Tag: Bruno Mars

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October 15, 2016 – Emily Blunt / Bruno Mars (S42 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) & Hillary Clinton (KAM) debate a la town hall

— Cecily seems to be attempting much more of an actual Martha Raddatz impression than Kate did when she previously played this role in a debate sketch during the election four years prior to this.
— Pretty fun entrance from Kate’s Hillary Clinton and Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump.
— Alex’s Anderson Cooper: “Do you feel you’re modeling appropriate or positive behavior for today’s youth?” Alec’s Trump: “(bluntly and quickly) No. Next.”
— I like Kate-as-Hillary’s fake-out teary reaction to Alec’s Trump bringing out the mistresses of her husband Bill.
— A decent spoof of the much-talked-about moment from the real debate where Trump creepily loomed behind Hillary while she was speaking at one point.
— Some funny lines from Alec’s Trump, as usual in these early appearances of his.
— Ugh, the Ken Bone part. I never got people’s fascination with this guy at the time, and not even SNL’s spoof here of the media’s glorification of him is doing much for me. Bobby is at least fun in the role, though.
— Alex’s portrayal of Anderson Cooper is coming off much better than Jon Rudnitsky’s infamous take from a year prior, despite Alex flubbing one line early on and pausing a long time before delivering another.
— As usual when looking back at this election season of SNL, I have to ignore a lot of the poorly-aged “Hillary has already won this election” assumptions to enjoy this.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host & cast members implore audience to “Get Happy” with cookies & puppies

— An okay idea for a feel-good monologue during rough times. There’s certainly an air of corniness and sappiness here (even if that’s intentional), but it’s countered by my goodwill towards the good-natured intentions, as well the occasional humor thrown in.
— Oddly, Emily Blunt called Pete “Mikey” just now. I think I recall hearing that Melissa McCarthy makes a similar gaffe in her monologue later this same season, where she calls Mikey “Kyle” or something like that (I can’t remember the exact detail), but I myself have no memory of seeing that gaffe of hers.
STARS: ***


ESCORTS
in a hotel room, escorts (host) & (LEJ) lay out their unsexy ground rules

— Yikes. When the characters sit down after Emily and Leslie’s entrance, Alex completely blanked on his line, leading to a few seconds of awkward dead air, and then Emily, the freakin’ HOST, had to say Alex’s line for him to keep the sketch moving, and then, in an apparent ad-lib, she even tells Alex in character to relax. Wow. I like Alex a lot as a cast member, but between his occasional flubbiness in this episode’s cold opening and now this, Alex is definitely showing some “new cast member greenness” signs in this episode. That’s actually interesting to look at in hindsight, knowing how very good he would go on to be on SNL (even if SNL themselves don’t seem to be fully aware of that, from what I hear about how underutilized he’s been in the more current seasons). I’m not sure, but I think the botched portion of this Escorts sketch would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns and the online version of this sketch, but I might be wrong.
— A delayed camera cut kinda ruined Emily’s tongue-sticking-out gag.
— A good laugh from Leslie sultrily telling Mikey “I’m gonna rag-doll you, man.” I also like how, in hindsight, that part feels like a precursor to the married couple Leslie and Mikey would play on Update a year or so later.
— Very funny reveal from Leslie that Stewie from Family Guy is the only voice she can do during role-playing.
— This sketch isn’t bad so far, but something about the pacing of it feels a bit sluggish, making this sketch feel a little out of place in the post-monologue lead-off spot.
— Heh, Emily can’t ever seem to say that “Oopsy-doopsy, I muffed it up again!” line without cracking up.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***


MELANIANADE
Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) women channel Beyonce in “Melanianade”

— When this originally aired, I thought for sure that this spoof of Beyonce’s Lemonade was written by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, especially since they previously wrote the Beyonce-themed Beygency and The Day Beyonce Turned Black pre-tapes. However, it would end up being revealed that James Anderson and Kent Sublette wrote this, which shocked me, as they didn’t usually attempt stuff like this.
— A very well-filmed, well-performed, and catchy-sounding Lemonade spoof, even if I’ve never seen the actual Lemonade video. However, if this is intended to make me laugh, it ain’t working much so far. Also not helping is the fact that, much like the “A Day Off with Kellyanne Conway” piece from the preceding episode, I can’t get behind SNL’s misguided attempt to make people like Ivanka Trump and Kellyanne come off as victims, and make us root for and feel sympathy for them. I could at least look past that TO AN EXTENT in the aforementioned “A Day Off with Kellyanne Conway” piece, because the humor itself in that was solid, but that isn’t the case in this Melanianade short.
— Okay, the whole bit right now with Beck’s Mike Pence is at least funny.
— Is it wrong that I’m starting to feel that Vanessa looks a little out of place in some sketches this season? Not to the same extent that Bobby seems a little out of place this season, and this certainly doesn’t mean that I’m knocking Vanessa’s (nor Bobby’s) performances this season (and I’m well aware that some of Vanessa’s all-time greatest moments are still to come this season), but I’ve sometimes been having a surprised “Oh, that’s right, she’s still on the show” reaction when seeing her in some segments in my rewatch of this season. Part of that could be because of the then-recent loss of her fellow “Class of 2010” members Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah.
STARS: **


SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
short film festival attendee (VAB) is only person not in cast or crew

— I sometimes get this film festival sketch confused with the one from the season 44 Seth Meyers-hosted episode, even though I can’t remember the premise of that one.
— Hilarious reveal of the cast and crew of the featured short film being the ENTIRE audience, minus Vanessa.
— I love Vanessa’s smiley awkwardness when being the only person to have to ask the cast and crew all the questions. She’s always perfect for this type of role.
— Solid running bit with the cast and crew, one-by-one, having to pass the microphone down the line to the person who’s about to speak.
— Very funny how Vanessa has now gotten to the point where she asks her next question without even getting up, and instead just grabs the microphone stand over to her while she remains seated.
— During the sequence with all the cast and crew, one-by-one, stating that their next project is nothing, I got a laugh from Kate’s announcement being that she’s doing some grocery shopping later tonight.
— Great surprise reveal at the end that Emily was playing herself in this sketch all along.
STARS: ****


CHONK
women’s clothing store Chonk sends mixed messages about female body image

— Surprisingly, this is the first traditional fake ad all season.
— Yet another commercial featuring excellent voice-over work from Cecily. The different comical voices she delivers the word “CHONK!” in throughout this commercial are a riot.
— I really like Sasheer’s puzzled and offended delivery of “Unique?!?” in response to the voice-over’s line about “your unique body”.
— The extremely brief “Lil Chonk” part that Aidy angrily puts a stop to is priceless.
— A hilarious simplistic part with the “Normal Clothes” section for men.
— Overall, it was well worth the somewhat long wait for SNL’s first fake ad of the season, as I found this ad to be perfect.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “24K Magic”

— One of the absolute most uniquely-structured and fun musical performances in recent years, if not ever.


WEEKEND UPDATE
Olya Povlatsky considers impact of the election on USA-Russia relations

Laura Parsons is aware of the election’s motif of mistreatment of women

— I’ve noticed that one of the changes on Update this season is that neither Colin nor Michael say the usual “Here are tonight’s top stories” during their sign-on, probably because of the new style Update has adopted since the last third of the preceding season, where the first few minutes of every Update feature Colin and Michael taking turns doing long-form rants about one specific topic (usually about Trump). That “long-form rants about one topic” approach is just one of the things that refreshingly separates this Update era from most of the others, and is the style that they should’ve had Colin Quinn regularly do his ENTIRE Updates in back in the day, because, as likable as he always was, his delivery was not suited for the usual Update style of “simple set-up and punchline, move on to the next news story, lather-rinse-repeat”.
— This ends up being Olya Povlatsky’s final appearance on Update, though she has one more appearance in general remaining after this episode, in a Vladmir Putin cold opening later this season.
— I got a huge laugh from Kate’s Olya demonstrating the bizarre, indescribable noise she makes when she wakes up.
— While I’m definitely still enjoying this Olya Povlatsky commentary, I’m starting to think that they chose the right time to retire her from Update, because her routine is feeling quite been-there-done-that tonight.
— Yikes, a huge technical error with the photo graphic next to Colin while he’s doing the Nobel Prize joke. After a few seconds of this technical gaffe, the people in the control room just give up and remove the graphic, leaving no photo next to Colin while he’s still telling the joke (the second-to-last above screencap for this Update).
— Vanessa’s prominence in tonight’s episode is making her feel less out-of-place to me.
— The usual big laughs from Vanessa’s Laura Parsons so far, especially her line about how, in regards to the Donald Trump/Access Hollywood scandal, Billy Bush “might get 10 million dollars…..FROM THIS NETWORK!”
— A hilarious ending to Laura Parsons commentary, with the payoff of her clown story.
STARS: ****


DRIVE-THRU WINDOW
a long limo containing eccentric artists visits a Burger King drive-thru

— When this originally aired, I remember saying that this sketch was basically just the whole cast playing Kevin Roberts-like characters, particularly Mikey, who’s hair and costume here is quite Kevin Roberts-esque. Little did I know at the time that the following week’s episode would have a sketch that would go on to be the most well-known Kevin Roberts-type sketch ever, a certain Halloween-themed one.
— Also when this originally aired, I honestly thought Emily was Kate, until Kate appeared later in this sketch, confusing the hell out of me.
— Speaking of Emily, something about the look of her character seems very familiar, as if SNL previously used that same wig, glasses, and clothing for another character, perhaps one played by Amy Poehler or Kristen Wiig. Can’t put my finger on which character I’m thinking of, though. I don’t think it’s Kristen’s (dreadful) Trina character (a.k.a. the oddball lady who always says “Thomaaaaas!”), though I do see the physical similarities.
— Kenan’s mere look when his window rolled down cracked me up so much. Pete is clearly tickled by it, too.
— Like Kenan, Bobby is also very funny with his characterization, even if this feels like a role that he’s played multiple times before. (Another sign that he’s on his way out.)
— I like Kate and Cecily’s creepy characters oddly requesting “4 foods and a nibble.”
— Something about Beck’s delivery and pronunciation of “Peace!” (sounding kinda like “Payce!”) at the end of his scene tickled me so much.
— The writing of this sketch isn’t up to much, but the performances are making this fun for me.
STARS: ***½


THE SINK
host voices a self-aware & self-critical bathroom fixture

— A very unique use of a host, and this particular instance is very fitting for Emily Blunt.
— I’m loving the tone of this, and the humor is perfect.
— Hilarious interruption with the sink suddenly being used by someone when it was in the middle of its speech to us.
—  A huge laugh from the visual of the comically brief ending credit scroll (the last above screencap).
— Overall, this was oddly brilliant. Yet another creative, very funny, and extremely strong Julio Torres-written pre-tape.
STARS: *****


HONDA ROBOTICS
Honda smartbots (MID) & (host) malfunction while serving hors d’oeuvres

— SNL continues to get mileage out of the vocal modifier that they’ve suddenly been using a lot ever since the homestretch of the preceding season. And as usual, there’s some minor glitches with the vocal modifier, where it briefly stops working and the performer’s natural voice is temporarily heard.
— This era seems to have a lot of robot sketches. The airplane stewardesses one with Scarlett Johansson and Vanessa, the “3D printed man” one with Matthew McConaughey, a sketch from the Casey Affleck episode later this season about stereotypically gay robots that…oof, let’s just say I’m gonna have things to say about THAT sketch, if it’s as bad as I remember.
— Funny back-and-forths between Emily and Kate, and at this point of Kate’s tenure, it’s rare seeing a host make HER crack up, when it’s usually the other way around (e.g. Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie).
— Solid comical acting from Mikey when his robot character is malfunctioning.
— Emily’s vocal-modified delivery of lines like “mini, ooey-gooey quesadilla” is cracking me up.
STARS: ***½


MELANIA MOMENTS
Melania Trump (CES) yearns for The Prince & The Pauper shot

— Yet another strong and very Deep Thoughts-esque Melania Moments piece.
— I just now noticed that even Beck’s tender voice-over in these Melania Moments pieces sounds rather identical to Jack Handey’s voice in the aforementioned Deep Thoughts.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Chunky”


THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF
chavs (host) & (CES) wanted Big Brother gig

— Pretty funny dignified British accents from the supporting performers in this.
— Another “Cecily does an accent” sketch, which would’ve felt right at home in season 39, which felt rampant with those sketches.
— Very accurate crude British accents from Emily and Cecily, though perhaps TOO accurate, as my American ears are having a hard time understanding a lot of the words and British terms they’re saying. I’m still getting some chuckles from their performances and what little I can understand them saying, but I feel like I’m not enjoying this sketch as much as I should be.
STARS: **½


HAMSTERS
(KYM)’s hamsters (BEB), (KAM), (ALM), (host) ape Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

— An interesting oddball concept.
— Something about the tone of this sketch makes me wonder if Julio Torres wrote or co-wrote this. If so, man, for such a new writer, he’s been killing it this season. I feel like it’s rare in recent seasons like this for a new writer to be so prolific.
— Kate and (especially) Beck’s comically-tense acting is solid.
— A laugh from Emily’s line about a hamster being buried in a New Balance shoebox.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode. After a nothing-too-special first 20 or so minutes, this episode seemed to take off starting with the Short Film Festival sketch.


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

   


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
CHONK
The Sink
Melania Moments
Short Film Festival
Weekend Update
Hamsters
The Presidential Debate
Honda Robotics
Drive-Thru Window
Escorts
Monologue
The Great British Bake Off
Melanianade


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
SNL hosting legend Tom Hanks, in his second consecutive hosting stint that has followed a 10-year gap

Posted on

November 22, 2014 – Cameron Diaz / Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (S40 E7)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK!
Executive Order (BOM) creates policy, not Bill (KET)

— A refreshing change of pace for the setting of a political cold opening.
— Kenan singing the legendary “I’m just a bill” song from Schoolhouse Rock is giving me a nice blast of childhood nostalgia.
— A good laugh from the Bill getting casually shoved down the stairs by Jay’s President Obama.
— A very funny abrupt, unexciting end to the intro song from the Executive Order, with his “and I pretty much just happen…” lyric.
— I love the little bit with the Executive Order reading himself from the inside after being shocked to hear about the immigration law.
— The constant repetition of the Bill being shoved down the stairs is working for me, mainly due to Kenan’s voice-overs during the falling-down-the-stairs animation. I especially like him saying “So many steps! So! Many! Steps!”
— Everybody’s timing oddly seemed a little off at the end right before they all said LFNY in unison.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host fields dumb queries from audience members (KYM), (VAB), (LEJ), (BEB)

— Yeesh, even for a questions-from-the-audience monologue, the atmosphere of this feels strangely DEAD. Something about this is way off and flat.
— Aidy gets one of the very few laughs from me, with her “Let’s just say…box checked” comment regarding Tony Danza being her “celebrity sex exception”. However, it’s starting to feel like SNL’s going to the “Aidy Bryant says something sexual-related in a sly, smug manner” well kinda often around this time.
STARS: *½


BACK HOME BALLERS
home for Thanksgiving, women enjoy parents’ largesse

— A direct sequel to the beloved Twin Bed music video from the preceding season.
— I’m a minute-and-a-half into this so far, and, while Lil’ Baby Aidy and the rest of the girls are performing this well, I’m not finding myself laughing much at the actual humor of this.
— I do like the mid-song interlude right now, with the “What’s going on with you?” conversation between Aidy and our old friend Jean.
— Kate’s ridiculously long, complicated WIFI password is pretty funny.
— Leslie steals yet another segment on SNL, as I am loving her rap about bowls, which is easily what I feel is the best part of this somewhat underwhelming short.
— Overall, some highlights, but as a whole, this short was a little meh for me. I’ve always felt this short was overrated, and doesn’t come remotely close to touching the original Twin Bed.
STARS: **½


ANNIE
new orphan Annie (LEJ) is a large 43-year-old black woman

— Vanessa is well-cast as the traditional Annie.
— I’ve never seen anyone do a Jamie Foxx impression outside of this sketch, but Jay is unsurprisingly doing a very solid job at it. However, was it necessary to have him enter this sketch saying “I’m Jamie Foxx…I mean, Daddy Warbucks”? What was the point of that gag?
— A good laugh from the initial visual of Leslie as Black Annie.
— Leslie’s carrying this sketch pretty well, though there’s a bit of a dead feel to certain parts of this sketch, much like the monologue.
— Solid ending.
STARS: ***


NEST-SPRESSO
the Nest-Spresso machine instantly incubates chicks for urban farmers

— A pretty good laugh from the awkward way Taran and Kate have to climb over the fence to get to Vanessa’s house.
— When asked how her Nest-Spresso machine works, I love Vanessa bluntly responding, with a smile, “I don’t know that part.”
— An oddly specific look to Taran and Kate’s otherwise-generic characters. Are they modeled after people from a real commercial that this might be spoofing?
— I do kinda like the dark, disturbing part with the Nest-Spresso machine dispensing bones from a baby chick due to Taran operating the machine incorrectly, though I can definitely understand why that would bother some viewers.
— An overall very odd commercial that almost kinda felt like something was missing from it. I remember a lot of SNL reviewers pretty much hating this commercial and slamming it in their reviews (much like how they also hated another oddball Vanessa-Bayer-showcases-a-new-kitchen-device sketch from this season: the Vitamix sketch from the Sarah Silverman episode). However, the off-kilter approach to this Nest-Spresso ad worked decently enough for me.
STARS: ***


THEATER SHOWCASE
high school’s artsy Student Theater Showcase grates on audience members

— The debut of this recurring sketch.
— A lot of laughs all throughout this sketch, from the lousy “deep” social commentary in the scenes being performed within this play.
— Some solid little details within the bad play scenes.
— Kenan: “So…which one’s your daughter?” Vanessa: “I’d rather not say.”
— Meh, Kenan’s unnecessary over-explaining of the oddities in this sketch is feeling awfully Mikey Day-esque (as in, the “incredulous straight man who states the obvious by pointing out all the comedic oddities in a sketch, as if SNL thinks us viewers are too dumb to notice the oddities ourselves” role that Mikey Day plays an awful lot in more recent seasons). Are Mikey and Streeter Seidell the writers of this recurring sketch?
STARS: ****


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Mike Nichols marks his passing


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Uptown Funk”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Angela Merkel (KAM) is agitated following stressful G20 summit experience

Charles Manson (TAK) lied about his past to fiancee Star Burton (CES)

— A memorable line from Michael, in regards to all the then-recent sexual assault allegations made against Bill Cosby: “Hey, Bill Cosby – pull YOUR damn pants up!” I also love Michael saying afterwards, in a satisfied voice, “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
— As usual, Kate’s Angela Merkel is likable and pretty fun. Also as usual, I love that her appearances have a running gag about her crush on President Obama.
— The way (especially her gestures) Kate’s Merkel sang a “Baby Got Back” lyric just now reminds of the way Kate previously sang a lyric from a Beyonce song when playing Ann Romney in an important breakout appearance Kate made early in her SNL tenure.
— I like how the “study conducted on…ya momma” punchline has become a running gag for Michael in these early Updates of his.
— Taran looks hilarious as Charles Manson.
— A decent Taran/Cecily commentary, especially the reveal that Charles Manson’s fiancee thinks Manson’s in jail simply for tax evasion.
STARS: ***


BABY BOSS
angling for a promotion, (KET) has dinner at Mr. Patterson’s house

— I was going to say this is the third and final installment of this recurring sketch, but checking this page on SNL Archives right now, I see that this sketch actually has one more installment remaining after this, in the following season’s Drake episode. Wow, I have absolutely no memory of Baby Boss appearing in that Drake episode. Then again, I remember almost NOTHING from that episode.
— Glad to see them finally change settings for this character. Judging from the screencap in the afore-linked SNL Archives page, the following season’s Drake episode puts Baby Boss back in his old office setting. Can’t say I’m crazy about that decision.
— As usual, Beck’s baby-mannerism routine is reliable for laughs, and he’s always so damn likable as this character, though the novelty of this routine is really wearing off by this point.
STARS: ***


DR. DAVE AND BUGGLES’ ANIMAL HOUR
Dr. Dave (KET)’s animal show had genital trauma inflicted by Buggles

— The opening title sequence and general animal show concept kinda brings the Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet sketch to mind, though the actual main conceit of this particular sketch goes in a completely different direction from the Brian Fellow sketches.
— Mixed feelings on this sketch so far. The conceit of this sketch is awfully juvenile and one-note, but Kenan’s making it work somewhat.
— Very noisy off-camera sounds by the monkey when an SNL stagehand is discreetly removing the monkey from his cage while the camera is on a close-up of Cameron.
STARS: **½


I’M GOING TO FIGHT ANDY RYDELL
tough-talking Chris Fitzpatrick picks a fight with Andy Rydell (BEB)

— Much like the Baby Boss sketch earlier tonight, it’s good to see tonight’s Chris Fitzpatrick short being taken in a completely different direction from the previous short he appeared in on SNL.
— I love the random detail of Kyle’s Fitzpatrick, while speaking into the camera, picking up a traffic cone at one point and acting like it’s a microphone.
— Beck looking very young and much thinner than usual in that photo shown of him here (the fourth and fifth above screencaps for this short).
— I’m enjoying the awkward hallway fight between Kyle and Beck.
— As usual, some pretty good laughs from the random cutaways to stock footage of car crashes and such. I also like how the Beck/Kyle hallway fight scene keeps getting abruptly cut off by extremely random, unrelated slideshows of facts that Kyle’s Fitzpatrick shares about himself.
STARS: ***½


POETRY CLASS
Miss Meadows’ friend (host) recites a sultry poem about the UPS Man

— The third and final appearance of this recurring sketch (feels like I’m saying that quite a bit in this episode review).
— For obvious reasons, we don’t get the usual opening to this recurring sketch this time, where the teacher character played by Mike O’Brien introduces Vanessa’s Miss Meadows.
— So far, tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch is going in the exact same ol’ direction as the previous two installments of this sketch, a direction that only worked for me in the first installment.
— (*groan*) And why is it always Aidy and Kenan who play the first two students who read a poem in front of the class in EVERY SINGLE INSTALLMENT of this recurring sketch? A prime example of how lazy and formulaic a lot of SNL’s recurring sketches in recent eras tend to be.
— I did at least like the part of Aidy’s poem where she proudly says, in regards to her stepfather’s habit of wearing a shirt that looks like a tuxedo, “Uh-oh! He fancy!”
— Okay, at least they’re finally doing something different with the formula, as Cameron’s character is taking this recurring sketch into a new direction.
— A funny racy UPS Man poem from Cameron, and I like the cutaway to Pete’s dainty, delighted reaction to it.
— Another laugh from Pete, with him saying, “No, no, this is awesome. Do one about the FedEx guy!”
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Mystikal [real] perform “Feel Right”


NIGHT MURMURS
Night Murmurs phone chatters (CES), (host), (KAM) have some favors to ask

— A sloppy, baffling moment early on where, while Cameron is still speaking into the camera in her first scene, the screen crossfades to Kate, who then begins speaking into the camera while a now-off-camera Cameron is heard still speaking before abruptly cutting herself off when realizing Kate’s now speaking. What the heck happened there?
— This sketch feels like a failed attempt at random, oddball humor. Aside from one or two chuckles I’ve gotten, the absurd details the ladies are disclosing about a mysterious package are NOT working.
— This sketch is so “off” and sloppy that even a pro like Kate flubbed a laugh line just now, which feels rare for her at this point of her tenure.
STARS: *½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A forgettable episode, with a bit of an “off” feel in a few segments (especially that extremely flat monologue). There was a decent amount of okay segments, but the problem is the episode rarely rose above that level, resulting in an unexciting, unmemorable episode that was just…there. A letdown after the incredible Woody Harrelson episode that preceded this. While SNL’s quality has pretty much always been up and down, something about the slightly “off” feel of tonight’s episode has always made me disagree with some people’s claim that the Harrelson episode is the turning point of this season after a bumpy start. To me, this Cameron Diaz episode showed that the slight shakiness in this first quarter of this season hasn’t exactly left the building quite yet.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Schoolhouse Rock!
Theater Showcase
I’m Going To Fight Andy Rydell
Annie
Weekend Update
Nest-Spresso
Baby Boss
Back Home Ballers
Poetry Class
Dr. Dave and Buggles’ Animal Hour
Night Murmurs
Monologue


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Woody Harrelson)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
James Franco

Posted on

October 20, 2012 – Bruno Mars (S38 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
undecided voters question debating Barack Obama (JAP) & Mitt Romney (JAS)

— Aidy gets her very first big role. However, it’s just a (mostly) non-comedic straight role. I remember, back at this time in 2012, I was antsy and impatient for SNL to finally give Aidy big comedic roles, especially given the fact that her fellow two newbies Cecily and Tim had both gotten their share of big comedic roles by this point.
— Fred’s small appearance here ends up being his ONLY appearance all night, another sign that he’s (thankfully) on his way out this season.
— A pretty funny, if not all that creative, angle in this presidential debate sketch, with the childish over-the-top bickering and threats between Obama and Romney throughout this.
— Hilarious cutaway to Taran as Tagg Romney holding a fist up while angrily saying “Let me at ‘im, dad!”
— For a new and underused cast member, Aidy’s doing a good job with so much wordy dialogue.
— A good laugh from Jay’s Obama saying, in response to how the “plan” he shows Jason’s Romney is his middle finger, “And the best thing about my plan is, you can sit on it AND spin.”
— Aidy actually gets a funny line right now, one she delivers very well, when she says “You’re setting a terrible example for this audience, and these people are VERY impressionable. They are from…Long Island!”
— Not sure if this is intentional or not, but Bobby’s New York-accented citizen sounds JUST LIKE Joe Pesci. In fact, Bobby sounds far more like Pesci here than when he actually played Pesci in that Delaware Fellas sketch from the preceding season’s Daniel Radcliffe episode.
— A standout part right now, when Cecily’s question to the candidates about what they would do to keep dangerous assault weapons off the street is answered with a point-blank “Uhh, nothing” “I would also do nothing.” A biting and eerily prescient moment. In fact, after the Sandy Hook school shooting would happen two months later, this portion of the cold opening would be removed in the ensuing NBC rerun. No idea if it was ever restored.
— TOM HANKS!!!
— Even in just a small part, Tom is his usual fantastic self here.
— Another standout part, where, after Jason’s Romney is proven wrong on his claim that Jay’s Obama took too long to call the attack in Benghazi a terrorist act, Jay’s Obama does an epic mic drop in response.
— Good to see the underused Aidy say LFNY so early into her tenure.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host sings his way from self-doubt to confidence about his SNL gig

— This is the second consecutive musical monologue, but it at least makes sense for Bruno Mars to do one.
— Much like Fred in the cold opening, Kenan’s appearance in this monologue surprisingly ends up being the only time we see him all night.
— A very fun and upbeat turn the song takes after Kenan gives Bruno the confidence he needs. This more upbeat song is also a great use of Bruno’s infectious singing style.
— Overall, Bruno did a solid job here, and this was certainly better than a lot of the usual musical monologues from these late 00s/early 10s years.
STARS: ***½


CHANEL NO. 5
lack of a script explains Brad Pitt’s (TAK) incoherent Chanel No. 5 spot

— 8 years after this aired, I now barely remember the actual Brad Pitt commercial this is spoofing. However, this seems to be the type of spoof you can still “get” even without having seen the source material.
— Taran’s Brad Pitt: “Also, is it just me, or do I look super homeless?”
STARS: ***


HATERS WITH SUNNY TAYLOR TOMPKINS
twerking (BOM) & daughter (host) accuse audience of jealousy

— Right from Bobby’s walk-on as this type of character, I’m getting a bad feeling about this sketch.
— As I’ve mentioned multiple times in the past, Bobby has the ability to make potentially-hacky man-in-drag roles come off entertaining. But ugh at his dialogue in this, even if it is an accurate spoof of things that girls like Bobby’s character say on this type of trashy daytime talk show. Also, was it still considered timely in 2012 to spoof trashy daytime talk shows? It seems like spoofing that went out of style a whole decade prior.
— Bruno is at least fun in his performance, but like Bobby, his actual dialogue is ugh.
— Not even Aidy smashing a chair on Jay did anything for me.
— Oof, what a waste of Tim Robinson.
— Thank god this talk show sketch never ends up becoming recurring like I’m sure it was intended to.
STARS: *½


TACO BELL
Brad Pitt (TAK) extols the merits of Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos

— Pretty funny Taco Bell twist, though it reminds me too much of the twists from those Clint Eastwood ads that Bill did in the preceding season’s Zooey Deschanel episode.
— The sudden silliness in Taran-as-Brad-Pitt’s demeanor after the Taco Bell reveal is pretty fun.
STARS: ***


PANDORA INTERNET RADIO
intern (host) provides vocals after power outage at Pandora headquarters

— An impressively spot-on and funny Billie Joe Armstrong impression from Bruno during the first song he performs in this.
— More great singer impressions from Bruno throughout this sketch.
— The premise of this sketch is increasingly implausible, but I don’t give a damn, as the execution of it is so fun and very infectious.
— I love the Louis Armstrong bit. Even Bruno briefly laughing when starting to do the Armstrong voice was very charming.
— Ohh, hell yeah, now we’re about to get a Michael Jackson impression from Bruno.
— Very funny little gag with all the employees just happening to have a Michael Jackson glove available.
— Man, the energy in this sketch is fantastic. I’m having an absolute blast watching this.
— Great ending.
STARS: ****½


SAD MOUSE
Times Square tourists ignore depressed (host) in rodent suit

— Several big firsts here: our first post-Lonely Island short film on SNL, our first Mike O’Brien short film, and our first Matt & Oz-directed short film.
— I love the opening scene between Bruno and Jason. Fantastic acting there, as well as good subtle laughs.
— An excellent and memorable montage of Bruno in the mouse costume failing to garner up any interest from Times Square tourists, then slowly having a miserable meltdown. Even the music playing in the background is adding perfectly to the scene.
— Such a sweet ending. It honestly nearly brought me to tears.
— A fantastic short film overall, and I love how different this felt for this SNL period up to this point. A great introduction to Mike O’Brien’s refreshing style of films, which will be a treat over these next few seasons.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Locked Out Of Heaven”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Dos & Don’ts- SEM gives debating advice to presidential candidates

most folks won’t want to follow Stefon’s freakish Halloween itinerary

— Yet another new (I think) Update segment from Seth: “Dos And Don’ts”.
— Wow, tonight’s overall “Dos And Don’ts” segment ended up being a huge flop for me. I didn’t get a single laugh during it, and the humor was so corny and bland.
— Stefon in his first appearance of the season.
— I love the little bit with Stefon starting his commentary by telling Seth “Hi, I’m Stefon” while holding his hand out for a handshake, as if they’re meeting each other for the first time.
— A nice change of pace with Stefon walking us through his Halloween routine.
— A particularly hilarious and memorable Stefon moment right now, with him revealing Jewish Dracula’s name is Sidney Applebaum (which results in Bill breaking harder than he probably ever has in any Stefon bit).
— Wow, just now during the Stefon commentary, they actually address the fact that “midget” is an outdated term, which Stefon responds to by humorously replacing the word “midget” with “fun-sized”.
— Yet another great change of pace in tonight’s Stefon commentary, with him telling a scary Halloween story.
STARS: ***


MERRYVILLE HAUNTED CASTLE
(Tom Hanks) & fellow Merryville animatrons spook a haunted house ride

— The third and final appearance of this recurring sketch.
— Is it just me, or, after being utilized a lot in this season’s premiere (to the extent that some online SNL fans at the time assumed SNL would make her the new Kristen Wiig), Vanessa’s been having a quiet season so far? It feels like we haven’t been seeing much of her lately.
— Much like Jim Carrey and Justin Timberlake in previous installments of this sketch, Bruno is great at doing the robotic moves with Taran.
— I love the visual of Taran wearing a Freddy Krueger-esque knife glove.
— Now Tom Hanks is getting involved as one of the Merryville Brother animatrons!
— When this originally aired, I realized that, much like with the Roxbury Guys, both Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks have played a Merryville Brother, on separate occasions. I recall kinda wondering back then if this coincidental trend would continue. Funnily enough, Martin Short, another host who once appeared as a third Roxbury Guy, actually hosts a little later this season, but there’s no Merryville Brothers sketch in that episode.
STARS: ***


FRANKLIN’S DOG CONDOMS
Brad Pitt (TAK) recommends Franklin’s Dog Condoms in lieu of castration

— Meh, I didn’t get much of a laugh from the dog condoms reveal, nor at the repeated “Let your dog keep his balls” slogan.
STARS: **


YETI POINT
at Yeti Point, (JAS) & (VAB) doubt (BIH) was cryptozoologically molested

— Some very funny hammy suspenseful facial expressions into the camera from Bruno.
— A great Doc Brown-esque look of Bill’s character.
— Hmm, not too sure about the conceit this sketch has taken. Bill’s character revealing what the yeti did to him isn’t doing much for me.
— There’s a bit of a Christmas Kangaroo vibe to the encounter we see Bill and the yeti having outside the window, though this one ends up going in a less crude, more comically-romantic direction. Despite that, I still prefer Christmas Kangaroo.
STARS: **


JONATHAN ZIZMOR M.D.
Brad Pitt (TAK) touts the tattoo removal services of Dr. Jonathan Zizmor

— (*sigh*) We’re still doing these?
— Yikes, the tattoo-removal reveal fell COMPLETELY flat for me. It didn’t get a single laugh from me (nor did it get much of one from the audience).
STARS: *


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Stefon introduces host


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Young Girls”


DONKEY PUNCH THE BALLOT!
Under-Underground Donkey Punch The Ballot! festival is vaguely political

— Nasim makes her ONLY appearance of the entire night in a pre-tape that was cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding episode and is being buried in the 10-to-1 slot of tonight’s episode.
— This ends up being the final installment of this recurring piece.
— The usual funny Ass Dan scene, this time involving him reuniting with his twin, Butt Dave. I love the bit with them both dying seconds apart from each other, especially the way the split-screen In Memoriam is done for each of them.
— Holy hell, I had no idea Kate’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg impression debuted this early into Kate’s tenure. It feels so odd reviewing this impression so early in my SNL project, as I heavily associate this impression of Kate’s with the mid-late 2010s years of SNL, specifically the Jost/Che era of Weekend Update. In fact, I think the second appearance Kate’s RBG makes isn’t until well into the Jost/Che era, years after this debut.
— The audience barely reacts to Kate’s RBG appearance here, which feels weird in hindsight, knowing how popular the impression would later go on to be with the audience. Kate also uses a very different voice for RBG here than the one she’d regularly use in later appearances.
— The “Binders Full Of Women” mention is obviously a new addition that wasn’t in the version of this that aired in the preceding episode’s dress rehearsal, as it’s referencing a controversial Mitt Romney statement that was made earlier the week of this episode.
— Bruno’s portion of this was also obviously a new addition to this previously-cut-from-dress piece.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode that I had always remembered being a bit better than it is, due to 1) the fantastic one-two punch of the Pandora Internet Radio sketch and the Sad Mouse film airing back-to-back, and 2) how fun and extremely likable Bruno Mars was as a host. Despite not quite living up to my memory of this episode’s quality, this episode was still enjoyable and had a few great highs.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Sad Mouse
Pandora Internet Radio
Donkey Punch The Ballot!
Second Presidential Debate
Monologue
Merryville Haunted Castle
Weekend Update
Taco Bell
Chanel No. 5
Yeti Point
Franklin’s Dog Condoms
Haters with Sunny Taylor Tompkins
Jonathan Zizmor M.D.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Christina Applegate)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Louis C.K. makes his hosting debut

Posted on

October 9, 2010 – Jane Lynch / Bruno Mars (S36 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ASK GLORIA ALLRED
attention-hungry Gloria Allred (NAP) addresses own awfulness

— Interesting and very rare to see Nasim starring in a solo person-delivering-a-straight-to-camera-message cold opening. Also refreshing and surprising that SNL didn’t give this Gloria Allred lead role to Kristen by default, and instead gave it to a less-popular featured player.
— There’s something quite Cheri Oteri-esque in Nasim’s portrayal of Gloria Allred, especially that cheesy big smile she keeps quickly flashing at the camera after each of her answers.
— The premise of Nasim’s Allred kindly answering rude rhetorical questions asked to her is VERY reminiscent of that great The Referee Pitman Show sketch with John Goodman in season 15.
— Nasim’s solid execution of this material is helping me somewhat look past the aforementioned similarities to the far-superior Referee Pitman sketch.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
the theme song host wrote for Glee puts the focus on Sue Sylvester

— Right out of the gate, Jane Lynch is (unsurprisingly) coming off as such a natural in this monologue.
— (*sigh*) TWO song-and-dance monologues in a row?!? However, at least it makes sense to do one with Jane Lynch. Not that that automatically makes this monologue okay to me, though.
— Other than some funny occasional asides from Jane, I’m not finding myself laughing here. However, Jane’s enthusiasm, energy, and performance style is making this song a little more tolerable to me than other song-and-dance monologues from around this time.
STARS: **½


DAMN IT, MY MOM IS ON FACEBOOK FILTER
filter sanitizes perilous status updates

— A fairly solid and relatable premise.
— Bill’s spokesperson role in this commercial alone is bigger than ANY of the roles he got in the entirety of the preceding episode. (I still can’t believe how extremely underused he and Jason were in that episode, with them both almost being treated as glorified extras.)
— Some good laughs from all the innocent things the Facebook filter changes Andy’s crude photos and writing into.
STARS: ***½


GLEE / GILLY
Sue Sylvester (host) enjoys havoc Gilly wreaks on singing students

— Not sure how I’ll react to this Glee parody, given the fact that I’ve never watched that show. Then again, my lack of familiarity with High School Musical and Twilight didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the fun spoofs SNL did of them in the preceding two seasons’ Zac Efron and Taylor Swift episodes, respectively.
— Much like Bill in the preceding Facebook commercial, Jason’s role in this sketch alone is far bigger than anything he got to do in the preceding episode.
— Kenan In A Dress alert.
— Vanessa’s delivery of “You guys know I had a baby, right?” made me laugh.
— Out of nowhere, this turns into a Gilly sketch. The audience can actually be heard gasping in shock when Gilly shows up here.
— As I said in my review of the last Gilly sketch prior to this, in the preceding season’s Drew Barrymore episode, I’ve surprisingly started to somewhat come around on the dreaded Gilly. That’s been happening to me with a few Kristen Wiig characters and impressions in general that I used to pretty much hate (e.g. Kathie Lee Gifford, Target Lady). Like I joked at one point recently, I almost wonder if this is some form of Stockholm Syndrome.
— It doesn’t feel right seeing Jason doing Will Forte’s “Gillyyyyyyyy” shtick.
— Yeah, just as I was afraid of, a lot of this sketch’s spoofs of specific Glee things aren’t working for me. And sadly, my newfound mild tolerance of Gilly isn’t working for this sketch, either.
— This ends up being the last sketch we see Gilly in until a year-and-a-half later, near the homestretch of Kristen’s SNL tenure, when the character is brought out of her hiatus to get a proper (albeit unofficial) farewell sketch in a Sofia Vergara-hosted episode.
STARS: *½


THE NEW BOYFRIEND TALK SHOW
(ANS) interviews mom’s (host) conquest (JAS)

— A funny entrance from a just-got-out-of-bed Jason as both Jane’s new boyfriend and Andy’s interviewee.
— A good laugh from the unexpected “Are you my new daddy?” question Andy asks Jason, which gets a great understated taken-aback reaction from Jason.
— Fantastic reveal that this is the 100th episode of this New Boyfriend talk show, which gets another great taken-aback reaction from Jason.
— This sketch is getting funnier and funnier with all the priceless shocking reveals that are happening in succession throughout this sketch.
— Jason’s horrified reaction to finding out Jane once had sex with Magic Johnson is hilarious.
— Excellent sketch overall. A forgotten (with me, at least) gem.
STARS: *****


THE COVEN TO ELECT CHRISTINE O’DONNELL
Christine O’Donnell (KRW) unconvincingly insists “I am not a witch”

— An okay conceit, helped by Kristen’s solid delivery during her-as-Christine-O’Donnell’s calm-but-suspicious denials of being a witch.
STARS: ***


SECRET WORD
Mindy Grayson & comedienne (host) flout game show’s rules

— (*groan*)
— At least Jane’s a lot of fun as the Phyllis Diller-esque comedian character she’s playing.
— Good frustrated delivery from Bill of the line “And I am not full of bananas.”
STARS: **


RELAXATION THERAPY
(ANS)’s therapist (host) alternately calms & upsets

— Some increasingly funny odd non-sequitur visuals in the fantasy that Jane makes Andy visualize.
— I like the annoyed look on Andy’s face when he realizes Jane’s ordering lunch in the middle of this therapy session.
— A pretty good laugh from the very out-of-nowhere ending shot of a nude Jane lying next to Andy on the couch.
STARS: ***½


RETURNS & EXCHANGES
researching a role, Denzel Washington (JAP) mans the Macy’s returns desk

— A freakin’ fantastic Denzel Washington impression from Jay, in one of Jay’s earliest celebrity impression showcases on SNL.
— Jay-as-Denzel’s very tense interrogation of Jane over a simple bag return is a lot of fun.
— The ending to this otherwise-solid sketch came off VERY awkwardly executed.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Just The Way You Are”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Mark Zuckerberg (ANS) assesses the accuracy of The Social Network

Mexico tourism rep (FRA) doesn’t comprehend questions about drug cartels

— Hoooooo, boy. Seth’s joke about President Obama’s presidential seal accidentally falling off of his podium “two years early” is IMMEDIATELY followed by an innocent joke about rumors of Donald Trump considering running for president in the future.
— Andy’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg is okay, but I prefer the Mark Zuckerberg portrayal that current cast member Alex Moffat would later do.
— Kelly “Ripka”? No wonder Seth’s Kelly Ripa punchline bombed with the audience, after that slip of the tongue from him.
— Meh at this Fred commentary. It’s doing nothing for me.
STARS: ***


THE SUZE ORMAN SHOW
Suze Orman’s (KRW) ex-roommate (host) is in denial about her lesbianism

— Lots of Kristen Wiig showcases tonight, or maybe it just feels like a lot compared to how Kristen surprisingly appeared in only one sketch in the preceding episode.
— This ends up being the final Suze Orman Show sketch. I feel like they’re only doing this sketch tonight because of Jane’s real-life sexual orientation.
— Funny Halloween advice from Kristen’s Orman early in the sketch.
— Hmm, a different conceit to this Suze Orman Show installment, with this focusing far more on the repressed lesbianism of Jane’s character rather than the financial advice that Kristen’s Orman usually gives her guests.
— I’m (pleasantly) surprised Fred wasn’t the one who got cast in the walk-on role of Jane’s obviously-gay flamboyant husband.
STARS: **½


SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Faith Hill’s (host) Sunday Night Football theme extends past the kickoff

— I don’t know what Bill’s going for in his Cris Collinsworth impression, as the real Collinsworth doesn’t sound a thing like that. That being said, the dopey voice Bill’s using is amusing me.
— A fairly cliched SNL premise of a theme song going on forever, done to better effect in some other sketches (mainly Will Forte’s legendary Duluth Live sketch).
— I find it hard to buy Jane as Faith Hill, but this is another pretty fun performance from her tonight.
— I got a laugh from Bill’s Collinsworth saying, point-blank, “That was a nacho recipe”, in reaction to a verse from Jane-as-Hill’s theme song.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Grenade”


TAX MASTERS
Patrick Cox (JAS) & vestigial conjoined twin (FRA) shoot Tax Masters spot

— Nice to see Jason being given so many big roles tonight, after the aforementioned extreme under-utilization of him in the preceding episode.
— Very funny reveal of the hidden-from-the-camera side of Jason’s face having a half-formed twin brother. I can see how the writers came up with this idea, given the fact that the real-life guy who Jason’s playing here does stand in an odd profile that suspiciously hides the left side of his face in the real Tax Masters ads this sketch is spoofing.
— You can tell the show is running long, because Jason now seems to be absolutely rushing through his lines.
— The ending with a close-up of Fred delivering a message to us as Jason’s half-formed twin brother didn’t work, mostly because it came off sloppy and kinda botched, presumably due to how rushed this sketch was. Reruns of this episode use the dress rehearsal version of this sketch’s ending, which is performed a lot more smoothly.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— I like how Jason, still in costume from the preceding sketch, is standing with his twin-on-the-side-of-his-face prosthetic facing the camera (as seen to Jane’s left in the above screencaps for these goodnights).

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fairly mixed episode, though there was a little more good than bad, and even most of the bad stuff had some merits. As expected, Jane Lynch was a pretty solid host, and was utilized pretty well. In fact, it sure felt like the writers played more to her comedic strengths than they did to Bryan Cranston in the preceding episode.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The New Boyfriend Talk Show
Returns & Exchanges
Tax Masters
Damn It, My Mom Is On Facebook Filter
Relaxation Therapy
Ask Gloria Allred
The Coven To Elect Christine O’Donnell
Weekend Update
Sunday Night Football
Monologue
The Suze Orman Show
Secret Word
Glee / Gilly


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bryan Cranston)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Emma Stone makes her hosting debut