Tag: Anna Faris

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC
Sarah Palin’s (TIF) answers don’t satisfy interviewer Katie Couric (AMP)

— The then-widely-anticipated return of Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impression after the highly-acclaimed debut it made two episodes prior.
— I remember how the fact that SNL’s first two Tina-as-Palin sketches had Tina being paired with Amy made some online SNL fans back at this time wonder if SNL was intentionally going out of their way to have every Palin sketch star the familiar and popular Fey/Poehler duo, and one of those online fans said, paraphrased, “If this keeps up, then SNL’s spoof of the Palin/Biden vice presidential debate next week is going to have Amy dressing in drag to play Joe Biden.” As we know now, that (thankfully) doesn’t happen.
— What’s with the off-center camera angle on Tina at first, before the camera corrects itself very slowly?
— I’m getting consistent laughs from Amy-as-Katie-Couric’s rapidly-blinking non-verbal facial reactions to inane stuff said by Tina’s Palin.
— Hilarious comment from Tina’s Palin about how she and John McCain will make sure to get U.N. jobs back into American hands.
— A particularly well-remembered part with Tina-as-Palin’s long-winded, nonsensical, incomplete sentences-laden, constant topic-changing opinion on the bailout (that description of mine also kinda sounds like a description of Nicholas Fehn), which is actually almost a verbatim quote from Palin in the real Couric/Palin interview that this is spoofing.
— Yet another memorable part: Tina’s Palin, when not knowing how to answer one of Amy-as-Couric’s questions, saying “Katie, I’d like to use one of my lifelines.”
STARS: ****½

MONOLOGUE
asides to camera reveal extent of dumb-blonde host’s sad mental handicap

— I like the concept of this with Anna Faris disclosing mock-serious things about her dumb blonde persona into a side camera (complete with a music sting at the beginning of each disclosure). However, the actual disclosures themselves aren’t all that funny to me.
— Overall, a bit of a meh monologue for me, despite a fine performance from Anna.
STARS: **½

MAKING NEW FRIENDS
after a double date, faux pas-prone (JAS) & (host) beg their own pardon

— Interesting how this sketch appears immediately after the monologue, with no break in between, meaning Anna had to quickly go from the home base stage to the car set for this sketch, putting on a purple sweater in the process. To give Anna a little extra time, this sketch opens with a lengthy close-up of Jason driving the car while in the middle of a conversation with his passengers, one of whom is supposed to be Anna. Anna accidentally gives away the fact that she arrives on the set in the middle of that lengthy opening close-up of Jason, as you can hear an off-camera sound of her closing one of the car doors.
— When Jason and Anna are going on about how Casey and Bobby must hate them, I love Jason saying “A disgust usually reserved for that of pedophiles.”
— Some good lines from Jason and Anna recounting and questioning the morality of the ridiculous, inappropriate things they did during their dinner with Bobby and Casey earlier in the evening.
— I like the VERY oddball and random twist to the already-random “car driving off a cliff” ending (which initially brings the Toonces sketches to mind, though it’s not the same “car driving off a cliff” stock footage), with the car actually bouncing off the bottom of the cliff, then going back up the cliff and exploding when it lands back onto the road. A great bit of absurdity there.
STARS: ***½

FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Jim Lehrer (CHP) moderates Barack Obama (FRA) & John McCain (DAH) debate

— Chris Parnell! Nice to see him in his first cameo since being fired (for his second time) after season 31. He ends up playing the moderator of ALL three Obama/McCain presidential debate sketches this election season (though the only one of those Obama/McCain debate sketches I’ll be reviewing is tonight’s, as the other two appear in Weekend Update Thursday specials). In the two remaining Obama/McCain debate sketches after tonight’s, the moderators who Chris plays are Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer.
— Given how horrible the last set of presidential debate sketches were back in season 30, not to mention the fact that 1) Fred and Darrell’s Obama and McCain impressions are so dull, and 2) I have almost NO memory of tonight’s debate sketch (besides one bit regarding Scarlett Johansson), I’m very wary to approach this debate sketch.
— Ugh, Fred’s Obama impression hasn’t improved much, if at all, since its last appearance in the preceding season. How could SNL not see how much this man is not working out in this role? How could Lorne just sit there and let such an important political impression be performed so poorly? FOR FOUR DAMN YEARS, I might add.
— Meh, the conceit of Darrell’s McCain proposing increasingly outlandish debate scenarios throughout this sketch is doing nothing for me, and just feels desperate on the writer’s part.
— Pretty funny bit with Darrell’s McCain claiming that, ever since way back in 1985, he was arguing for the surge in regards to the Iraq War.
— There’s the aforementioned sole part I remembered about this sketch: Fred-as-Obama’s offer of a dinner with Scarlett Johansson. Only mildly funny.
— I like Darrell’s McCain giving up and nonchalantly declaring, “At this point, I don’t really care anymore.”
— I guess the closing gag with Amy’s Hillary Clinton being shown on the side as backup in case McCain didn’t show up was fairly funny.
— At least this overall sketch was somewhat short compared to the overlong presidential debate sketches from season 30.
— Overall, pretty meh. While certainly not as insufferable as the season 30 presidential debate sketches, and while this sketch contained a few laughs, this sketch as a whole sadly was forgettable for SNL presidential debate standards. Of the two remaining Obama/McCain debate sketches, one being a town hall debate, and the other being a sit-down debate, I recall the town hall one actually being strong (and it includes a great tongue-in-cheek Bill Murray cameo as “William Murray”, a hapless, broken Chicago Cubs fan). I have no memory of the sit-down one.
STARS: **

BOAT RIDE
oblivious (host) doesn’t realize she’s not on a date with hit man (KET)

— Oh, no, Anna’s breaking out into song.
— A funny turn with the disturbing lyrics and details in Kenan’s own song, and it’s a good and much-needed contrast to Anna’s song.
— Kenan’s shifty, uneasy behavior and obvious lies throughout this sketch are all making me laugh.
— I like Anna now starting to get suspicious of Kenan through song.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mercy”

WEEKEND UPDATE
Bill Clinton (DAH) fails to give unambiguous endorsement of Barack Obama

still-nervous Judy Grimes unwinds a string of verbal false starts

— First time in quite a while that Darrell’s Bill Clinton has appeared on Update.
— A memorable part at the beginning of this Clinton commentary, in which, when giving his thanks, Darrell’s Clinton finishes it with “And most especially…..thank you, Duffy.” I remember how, when this Update commentary was shown a little over a month later in SNL’s Presidential Bash special, they actually left in the “And most especially…..thank you, Duffy” line, despite the fact that it obviously makes no sense being aired out of the context of tonight’s episode. I can only imagine how much that line being left intact in the Presidential Bash special must’ve confused the hell out of viewers who didn’t see this Anna Faris/Duffy episode.
— A very Clinton-y line from Darrell’s Clinton right now: “Look – sometimes, women will be uncomfortable doing something at first…..”, which gets a huge and VERY extended audience reaction.
— I didn’t understand Seth’s punchline to the Ben & Jerry’s/breast milk joke (either that, or it was just a lousy joke), but his staring-down of the camera afterwards almost saved it for me.
— Surprisingly, this is Kristen’s first appearance all night.
— Judy Grimes has officially become a recurring character.
— Much like Nicholas Fehn (though not to the same extent), there’s an “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” air to Judy Grimes’ commentaries. And I know some of you readers have a very low tolerance for this character (I certainly did myself, back when this SNL era originally aired). However, the inane dialogue she’s spouting off in between her “just kidding”s in tonight’s commentary is increasingly amusing to me, and is making the general conceit of this character still work in this second appearance of hers. Hopefully, that’ll continue to hold true in her subsequent appearances, but we’ll see when we get there.
STARS: ***

SCORES
stripper (host) proposes a champagne room bailout for investment bankers

— When the girls are reacting to the bad news Bill delivers at the beginning, I got a laugh from Casey saying a high-pitched, exaggerated, almost-whispery “What? No. That can’t be.”
— I like Kristen’s heavy Russian(?) accent as one of the strippers, though I’m getting a bit of a Maya Rudolph vibe from this characterization of Kristen’s.
— A well-delivered mock-dramatic eloquent speech from Anna’s stripper character, and she has some funny lines within it.
STARS: ***

DEEP HOUSE DISH
overseas acts (KRW), (BOM) & (FRA) & (WLF), (host) sing

— Wow, this sketch hasn’t appeared in quite a long while. It completely skipped season 33. I certainly can’t say I missed seeing this sketch, though.
— I like Kenan’s non-sequitur statement into the camera, “It’s a political year……”, before immediately and nonchalantly changing the subject.
— (*groan*) Cue all the “Ooh-wee, T’Shane!”s from Kenan.
— Seems to be an unusual number of cast members who are barely appearing in any sketches tonight. Both Andy and Will are surprisingly making their FIRST appearance all night in this late-in-the-show sketch (and for Andy, this ends up being his ONLY appearance all night).
— I kinda like how the Bear Force singing group feels a lot different from the usual singers seen in these Deep House Dish sketches.
— When Andy apologizes to Bear Force for insulting them in their presence, something about the fact that Bear Force deliver their “Weeee forgiiiiive yoooouuuu” response not only in unison, but in a depressed, monotone, stretched-out manner, and also while not even being on camera (is that a technical gaffe?), is all amusing to me.
— Is it just me, or was Anna’s singing very out-of-sync with the beat during the first half of her song?
— Strangely, Anna’s delivery during her post-song interview is ANOTHER example tonight of a performer doing a foreign accent that reminds me of a typical Maya Rudolph characterization. Anna’s low-pitched heavy foreign accent here sounds downright Maya-as-Versace at times.
STARS: **

GOOGIE RENE’S SLIGHTLY STAINED WEDDING DRESS BASEMENT
Googie Rene’s (KET) store has bad gowns

— The debut of an occasionally-appearing character of Kenan’s.
— Speaking of Kenan, he’s been getting lots of airtime tonight.
— I like Kenan’s frantic, panicky delivery of “HEY, HOW YOU DOIN’?!?” into the camera at the beginning of this sketch.
— An okay recovery from Kenan when he has trouble delivering one of his lines.
— Funny example of how you can use a section of a PVC pipe to cover a stain on your wedding dress.
— I like this little throwaway exchange between Kenan and Anna: “Hey, what’s a macaw?!?” “It’s like a parrot.” “Oh, a smart bird.”
— No idea what to think of that VERY Kenan Thompson-y moment with Kenan pointlessly mugging all cross-eyed into the camera at the end when the camera zooms in on him saying his ending line.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stepping Stone”

EX-BOYFRIEND
while on a date, everything reminds (host) of her sex-god ex-boyfriend

— Casey feels more prominent than usual tonight.
— Funny visual of Will in that lederhosen.
— I’m not all that crazy about this premise so far, but there are some chuckles throughout this, especially from some of Jason and Casey’s reactions.
— Predictable ending, but it was actually executed pretty well.
STARS: **½

GOODNIGHTS

— Amy is noticeably wearing a shirt that has a photo of Will as Clay Aiken. I was about to ask “What the hell???”, until I remembered that this shirt is from a sketch that didn’t make it on the air tonight. I barely remember the description I read years ago of this cut sketch, but I think it involved Will as Clay Aiken meeting with fans of his. IIRC, this is right after the real Clay Aiken officially came out of the closet, so I’m guessing that played into the sketch.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not too bad, but a forgettable episode. Not much memorable here at all, besides the Palin cold opening, but I at least liked a good number of the sketches.

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

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

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Anne Hathaway makes her hosting debut