk-on from Kenan.
— When Josh Hutcherson tells Cecily, “Now you’re gonna have to carry me into the next sketch”, it would’ve been nice if they followed that up by actually showing that happening instead of just fading to a commercial break as Cecily carries Josh off the home base stage.
STARS: ***


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
Morgan’s crush (host) puts her in the friend zone

— This is the first (and I think ends up being the only) time in an on-air installment of this recurring sketch that the guest who’s being interviewed is a male. (I say “on-air installment” because there was previously a cut-after-dress-rehearsal installment of this sketch with Zach Galifianakis playing the guest.) Hopefully, that’ll change up this recurring sketch’s formula, because, despite me liking all of the prior installments of this sketch, the formula of it is definitely in risk of getting tired and overly formulaic.
— Yeah, as I was afraid of, the usual bit with Aidy being blindsided by Cecily bringing on a guest has gotten way too old hat. How many times is she supposed to be surprised by the same thing happening in every edition of this sketch?
— Another now-tired staple of this recurring sketch, with Aidy and the guest each saying a different thing in unison when revealing what today’s topic is.
— At least the romantic connection between Aidy and Josh is indeed taking this sketch into somewhat of a different direction, though even with that, there’s still a bit too much of a same-iness to the feel of this sketch. I think the problem is the stale talk show format that this sketch is always stuck in. It’s not necessary for this particular recurring sketch. Why can’t we see Aidy and Cecily’s characters in just normal, real-life situations, without the TV show setting?
— At least Aidy is still providing a good amount of laughs for me, as usual in this recurring sketch.
— Meh, Cecily’s “My boyfriend’s crazy” story wasn’t as funny as usual. That appears to be yet another staple of this recurring sketch that’s gotten tired.
STARS: **½


BABY BOSS
new employee (host) finds boss Mr. Patterson (BEB) has body of a baby

— The debut of Beck’s Mr. Patterson character, far better known as “Baby Boss”.
— Great physical humor from Beck, who’s doing spot-on and funny imitations of typical baby mannerisms. And I love that such a physical sketch starring a new cast member is placed in such an early spot of this episode, offering further proof that, even as most of his fellow new featured players struggle badly for airtime, Beck is immediately fitting in on SNL.
— I love Taran remaining humorously straitlaced and deadpan while Beck, who’s in Taran’s arms, is sloppily splattering spaghetti all over Taran’s face.
STARS: ****


MATCHBOX 3
subway performers specialize in dancing in crowded cars

— A promising concept, and I like the mockumentary angle.
— Some good laughs from the extreme adjustments the guys have to make to their dance routine in crowded trains, such as substituting their “Stir the pot” move for a “Stir the Expresso” move, and substituting their “Running man” move for a “Running neck” move.
— Good bit with Josh getting lost in the crowd.
— Kinda fun seeing John Milhiser get to show a little of his knack for physical humor, even if just a throwaway role at the end of this film.
— An overall solid little mockumentary, continuing this season’s strength in the short films department.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Wire”


WEEKEND UPDATE
The Worst Lady On An Airplane’s (AIB) travel tips have a tendency to annoy

— Seth’s “No one came to my party” joke about Justin Bieber is killer, and I’d like to think is the show’s way of airing out their frustrations over what a Grade-A douche Bieber was when he hosted in the preceding season.
— When Seth introduced Aidy’s commentary by saying, at one point, “Here with some helpful travel tips…”, I got worried and thought it was going to be yet another Judy Grimes commentary (even though I have no real problems with that character), until I remembered  Kristen Wiig is long gone from the show.
— Aidy’s playing her role really big, which I have very mixed feelings about. However, I am getting some laughs from her commentary.
— Cecily’s Update delivery, which showed nice signs of improvement in the preceding episode’s Update, is kinda taking a step back tonight. I find that her Update delivery typically has a lot of potential, but there’s something about the way she delivers her punchlines that kinda takes me out of it, as does the toothy smile she usually gives the camera after certain punchlines. That smiling habit is a little too cutesy and “I’m just kidding, folks”-ish for my likes, and reminds me of some of Amy Poehler’s weaker tendencies as an Update anchor. I think it’s just nerves on Cecily’s part.
— Short Update.
STARS: **½


80’S SONG
in the 1980s, (host) lip-syncs “Your Love” in the course of wooing (VAB)

— Some funny exaggerated 80s-isms in the opening conversation that the girls have, especially Aidy’s line about note-passing.
— An excellent random concept of Josh only speaking by lip-syncing particular “Your Love” lyrics as responses to Vanessa’s lines. I love how out-of-the-ordinary and unique this premise feels, and it also helps that “Your Love” is such a damn catchy song.
— I love Vanessa negatively breaking down the “And I’ll never keep it undercover” lyric that Josh lip-syncs to her at one point.
— This sketch is so much fun so far.
— An absolutely perfect “Jessie’s Girl” ending.
— Overall, a very strong sketch, and, after my current re-watch of it, I now feel it’s probably one of my all-time favorites.
STARS: *****


BEST BUY FIRING
Best Buy employees Niff & Dana bad-mouth their co-workers

— The third and final appearance of this recurring sketch.
— Something about Cecily’s furious delivery of “Planet of the Apes-lookin’ bitches!” tickled the hell out of me, especially the particularly angry emphasis she put on the word “Apes”.
— I wish they wouldn’t always have Bobby say “We goin’ out on top like (insert TV show here)!” early in these sketches, as they’ll never top him saying “We goin’ out on top like Seinfeld!” in the first installment of this.
— Funny bit regarding Beck having mysterious orange stains around his mouth.
— A decent Edward Scissorhands bit.
— In a previous episode review, I expressed confusion over why Taran’s creepy-smiling character’s name was changed from Andrew in the first installment to Randrew in the second installment. Well, now in this third installment, his character’s name has been changed to Mandrew. The hell??? Guess it’s some kind of weird running gag.
— This sketch is sadly missing something without Tim Robinson’s old man character, Carl, who appeared in the previous installments of this.
STARS: ***


DANCING
(KYM) rapidly gains & loses fame without leaving his apartment

— I like how the Beck/Kyle shorts that have aired so far by this point have each opened with a simple black title screen stating the title of the short (examples below).

This tradition helps give these Beck/Kyle shorts their own identity, differentiating them from other SNL short films. Unfortunately, that title screen trademark of these Beck/Kyle shorts would soon get dropped a little later this season.
— Hilarious dancing from Kyle when Beck is filming him. I also love that a clip of that would later be shown during the “short films” montage in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, as a nice representation of the solid film work that Beck and Kyle were currently bringing to SNL in the modern era (and it felt nice seeing that clip among older film clips from other SNL eras).
— I love the random gag in which Beck sloppily throws a VHS tape at the VCR and the VHS tape then falls on floor, only for the TV to still somehow play the tape.
— Much like the Miley Sex Tape short from earlier this season, this is another Beck/Kyle film that gives us a very funny display of something progressing at an insanely rapid speed during a very short timeframe.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Save Me”


ANIMAL HOSPITAL
animal hospital workers (host), (KAM), (CES) casually announce pet deaths

— A laugh from the first casual “Your pet is dead” reveal.
— Okay, after a decent start, this is unfortunately taking a weak one-note route, just repeating the same “Your pet is dead” joke over and over.
— Something about Kenan’s mock-emotional delivery of “My Tiffany!” cracked me up.
— Josh’s “Well, call me a dead uncle’s monkey” line was seemingly a flub, as he was presumably supposed to say “Well, call me a dead monkey’s uncle”, as per the dead animals theme of this sketch. You can tell by how haltingly he delivered that line, as well as the way he smirked afterwards, that he knew he flubbed the order of the words.
— A dumb and unfunny twist with the “dead” pets turning out to be alive after all.
STARS: **


WINSTON SAM BASS – INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
Winston Sam Bass (MOB) conducts investigative report on why bugs hurry

— Well, this certainly looks interesting. It’s also a further sign of how heavily reliant this season is starting to become on short films.
— A very dumb but funny concept, being very well-executed by Mike, with some good assistance from Josh.
— Funny bit with the degrading sound effects being played for the fat bug’s movements.
— I like the occasional turns with Mike having a sad, emotional moment. An early display of Mike’s predilection for displaying some pathos in both a genuine AND comical way in his short films.
STARS: ****


THANKSGIVING GUEST
Thanksgiving meal with (host)’s family upsets his turkey girlfriend (VAB)

— The camera accidentally prematurely gives away the reveal of Josh’s date being a turkey, then the camera tries to cover for it by awkwardly panning away from the turkey.
— An off-beat and silly but somewhat interesting premise, and Vanessa seems well-cast in this role.
— I love Taran’s angry delivery of “I didn’t know your girlfriend was a GOD-DANG TURKEY!”
— A good mock-emotional/poignant speech from Vanessa.
— The execution of this is making this potentially-somewhat-iffy material work pretty well.
— There was something I oddly really liked about Taran’s delivery of “Weeellllll….” when Josh angrily tells him “Thanks a lot, dad!” while we’re shown footage of an animated turkey exiting the house.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode that, like the last few episodes prior to this, featured little to complain about, and had some strong high points.
— Aside from the Bruce Willis episode, this season so far has been doing better than I recalled. Unfortunately, I think this season’s struggles start to kick in during the upcoming December stretch of episodes, but we’ll see.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
80’s Song
Matchbox 3
dancing
Baby Boss
Winston Sam Bass – Investigative Report
Thanksgiving Guest
Piers Morgan Live
Best Buy Firing
Monologue
Weekend Update
Girlfriends Talk Show
Animal Hospital


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lady Gaga)
a very slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Paul Rudd

Posted on

November 16, 2013 – Lady Gaga (S39 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CBC NEWS TORONTO
trainwreck Rob Ford (BOM) finds a media friend in credulous 60 Minutes

— Seeing Taran do a Canadian accent here reminds me that he’s married to a Canadian in real life (Cobie Smulders).
— Hilarious look of Bobby’s Rob Ford, though I can’t help but remember how people back at this time wished Chris Farley was still alive, as they felt he would’ve been perfect for playing Rob Ford.
— Very funny scene with Bobby’s Ford making a crack deal under the podium in front of an entire audience.
— Bobby’s Ford continues to be a riot in this cold opening.
— I think I recall once hearing Bobby actually injured his hand badly when filming the pre-taped scene of him doing a pratfall over the podium.
— Pretty funny 60 Minutes twist.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host proudly panders to audience while performing “Applause”

— At least it makes sense to do a musical monologue here, even if I still don’t like this monologue trope.
— A nicely-done and professional-looking musical monologue, at least.
— The subplot of this monologue with Lada Gaga trying to garner cheap applause by saying audience-pandering statements reminds me a lot of Chevy Chase’s season 3 monologue and Karen Black’s season 6 monologue.
— Good appearance from Bobby.
STARS: **½


PAXIL: SECOND TERM STRENGTH
Barack Obama (JAP) needs second-term-strength Paxil to combat depression

— A clever way to spoof the rough time President Obama’s been having in his presidency around this time.
— Funny disclaimer about this medication not being covered by Obamacare.
STARS: ***½


WAKING UP WITH KIMYE
Kanye West (JAP) & Kim Kardashian (NAP) boast

— Third consecutive episode with Nasim having a starring or co-starring role in the lead-off sketch.
— Pretty funny part with the Kardashian family band.
— Jay’s carrying this sketch well in his Kanye portrayal, with good assistance from Nasim as Kim.
— If you’re familiar with my reviews, you’ll know my aversion to the overused SNL trope of celebrity-hosted talk show sketches, but so far, this sketch isn’t bad, and it’s much better than the last new celebrity-hosted talk show sketch the show did prior to this (the Lady Gaga Talk Show sketch from the Bruce Willis episode).
— Blah, I could’ve done without the very blatant, corny, and overlong “wink-wink”-style stare Gaga gave the camera after her self-deprecating comment about how people shouldn’t try too hard with their outfits.
STARS: ***


WHAAAT? THE WORST COVER SONGS OF ALL TIME
Adam Duritz (TAK) presents a CD of the worst cover songs ever

— An okay excuse for a parade of singer impressions.
— A very funny Britney Spears impression from Noel.
— I love the ending of Kenan-as-Rick-Ross’ “Cups” scene.
— Hilarious bit with Aidy’s Adele “covering” the L.A. Law theme song.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & R. Kelly [real] perform “Do What U Want”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Thanksgiving defender Mr. Senior (KET) disrupts early Christmas activity

catty speech critic Jebidiah Atkinson (TAK) takes on famous orations

— Cecily’s second Rob Ford joke is one of those cases where the set-up (in this case, quoting Ford’s statement about having “plenty to eat at home” regarding women he gives oral sex to) is much funnier than the actual punchline.
— I love the idea of Kenan’s commentary having a big pre-tape with him outdoors.
— An amusing dumb conceit to the Kenan pre-tape, and he’s selling this dumb material pretty well.
— I don’t know if it’s just me, if she’s just having a more “on” night than usual, or if she’s legitimately improving, but Cecily’s Update delivery is coming off better than usual to me tonight.
— Ah, the debut of Taran’s Jebidiah Atkinson, a character I remember absolutely loving when this SNL era originally aired.
— So far, Taran’s characterization is fantastic here, and his insults are priceless.
— One very minor complaint about the Atkinson commentary, a complaint that has nothing to do with Taran himself: shut up that annoying off-camera guffawing, Seth.
— A priceless unscripted bit with Taran misreading his slam about FDR’s Pearl Harbor speech, prompting some excellent ad-libs from Taran.
STARS: ***


CO-OP BOARD
weirdos on NYC co-op board interview prospective residents (BEB) & (VAB)

— A good odd and inappropriate bit with Aidy and Kyle regarding lovemaking sounds.
— Some more funny oddball, disturbing characters throughout this sketch.
— Gaga’s doing a decent job disappearing into character in her imitation of Marisa Tomei’s My Cousin Vinny character.
STARS: ***½


SPOTLIGHTZ!
Laura Parsons & hammy kids do serious scenes at acting camp

 

— The return of Vanessa’s Laura Parsons character, who last appeared all the way back in one of Vanessa’s earliest episodes of SNL.
— Kyle is cracking me up a lot in his appearance.
— A funny “exploring the space” bit with Taran and Noel.
— Lots of good “hammy child actor” performances from all of the cast members and Gaga.
STARS: ***½


BLOCKBUSTER
now-jobless Blockbuster Video workers (MOB), (TAK), (BOM) seek a new home

— Not even sure if it’s intended to be funny, but Beck’s wig is something that I find to be a funny little detail of his character.
— So far, I’m loving the tone of and approach to this film. Very good work here, and lots of nice visuals.
— Great scene with Bobby giving his beloved Croods cardboard cutout a Viking funeral.
— Fun scene with the main characters discovering a hidden Blockbuster paradise in the woods.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Gypsy”


4TH GRADE TALENT SHOW
at a talent show, parents (JOM) & (host) act out their kid’s routine

— John Milhiser finally getting his first (and what sadly ends up being his ONLY) lead SNL role that visibly features him front-and-center.
— A very funny escalation to John and Gaga’s dancing routine.
— This is a great use of John’s knack for physical comedy that I mentioned in an earlier review this season.
— A good laugh from the reveal of John in a bra after Gaga reveals her own.
— Great ending to the dance sequence.
— An overall simple, fun, short, and solid sketch. How this didn’t lead to John getting more and more big roles on SNL, I’ll never know. Dude had potential, and, from what I’ve little I’ve seen of him on and off SNL (including a cut-after-dress sketch starring him and Charlize Theron that would be put online), he seems like such a likable and fun performer. And his specialty in physical humor could’ve given him an identity in this cast, even if there are other male members of this cast who are good at physical humor as well (e.g. Taran).
STARS: ****


FUTURE GAGA
in 2063, forgotten host tries to impress her building’s super (KET)

— I always like when SNL does futuristic sketches with the host playing themselves as an elderly person.
— Good part with Kenan thinking Future Gaga’s singing of Bad Romance is her having a stroke.
— Kenan’s line about only knowing “Born This Way” as a jingle for laser toilet cleaners is an accurate dig at how some hit songs from decades prior are only known to some young people as altered commercial jingles.
— Pretty sweet ending.
STARS: ***


ROSÉ ZONE
the Rosé Zone delivers concentrated reality show trash to female viewers

— A funny affable, non-sassy delivery from Vanessa of lines like “Bitches be crazy.”
— A fairly funny idea of a Red Zone-esque network for only the exciting, trashy moments of reality shows, and Cecily, Vanessa, and Aidy are helping this with good performances. This commercial probably resonates more with people who actually watch these reality shows, but I’m still finding this to be okay.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good, though somewhat unmemorable, episode. Aside from the monologue (and even that wasn’t too bad), I liked every single segment in this episode. It feels like there was barely anything that stood out as strong, but looking back at my review, there was a decent number of strong pieces.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Blockbuster / 4th Grade Talent Show (tie)
CBC News Toronto
Paxil: Second Term Strength
Spotlightz!
WHAAAT? The Worst Cover Songs Of All Time
Co-Op Board
Waking Up With Kimye
Future Gaga
Rosé Zone
Weekend Update
Monologue


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kerry Washington)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Josh Hutcherson