Tag: 2011-12

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October 1, 2011 – Melissa McCarthy / Lady Antebellum (S37 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
Dooneese has a muscle-bound sister (host)

— (*groan*)
— A funny and solid cheesy performance from Taran, at least.
— We get the addition of Melissa McCarthy as a Dooneese-like fifth sister to the group. Meh. However, I do kinda like the detail of Melissa having huge He-Man doll arms as a contrast to Dooneese’s tiny baby doll hands.
— Taran’s solid straight man performance is now starting to come off quite Will Ferrell-esque, definitely a good thing.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
supposed dance experts host & KRW never actually show off their steps

— Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since I’ve last seen Melissa McCarthy, but her voice sounds different here than how I recall it sounding in her later SNL appearances.
— (*groan*) Our first musical monologue of the season. My typical aversion to musical monologues has recently become heightened due to how extremely oversaturated the preceding season was with them. (Literally 40% of that season’s monologues were musical, and that’s not an exaggeration.)
— Two segments into tonight’s episode, and we’re already getting lots of pairings of Melissa and her close friend and then-recent Bridesmaids costar Kristen. Feels a little odd in retrospect seeing Melissa so closely connected with Kristen in this episode, given how we would get so used to seeing Melissa without Kristen in Melissa’s subsequent hosting stints. Also, I remember how, when this episode originally aired, the cold opening and monologue made me worried that practically every sketch was going to have Kristen and Melissa paired together as annoying characters. Instead, as it turns out, Kristen surprisingly ends up being almost completely non-existent for the remainder of the episode.
— The running joke of Melissa acting like she and Kristen are about to start dancing, only for Melissa to immediately refrain because “Haw haw, she’s overweight!” is getting old quickly.
— The silhouette dancing gag is kinda amusing, at least.
STARS: **


LIL POUNDCAKE
doll injects girls with human papilloma virus vaccine

— The disturbing HPV twist is a very funny contrast to the upbeat aesthetic of this spot-on spoof of little girls’ dolls commercials.
— A good unsettled facial reaction from Kristen when she sees a doll in the biohazard trash bin creepily turning its head toward her.
STARS: ****


OFFICE FLIRT
(host) generates no sparks during sexual harassment of co-worker (JAS)

   

— Now that Melissa’s not joined at the hip with Kristen for once tonight, it’ll be interesting to see a display of Melissa’s character work.
— After sadly being shut out of the preceding week’s season premiere, Jay finally makes his first appearance of the season…aaaaaaand it’s a quick non-comedic walk-on where he only has one or two lines, and this ends up being his only live appearance all night.
— A simple and thin sketch, but a strong lead performance from Melissa, who’s going all out here, and is cracking me up. Jason is also a decent straight man to her.
— When Melissa pops the balloons stuffed under her sweater, I love Jason worriedly saying “I hope that was a balloon.”
— This is a very minor thing for me to gripe about, but Jay couldn’t even be bothered to keep up the character voice he was doing, as he went from speaking in an affected nerdy, whitebred voice in his first brief walk-on to speaking in his real-life laid-back, urban voice in his second brief walk-on.
— A pretty good twist at the end with Bill.
STARS: ***½


STOMP
percussive police station guns down Blue Man Group (FRA) & (PAB)

— I like the jolly look on Jason’s face as a handcuffed criminal who’s gleefully dancing to the rhythmic office sounds at the police station.
— An initial laugh from the beginning of the sudden turn with this becoming an extensive Stomp musical.
— Wait, what? Why are we now spending so much time on the VERY extended and unfunny gunning-down of Blue Man Group? What is the the point of this?
— I did at least like Bill and Andy’s quick exchange at the end, after a long pause while they’re staring at the bodies of the two Blue Man Group members they had just killed: “Was that Blue Man Group?” “Yep.” “Sh(*bleep*)t.”
— Overall, after an okay-ish start, this Digital Short really lost its way. It tried too hard to do way too much, and resulted in this being an overall mediocre short. This is our first sign of how troubled the general quality of this season’s Digital Shorts will be without Jorma or Akiva around anymore. I recall some Digital Shorts this season being downright unwatchable, which was practically unheard of prior to this season.
STARS: **


THE COMMENTS SECTION
pathetic online loudmouths lose their anonymity

— A spot-on spoof of the toxic comments section of certain sites, such as YouTube.
— Good turn with Bobby being shocked to find out that the old lady who’s video he left a juvenile, mean-spirited comment on is being brought out to confront him.
— Uh, what??? Was Nasim’s confrontation of Bobby ending with her telling him “I think you’re rotten!” supposed to be lame and THAT was the joke, or was that a genuine cop-out from the writers? Either way, it fell flat for me.
— I like Taran’s uncomfortable reaction when it’s his turn to be profiled, after what had just happened to Bobby.
— Melissa’s toxic online commenter character being named “DaTruf” is a particularly accurate detail of this sketch.
— Jason’s such a likable host of this sketch.
— Good ending with Bill being brought out as some random guy just here to give each guest a much-deserved punch in the gut. IIRC, SNL later does a complete rehash of this gag in another internet-related panel talk show sketch from the season 40 Dakota Johnson episode, only instead of Bill (who was long gone from SNL by that point) punching each guest, it was Taran being brought out to slap each guest in the face.
STARS: ***½


ROCK’S WAY
Chris Rock (JAP) inserts his commentary into Broadway shows

— Jay finally gets his first showcase this season, but of course, it’s just pre-taped. Maybe that’s for the best, though, given how green and stumbly he sometimes tends to be as a live performer in these early seasons of his SNL tenure.
— A fun Chris Rock impression from Jay, right down to the little detail of Jay imitating that thing Rock does with his fingers while speaking.
— Taran’s sassy testimonial-giver character from the preceding season’s Meryl Streep On Ice commercial (in which Taran’s testimonial memorably consisted of him just saying “Um, the bitch can skate!”) returns, this time saying another funny one-liner in his testimonial: “It was…black-tacular!” For some reason, SNL Archives doesn’t count him as a recurring character (and I doubt it’s because he’s nameless, because that site counts certain other nameless characters as recurring).
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Owned The Night”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Moammar Gaddafi’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up reveal his character flaws via sotto voce

Tyler Perry (KET) relishes being the highest-paid man in entertainment

— OH NO. The return of motherfucking Gaddafi’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up.
— As much as I despise Garth & Kat (another wretched Fred Armisen-costarring recurring Update duo) with the fire of a thousand suns, at least they, I dunno, sing different songs each time. With the Two Best Friends From Growing Up commentaries, it’s literally the EXACT same damn thing every time, and it wasn’t even funny the first time.
— Not sure we needed Kenan’s Tyler Perry doing his second Update commentary, even though I liked his first one.
— Kenan-as-Tyler-Perry’s “…or you may be white” bit at the end of his opening statement was funny.
— Despite my initial reservations, this second Tyler Perry commentary is actually turning out to be decent.
STARS: ***


TASTE TEST
overeager (host) disrupts Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing focus group

— Probably the most remembered sketch from this episode among SNL fans.
— I recently found out this is a piece that Melissa brought with her from her days at the Groundlings. I even saw a publicity photo of the Groundlings version of this sketch (I can’t look for the photo at the moment, but thanks in advance if anyone in the comments section of this review can find it), and one of Melissa’s scene partners in that photo is none other than future SNL writer & cast member Mikey Day.
— I like Melissa’s vague occasional comments about how the prize money “could really get me out of a couple of jams”.
— Another good performance from Melissa tonight, but the material of this particular sketch is getting too repetitive for my likes, and I’m gradually losing interest.
— An unforgettable visual of Melissa splattering a whole bunch of ranch dressing onto her face from the bottle, which, for me, bumps the sketch’s rating up half a star.
STARS: **½


THE ESSENTIALS WITH ROBERT OSBORNE
stairs-related injuries crippled Mae West knockoff (host)

— Taran’s been getting a lot of airtime tonight for a second-season featured player.
— Boy, I complained that the preceding Taste Test sketch was too repetitive, but THIS sketch takes the cake. And the main joke that this sketch keeps repeating isn’t even all that funny to begin with.
— Yeah, more and more, Melissa’s constant stair pratfalls aren’t doing it for me. Some of Jason’s lines during his occasional scenes as Robert Osborne are providing my only amusement in this sketch.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Just A Kiss”


COMPLAINTS
ex-lovers belie pickup artist’s (ANS) claim of complaint-free intercourse

— After two repetitive sketches in a row starring Melissa as a one-note wacky character, it feels nice to get a change of pace here.
— Feels kinda odd seeing Kristen again, and in a small straight role, after she was absent for so much of this episode after being so dominant in the first 10 minutes.
— I like the structure to this, as well as Andy’s various affable reactions to the complaints of his various ex-lovers, especially him responding to Kristen’s complaint by telling her “Deb, ya get me!”
— Ha, that taser bit came out of NOWHERE. Good way to end this sketch.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly mixed episode. Melissa McCarthy made a strong first impression in her hosting debut, being a funny, fearless, balls-to-the-wall performer, and coming off like someone who would’ve been a complete natural as a cast member. However, my problem is that the writing of most of her big showcase pieces tonight left me cold, especially as the episode progressed and there started to be more and more of a one-note feel to her big showcase pieces. In regards to that, I’m not sure I can put all of the blame on the SNL writers (even though they’re certainly guilty of often giving a very talented female comedian bad, one-note writing, as seen with Kristen Wiig in these later years of her SNL tenure), because, as mentioned earlier, one of Melissa’s big showcase pieces that I wasn’t crazy about (Taste Test) was actually something that Melissa brought with her from the Groundlings (though perhaps SNL’s writers helped carve it out into a scripted sketch this week), and I don’t know how many other Melissa McCarthy character pieces in this or her other hosting stints also happen to be Groundlings pieces she brought to the show.


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

plus this visual:


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lil Poundcake
Office Flirt
The Comments Section
Complaints
Rock’s Way
Weekend Update
Taste Test
Stomp
Monologue
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Essentials with Robert Osborne


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Ben Stiller

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September 24, 2011 – Alec Baldwin / Radiohead (S37 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

EITHER THE 7TH OR 8TH GOP DEBATE
Mitt Romney (JAS) & Rick Perry (host) get top billing at GOP debate

— Bill, in that always-funny Shepard Smith voice: “Good evening, I’m Shepard Smith, and I come from a town full of secrets.”
— For tonight’s episode only, Rick Perry is played by tonight’s SNL host, Alec Baldwin. In the subsequent episodes this season that the Rick Perry impression appears in, Bill plays the role, preventing this from becoming a case of “non-cast member has to cameo every time a certain politician they once played is being spoofed”, a case that modern-day SNL viewers in 2020 are all too familiar with seeing, especially with Alec.
— A particularly hilarious part with Jason’s Mitt Romney saying, when comparing himself to each of his fellow candidates, “Next to Herman Cain–” and then silently mouthing “I’m white.”
— They repeat the exact same joke from one part of the GOP Undeclared Candidates Debate sketch from the preceding season, where Bobby’s Newt Gingrich leaves the debate early and, on his way out, high-fives the candidate played by Kenan.
— Good lines from Kristen’s Michele Bachmann.
— A laugh from Kenan-as-Herman-Cain’s ridiculous “Pizza will be there” speech.
— Paul’s voice as Ron Paul sounds VERY Will Forte-esque.
— I’m enjoying the doddering manner that Paul’s portraying Ron Paul.
— The silly atmosphere and approach of this debate sketch is enjoyable, and I’m finding it to be a fairly fun way to open the season. Fun and silly enough that the long length of it (a whopping 11 minutes, I believe) doesn’t bother me. However, the long length may hit a little too close to home for viewers of modern-day SNL episodes, from all the worrisome things I’ve heard about the stunt cameo-filled debate sketches from seasons 45 and 46. (Boy, does that make me proud to be on hiatus from watching new episodes, even if I’m going to eventually have to review those episodes when I reach that part of SNL’s timeline.)
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding two seasons.
— Nasim Pedrad has been promoted from featured player to repertory player.
— No new cast members…at least for now. Towards the end of this season, we will get an addition of a certain still-currently-on-the-show-in-2020 female cast member.


MONOLOGUE
drug test certifies host’s 16th SNL gig; Steve Martin & Seth Rogen cameos

— Alec has noticeably lost weight. As we know now, though, it doesn’t last.
— Alec mentions that he’s now broken Steve Martin’s record for most times hosting SNL.
— Ha, I forgot until now that Schwetty Balls became a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor around this time.
— Our obligatory Steve Martin cameo after the mention of him earlier.
— Funny premise with Steve making Alec take a drug test to prove he’s not taking steroids for tonight’s hosting gig.
— Now we get a rather unexpected Seth Rogen cameo.
— Steve is his usual funny self here.
— Apparently, the writers couldn’t be bothered to give Seth Rogen any funny or interesting lines, almost rendering his presence pointless.
STARS: ***½


RED FLAG
a whiff of warning pervades (KRW)’s perfume & background

— An actual solid, unique, and effective use of the ol’ overused “Wacky Wiig Showcase” trope.
— Very funny visual of Jason spitting his drink back into his cup upon learning that Kristen lived in Vegas for 11 years.
— I recall once finding out that the announcer of this commercial (who has many great lines) is Jon Hamm, surprisingly.
— Love the bit with Kristen gagging Taran’s throat with her finger while playfully touching his face.
— A very strong ad overall, and among Kristen’s best showcases in her SNL tenure.
STARS: ****½


“ALL MY CHILDREN” WRAP PARTY
melodramatic crew members reveal secrets at All My Children wrap party

— Vanessa’s coming off pretty funny as Susan Lucci.
— Alec almost looks like he’s wearing his old Greenhilly outfit, complete with a tennis racket in his hand (side-by-side comparison below).

   

— Nasim playing a character named Michelle Von Trachtenberg??? Did a 90s kid write this sketch?
— Boy, I bet the VERY odd name of Paul’s character is impossible to spell.
— I like Paul’s mock-dramatic delivery of “…or was I pushed?!?”
— Very funny bit with Andy’s character having entered the wrong room.
— A fun feel to this sketch.
— I think we’re officially at the point where the long-past-his-prime Fred starts to feel out of place on SNL, as seeing him among the cast in this ensemble sketch feels odd to me, as if I actually forgot he’s still in the cast by this point. IIRC, he comes off even MORE out-of-place the following season (which is his final season, thankfully).
— Jason is particularly hilarious in his brief appearance, including his offbeat delivery of “I operate the fans! Or was I pushed?!?”
STARS: ***½


WDHX CHANNEL 19
satellite delay impedes warning TV reporter (KRW) of rain forest animals

— A laugh from the initial satellite delay in Kristen hearing what Alec and Abby are asking her from the studio, even if this is far from an original premise.
— Meh, this is getting old fairly fast, and feels too much like the type of tired, badly-written “Wacky Wiig Showcase” that Kristen’s Red Flag commercial earlier tonight was a refreshing improvement over.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lotus Flower”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Tony Bennett’s (host) cinema commentary drifts to long-ago stars & movies

 

— Nice to see SNL trying something different by placing Alec’s Tony Bennett on Update instead of his own talk show sketches.
— Alec-as-Bennett’s “Heb-bro” line about John Garfield was hilarious.
— Even in this new setting, Alec’s Bennett is just as funny as ever, especially his Poise Pads promo.
— The second consecutive episode with a short Update, which is rare and refreshing for the solo Seth Meyers era. Tonight’s Update was particularly short.
STARS: ***½


WHO’S ON TOP?
game show contestants mull hypothetical gay male couplings

— Ah, a favorite one-off sketch of mine.
— The second consecutive episode with Bill’s Vince Blight character, mostly known as the game show host of the What’s That Name sketches.
— An absolutely hilarious blunt reveal of the concept of this game show. Also hilarious is Jason’s reaction to that blunt reveal, with him saying “No, no thank you, I’m not playin’ this”, and then immediately walking off the show.
— The hypothetical celebrity couplings are increasingly hilarious with each passing question.
— I love Alec’s “I was just thinking about this…” when he’s given the “who’s on top?” choice between Timon and Pumbaa.
— Even the little throwaway gags are great, such as Bill tensely warning Alec that he only has 10 more minutes to answer the first question, and the “Still no sponsors?” bit.
— A particularly hilarious part of the speed round, where, as soon as Paul Giamatti is mentioned as the first of two celebrities hypothetically coupled together, Alec IMMEDIATELY answers “The other guy!” without even hearing who the other guy is.
— Even the ending is priceless, with Alec responding to the choice of “You can walk away now, or lose it all” by carelessly saying “I wanna lose it all!”, which results in him, of course, losing all his money, which he apparently didn’t expect to actually happen, as it leaves him absolutely SPEECHLESS.
STARS: *****


TOP GUN 25TH ANNIVERSARY DVD
Top Gun DVD extras include unsuccessful screen tests

— These screen tests pieces are usually always really fun, even if they’ll never measure up to the original Star Wars ones from season 22.
— Hmm, Alec playing Al Pacino, even though that’s usually Bill’s impression?
— Much like in the Back To The Future screen test pieces from the preceding season, then-writer Colin Jost can be seen a few times throughout this as the marker (seen in the fourth above screencap for this piece).
— As expected, I’m having a blast and am laughing so much throughout this entire thing.
— Taran is strangely making Tom Hanks sound like a campy 1960s gay guy. I’ve seen Taran do a better Tom Hanks impression in a clip from the show Scrubs.
— I absolutely love how all of the audition scenes with Bill’s Harvey Fierstein are just him questioning all the homoerotic lines in the Top Gun script.
— This was cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding season’s finale, but some of the celebrity impressions that were reported to have appeared in that version aren’t seen in tonight’s aired version. One of the cut celebrity impressions is Dennis Miller, played by Seth in a rare non-Weekend Update appearance. I’m very curious to see what Seth’s Dennis Miller impression was like.
STARS: ****½


CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST
child psychologist’s (host) daughter (NAP) tests theories & (VAB)’s will

— Nice to see Vanessa getting quite a lot of airtime tonight for a second-season featured player, especially given the fact that she was, sadly, given no airtime AT ALL in the preceding episode, the season 36 finale. Unfortunately, though, tonight seems to be Jay Pharoah’s turn to get the shaft, as he’s the one who gets no airtime in tonight’s season premiere (and, IIRC, he can be seen looking a tad sullen during the goodnights).
— A laugh from Nasim’s entrance, just making whining noises while slowly passing through the background without actually saying anything.
— Lots of funny increasingly troublesome actions from Nasim, who’s doing yet another good job playing a child.
— I have no idea how Nasim’s keeping herself in the air without falling down while her character is leaning on top of the dish cabinet in a hazardous manner (the seventh and eighth above screencaps for this sketch). Are there wires secretly holding her up or something?
— Hmm, interesting twist at the end.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Staircase”


ANGELS IN THE TRENCHES
(TAK) fields mortally-wounded soldiers’ final message delivery requests

— Some laughs from the increasingly awful things Alec makes Taran promise to tell Alec’s family, as his dying wish.
— Very funny how the various dying soldiers’ increasingly outlandish requests have now turned into a whole bunch of immature “Your mother’s so fat” jokes.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid and fun season premiere, and felt better than ANY of the episodes from the blandly-average preceding season. Aside from the WDHX Channel 19 sketch, I enjoyed every single segment tonight, and there were a few great standout segments. Another refreshing thing about this season premiere is that there were no recurring sketches at all, surprisingly, which is especially welcome after how the preceding season’s finale was comprised entirely of recurring sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Who’s On Top?
Red Flag
Top Gun 25th Anniversary DVD
“All My Children” Wrap Party
Child Psychologist
Angels In The Trenches
Either The 7th Or 8th GOP Debate
Monologue
Weekend Update
WDHX Channel 19


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Melissa McCarthy makes her hosting debut