Tag: Anne Hathaway

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November 10, 2012 – Anne Hathaway / Rihanna (S38 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ELECTION NIGHT
at home on election night, Mitt Romney (JAS) comes to terms with defeat

— Good to see Kate’s Ann Romney impression back after the breakout moment she had as her earlier this season, though she doesn’t get anything noteworthy to do in this particular cold opening.
— I like the use of a beer can-opening sound effect when Jason’s Mitt Romney opens a milk carton.
— A good laugh from Taran’s Tagg Romney once again threatening to punch someone.
— Funny running gag with Taran entering as a different Romney son while having the exact same look each time.
— Jason’s Romney, regarding Paul Ryan weightlifting in the Romney house: “Well, I’d like to see him carry Wisconsin!”
— Taran as one of Romney’s sons: “Come inside, father. Donald Trump is doing a very amusing thing where he’s racist………”
— What in the world is with the “Mitt & Ann Forever” part??? Why’d SNL feel the need to put that in this? I’m all for putting some heart and sentimentality into some of your comedy, which this season has done well quite a few times so far, but this “Mitt & Ann Forever” thing just felt odd and unnecessary.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host & theatrical cast members sing SNL-linked “One Day More” variant

— As usual, I love the genuinely very emotional, overjoyed look Anne Hathaway always has on her face whenever she enters the stage at the beginning of her monologues.
— When Jason mentions he’s been on the show for 8 seasons, I, as an SNL nerd, like how he adds in as an aside, “two as a writer”.
— A great part of the song with Anne singing the lyric, “What a show I could have done…if they’d let me play Stefon”, a lyric that Anne makes complete by doing the Stefon hands-over-mouth thing. The Stefon mention, combined with the fact that this musical number is Les Miserables-based, makes me wonder if John Mulaney wrote this, given the fact that the episodes he would later host traditionally have a big musical sketch based on Les Mis and other Broadway musicals. Then again, I’m confused about John Mulaney’s status as a writer this season. I had always been under the impression that he left the show after the preceding season and only occasionally came back as a guest writer this season to write Stefon pieces for Weekend Update, but there was an earlier episode this season where I spotted his name among the rest of the writers in the goodnights credits, and I’ve recently seen a clip from a stand-up special of his where he mentioned that he was an SNL writer for four-and-a-half seasons. So was he only on for half of this season?
— I particularly love the part of the song where Tim and Aidy sing about Sundays AND Saturdays being their day off, and that they’re not in the show much because “we are new”. How does that explain all the airtime their fellow newbie Cecily’s been getting, though?
— While we’re on the subject of Tim and Aidy’s airtime, I’ve noticed that the respective trajectory of their airtime so far this season has been the exact opposite of each other, with Aidy being invisible the first few episodes, then gradually getting bigger roles after that, while Tim was given a decent amount of big roles his first few episodes, then pretty much disappeared after that.
— I was iffy on this monologue’s musical number at first, given my aversion to musical monologues and my lack of familiarity with Les Miserables, but after a minute or so, I’ve gotten really into this number. It’s very catchy (especially once it gets amped up), Anne and the cast are putting their all into this, and I like the meta-ness of the whole number.
— Now this musical number has gotten even better, as the whole cast is getting involved. When this monologue originally aired, I couldn’t help but notice how awkwardly out-of-place Fred looked standing with the rest of the cast by this late stage of his SNL tenure. I still feel the same way about that during my current viewing.
STARS: ****


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
Kyra’s (CES) new pal (host) estranges Morgan (AIB)

— And Aidy’s stock continues to rise. And I love that the two main roles in tonight’s lead-off sketch are played by two new featured players.
— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— Anne’s been given the generic role of this typical teenage girl archetype, but Anne is nailing it so much. I love her delivery in this.
— I got a big laugh from Aidy suddenly saying, as an insult towards Anne, “It looks like clothes dead women are found in!”, then shaking her head side-to-side in a sassy way. Unfortunately, IIRC, that shaking-her-head-side-to-side-in-a-sassy-way goes on to be a move that Aidy overuses quite a bit these first two seasons of her SNL tenure. She’d eventually drop it, thankfully.
— Aidy continues to have some funny reactions to being sidelined by Cecily for Cecily’s other best friend. I especially like her surprised delivery when asking Cecily, “You have a basement???”
— A funny story from Cecily about how crazy her boyfriend is.
— An overall good debut for this recurring sketch. When this SNL era originally aired, I recall quickly getting really tired of this recurring sketch after only two or so appearances, but we’ll see how I’ll now feel about this as a recurring sketch in these re-watches of mine.
STARS: ***½


THE LEGEND OF MOKIKI AND THE SLOPPY SWISH
Mokiki (TAK)’s Sloppy Swish dance enthralls (host)

— SNL’s first post-Lonely Island music video.
— I love this absolutely bizarre character for Taran. When this originally aired, this was yet another thing that had me thinking Taran was definitely on his way to becoming SNL’s next Will Ferrell, as I could easily picture Will doing something like this Mokiki bit in the late 90s.
— Kenan is great as the narrator.
— So many fun visuals of Taran’s Mokiki doing the “Sloppy Swish” dance move in various locations in the city.
— A very funny slow motion shot of Bobby mouthing “What the fuck” after Mokiki crashes Bobby and Kate’s picnic.
— Great fake-out with Mokiki and Anne’s pending kiss turning out to be him vomiting venom on her face.
— Oh, I love Anne now turning into a female Mokiki clone.
— An overall excellent, memorable, and catchy piece. SNL’s post-Lonely Island shorts have all been knocking it out of the park so far.
STARS: *****


HOMELAND
Saul (BIH) wants unstable Carrie (host) to do an interrogation

— I’ve never watched Homeland, but I’m currently only about 40 seconds into this sketch, and this Homeland spoof is already working for me just for Anne’s performance alone. Her performance in this is priceless.
— Now I’m noticing good supporting work from the cast, especially Taran’s funny performance and that great voice Bill’s doing.
— Very funny walk-on from Nasim.
— The “jazz freak-out” Anne’s doing is particularly hilarious.
— Bill: “Let me tell you something one of my 10 rabbis once told me…”
— Man, I’m loving practically everything about this sketch.
STARS: ****½


MCDONALD’S FIRING
McDonald’s employees Niff (BOM) & Dana (CES) badmouth their co-workers

— Bobby saying “We goin’ out on top like Seinfeld!” made me laugh even harder than it probably should’ve.
— It looks kinda dumb how, all throughout this sketch, Bobby and Cecily are facing and staring directly at the camera while telling off the co-workers who are located TO THEIR LEFT SIDE. I know Bobby and Cecily are just following the staging directions they were given, but this sketch shouldn’t have been directed this way in the first place.
— There are a lot of things about Bobby and Cecily’s characters that have the potential to be a little too annoying to watch, but it’s actually working well here, and I’m enjoying their insults to each co-worker of theirs. I also like how this sketch is using what appears to be the full cast, for the second segment tonight.
— I got a big laugh from Bobby and Cecily saying in unison, to one co-worker, “(*to the tune of the McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it’” jingle*) Ba-da-ba-ba-ba, go kill yourself!”
— I like Kate’s deadpan “…….Yes.” when rudely asked by Bobby and Cecily if her weird-looking leg had been burned.
— Now this truly is a full-cast sketch, as even the Weekend Update-only Seth has gotten involved as the voice of the co-worker heard through the phone.
— Even with his mere facial expressions and body language, Tim is very funny as the old worker. Good to see him get something funny to do again after practically disappearing the last few episodes prior to this.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Diamonds”


WEEKEND UPDATE
confident Barack Obama (JAP) will use mandate to set the political agenda

same-sex couple from Maine (FRA) & (BIH) relishes marriage equality

Drunk Uncle feels the election is representative of national decline

— Feels a little weird seeing Jay’s President Obama impression appearing on Weekend Update.
— Jay-as-Obama’s looseness here is pretty fun, especially the “Bounce with me” part.
— Hmm, a new outfit has been created for infants so they can clean the floor as they move around the house? Looks like SNL predicted the future with that (wretched) Swiffer Sleepers commercial they did 10 years prior.
— Wait, we’re still doing these “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bits all these years later? Another example of how Fred seemingly has little to offer this season other than bringing back old, tired recurring bits that don’t fit in the new, fresher direction SNL has been going in this season. I can’t even remember the last time this “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bit appeared prior to this. I think it was the “gays in the military”-based one from the Gerard Butler episode all the way back in season 35.
— I surprisingly have no memory at all of this Gay Couple From Maine commentary, even though I remember the rest of this episode fairly vividly. Maybe it’s for the best that I don’t remember this Maine commentary, especially since I never liked any of these “A Gay Couple From (insert place here)” bits. They’re at least progressive in terms of SNL’s portrayal of gay people, but I don’t find any of these characters funny.
— I did at least get a laugh just now from Bill (in what I’m assuming was an ad-lib) giving Fred a playful slap on the face while their characters are flirting with each other.
— I’m getting my usual amusement from Drunk Uncle, even if I can’t find any standout parts to mention here.
— Okay, I found one standout part I laughed at just now in the Drunk Uncle commentary, which him bitterly exclaiming out of nowhere, “Jeeewwwspapers!”
— Is it necessary to repeat that “That’s not me” “That’s not anybody” exchange between Drunk Uncle and Seth? That exchange was funny the first time it was used in Drunk Uncle’s last appearance prior to tonight’s episode, but it doesn’t work with repetition. IIRC, they even go on to have Colin Jost carry on the tradition of delivering the “That’s not anybody” line in Drunk Uncle’s appearances after Seth leaves.
STARS: ***


ELLEN
dancing precedes Ellen’s (KAM) interview with Katie Holmes (host)

— Good to see Kate’s Ellen DeGeneres impression back after its debut in that Bond Girls pre-tape earlier this season, even if I don’t find the idea of her starring in a straightforward spoof of Ellen’s talk show all that exciting.
— Cute appearance from Vanessa and Nasim.
— Great to see the return of Anne’s Katie Holmes impression from a Miley Cyrus Show sketch two seasons prior.
— Overall, not a bad sketch, though certainly not memorable.
STARS: ***


AMERICAN GOTHIC
American Gothic subjects (JAS) & (host) tried to bring levity to painting

— Kenan gets a good line after lightheartedly pointing out that the stereotype of Asians loving their cameras is apparently true: “Then again, I was 20 minutes late to work today.”
— A fairly interesting-seeming concept showing the making of the American Gothic painting.
— Simplistic humor here, but Jason and Anne are executing it really well.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stay”


FLARITIN
Flaritin is the fake Claritin for attention-seekers with fake allergies

— Kind of a rarity for a new pre-taped commercial to debut at the end of an episode. I think they only do that when there’s time to kill at the end of an episode.
— I like Vanessa’s delivery of her angry spiel about being lactose intolerant.
— Some laughs from the listed-off fake allergies you can claim to have when taking Flaritin.
— The premise is kinda flimsy and dumb, but the execution is okay enough.
— Good ending with Vanessa sneezing an exaggerated amount of nasty-looking mucus onto Kenan’s face.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

— As usual, such a charming goodnights speech from Anne that stands out a bit from usual hosts’ goodnights speeches in these years.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode, in what’s been a streak of good episodes lately. The first half of this episode was strong, and, while things slowed down a little in the second half, that half was still good. There impressively weren’t any segments in this episode that I disliked. Another benefit of this episode was that it contained no pre-existing recurring sketches at all, which is further proof that this season has refreshingly been focusing very little on recurring sketches. Much like in her previous two hosting stints, Anne Hathaway did a great job as a host. It’s a damn shame this ends up being her final hosting stint (as of 2020).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Legend Of Mokiki And The Sloppy Swish
Homeland
Monologue
McDonald’s Firing
Girlfriends Talk Show
American Gothic
Election Night
Ellen
Weekend Update
Flaritin


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Louis C.K.)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jeremy Renner

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November 20, 2010 – Anne Hathaway / Florence + The Machine (S36 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW
Charlie Rangel (KET) steals the spotlight

— Rather surprisingly, this is the first time they’ve done this Abby Elliott-starring Rachel Maddow Show sketch since Abby’s fifth episode on SNL, back when that sketch was Abby’s very first big role. It’s sad that, in the almost two years that passed between then and tonight’s episode, Abby’s general airtime on SNL hasn’t progressed much, if at all.
— Abby seems to be trying harder in her Maddow impression tonight than she did in the last Rachel Maddow Show cold opening, but the voice she’s using is STILL too high-pitched to match Maddow’s voice.
— Bill sounded VERY Dan Aykroyd-esque in his-as-John-Boehner’s pronunciation of “barber”.
— Funny line about how Nancy Pelosi always looks like she’s staring at someone not using a coaster.
— (*groan*) Enough with all the cheap “Rachel Maddow looks like a man” jokes.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host lets ANS, BOM, KET think she’s going to do nude scenes on the show

— I love the genuinely very emotional, overjoyed look on Anne Hathaway’s face after she has entered the stage. You can tell how much hosting SNL means to her.
— Nice to see the underused and still-somewhat-new Bobby get some applause from the audience when he enters as himself in this.
— The premise of this monologue is a little cliched and tired (feels almost like a throwback to those “the male cast takes turns trying to hit on the female host” monologues from the late 90s, with hosts like Heather Graham and Sarah Michelle Gellar), but it’s being executed decently enough.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Kristen saying a sudden wholesome “And that’s what Thanksgiving is all about” right after all the sexual-related stuff in this monologue. Too bad she almost had to ruin it immediately afterwards by hammily staring down the camera during her exit for NO GOOD REASON. It made sense when Andy did that earlier in this monologue, but there was no logical reason for Kristen to do that at all.
STARS: ***


TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
TSA agents echo phone sex operators

— This TSA ad being presented in the style of a typical phone sex ad is a clever and very funny way to spoof the TSA pat-down controversy from this time.
— Solid delivery from Kenan of the line “But it’s proooobably gonna be us.”
STARS: ****


THE MILEY CYRUS SHOW
Katie Holmes (host) is peppered with queries by Miley Cyrus (VAB)

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— Jason takes over the Billy Ray Cyrus role that was played by Bryan Cranston in the previous installment of this sketch.
— Turns out Jason is a lot of fun in this role, moreso than Cranston was.
— Vanessa’s Miley, as a segue: “So, as you probably heard, I’m sexy now!”
— The “sexy” photos of Vanessa’s Miley are all funny.
— Anne’s Katie Holmes impression is killer, especially the long, awkward pauses, which remind me of just how awkward the real Katie Holmes came off in her season 26 SNL hosting stint that I covered.
STARS: ***½


FREE THANKSGIVING DINNER
on Thanksgiving, volunteer Penelope harvests attention at a soup kitchen

— The first Penelope sketch to appear in a little over a year, and this also ends up being the final one.
— The audience’s laughter at some of Penelope’s lines tonight seems a bit mild and tepid. I’m enjoying this sketch a little more than they are, but I can understand the audience’s (or anyone else’s) lack of excitement towards this sketch.
— I like Penelope’s inappropriate comment about how it’s easy for homeless people to see fireworks on the Fourth of July because they live outside.
— An amusing cutaway to Penelope’s similarly-traited family members.
— While this Penelope installment is a slight improvement over the below-par last one that appeared prior to this, tonight’s installment still feels too average for Penelope standards. It’s a good thing this ends up being her final appearance, as this character has lost her novelty and seems to be running out of steam.
— I like how, at the very end of this sketch, after we see Penelope in her “celery boat”, the camera pulls back and reveals Kristen is lying on a greenscreen floor on SNL’s home base stage. In hindsight, there’s something strangely fitting about how that visual ends up being the last thing we ever see of Penelope.
STARS: ***


ROYAL ENGAGEMENT
secret chavs Queen Elizabeth (FRA) & Prince Philip (BIH) intimidate Kate Middleton (host)

— Good unexpected turn with Fred and Bill’s Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip suddenly dropping their dignified accents and demeanor, and suddenly talking brashly and threateningly in crude accents towards Anne’s Kate Middleton.
— Fred’s even managing to make this drag role not come off as groan-worthy as some of his other drag roles from around this time. I also like the almost-Mick Jagger-esque voice he’s using here.
— A funny “In the bedroom…THINK FERGIE” line from Bill’s Philip.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dog Days Are Over”


WEEKEND UPDATE
alcohol & raisins pervade Guy Fieri’s (BOM) extreme Thanksgiving menu

SEM says “Come On, Dictionary” to inclusion of Sarah Palin’s “refudiate”

Four Loko creator Chris Hunter (JAS) defends besieged upper-downer drink

JAP performs hip-hop Thanksgiving songs a la Jay-Z, Drake, Biggie Smalls

— Bobby’s always fun in the Guy Fieri role, and is making this otherwise nothing-special commentary work decently for me.
— Hmm, a variation of the recurring “Really?!?” segment, with Seth doing a new “Come On, Dictionary” segment.
— The overall “Come On, Dictionary” segment ended up being okay. My biggest laugh came from Seth’s “rafing” comment at the end.
— I always love seeing Jason play boorish fratboys like this.
— A funny passing mention from Jason’s character about his coke dealer getting busted.
— Wow, Jay appearing as himself here. A rarity in this SNL era to see a cast member do an Update commentary as themselves.
— Yeesh, Jay’s brief bit about how “Thank You For Being A Friend” should be a Thanksgiving song for white people was a lame and hacky joke.
— A fairly fun excuse to have Jay do a parade of various rapper impressions from his repertoire. The concept of this commentary of his kinda feels like a throwback to Jimmy Fallon’s routine of holiday song medleys, where he does impressions of various singers’ voices.
— Jay’s Drake impression here sounds a lot different from the version he would do in his later seasons, probably because this is before Drake really blew up in popularity.
STARS: ***


THE ESSENTIALS WITH ROBERT OSBORNE
whiny Weather Vane (FRA) was cut from The Wizard Of Oz

— The debut of Jason’s Robert Osborne impression.
— Blah, I already don’t like that nasal, dopey voice Fred’s using, which is worrisome given the fact that his character is the main comedic focus of this sketch.
— Great Cowardly Lion/Bert Lahr impression from Bill.
— Yeah, I’m currently a few minutes into this sketch, and the general routine of Fred’s character is doing nothing for me.
— The ending with Fred looking into the camera and saying “da Wizard of Oz!” in that nasal, dopey voice was just plain dumb.
STARS: *½


WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
elderly TV reporter Herb Welch (BIH) hits his mic but misses the story

— The debut of Bill’s memorable Herb Welch character.
— Reportedly, this Herb Welch character and his hitting-people-in-the-face-with-his-microphone habit was based on ad-libs Bill made during rehearsals of the news sketch from the Emma Stone episode earlier this season, in which Bill played a normal reporter character. I guess that explains why tonight’s sketch is using the same WXPD news station name that was used in the Emma Stone news sketch.
— Bill is just as great as this character as I had remembered.
— Geez, I keep forgetting Paul Brittain is even in the cast. I know he’s still very new at this point, but compared to his fellow three newbies, the poor guy has gotten practically NOTHING to do these past three episodes.
— I love Bill’s Welch responding to a correction from Jason by angrily saying “You son of a bitch!” while lunging at the camera and repeatedly hitting it with his microphone.
— Funny ending with a dead Herb Welch suddenly coming back to life just to continue repeatedly hitting the camera with the microphone because he’s angry at Jason.
STARS: ****


MEGA-MART
Mega-Mart’s 12-minute Black Friday sale is irresponsibly hazardous

— Bobby: “That’s right, Coked-Up Rooster!”
— Strong performance from Bobby in a spokesperson role that I feel like we don’t usually see him in.
— I love the extremely fast-paced and frantic pacing of this. That, combined with the increasingly insane features of this Black Friday sale, is VERY much in the vein of the Kickspit Underground Rock Festival commercials. I wonder if this Black Friday commercial has the same writer(s) as those Kickspit commercials.
— Very fun testimonial from Anne as a hyper, rapidly-speaking customer waiting in line.
STARS: ****½


CAMEL TAME
Camel Tame overcompensates while camouflaging female genital definition

— Amusing snarky comment from Bill about Kristen’s camel toe during her office presentation.
— Some decent cheap laughs from the various visuals of proud women’s bulky Camel Tame bulge, and how it’s treated as totally normal by bystanders.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You’ve Got The Love”


HORSE PLAY
star-laden soundtrack upstages animated equine baseball movie

— A variation of the Bunny Business sketch from the preceding season’s Taylor Swift episode.
— This even starts the exact same as the Bunny Business sketch, with Fred’s Randy Newman as the first singer.
— Kristen does another solid impression of a 90s singer, this time Dolores O’Riordan.
— Yet another fun performance from Anne tonight, even if I’ve seen better Alanis Morissette impressions elsewhere.
— Very funny take on Robert Smith from Andy.
— The “Buck You” song from Kenan’s Cee Lo Green has kinda stuck in my memory over the years.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, and a nice rebound after the rough episode that preceded this. A few segments tonight stood out as strong, and there were no segments I disliked, aside from a bad Fred Armisen showcase (The Essentials with Robert Osborne). For the second time, Anne Hathaway was a great and likable host, not just with her sketch performances, but even the littlest things, from her aforementioned emotional, overjoyed demeanor after she made her entrance in the monologue to her endearing “Let’s do it all over again!” declaration during the goodnights.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mega-Mart
Transportation Security Administration
WXPD News New York
The Miley Cyrus Show
Royal Engagement
Horse Play
The Rachel Maddow Show
Weekend Update
Camel Tame
Monologue
Free Thanksgiving Dinner
The Essentials with Robert Osborne


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Scarlett Johansson)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Robert DeNiro

Posted on

October 4, 2008 – Anne Hathaway / The Killers (S34 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Gwen Ifill (Queen Latifah) & debaters Sarah Palin (TIF) & Joe Biden (JAS)

— Good to see Queen Latifah reprising the role of Gwen Ifill, which she previously played in a Dick Cheney/John Edwards vice presidential debate sketch when she last hosted SNL in 2004, a sketch that, fittingly enough, ended with Latifah’s Ifill saying “I’m going back over to Public Television with Jim Lehrer where you won’t be seeing me for another four years.” Sadly, the only reason Latifah is reprising her Gwen Ifill role four years later is seemingly because of SNL’s lack of a black female cast member this season. (Sure, Maya Rudolph was a cast member when Latifah last played Ifill in 2004, but I assume the reason SNL gave the Ifill role to Latifah instead of Maya that night is not only because they wanted to work the host into the sketch, but because SNL couldn’t pass up the coincidence that a black woman happened to be hosting their show the same week they needed someone to play Ifill. Plus, Latifah has more of a resemblance to Ifill than Maya does.) IIRC, this decision to bring Latifah in a cameo tonight to play Ifill ended up really opening the media’s eyes to SNL’s lack of a black female cast member at the time (these people in the media also seemed to be completely unaware that Latifah had actually played Ifill before), leading to a few (or maybe just one, I can’t remember) articles criticizing SNL for their lack of diversity in the cast. A month later when Michelle Obama becomes First Lady-elect, the number of these articles on SNL’s lack of diversity would increase, as these article authors felt it was important for SNL to have a black female cast member to play Michelle. How does SNL answer these criticisms? By announcing the hiring of two white female cast members a week later (Michaela Watkins and Abby Elliott). Make of that what you will, folks. Nah, I don’t REALLY think SNL’s hirings of Michaela and Abby was an intentional “Fuck you” to the media. (Though if it was, it’s kinda amusing in hindsight what a huge contrast that is to how SNL would take similar media criticisms five years later in 2013, when SNL would cave in and famously hold mid-season auditions for a black female cast member.) Oh, and yes, I’m aware Michaela and Abby’s hirings probably had more to do with Amy’s pending departure. By why hire TWO women to replace Amy when you already had the still-pretty-new Casey Wilson, still struggling for airtime? I’ve always looked at the double-hiring of Michaela and Abby as a sign of Lorne having a huge and unearned lack of confidence in Casey as a performer. Wow, I am getting more and more off-topic in this long-winded tangent of mine.
— Funny bit with an “unbiased” Latifah-as-Ifill plugging her Obama book.
— As usual, Tina’s Sarah Palin is killing here. And, while seemingly not as well-remembered or quoted among viewers as the Palin portions of this sketch, Jason’s Biden is holding his own here and has a good share of strong lines.
— Some really good facial reactions from Latifah’s Ifill after some of Tina-as-Palin’s inane spiels.
— Tina’s Palin: “I believe marriage should be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers…”
— There’s the famous “Oh, are we not doing the talent portion?” part with a flute-holding Tina-as-Palin. This is the moment that, for me, officially propels this already excellent debate sketch to an all-out classic.
— I love the “Joe Biden…is better…than THAT” part of Jason-as-Biden’s closing statements.
— Great ending line from Tina’s Palin: “And for those Joe Six-Packs at home playin’ a drinking game: maverick.”
— Overall, not only yet another SNL Palin cold opening that knocked it out of the park, but this is one of my personal favorite debate sketches SNL has ever done.
STARS: *****


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Back when this originally aired, I remember being surprised that Anne Hathaway was willing to make light of the scandal she had recently been in in regards to a boyfriend of hers. In hindsight, her being willing to do that is ALREADY a good sign of what a great sport she’s going to be as an SNL host.
— The Nigerian prince premise isn’t all that great, but Anne’s delivery and execution of the material is making it charming enough.
STARS: ***


THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
Dooneese (KRW) is sisterly quartet’s freak

— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Back when this originally aired, I recall not caring for this debut, and dismissing it as another example of how the “wacky Kristen Wiig character” trope was going more and more downhill. I would end up disliking this sketch even more when it would become recurring. I’ll try to keep an open mind in my current viewing of this sketch.
— An impressively pretty fast costume change for Anne, given the fact that this sketch is appearing immediately after the monologue, with no break in between.
— The audience actually applauds when Amy’s non-comedic character introduces herself, which I guess shows how popular of a veteran Amy is by this late stage of her SNL tenure. I feel bad for Casey receiving absolute silence from the audience when she follows Amy’s intro with her own intro.
— A funny reveal of what the last sister, Dooneese, looks like.
— Pretty fun performance from Kristen, and this sketch is being executed pretty well.
— I remember an online SNL fan having a theory that the name of Kristen’s Dooneese character was actually supposed to be a certain other, much more normal-sounding name (I forget the name), but Dooneese ended up becoming her regular name because of a line flub Anne Hathaway made in this sketch when saying Kristen’s character’s name while angrily yelling at her. I don’t agree with this theory, because I haven’t noticed any inconsistency or flubbing of Kristen’s character’s name during my current viewing of this sketch. Kristen introduced herself as Dooneese right from when she was first shown in this sketch, and Anne didn’t seem to mess up on the name of Kristen’s character at all during the aforementioned part with her angrily yelling at Dooneese. (And yes, I’m watching the live version of this episode, not the rerun, though I don’t recall any changes being made to the rerun version of this sketch.)
— Overall, not a bad debut at all. I felt that this flowed much better than some of the other wacky Kristen Wiig sketches that have aired around this time (late season 33, early season 34). I’m glad I was able to come around on this inaugural appearance of Dooneese’s. This definitely now works for me as a one-off sketch. As a recurring character, however? Mm. I’ll still try to keep an open mind like I did in tonight’s installment, but if the subsequent Dooneese appearances are as repetitive and redundant as I remember, don’t expect glowing reviews from me.
STARS: ***½


BAILOUT PRESS CONFERENCE
Nancy Pelosi’s (KRW) financial sympathy cases don’t deserve a bailout

— Jason makes his first George W. Bush appearance in over a year. This also ends up being the final appearance his Bush makes during Bush’s presidency. (He has just one remaining appearance after that, long after Bush’s presidency, in a Weekend Update commentary he does with then-cast member Jay Pharoah as Kanye West.)
— Funny Barney Frank voice from Fred.
— I almost thought Kristen’s Nancy Pelosi introduced Bobby’s character under the name Michael McKean, interestingly enough. Turns out his character is named Michael McCune.
— I’m enjoying the faces Jason’s Bush is seen making in the background during other people’s speeches.
— Much like the New York Times sketch from the James Franco episode earlier this season, this appears to be a rather long, mostly-full-cast (I think Andy is the only non-Seth cast member missing from this), Jim Downey-written political sketch. And much like the New York Times sketch, this is a rare example of me liking that type of rather long, mostly-full-cast, Jim Downey-written political sketch from this era.
— Amy gets another big audience reaction with her mere walk-on, though she did do something funny this time to earn the big reaction.
— Darrell and Casey is SUCH an odd pairing.
— Speaking of Darrell and Casey, their segment in this sketch would end up causing controversy. The couple they’re playing, Herbert and Marion Sandler, is actually a real-life couple, and during this portrayal of them by Darrell and Casey, a graphic of the names Herbert and Marion Sandler is displayed on the bottom of the screen with a subtitle saying “people who should be shot”. The real Herbert and Marion Sandler ended up taking huge offense to the “people who should be shot” bit, and, IIRC, threatened legal action against SNL and/or NBC. SNL was forced to remove Darrell and Casey’s entire segment from all reruns of this sketch, in a VERY glaring edit. This results in Darrell and Casey being seen standing with the other characters in the background throughout this entire sketch, but never getting their own segment to speak in, unlike the other characters they were standing in the background with, rendering Darrell and Casey’s presence in this sketch completely pointless.
— I love Will’s voice as George Soros, and he has some really funny lines here.
STARS: ***½


BOYS NIGHT OUT
music helps (BOM) & (host) make a connection on the dance floor of a club

— I’m liking this dance sequence with Bobby and Anna, even if there are no jokes within it. This dance sequence is also a pretty fun showcase for newbie Bobby.
— Now we get an actual joke, with Bill, Fred, and Kenan’s slow-motion cheering-on of Bobby being walked past by Andy in normal motion, and him briefly looking back at them with a puzzled look. Funny bit.
— Overall, kind of an odd sketch, mainly in how few and far in-between the jokes were, and how, at first glance, this sketch almost comes off a tad pointless, but I enjoyed it. Not sure if this can be considered a slice-of-life sketch, but I liked the realism in certain portions of it, especially Bobby and Anne’s conversation with each other after their dance sequence.
STARS: ***


EXTREME ACTIVITIES COMPETITION
WLF referees Extreme Activities Competition pitting ANS against KRW

— Ooh, you can already tell right from the beginning that this is going to be a lot of fun.
— The format of this feels kinda like it’s intended to be in the tradition of the Andy Popping Into Frame and People Getting Punched Just Before Eating shorts (both of which I love). The only thing missing from tonight’s short is a continuation of the story arc in which there’s some kind of rivalry/friction between Andy and Will, one of the best aspects of the Popping Into Frame and People Getting Punched shorts.
— This is such a blast so far.
— I particularly love the “Become Jane” bit involving Anne, a nod to her role in the movie Becoming Jane.
— I just now realized how rare it feels seeing Kristen star in a Lonely Island Digital Short. And seeing how fun she is here, it makes me wish she did stuff like this with the Lonely Island a lot more often during her SNL tenure.
— Strong ending regarding Will’s referee character.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Human”


WEEKEND UPDATE
WLF intends to document every bailout package yea & nay vote via song

— Seth’s joke about O.J. Simpson being found guilty for “armed robbery, assault, and kidnapping, but really murder” has stuck with me over the years. It’s definitely the type of O.J. joke Norm Macdonald would’ve done back in the day. Even the structuring and wording of the joke feels Norm-esque.
— Will being introduced under the name Orville Willis Forte IV when appearing as himself here seems to confuse some SNL fans, who assume Will was randomly using a fake name here. Orville Willis Forte is actually Will’s real, full name. I’m not sure if the “IV” at the end of the name is also real, or if he just added it for comedic effect in this Update commentary to make his naturally old-timey, fancy-sounding name sound even more old-timey and fancy. Can anyone confirm if his name really does end with an “IV”? Thanks in advance.
— Yes, a traditional Will Forte Update song! I just now realized we didn’t get any at all in season 33.
— A fun and ridiculously-repetitive yea/nay song from Will.
— I love Will’s passive-aggressiveness in regards to Amy interrupting his song.
— A good laugh from Will actually restarting his ridiculously long song from the beginning.
— I think that’s then-writer Colin Jost (sporting long hair AND some stubble) making YET ANOTHER appearance in a comical Update photo, this time in the ostriches photo (the fifth-to-last above screencap for this Weekend Update).
— I love the bit right now with Amy constantly re-telling the “world’s heaviest man gets married” joke, with a different punchline each time. This bit with telling the same joke multiple times with a different punchline would end up being an occasional recurring gag that Amy and Seth, or just Seth alone, would do in some future Updates. I think even Cecily Strong does it at one point when she’s Seth’s co-anchor during Seth’s final season.
— Great fake-out with Seth initially having a disapproving reaction to Amy doing various punchlines to the “world’s heaviest man gets married” joke, only to end up doing one himself.
— Overall, I feel this was Seth and Amy’s strongest Update in a long time.
STARS: ****


SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS
Mary Poppins (host) is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious disease vector

— Fitting casting of Anne in this role, given the connection Anne has to Julie Andrews.
— A solid dark turn with Anne-as-Mary-Poppins’ explanation of what supercalifragilisticexpialidocious means.
— I love Bill innocently saying “Must be your cooking, Mary Poppins” in regards to his stomachache. I also love Anne-as-Poppins’ guilty facial reaction to that line.
— Another great turn, with Will’s Constable Jones also having contracted the disease from Mary Poppins.
— I always find Bobby and Casey to be a fun pair whenever they’re teamed together in a sketch.
STARS: ****


SIOUX CITY NEWS 3
gaffe-prone Sioux City TV news team is number one in YouTube viral videos

— Coincidentally, this sketch about news bloopers opens with a REAL blooper, with the screen accidentally freezing on Jason’s pre-taped intro shot for an absurdly long time while he’s speaking live.
— A fun concept of this sketch, and the execution is good. It’s even more fun to guess which real-life famous news blooper each scene is seemingly spoofing. The one that’s easiest to guess is the one with Bobby panicking and falling on the floor when the lizard (or iguana) jumps onto his suit. The real-life version of that scene is a very famous and frequently-seen YouTube clip.
— Amy’s scene didn’t work for me, but it was brief enough to not negatively affect this otherwise solid sketch.
— I remember someone in an online live discussion thread for this episode back in 2008 speculating that Will vomiting during the group shot at the end may not have been a spoof of a real news blooper, but rather a spoof of a real photo of a children’s hockey team posing together in a group shot. One of the little boys in that photo started vomiting right as the photo was snapped.
STARS: ****


MARK WAHLBERG TALKS TO ANIMALS
Mark Wahlberg (ANS) talks to a dog, a donkey, a chicken, a goat

— Oh, here’s an absolute classic. I had completely forgotten until now that this sketch comes from this episode.
— Such a priceless random concept, made even funnier by Andy executing it with a hilarious performance as Mark Wahlberg.
— Andy’s Wahlberg to a donkey: “You eat apples, right? I produce Entourage.”
— I literally cannot stop laughing during this sketch.
— Andy’s Wahlberg throughout this sketch: “Say hi to your mutha for me, alright?”
— Overall, an absolutely perfect sketch.
— This sketch would famously end up pissing off the real Mark Wahlberg, who would publicly complain about it (and, in the process, say the usual cliched “SNL hasn’t been funny in years” criticisms, and, at one point, even imply the then-current SNL cast is a group of no-names, by saying “I don’t even know who’s on the show anymore”), which somehow leads to SNL bringing him on in a cameo in the next live episode, with him attempting to prove he’s a good sport after all. Some people online back at this time in 2008 speculated that this whole thing with Wahlberg publicly complaining about SNL’s Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals sketch was a publicity stunt devised by SNL themselves, and that Wahlberg’s “complaints” was his and SNL’s stealth way of setting up the cameo spot that SNL had secretly pre-arranged for him to make. Honestly, I don’t have a hard time believing that theory. Walhberg doesn’t seem thin-skinned enough to be offended by such a silly, harmless sketch, but then again, I admittedly don’t know much about Wahlberg’s real-life personality.
STARS: *****


I’M NOT GAY
(JAS) pretended to be gay for five years in order to be (host)’s roommate

— Interesting reveal that Anne’s gay roommate of several years was actually just pretending to be gay.
— Anne, on how convinced she was that Jason was gay: “But you cut my hair!” Jason: “Yeeaaahhh, I got REALLY lucky with that one!”
— Hilarious bit about Jason having made up a fake Wikipedia page about the non-existent disorder “boner-plasia”, in an attempt to fool Anne in regards to why he would always get erections whenever he and Anne would dance together.
— When Anne tells Jason she previously walked in on him having sex with men multiple times, I love Jason bluntly responding “Yeah, you gotta sell it! You gotta sell it!”
— After also being “outed” as straight, a depressed Bill gets a great laugh from the audience (and me) with his slow heterosexual strut as he’s making his exit.
— We get a display of Jason’s natural singing talent. He has a fantastic singing voice, a fact that I often forget.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Spaceman”


THE LESS PROVOCATIVE SONGS OF KATY PERRY
Katy Perry’s (CAW) less provocative songs lack girl-kissing scandal

— A rare solo lead role for Casey. This sketch was actually cut after dress rehearsal from almost EVERY prior episode this season, IIRC. Reminds me of the story of how Jay Mohr had to endure his Rock & Roll Real Estate Agent sketch getting cut from multiple consecutive episodes before finally making it on the air. I wonder if, much like Jay when that sketch finally aired, Casey is just plain tired and frustrated by this point from performing this Katy Perry sketch so many consecutive weeks.
— In hindsight, this sketch serves as an interesting snapshot of a time where Katy Perry was known only for the song “I Kissed A Girl”, and how a lot of people back then (including myself, I admit) incorrectly assumed she had “one-hit wonder” written all over her.
— I like Casey’s Katy Perry just helplessly shrugging at the camera after her very brief “I Saw A Boat” song.
— I love the review from Rolling Stone that simply states “No.”
— An overall decent sketch, but not the standout great sketch that Casey desperately needs by this point. (I still don’t understand how that fantastic paraplegic stripper sketch from near the end of the preceding season didn’t end up leading to a big break for Casey.)
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— The first strong episode of this season. (By the way, given this season’s reputation among many SNL fans for being very solid, I’ve been surprised to see what a slow start it’s had before tonight’s episode.) Not only did every single segment tonight work for me, but I found a lot of them to be particularly strong, especially the impressive streak of sketches rated 4-5 stars in the post-Weekend Update half. Even Update itself got a 4-star rating, too. In fact, every rated segment from the Digital Short to the I’m Not Gay sketch received a 4-5-star rating. That’s GOTTA be one of the longest uninterrupted streaks of segments receiving a 4-5-star rating in a review of mine.
— Anne Hathaway was a great first-time host, being funny, likable, charming, and fitting into the show really well. Even during her goodnights speech, her expressed genuine appreciation and joy for the experience SNL gave her was heartwarming. I look forward to her subsequent hosting stints.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Anna Faris)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Josh Brolin