Tag: Emma Stone

Posted on

December 3, 2016 – Emma Stone / Shawn Mendes (S42 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

RETWEETS
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) retweets nobodies during security briefing

— Interesting seeing a cold opening start as just a regular, non-political scene inside a school, which is so rare for cold openings in recent eras like this. Predictably, though, this still ends up turning into a political cold opening.
— Aidy is rather stumbly here.
— Yet another poorly-aged SNL portrayal of Kellyanne Conway as the sympathizing voice of reason of the Trump camp.
— I love Melissa’s delivery of “That’s psycho! You’re only gonna attract psychos!”
— The mere look of Bobby’s character is hilarious.
— The Trump portions of this cold opening are getting a little old for me. I guess this counts as the first Alec-Baldwin-as-Trump cold opening that I’m not too crazy about.
— Alex, to Alec’s Trump: “Your inauguration is just seven weeks away.” Kenan: “(shouting) AAAAH! (speaking) Sorry. I just hadn’t heard that put in weeks before.”
— The debut of Grim Reaper Steve Bannon, played by a well-disguised Mikey.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
backstage, host’s interactions with cast members bring high school to mind

— The brief sighting of Leslie and Kyle being affectionate with each other backstage is excellent continuity from the first Leslie/Kyle short that aired a few episodes prior.
— An interesting factoid that Emma Stone and Aidy actually went to the same high school together back in the day.
— Vanessa again playing against type as a mean girl really well.
— Bobby is absolutely spot-on as a typical high school jock from movies.
— When this monologue originally aired, I remember that Emma referring to Bobby as her old fling from her last hosting stint in 2011 made me realize that Bobby, Vanessa, and Kenan were the only cast members from Emma’s November 2011 episode who were still on the show at this point in December 2016, which then made me realize how drastically this cast had changed over the course of just five years. Sadly, you can’t say the same for the five (well, four-and-a-half) years that have passed since December 2016, as a majority of this 2016 cast is still on the show today in March 2021.
STARS: ***½


THEATER SHOWCASE
Student Theater Showcase performers miss the point on social issues

— This ends up being the final installment of this recurring sketch.
— There’s Mikey basically filling in the role that Taran Killam used to play in this recurring sketch. Speaking of Mikey, he noticeably has a lot of black eyeliner on in this sketch, left over from his portrayal of Grim Reaper Steve Bannon in the cold opening.
— Vanessa, on one of the bad scenes in this play: “That one kinda made a good point, though.” Kenan: “They can NEVER know you said that.”
— Kenan, on Aidy’s (very funny) overly pro-AIDS speech: “She overshot the runway at the end there.”
— Hilarious how the theater showcase characters awkwardly shoehorned the word “basketball” into the “gay son” scene in this play.
STARS: ****


THE CHRISTMAS CANDLE
(host), (KAM), (AIB) sing the praises of a miraculously regiftable candle

— A well-loved piece among viewers.
— A funny simplistic and relatable concept, and it’s being executed very well in this format.
— I’m enjoying the 1994 look to all of the characters.
— Aidy’s mock-passionate facial expressions while singing are cracking me up.
— Speaking of Aidy, I absolutely LOVE the melody of her big solo right now.
— My strong feelings for this short are the same strong feelings that I wish I could have for Wishin’ Boot (pun not intended). Not sure why this Candle short works so well for me, whereas I merely find Wishin’ Boot to just be fine.
STARS: ****½


POSTERS
Krissy Knox (host) & other poster models teach math to highschooler (PED)

 

— Mikey is both funny and spot-on as a typical “cool” skiier.
— I really like Kate delivery of “I’m maaaade of math!”
— Interesting character voice from Emma.
— After Kenan first spoke to Pete, what in the WORLD was with Pete’s extremely long, awkward pause when he was supposed to say a line? At first, he smirked out of character like he was going to crack up at Kenan, which, okay, I get, as Pete sometimes has trouble keeping a straight face in sketches by this point of his tenure (it gets worse a little later in his tenure, IIRC), but then, even after his smirk dissolves, he just inexplicably remains silent for a few seconds, leading to very awkward dead air, before he FINALLY says his next line. What happened? Speaking of which, this reminds me that this ends up being the last episode before Pete goes to rehab, causing him to completely miss the next two episodes. I can’t help but wonder if there’s some kind of connection between his aforementioned inexplicable long, bizarre pause in this sketch and his need to go to rehab sometime after this episode aired, but I’m sure I’m looking too much into it.
— Also, when Pete finally says his line after that long, bizarre pause he made, he says Kenan’s character’s name, but I for the life of me cannot understand WHAT the name was that he said. “Walm P”? Is that it? That CAN’T be the name, as it makes no sense, but that’s the best I could make out from Pete’s delivery of it. I’m apparently not the only one who couldn’t understand the name Pete said there, as SNL Archives’ page for this sketch doesn’t even state Kenan’s character’s name, and instead just lists him as “comedian”.
— At one brief point of this sketch, Emma’s voice here strangely sounds just like Vanessa’s Laura Parsons character.
— Not only am I finding Emma’s character funny, but there’s an odd likability I’m also finding to her, annoying voice and all. I’ve never seen Emma’s season 44 episode, which has a second installment of this sketch, but I’ve heard some really negative things about Emma’s performance in that second installment. I guess I’ll see what all of the fuss is about when I reach that episode in this project, but I will say that it does seem very unnecessary for SNL to even do a second installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


THE HUNT FOR HIL
Hillary Clinton (KAM) is elusive in the Chappaqua woods

— A very funny concept, and the treatment of a woods-wandering Hillary Clinton as a Bigfoot-like creature is providing some good laughs.
— I like Beck doing a Hillary-like laugh as a “call” to summon her.
— The extremely bright blue eye contacts Kenan’s wearing are a nice touch to his spiritual character.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Mercy”


WEEKEND UPDATE
treating Donald Trump’s tweets as weather forecast desensationalizes them

LEJ coaches men to be sexually confident & not worry about penis size

Jennifer Aniston [real] & Friends segues disrupt VAB’s Rachel Green spoof

— As soon as Colin said, during his introduction of the next guest commentary, “Women in long-term relationships are more likely to experience a decrease in sexual satisfaction”, I knew that meant Leslie was about to show up.
— A very funny comment from Leslie calling herself a Hung-Like-A-Horse Whisperer.
— Leslie, when trying to make innuendos: “Do not promise me a rack of ribs…and then show up with a little penis.”
— Another overall fantastic Update commentary from Leslie.
— I like how the “…starring Kevin James!” punchline about a wacky animal-involved news story has become a recurring punchline for Michael. At least I *think* Michael previously used that punchline in an earlier episode.
— Oh, right, this second Rachel From Friends commentary of Vanessa’s has an appearance from Jennifer Aniston later on.
— So far, this Rachel commentary is going in the exact same direction as her previous one, complete with Colin having the exact same puzzled reactions to the sudden scene segues. Thankfully, my goodwill towards Vanessa’s spot-on Rachel impression is keeping me entertained, despite the rehashed material.
— And there’s Jennifer Aniston, doing one of those “sneaker-upper” cameos that I typically run hot-and-cold on. This ends up being one of the better instances of it, again mostly because of my goodwill towards Vanessa’s Rachel impression.
— Heh, Vanessa’s Rachel impression is so damn good that she even outshines Aniston herself when they’re both doing the Rachel voice together.
STARS: ****


CLEANING CREW
office cleaning women (LEJ), (host), (CES) perform naughty Santa songs

— Surprisingly, this is Cecily’s first and only appearance in this entire episode.
— Another interesting character voice from Emma, who’s deep-voiced foreign accent here is pretty funny.
— Meh, I’m not caring for the comedic conceit of the Santa songs the ladies are performing. This is boring to me.
— We at least get a funny cutaway reveal of kids being in the room after the raunchy Santa song the cleaning ladies performed.
— Now we get an even funnier cutaway reveal of a deadpan Melissa being with the kids.
— That ending felt very empty.
STARS: **


PALEY CENTER EVENT
on an actress panel, Debette Goldry describes old-school extreme sexism

— Nice seeing Leslie playing herself in this sketch.
— Oh, wait, turns out all of the interviewees (except Kate) are playing themselves in this sketch.
— Like the previous installment of this sketch, Kate’s Debette Goldry has a lot of funny disclosures about the treatment of actresses back in the day, especially the story about a monkey with a tray of opium, and the story about women literally being treated as props on movie sets.
— Heh, I think Kate accidentally spit on Jennifer Aniston just now, judging from Jennifer’s reaction.
— Sasheer has some really good reactions to Kate’s Debette. I especially like Sasheer responding to Debette’s FDR story by calmly saying “That…that felt like the end of that” and changing the subject.
— Debette, when asked what part of her body is she referring to when she mentioned her toot: “I’ll give you two guesses, and they’re both right.”
STARS: ****


WELLS FOR BOYS
Fisher-Price’s wells are for sensitive boys not made of snips & snails

— A beloved Julio Torres classic.
— Emma’s interplay and bonding with her sensitive son is fantastic.
— The tone of and approach to this subject matter is simply perfect.
— Great touch with the accessories this toy comes with: a balcony and a shattered mirror.
— A distracting gaffe, where the SNL Band can be heard prematurely playing the show to commercial in the middle of this fake ad, before the band abruptly stops when realizing their mistake.
— Excellent delivery from Emma when angrily telling off her other son.
— Great tagline from Cecily (in yet another instance of her doing excellent voice-over work in a commercial) about not just getting your sensitive son Barbie dolls.
— Overall, just as much of a masterpiece as I had remembered.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Treat You Better”


THE NATIVITY
insensitive Joseph (KYM) besets postpartum Mary (host) with visitors

— I have mixed feelings so far on this concept of a modernized, relatable portrayal of Mary in a nativity sketch. Part of me finds it funny, but the other part of me finds it a bit corny.
— Okay, after about two minutes, the concept has grown on me.
— The audience seems distracted by the llama.
— After I’ve come around on this sketch, that ending brought back the bad corny feel I got from this sketch earlier.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid episode, and, as usual for this era, there were also some very memorable, well-liked, standout pre-taped segments. Emma Stone feels more and more like an SNL natural with each passing hosting stint of hers, and came off in this particular episode like someone who I can actually picture being a regular cast member.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Wells For Boys
The Christmas Candle
Theater Showcase
Weekend Update
Paley Center Event
The Hunt For Hil
Posters
Monologue
The Nativity
Retweets
Cleaning Crew


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kristen Wiig)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Cena

Posted on

November 12, 2011 – Emma Stone / Coldplay (S37 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
during a GOP debate, fellow candidates pity forgetful Rick Perry (BIH)

— Another funny loopy portrayal of Rick Perry from Bill, and it’s an interesting change of pace having this GOP debate sketch mainly focus on him.
— Some funny unsettled reactions from the other candidates to Bill-as-Rick-Perry’s endless screw-ups and embarrassments.
— Another example of Paul sounding very Will Forte-esque as Ron Paul, this time when exclaiming “All his cards are BLANK!”
— A hilarious visual of Bill’s Perry seen wearing a dickey when he removes his suit jacket.
— As I’ve disclosed before, Of Mice And Men is my favorite book of all time, and I’m always a sucker for parodies of it. Thus, I love the Of Mice And Men turn this cold opening takes towards the end.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
ANS wishes he & not Andrew Garfield [real] were host’s Spider-Man co-star

— I see Andy’s apparently doing a variation of the upside-down Spider-Man commentary he did on Weekend Update the preceding season.
— A laugh from Andy’s sloppy attempt at passing off silly string as a web shooter.
— A meta, self-aware part with Emma pointing out that Andy’s just re-doing the same monologue Kirsten Dunst did in 2002.
— Andy, when learning that the surname of Spider-Man’s new actor is Garfield: “How’s he gonna fight crime when he’s busy eating lasagna and tworking Nermal, amirite?!?” Assuming “tworking” means “fucking”, it’s funny how many people, including Andy, are under the incorrect assumption that Nermal is a girl. I used to think so myself when I was a kid.
— I love Andy’s “HE’S BRITISH?!?” line when hearing Andrew Garfield’s accent.
STARS: ***½


SECRET WORD
oblivious Mindy Grayson & Miss America (host) are worthless

— (*groan*) (By the way, I wonder how many recurring sketches in this era always immediately induce a *groan* reaction from me in my reviews. Whatever the number is, it must be close to the double-digits by this point, if not already there, which just goes to show how many bad recurring sketches this era has).
— I guess they’re running out of cast members to play the straight man contestants in this recurring sketch, as this is Paul’s second time getting stuck in this role in a Secret Word sketch.
— Funny bit regarding Emma disclosing the fact that she was disqualified from a pageant because “they could see my puss”.
— Like most SNL hosts in this recurring sketch, Emma continues to be the only real saving grace of this installment (aside from a few funny reliable lines from Bill). The Mindy Elise Grayson (once again, I hate the fact that they randomly and pointlessly added a middle name to this Mindy Grayson character starting last season) portions, on the other hand, are as painful as ever. In fact, I don’t know if it’s just me, but this character seems to be getting more and more annoying with each passing installment of this sketch lately, especially her songs that these sketches seem to be relying on more and more.
STARS: *½


WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
journalistic fossil Herb Welch flubs reporting on falling ice story

— Makes sense seeing Emma Stone in a Herb Welch sketch and being the victim of Herb’s typical microphone face-hits, given the fact that, reportedly, Bill inadvertently came up with the Herb Welch character during rehearsals of the news sketch from Emma’s previous episode, where Bill, while playing a normal reporter character, kept ad-libbing by hitting Emma and others in the face with his microphone while interviewing them.
— A good laugh from Herb randomly asking Emma “You think this Belafonte kid oughta…pipe down?”
— A decent twist to the usual microphone face-hitting gag at one point, with Emma using her purse as a shield when Herb’s about to hit her in the face with his microphone once again, causing him to unintentionally hit himself with the microphone.
— Good job from Kristen on perfectly keeping a straight face during Bill’s VERY extended tapping of his microphone onto her crotch, which (unsurprisingly) cracks himself up at one point.
— Maybe I’m slowly starting to get a little tired of the usual formula of this recurring sketch, because, while I still enjoyed tonight’s overall installment, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as previous installments.
STARS: ***½


WISH IT WOULD RAIN
lack of precipitation hampers singer’s (ANS) video

 

— Oh, no. I recall this short being HORRIBLE. When it originally aired, I was absolutely floored by how bad it was. It was the point where I slowly started realizing that the Digital Shorts had officially “lost it” this season.
— The bit with the “rain” turning out to be Jason peeing on Andy got a laugh from me. Otherwise, yeah, this short is dire so far.
— Jesus Christ, the appearance of Emma with an exaggeratedly big butt is SO desperate. Just sad. The fact that they felt the need to randomly throw that gag into this is a huge sign of the general lack of inspiration in this season’s Digital Shorts.
— Yikes, that Andy-getting-struck-by-lightning-and-then-disappearing ending was AWFUL, and, again, reeked of sad desperation and lack of inspiration.
— Overall, oof. Yeah, this mostly lived up to my horrible memory of it, though I did get one actual laugh this time (the aforementioned bit with the rain turning out to be Jason peeing), which was more than I got during my first viewing of this back when it originally aired. Still one of the worst Digital Shorts of all time, though.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Paradise”


WEEKEND UPDATE
the nature of the Penn State scandal is too much for The Devil to take

Garth & Kat add a backup singer (Chris Martin) for Thanksgiving tunes

— Ah, this Penn State commentary from The Devil is the commentary that I’ve remembered the most out of all of his appearances. This also ends up being his final Update commentary. His only remaining appearance is just a non-speaking background appearance with various other Update characters during the epic “Stefon’s Wedding” bit in Bill’s final episode.
— I absolute love The Devil’s various reactions to certain horrifying details about the Penn State scandal. Given this VERY heavy subject matter, this is a fine line for SNL to tread, but Jason’s execution of it is perfect.
— After The Devil says, in an aghast manner in response to one of the Penn State scandal details about the child sexual abuse, “This is college football, not the catholic church!” and the audience gasps at that, I love The Devil then asking the audience “Are you sorry that it happened or that I reminded you of it?”
— After The Devil learns of one PARTICULARLY horrifying fact about the Penn State scandal, Jason gets such a huge laugh out of me from him getting out of his seat and yelling at the Weekend Update map “ARE YOU HEARING THIS?!? ARE YOU HEARING THIS…MAP?!?” Jason is absolutely slaying me in this whole commentary.
— The Devil ending his commentary by officially retiring from his job is perfect closure for this recurring character.
— Aaaaaaand, after my very positive reception to The Devil commentary, Garth and motherfucking Kat are here to give me one of the biggest mood whiplashes I’ve EVER gotten during SNL.
— Much like Gwyneth Paltrow in the preceding season, her then-hubby Chris Martin plays a third member of Garth & Kat. I’m guessing Chris Martin previously watched Gwyneth doing this and liked it so much that, when he showed up at SNL this week, he asked if he could do a Garth & Kat bit. So I see I have him to thank for having to suffer through these characters once again.
STARS: **½ (as usual, Garth & Kat’s painful and overlong commentary docked half a star from the rating)


LES JEUNES DE PARIS
teens dance & get married to “A Cause Des Garcons”

— This episode is going really heavy on recurring characters, though I’m not complaining about seeing this particular sketch.
— Emma reprises the character she played in the very first installment of this sketch.
— I kinda don’t like how the French songs played in these sketches seem to get less and less bizarre with each passing installment of this sketch, but that’s a minor gripe about this always-very-fun recurring sketch.
— Great bit with a little person appearing from under Emma’s wedding dress.
— Some fun walk-ons and passersby at the end.
— While I didn’t feel this overall installment of this recurring sketch was quite as great as previous installments (which I also said about Herb Welch earlier in this episode review), this was still strong and enjoyable.
STARS: ****


BRIDAL SHOWER GIFTS
(host)’s X-rated gifts are inappropriate for (KRW)’s bridal shower

— An actual original, non-recurring sketch tonight.
— The odd, very deep voice Emma’s using here is immediately cracking me up.
— So far, good job from Emma as this off-beat character, and her inappropriate bridal shower gifts are pretty funny.
— I know it’s cliched for me to say this at this point of Fred’s SNL tenure, but ugh, I hate Fred’s performance in this otherwise good sketch. I find him unlikable when he plays characters like this in his later seasons, and not unlikable in the intentional, comedic way.
— Decent bit with Emma’s reactions to the “cops”.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall”


SAD SONG
depressed (NAP) & co-workers have a good cry to “Someone Like You”

— A laugh from Nasim, after initially hiding her true emotions from her co-workers, immediately following her co-workers’ exit by playing Adele’s “Someone Like You” on her computer and instantly breaking out into tears.
— Very funny visual of Nasim and Emma simultaneously pigging out on ice cream while crying to the song.
— Amusing how Kristen’s reason for wanting to cry to the song is because her parakeets have been fighting all week.
— Hilarious actions and facial expressions from Emma, Nasim, and Kristen right now during their emotional “Someone Like You” crying together.
— Great escalation to this sketch.
— I love the gag with Bill randomly having mascara running from his eyes during his crying.
— An excellent meta turn with us now even seeing Coldplay, as themselves, falling victim to the chain reaction of emotional “Someone Like You” crying while watching this sketch backstage at SNL.
STARS: ****½


WE’RE GOING TO MAKE TECHNOLOGY HUMP
handheld devices perform porno plots

— Well, this is certainly an out-of-left-field premise. I’m onboard, though.
— Jay makes his ONLY appearance of the entire night in something that’s 1) pre-taped, and 2) can hardly even be called an “appearance”, as we only hear his voice and see his hand during one of the technology sex scenes.
— Why are Andy and Emma’s portions of this sketch pre-taped? One could say it’s because Andy gets bleeped out at one point when jovially saying “I hear that shit!”, but it’s not like this era hasn’t had bleeped-out scripted swearing in live sketches (e.g. the Paula Deen sketch from the season 36 Scarlett Johansson episode).
— Some good and inspired gags during the technology sex scenes, like the camera’s penis being its extended lens, the iPad turning around to receive anal sex, and the curling iron’s plug being used as a whip.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. The first half was kinda bumpy, but things got better and more consistent in the second half (which was also the case with Emma Stone’s previous episode).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Sad Song
Les Jeunes de Paris
We’re Going To Make Technology Hump
The Republican Presidential Debate
WXPD News New York
Monologue
Bridal Shower Gifts
Weekend Update
Secret Word
Wish It Would Rain


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Charlie Day)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jason Segel

Posted on

October 23, 2010 – Emma Stone / Kings of Leon (S36 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

REID RALLY
at a rally, Harry Reid (PAB) distances himself from Barack Obama (FRA)

— Feels a little odd seeing Jay standing in the background right behind Fred’s President Obama, knowing the far-better Obama impression Jay had in his back pocket at the time and would later regularly do on the show starting in his third season.
— The timing during Fred and Paul’s discreet conversation with each other seems off, with too many long pauses between lines. Not sure if that’s Paul’s fault or not. He is noticeably staring at the cue cards during this portion of the sketch. Speaking of which, Paul’s cue card-staring habit in tonight’s episode in general was something that some online SNL fans unfairly tore Paul apart for at the time. I guess those fans didn’t consider the fact that it takes some new cast members a little while to get the hang of how to read off cue cards without making it look too noticeable. Bobby’s a perfect example, as he blatantly stared at the cue cards all throughout the Of Mice And Men sketch from his second episode (and, yes, some online SNL fans tore him apart for that), but it’s not like that went on to become a habit of his.
— Speaking of Paul, it’s surprising to see a new featured player like him co-starring in a cold opening, especially given how underused he was prior to this and hadn’t been given any lead roles until this point.
— The brief interjections that Fred’s Obama keeps making throughout Paul-as-Harry-Reid’s speech are doing very little for me. Unfortunately, that’s the only comedic conceit of most of this cold opening. Typical snooze-worthy political writing from Jim Downey’s later years.
— Wow, Paul even gets to say LFNY! In only his fourth episode as a featured player! I wonder if this is a record for the fastest that a featured player has ever said LFNY in SNL history. Abby comes close, as she said LFNY in her fifth episode as a featured player. [ADDENDUM: I just remembered that Eddie Murphy said LFNY in only his third episode as a credited featured player, so I guess he holds the record.]
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
audience nerds (KET), (BIH), (ANS) ask host if she’ll make out with them

— This monologue ALREADY seems to be going the same route as Natalie Portman’s season 31 monologue, with the female host taking questions from male nerds in the audience.
— Taran’s Michael Cera impression is very funny, and is almost singlehandedly saving this monologue for me. On the other hand, I don’t know what Bobby’s going for in his Jonah Hill impression, but it’s harmless enough.
— I’m tired of all the “I thank you for your time” lines from the audience nerds.
STARS: **


BABY SPANX
foundation garment hides chubby infants’ embarrassing fat

— Very funny delivery from spokesperson Jason of his first line to us upon his entrance: “Do you have a fat baby?”
— Blah, a commercial in the tradition of bland “babies wearing adult things” SNL commercials like Huggies Thong and Baby Toupees. A tired SNL trope.
— Overall, Jason’s great delivery was the only big thing this otherwise-bland commercial had going for it.
STARS: **


DREAM HOME EXTREME
contest winner’s (host) phlegmatism stymies Cheryl

— A very random and unnecessary reprisal of a one-off sketch from a Brian Williams-hosted episode THREE YEARS PRIOR. Why make this sketch recurring after such a long time?
— Kristen’s excited vocalizations and gestures amused me enough in the first installment of this sketch, but in tonight’s installment, they’re just plain ANNOYING to me. Absolutely grating.
— This sketch is following the exact same pattern as the first installment, and it worked far better with Brian Williams in the “unexcited winner” role.
— I’ve finally gotten a laugh, from Bill, Nasim, and Jay’s over-excited reactions in clips of past winners.
— Speaking of Bill, Nasim, and Jay’s parts, do you know what their character names are? Rudy Plank, Laverne Terms, and Syd Awnit. Yeesh, I see I don’t have to ask which writer penned this sketch.
— Even the ending is the same as the first installment, with the unexcited winner finally having an excited reaction when receiving an unrelated mundane gift from someone. Again, it was much funnier seeing Brian Williams do that.
— We’re four segments into tonight’s episode, and I haven’t cared for ANY of them so far.
STARS: *½


WXPD CHANNEL 9 NEWS
local news reporter’s (BIH) made-up stories scare teen’s (host) mom (KRW)

— When talking about the bad “Souping” trend, I love Bill’s line “Mmm-mmm dead”, spoofing the Campbell Soup slogan “Mmm-mmm good”.
— Oddly, Kristen’s acting seems forced in this sketch, and I could do without her over-the-top reactions, especially coming RIGHT AFTER a sketch where she just played an over-the-top character.
— A very funny escalation to all of the ridiculous teen fads covered in this sketch, especially the “Trampolining” fad.
— Very amusing delivery from Bill’s reporter character throughout this.
— Overall, finally, this episode had something I enjoyed.
STARS: ****


I BROKE MY ARM
(host)’s injuries move her classmates from envy to pity

— A good use of Emma, and she’s pulling off her character’s sudden slips on the floor humorously.
— Hilarious escalation to the gag, with Emma now entering in a wheelchair and a Stephen Hawking-esque computerized device she has to speak though.
— WTF at Andy taking over the short as a rapping jelly stain?!? Even for Lonely Island Digital Short standards, I’m finding this very questionable.
— And that rapping jelly stain bit is how this short ends??? Yeah, this ending did not work for me. Too bad, given how enjoyable this short was before then.
STARS: ***½


THE VIEW
panel considers bullies, Halloween, Lindsay Lohan (host)

— The final View sketch of this era. I will not miss these sketches’ presence. They got nothing on the original View sketches from the late 90s era. I have yet to see the newer View sketches from SNL’s present-day era, but I hope they’re better than these 2008-2010 View sketches.
— Kristen-as-Elisabeth-Hasselbeck’s dialogue is even more one-note than it usually is in these sketches.
— Fitting casting of Emma as Lindsay Lohan.
— Meh, as it turns out, they ended up not doing much with Emma’s Lohan in this overall sketch.
STARS: **


WRANGLER OPEN FLY JEANS
Wrangler Open Fly Jeans abet exhibitionists like Brett Favre (JAS)

— A pretty funny concept for a spoof of the Brett Favre sexting scandal.
— Great sleazy performance from Jason as Favre.
— Jason’s Brett Favre: “Look, I put my pants on just like anyone else: one leg at a time. Then…I pull muh penis out.”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Radioactive”


WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM comments on Virginia Thomas’ exhumation of the Anita Hill controversy

New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan (KET) evinces innumeracy

John Mulaney [real] does stand-up with the theme of “I Love It”

Stefon’s nightclub suggestions for NYC tourists are not family-friendly

— Oof. The audience’s laughter during Seth’s Virginia Thomas/Anita Hill rant is VERY tepid. They are not into this.
— Wow, I had forgotten all about that “The Rent Is Too Damn High” guy. Kenan’s impression of him is good.
— Kenan’s lines and delivery are cracking me up, even though he’s just saying variations of what the real “The Rent Is Too Damn High” guy famously said in the viral video of him, and it’s hard to do a spoof of something that’s already comical enough on its own.
— I swear Seth (or maybe his former co-anchor Amy Poehler) already used that “fried chicken as bread” joke in a previous Update, but I can’t say for sure.
— John Mulaney in his second and final Update commentary during his tenure as an SNL writer.
— The “I Love It” motif to tonight’s Mulaney commentary is a good way to connect his various thoughts into one theme, and is very fitting for his distinct stand-up delivery.
— I love John’s comments about animals not knowing when they’re in a movie.
— Good ending to tonight’s Mulaney commentary, with him riffing on the style of Mad Men’s next-episode previews.
— Much like John’s previous Update commentary, he went through tonight’s commentary without Seth making any of the usual interjections he typically makes during guest commentaries on Update. I wish this was far more common. I don’t know when nor why it became a regular thing for Update anchors to always play a big part in a guest’s commentary, but it definitely started sometime in the 2000s.
— When this SNL era originally aired, I remember how I and several other online SNL fans took John Mulaney’s Update commentaries as a hopeful sign that this was SNL’s way of trying John out as a potential replacement for Seth as Update anchor. I and those aforementioned online fans were absolutely sick of Seth as Update anchor at that point (I’m finding him a lot more tolerable on re-watch, even if he’s still nothing particularly special), and we felt that John as an Update anchor would’ve been a refreshing and much-needed change from Seth. Fast-forward to today, 10 years later, when I’ve become more familiar with John and his comedic style, and it’s a little hard for me to imagine him as an Update anchor, and I’m now kinda thinking he might not have been as great in that role as we thought back in 2010.
— Our first Stefon appearance of the season. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only two Updates he’s appeared in by this point also happen to be Updates that Stefon writer John Mulaney did a commentary of his own in.
— Funniest bits in tonight’s Stefon commentary are the Cosby Face bit, a fat kid on a slip-and-slide being confused for Mick Jagger, and Furkels (a.k.a. Fat Urkels).
STARS: **½


LES JEUNES DE PARIS
in a bistro, “Ta Douleur” inspires youth dance-off

 

— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— After Paul has finally gotten his first SNL lead role earlier tonight, now it’s Taran’s turn. Taran’s been having a good night, between his Michael Cera impression and this.
— I absolutely LOVE the part where all the characters suddenly start dancing in unison to the bizarre portion of the French song that’s playing.
— Great gag with Taran imitating Emma’s bra removal by removing his own bra, which we then find out belongs to Abby.
— I love that the only cast members in this sketch’s main roles are newer players (Taran, Nasim, Abby, Paul, and Bobby, plus Vanessa in a brief walk-on).
— The combo of the odd French music being played and all the very funny actions happening during it is giving this sketch an epic, fun feel.
— Was that Jason as the older gentleman passing by with a cane who the main characters briefly stop dancing for? SNL Archives claims it is (link here), but I’m skeptical. It’s hard for me to tell if that’s really Jason, as we can only see his face from the side as he’s walking past the camera (screencap below).

If that is Jason, it’s very odd they would give a seven-season SNL veteran like him such a tiny, non-speaking role like that (though it did happen to him then-recently in the Bryan Cranston episode), especially in a sketch where the main roles are all played by new or new-ish cast members. Also, if that is Jason in this sketch, then it’s his ONLY live appearance all night. Aside from the Jane Lynch episode, Jason’s strangely been getting very little airtime this season, and it continues for quite a lot of the remainder of this season, IIRC. What’s the reason for this? Is he busy filming a movie this season? Horrible Bosses, perhaps?
— Such a strong and fun sketch overall.
STARS: ****½


MY BROTHER KNOWS EVERYTHING
annoyed (ANS) is little sister’s (NAP) hero

— Nice to see two consecutive sketches tonight starring a featured player(s).
— Nasim playing yet another child character, I see.
— In response to Emma saying Nasim’s brother is a hunk, Nasim says a well-delivered “Eww! Gross!….but yeah.”
— Emma’s comments about each of the “hot” posters from Andy’s room are pretty funny.
— Some decent in-show segments that Nasim and Emma’s characters do throughout this.
STARS: ***


“SEX” ED VINCENT’S SEX SYMPOSIUM
Ed Vincent’s (PAB) amateur lecture seminar opens minds

— Wow, the THIRD consecutive segment tonight starring a featured player. And it’s Paul’s SECOND lead role tonight.
— Right out of the gate, this already seems like a very promising character from Paul, and I love the format of this piece.
— Excellent performance and characterization from Paul. You can tell this is a character he had been doing before SNL.
— The “side of the penis/top of the penis” bit is particularly funny.
— I’m enjoying the “Tim & Eric”-esque vibe of this short.
— Great piece overall.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pyro”


GOOGIE RENE’S PARTIALLY DAMAGED HALLOWEEN COSTUME DISCOUNT BASEMENT
Googie Rene’s Halloween costumes are cheap but marred

— Another instance tonight of SNL randomly bringing back a one-off sketch from two or more years prior.
— Paul continues to get lots of airtime tonight.
— A cheap laugh from the “Stank Basket” that’s displayed.
— Kenan’s offbeat portrayal of this Googie Rene character continues to amuse me, but I can definitely see why it would annoy some people.
— Good portion of this sketch with the examples of things you can hide the stain on your costume with.
— Abby’s extremely brief, non-speaking walk-on might as well have been played by an extra.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A rough and worrisome start with the first four segments of this episode, but things got better as the show went along, especially when they started letting the featured players take over the show in the first few post-Weekend Update segments, which backs up my viewpoint that this season’s four new hires are breathing some much-needed new life into the show.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Les Jeunes De Paris
“Sex” Ed Vincent’s Sex Symposium
WXPD Channel 9 News
Wrangler Open Fly Jeans
I Broke My Arm
My Brother Knows Everything
Weekend Update
Monologue
Baby Spanx
The View
Dream Home Extreme
Reid Rally


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jane Lynch)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jon Hamm hosts for his third and, as of 2020, final time