Tag: Louis C.K.

Posted on

April 8, 2017 – Louis C.K. / The Chainsmokers (S42 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TRUMP’S PEOPLE
Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) policies harm Kentuckians who voted for him

— Ugh.
— I’m currently three minutes into this cold opening, and I’ve yet to get ANY big laughs.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh just now from the very apt finger-in-chili analogy that Trumpwin makes to his own presidency.
— Overall, even for Trumpwin standards, this was mostly awful. Such a lousy way to open an episode. And I still have three more seasons of this crap to go through.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up on racist chickens & leveraging his white privilege

— Interesting how, unlike his previous monologues, where he dressed casually in a plain black shirt and (I think) jeans, Louis C.K. is dressed professionally in a suit in this monologue. That’s strangely fitting for what ends up being his final SNL episode, though he didn’t know it at the time.
— Hilarious beginning with the chicken-followed-by-a-black-guy joke, and Louis explaining how that’s not a racist joke.
— I got a big laugh from Louis’ “I’m not your soup yet, ya Jew!” line.
— Louis’ imitation of what giraffes must be thinking is hilarious.
— Lots of huge laughs from Louis riffing on cheap motels and his experience at fancy hotels.
— A priceless aside with Louis calling out how white people get preferential treatment, and how that’s “bad”. His asides like that towards the audience whenever he says something objectionable in this monologue is just one of the things that shows the appeal of his stand-up comedy in general.
STARS: ****½


LAWYER LASHES
prosecutor’s (host) distractingly gorgeous eyelashes upend murder trial

— A very solid sketch concept, and it’s being executed well.
— Hilarious delivery from Aidy when exclaiming “My gooodddd!” while being mesmerized by Louis’ eyelashes.
— Blah at that Maybelline ending. A poor way to end an otherwise great sketch.
STARS: ****


THANK YOU, SCOTT
armchair activist (host) does his part on social media

— A very good satire on social media activists.
— Love the bit with the hand clapping emojis.
— A really catchy chorus, especially when it goes up higher during the final round.
STARS: ****


SODA FOUNTAIN
soda jerk (host) & teen (CES) explore power dynamics during date fantasy

— A solid unsettling turn this sketch takes.
— When Vanessa says she’d go to the dance with Louis if he asked her, I got a big laugh from Louis responding, “Well, I didn’t ask ya, stupid, I asked Louise.”
— Louis: “The next time I kiss my wife will be at her funeral.”
— Sasheer’s worried delivery of “I don’t think he’s taking her to school” was great.
— Interesting seeing Pete do a cheesy 1950s voice.
— Another one of Leslie’s trademark awkward line flubs.
— Great ending with the jukebox-smashing/blood-on-hand gag.
STARS: ****


PEPSI COMMERCIAL
director (BEB) belatedly realizes folly of Kendall Jenner (CES) Pepsi ad

— I love Beck’s smile slowly fading when his sister over the phone responds to his description of the “great” Pepsi commercial he’s about to film.
— Hilarious how Beck’s second description of the Pespi commercial to a different person over the phone gets abruptly cut off by the person on the other line telling him all of the things wrong with his idea.
— A very funny touch with the brief cutaway to two dancers rehearsing while Beck continues to listen to the person on the other line.
— Beck’s performance in this is excellent, especially his conveying of how deflated his mood has gradually become when slowly realizing his commercial that’s about to be filmed is a huge, huge mistake.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Paris”


WEEKEND UPDATE
clip of Three Stooges’ mutual abuse reflects USA, Syria, Russia interplay

Cecilia Giminez (KAM) thinks the rictusy Cristiano Ronaldo bust is a masterpiece

— I think this is the first time in quite a while where Colin delivers the opening joke, which used to be a regular thing.
— If you know me (as commenter and apparent fellow Three Stooges fan Curly Joe evidently does, judging from something he said in the comments section of my last review), you’ll know that I love the fact that SNL uses a Three Stooges clip to represent the convoluted Trump/Syria situation. Even better, that clip is from the first-ever Three Stooges short made at Columbia Pictures.
— As always, Kate is very fun as Cecilia Giminez, and I’m getting good laughs from the details in her description of the Cristiano Ronaldo bust.
— Very strong jokes from Colin and Michael throughout this entire Update.
STARS: ****½


THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Bill O’Reilly’s (Alec Baldwin) sexual harassment woes chase sponsors

— Hmm, an Alec Baldwin-starring non-Trump sketch. Wish I could say I was excited to see this, but so many bad Trumpwin sketches this season have given me my fill of Alec Baldwin by this point of the season, plus this O’Reilly sketch is Alec taking further airtime away from the actual cast.
— Alec has Bill O’Reilly’s mannerisms down, at least, but certainly not the voice.
— Cecily having her face and voice distorted at the end of her interview is pretty funny.
— What was with that odd long pause from Alec when he was about to mention the new sponsors?
— The ridiculous new sponsors are all funny, especially Dog Cocaine.
— Now we have Alec talking to himself, as his O’Reilly interviews his pre-taped Trump via satellite. Blah. I will say, though, that this brings back memories of one of Chris Rock’s Nat X sketches where he as Nat X interviewed himself as a pre-taped Michael Jackson via satellite.
STARS: **


BIRTHDAY CLOWN
on his 53rd birthday, depressed (host) hires a children’s clown (BOM)

— I recall hearing that the people who wrote this short (the BriTaNick guys, I think, though I’m not sure if I got the spelling right) would later get called out on supposedly plagiarizing this short. I think I even heard that they would fess up to the plagiarism. A damn shame if this short was indeed stolen, because I recall absolutely loving it when it originally aired.
— Two priceless big reveals that Bobby’s character is shocked to realize: 1) that the “little birthday boy” is a full-grown man, and 2) that nobody else is coming to this birthday party.
— I absolutely love Louis’ very sullen, deadpan responses to Bobby’s jolly questions, establishing an excellent tone to this short.
— A particularly hilarious part with Bobby muttering “Jesus” to himself in shock when Louis reveals his age.
— Bobby, when Louis is confused over whether he should give Bobby his tip now or after his act is over: “Yeah, there’s no protocol for whatever this is.”
— I love Bobby continuing to pull the long paper coil out of his mouth when looking around confusedly after Louis has randomly walked off to take a pee break.
— A huge laugh from Bobby’s extremely blunt “You don’t want this” to the other birthday entertainers at the door.
— Readers, I need your help in the comments section of this review. Please let me know whether or not there’s been enough evidence that this short was indeed plagiarized. If so, I’m afraid I have to give this short a one-star rating, as I have to keep up consistency by following a “Zero-tolerance policy for plagiarized sketches” rule I set for myself in these reviews ever since season 40. It would be an absolute shame if I have to give this short a failing rating, because if this were an original piece, it would’ve earned an EASY five-star rating from me. Thanks in advance, readers, for your assistance in helping me figure out if it’s been officially proven that this short was plagiarized. [ADDENDUM (3/23/21): I’ve been given enough evidence that this short was plagiarized.]
STARS: * (for plagiarism)


SECTIONAL SOFA EMPORIUM
(host) shares his sectional couch obsession, but not the sofas themselves

— The extremely odd, absurdist tone of this commercial is right up my alley, and Louis is executing it wonderfully. His oddball deadpan delivery of his PARTICULARLY weird asides are pure perfection.
— The pre-taped footage of Aidy is adding to the hilarious, weird vibe of this sketch.
— Love the reveal at the end that this isn’t even a commercial, nor are these sectionals for sale.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Break Up Every Night”


TENEMENT MUSEUM
Tenement Museum actors (host) & (KAM) portray racist Polish immigrants

— Louis’ bizarre attempt at a Polish accent is absolutely priceless.
— I love how Louis’ accent has gotten to the point where it’s making Kate and himself crack up. One of the better instances of breaking in recent seasons.
— After Louis’ out-of-nowhere “filthy greasy Italians” line, we get a funny brief cutaway to Kenan’s smile quickly fading.
— Man, the more and more this sketch goes on, the more Louis’ increasingly exaggerated accent is absolutely SLAYING me. He has me practically on the floor by this point.
— Very funny how Louis and Kate’s lines within this play have just devolved into them doing anti-Italian jokes.
— Priceless bit regarding Louis giving Kenan the answer to the question he was about to ask.
— The increasing looseness of Louis’ performance is making this sketch so damn fun.
STARS: ****½


IN MEMORIAM


GOODNIGHTS
host marks Don Rickles’ passing

— Very nice words from Louis about Don Rickles.
— Ha, I absolutely LOVE how, after Louis’ aforementioned Rickles eulogy, Louis comically delivers his goodnights speech in the same goofy accent from the final sketch, which makes everyone onstage at these goodnights (especially Alec Baldwin) bust out laughing. One of my personal favorite goodnights moments ever.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— SNL does it once again with yet another fantastic Louis C.K. episode. Aside from an awful Trumpwin cold opening and another weak Alec Baldwin-involved sketch (The O’Reilly Factor), I felt very highly about EVERY segment in this episode, with none of those segments receiving a rating lower than four stars. [ADDENDUM (3/23/21): Even though it turns out that I had to give the Birthday Clown short a one-star rating for plagiarism, it still remains that I love everything in that short.] Since, as I said earlier, this ends up being Louis C.K.’s final hosting stint, he has gone down as having one of the best (if not THE best) track records that a recurring host has ever had. Every single one of his episodes was astoundingly strong.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: As usual for exceptionally strong episodes, since there are too many choices to pick for a “Best Of”, I’ll narrow it down to what I feel are the particularly best highlights)


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Sectional Sofa Emporium
Monologue
Pepsi Commercial
Weekend Update
Tenement Museum
Lawyer Lashes
Thank You, Scott
Soda Fountain
The O’Reilly Factor
Trump’s People
Birthday Clown


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
Jimmy Fallon hosts the first live coast-to-coast episode

Posted on

May 16, 2015 – Louis C.K. / Rihanna (S40 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

SUMMERTIME
Hillary Clinton’s (KAM) focus on presidency leaves no time for summer fun

— I recall it being pointed out in an online article that, when Leslie says “And I’m going to Spain” in this cold opening, someone onscreen can be heard farting if you listen carefully, and the article went into a very deep analysis trying to figure out which cast member in question was the culprit (I kid you not). Understandably, I have no desire to chime in on that analysis, I just wanted to put the story out there for anyone reading this.
— Pretty fun concept of Kate’s Hillary Clinton desperately trying to relate to random beach-goers. She has a lot of great bits here.
— I love how this is using the whole cast, especially given how this is the season finale. I prefer my season finale full-cast sketches to be at the very end of the episode, but I’m not complaining at all about the placement of this particular one.
— Solid walk-on from Darrell Hammond’s Bill Clinton.
— A particularly good line from Kate’s Hillary detailing how her final day as president will go.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about mild racism, Middle East strife, child molesters

— A piece of confetti can be seen falling from above when Louis C.K. enters the front of the stage. The confetti must be for a sketch later tonight.
— A good laugh from how Louis’ random “I grew up in the 70s, so…I’m not racist” statement is immediately followed by him saying a “HOWEVER…”.
— Huge laughs from the examples Louis gives of mild racism.
— I love Louis’ “Cuz I like this one a little more” aside to us when using an even worse mock-y gibberish voice for one of his two daughters over the other.
— Great analogy Louis makes between himself/his fighting two daughters and America/Israel/Palentstine.
— Oh, here’s the famous child molester bit in this monologue.
— Man, this whole child molester routine is not only EXTREMELY risky (easily one of the riskiest things aired on SNL in recent years), but pays off by being absolutely freakin’ priceless, particularly the “molesting children must be REALLY good…….from the child molester’s point of view, for them to risk so much” bit, and the Mounds bar analogy Louis makes to child molesting. This whole segment puts this monologue over the top as my favorite of Louis’ SNL monologues, which is saying something, as I’ve loved all of the monologues he’s done up to this point.
STARS: *****


THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES
masochistic elves (KET) & (VAB) goad shoemaker (host) into punishing them

— Oh, no. The debut of a recurring sketch that I never liked.
— Even when currently watching this with a more open mind, I’m still finding myself not enjoying it. And something about Kenan’s delivery is somehow making this material even worse, which is rare at this point of Kenan’s run, where his delivery usually salvages sketches for me.
— At least Aidy has a fairly funny brief walk-on.
— Odd turn at the end with Louis’ character asking us viewers who he should pick between his wife and the elves, and telling us to give our answer via text. That whole bit is obviously fake, but if this was the Dick Ebersol era, that call-in phone number would’ve actually been real, and we’d have gotten the voting results at the end of the show. This Elves sketch ain’t worth all of that effort, though.
STARS: *½


SPRINT STORE
to avoid angering boss (LEJ), (host) is stuck with a sassy black accent

— An awkward brief moment with Leslie accidentally saying one of her lines too early while Louis is still speaking, resulting in Leslie making an “Oops” gesture and dropping character to tell Louis “I’m sorry, go ahead”, which is completely out of place for the mean, rude character Leslie’s supposed to be playing in this sketch.
— Despite how dodgy this “Louis talking in a mocking, stereotypical black voice” premise initially seems, it actually ends up turning hilarious with Louis’ character claiming that’s his real voice and having to keep up that facade to prevent Leslie from finding out he was initially mocking her. Louis is slaying me here, and is selling this concept so well.
— Love the “One year later” screen being shown immediately after Louis worriedly asks how long is he going to have to keep up his “black voice” facade.
— A priceless twist at the end with Louis getting busted on faking his “black” voice all these years. I absolutely love Leslie’s angry lines to him after that.
STARS: ****½


THE WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
diners’ failure to use toothpicks jeopardizes lumberjack’s (host) future

— A hilarious random twist ending to this short-but-sweet commercial.
— The ending mock-dramatic close-up of Louis with a tear rolling down his cheek is great.
— Also funny work from Beck as the passionate jingle singer in the background.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bitch Better Have My Money”


WEEKEND UPDATE
TV show credits place blame for ISIS with George W. Bush & Dick Cheney

Tom Brady (TAK) uses charm & platitudes to dodge blame for Deflategate

PED is losing interest in Harry Potter & is amazed that he’s on SNL

Riblet once again steals the spotlight from MIC with his news delivery

— Funny bit with the sitcom-esque closing credits for ISIS. I especially love the “Sit, Ubu, sit”-esque Halliburton Productions vanity logo.
— Taran at least seems to be attempting more of an impression of Tom Brady’s voice here than he did the previous time he played him. His Brady voice here still doesn’t sound very accurate, but then again, Brady doesn’t have an easily-imitable voice.
— A pretty funny novelty to see Colin displaying some acting, in the shots of him being charmed by Taran’s Brady.
— Good ad-lib (“That was a rare Brady flub there, huh, Michael?”) from Taran after flubbing a line.
— Nice to see this season of Update be bookended by a commentary from Pete.
— A very funny comment from Pete in regards to how he and his high school friends would’ve used and ruined Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.
— A meta, self-deprecating end to Pete’s commentary, with him pointing out his lack of range as a cast member, and asking “How did I get on this show, Colin??? Did my mom seen an NBC executive hit a kid and drive off?”
— Ooh, I like this special segment for this season finale Update, where Colin and Michael each tell an Update joke that was cut after dress rehearsal earlier this season.
— A good intentionally-groanworthy “…if your boyfriend was jalapeno business” punchline from Colin in the cut-after-dress joke he tells here.
— I love this particular way Bobby’s Riblet character suddenly pops up, though I’m surprised it interrupted Michael from doing a cut-after-dress joke.
— The usual laughs from Riblet, even if this is just treading the same ground as always and they’ll never top him stripping down to a suit and removing the sides of his hair during his previous commentary.
— Ha, another Mikey Day walk-on in a Riblet commentary (the last above screencap for this Weekend Update), back when Mikey was just a writer.
— An overall strong final Update of the season, and a perfect example of the growth this new Jost/Che era experienced over the course of this inaugural season of theirs.
STARS: ****


COUPLES RETREAT
Gemma & her new overbearing boyfriend (host) order champagne & shrimp

— Hmm, I had absolutely no prior memory of a Gemma sketch appearing in this episode. Louis seems like he’s an odd fit for this particular role of Gemma’s obnoxious bro-type boyfriend, which Dwayne Johnson previously played to perfection.
— Blah, even Gemma’s song here is in the EXACT SAME melody of her bananas song from the first installment of this sketch. Lazy.
— This sketch in general is just repeating the EXACT SAME beats from the first installment, and I already wasn’t crazy about it the first time.
— I do kinda like the way Louis is playing this role, but he’s got nothing on Dwayne Johnson in that department.
STARS: *½


ACTOR LINE-UP
actors suspected of mugging treat police line-up as audition opportunity

— An interesting rarity of Kyle being seen with his natural stubble all throughout this episode’s live sketches. Did he say to himself, “Ehh, fuck it – it’s the season finale. Why bother shaving?”
— Fun concept of a police line-up of actors, each of whom humorously treats this line-up as an audition. The execution of this is great.
— I love how Taran, Kyle, Beck, and Louis are each giving their actor characterization its own individual flavor, each of which is so spot-on.
— All of the interplay between the actor characters is not only funny, but it’s actually very charming.
STARS: ****½


THE WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
switch from physical to virtual books threatens lumberjack’s livelihood

— The twist at the end is a very funny and unexpected continuation of the Woodworkers Association ad from earlier tonight.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “American Oxygen”


FORGOTTEN TV GEMS WITH REESE DE’WHAT
lesbian housewife (KAM) is vehicle for sitcom hijinks

— Feels like we just saw Reese De’What, as he appeared only three episodes prior to this.
— Tonight’s Reese De’What anecdote about a rude thing he once told his wife is an improvement over the not-as-funny-as-usual one from the last installment of this sketch three episodes prior.
— A questionable premise, but the performances in the sitcom scenes are pretty fun. Not the best sketch to end a season on, though.
— Reese De’What’s “body surf” line cracked me up.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

— Some actually funny antics from Rihanna during Louis’ goodnights speech, with her playfully goofing around behind his back.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Yet another strong Louis C.K.-hosted episode, making him 3-for-3 in that department by this point of SNL’s run. While this episode did have a few misfires and a questionable choice for a 10-to-1 season-closing sketch (all of which just so happen to have been written by James Anderson and Kent Sublette, unsurprisingly), literally all of the other segments in this episode were great and received a rating from me in the 4-5 star range. Damn impressive. This overall episode was a very nice way to end the season, which is a refreshing turnaround from how insanely frustrating and underwhelming the preceding season’s tired-cameo-filled finale was. (In fact, come to think of it, this Louis C.K. season finale I just reviewed featured no cameos AT ALL, which makes this episode even more refreshing in comparison to the preceding season’s finale.)


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Sprint Store / Actor Line-Up (tie)
The Woodworkers Association Of America (both parts)
Summertime
Weekend Update
Forgotten TV Gems with Reese De’What
Couples Retreat
The Shoemaker And The Elves


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Reese Witherspoon)
a big step up


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (Note: The 40th Anniversary Special is not included in this)


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2013-14)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 41 begins, with host Miley Cyrus, and one new addition to the cast

Posted on

March 29, 2014 – Louis C.K. / Sam Smith (S39 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HEALTHCARE.GOV MEETING
Barack Obama (JAP) seeks social media virality to promote HealthCare.gov

— Yikes. The (very pointless) audience applause that usually occurs whenever someone starts speaking at the beginning of cold openings of recent years seemed to be completely miscued on a timing delay tonight, leading Jay to awkwardly pause for a few seconds while waiting for the obligatory applause, then when we finally do get the applause, only about 20% of the audience do it, which then leads Jay and Taran to awkwardly break out into a giggle, then pause a little longer before finally going on with the script. Oof. All of this just shows how pointless and annoying it is for SNL to have the audience applaud at the beginning of every cold opening. For the life of me, I will NEVER understand why SNL made that a requirement.
— Even though she’s just playing a normal character, Noel is reminding me of Zooey Deschanel here, probably partly because of the hairstyle.
— Even with no lines, Brooks is doing very funny physical acting as Harry Styles.
— Funny delivery from Kyle as the pope.
— Some amusing sob stories from Taran, especially the heart-literally-made-of-gold one.
— Ah, the return of Kate’s hilarious Justin Bieber impression that debuted earlier this season.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about existence of God & existence of God’s wife

— Didn’t care for that “white noise is noise for white people” opening joke, which was surprisingly hacky for a Louis C.K. joke. Thankfully, he just treated it as a quick throwaway joke and immediately moved on to another topic.
— I love the “I’m, like, literally starving” voice Louis does.
— A very solid bit about men being worse than women, especially Louis analyzing the “She got her feelings hurt” comment that he quotes from someone.
— I like Louis getting further mileage out of the ditzy, lispy voice that he used earlier during the “starving” bit by now using it as an example of how he can’t do impressions.
— I wonder if that’s a real audience member who, while off-camera, answers some of Louis’ questions in a short back-and-forth exchange Louis is having with her. When the camera finally does briefly cut to that audience member (after she’s already finished speaking), there’s no lighting on the portion of the audience we see (the second above screencap for this monologue), which I kinda like, as it gives this audience interaction of Louis’ a raw, genuine feel, like something you’d see in one of his stand-up specials.
— This God/heaven material is fantastic, and feels a little in a George Carlin vein, which I love.
— Yet another very strong bit, this time with Louis questioning the logic behind giving the name “wifebeater” to a certain type of shirt.
STARS: *****


BLACK JEOPARDY!
white contestant (host) questions tenor of game show

— The debut of this well-liked recurring sketch.
— I love Kenan smugly introducing himself as “Alex Tre-BLACK!”, then lightheartedly laughing and saying “Nah, I’m just playin’. I’m Darnell Hayes.”
— Solid black-centric humor here. While the humor feels very stereotypical, it’s working here, especially with how it and Louis’ whitebred answers comically contrast with each other. Plus, the fact that a black person (Michael Che) co-wrote this sketch helps the stereotypical aspect of the humor come off more acceptable.
— A huge laugh from Michael Vick being Louis’ answer to the dogs question. Even funnier that the actual answer turns out to be Sarah McLachlan.
— When Louis’ answer to the question from the “White People” category is revealed to be correct, Kenan gets a great line towards Louis: “The truth is, we would’ve accepted ANY answer.”
— Solid ending.
— While this overall Black Jeopardy debut doesn’t measure up to some of the later installments (particularly the well-loved installments with Tom Hanks and Chadwick Boseman), this was still strong.
STARS: ****


BABY BOSS
Mr. Patterson’s employee (host) spoon-feeds his resignation to his boss

— Beck is still great at this body-of-a-baby routine, as well as his ability to seamlessly go back-and-forth from doing wild baby mannerisms to acting like a straitlaced, mature boss, but they didn’t have to put this character in the exact same office setting that he previously appeared in in his debut. This seems like a character that would be better off having a different occupation in each installment. Lots of comedic potential there.
— Great bit with spit-up coming out of Beck’s mouth after Aidy compliments him on being a handsome man.
— Love the part with Louis and Beck demonstrating their old fraternity handshake.
— Despite my gripes towards SNL reusing the office setting from the first installment of this sketch, this follow-up installment is still turning out very funny, and they’re managing to make this routine still come off fresh.
STARS: ****


JOS. A. BANK
disposable Jos. A. Bank clothing is suitable to replace paper towels

— A very funny random use of Jos A. Bank suits.
— I particularly love the suit dispenser that Vanessa demonstrates.
— Vanessa is absolutely perfect as the spokesperson.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Stay With Me”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Stephen A. Smith (JAP) is a close friend of March Madness principals

— (*groan*) Another one of Jay’s one-note Stephen A. Smith commentaries. I’m so tired of this routine, which wasn’t funny the first time.
— Even the audience is barely laughing at Jay-as-Smith’s angry rants tonight.
— Oof, Cecily has some really corny jokes tonight. Some absolute groaners, almost comparable to ones that Charles Rocket and Gail Matthius regularly received in the dire Weekend Updates from season 6. Not helping the horrid jokes that Cecily’s been stuck with tonight is her forced and hammy delivery of them (as seen in the first and fourth above screencaps for this Update). Colin is actually faring much better than Cecily tonight, despite still being a pale shadow of his future, more-developed Update persona.
— That’s it? That’s the whole Update? Wow, an unusually short Update. Sure could’ve used an actual good guest commentary to give this very weak Update a much-needed boost. Some of Colin’s jokes were the ONLY thing keeping this Update from receiving the lowest rating I gave to an Update since the dreadful Fey/Poehler era of this segment.
STARS: **


MR. BIG STUFF
passerby (host) rejects women’s musical appellation of “Mr. Big Stuff”

— An interesting and entertaining format to this.
— Throughout the song, I’m really liking Louis’ detailed objections to being called “Mr. Big Stuff”. And after the song stops, I especially love his big monologue about his unappealing personal qualities.
STARS: ****


DOCTOR’S OFFICE
doctor (MOB) verifies that butts don’t contain Darth Vader action figures

— Good execution of a juvenile premise.
— Speaking of sketches with a well-executed juvenile premise, Kenan is playing the same janitor character that he played two episodes prior in the Elevator sketch from the Jim Parsons episode, at least according to SNL Archives (seen here), presumably because both sketches feature Kenan wearing the exact same janitor uniform with the “Reggie” nametag (side-by-side comparison a little below), which is probably just an example of SNL cutting corners by reusing the same costume rather than the writers intending for Kenan’s janitor character in both sketches to be the same person.

— Funny visual of Kenan mopping carpet.
— Mike is a solid straight man here, further proving how much more in-his-element he is in short films than in live sketches (the latter of which he does not appear in tonight).
STARS: ***½


PRIVATE EYES
detective (host) & partner (VAB) gaily negotiate pajama-clad sex

— When the loud background music first kicked in during the middle of a conversation Vanessa and Louis are having, I worriedly thought for a second that we were getting ANOTHER musical sketch tonight, which I certainly didn’t need a second helping of (as much as I liked the Mr. Big Stuff sketch). Thankfully, it turns out that the background music in this sketch didn’t lead to singing.
— A very strange concept and approach to this sketch. I am liking Louis’ intentionally stilted delivery of his lines, just because it’s Louis, of all people, delivering it.
— As this sketch progresses, the very odd dialogue and approach is really growing on me. And in addition to the funny novelty of seeing Louis, of all people, delivering lines like this, this sketch is also helped by Vanessa’s charming and solid performance.
— Bobby’s (who’s surprisingly making his first appearance all night here) brief scene adds to the intentional weirdness and stilted-ness of this sketch.
— Speaking of weirdness, we get a noteworthy unscripted bit at the end, where, after reading the strange-sounding line “I love you, no” off the cue card, Louis openly drops character and asks an amused “What?!?” in response to the oddness of the line he just read. I have absolutely no idea what in the world that was all about (did he misread “I love you, no” off the cue card, or did they put “I love you, no” on the cue card at the last minute to intentionally throw Louis off, because they knew it would get a funny reaction from him?), but it was certainly amusing.
STARS: ***


DYKE & FATS
Chicago policewomen Dyke (KAM) & Fats (AIB) embrace their salient traits

 

— A famous and highly-regarded piece.
— Hilarious reveal of the Dyke & Fats title, as well as the full names of the Dyke & Fats characters: Les Dykawitz and Chubbina Fatzarelli.
— A very fun and amusing opening credits sequence. This mid-2010s SNL era seems to be really good at recreating the look and spirit of the opening credits of 1970s/80s cop shows (one of my favorite TV genres), as the following season has that great “Blazer” pre-tape (where Taran plays a rogue cop who always goes out of his way to only punch black people).
— An actual very funny and well-done approach to spoofing lesbian and overweight stereotypes, and this is definitely one of SNL’s best uses of Kate and Aidy’s chemistry.
— Excellent twist with the negative, offended reaction Dyke & Fats have to Louis referring to them by their nicknames, and how that abruptly turns out to be the end of this sketch. And the “Created by Kate McKinnon & Aidy Bryant” closing credit, as well as the fact that this Dyke & Fats episode itself turns out to be far shorter than its lengthy opening credits sequence, gives this an Astronaut Jones feel.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lay Me Down”


CHRIS FITZPATRICK FOR ASB PRESIDENT
Chris Fitzpatrick (KYM) presents his high school class president platform

— Another trunk piece that Kyle has brought to SNL from his YouTube days.
— This perfectly captures the spirit of “edgy” teens, in that always-funny, intentionally stilted, low-budget Kyle Mooney way.
— I love the use of disturbing stock footage during the scene transitions. There’s an especially funny detail of one of the car crash clips having a GettyImages watermark.
— Lots of funny personal qualities that Kyle’s Chris Fitzpatrick is disclosing about himself.
STARS: ****


ROMANTIC SPEECH
crazy talk pervades (host)’s reconciliation with ex-girlfriend (AIB)

— Louis’ extremely random, insane non-sequitur lines to Aidy are cracking me up. I’m enjoying the absurdist approach to this sketch.
— One part I’m “meh” about is the running bit with Louis pronouncing “man” as “mang”, as it’s not making me laugh anywhere near as much as the rest of his oddball lines.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— A particularly generous and very sweet goodnights speech from Louis, even namedropping Phil Hymes (SNL’s lighting director for many years) at one point when complimenting Hymes’ great work on the lighting of the studio.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Easily the best episode since the first third of this season. SNL is now 2-for-2 in damn strong Louis C.K.-hosted episodes. Two solid hosting stints in, and Louis is becoming more and more comfortable AND comforting as a host, and I always find it fun on SNL to see him occasionally attempt something way out of his element, such as the Private Eyes sketch tonight and that Polish immigrant play from his later 2017 episode. It’ll be interesting to see if the streak of Louis C.K.-hosted episodes being strong continues after this. I recall loving his aforementioned 2017 episode, but I’m kinda having a hard time remembering half of the stuff from his 2015 episode off the top of my head.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Dyke & Fats
Monologue
Jos. A. Bank
Black Jeopardy!
Mr. Big Stuff / Chris Fitzpatrick For ASB President (tie)
Baby Boss
Romantic Speech
Doctor’s Office
HealthCare.gov Meeting
Private Eyes
Weekend Update


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lena Dunham)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Anna Kendrick

Posted on

November 3, 2012 – Louis C.K. / fun. (S38 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
sign-language interpreters (CES) & (NAP) augment Hurricane Sandy presser

— Cecily is fantastic in her parody of the sign-language interpreter from Michael Bloomberg’s Hurricane Sandy press conference that week. Cecily’s getting a lot of laughs here.
— Nasim is also very funny as a crude New Jersey interpreter during Bobby-as-Chris-Christie’s speech. Bobby-as-Christie’s speech itself is also hilarious, and is delivered excellently by him.
— We end with a funny spoof of the real Michael Bloomberg’s penchant for making poor attempts at speaking Spanish. During that spoof, there are also good laughs from what Fred’s Bloomberg says about white people loving the show Homeland.
STARS: ****½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about helping an old lady who fell at the airport

— Feels like it’s been too long since I last reviewed a stand-up monologue, though I guess Russell Brand and Zach Galifianakis’ season 36 monologues weren’t that long ago. I usually always enjoy reviewing this type of monologue.
— An endless amount of funny comments from Louis C.K. about his experience helping one particular old lady.
— Very funny accent from Louis whenever he imitates the old lady’s voice.
— A particularly great portion of this monologue with Louis explaining he loves the fact that old ladies say whatever’s on their mind. Some great lines from Louis during this bit are “The filter comes off around 72”, “8-year-old boys and old ladies have the same sense of propriety”, and Louis equating old ladies’ habit of freely speaking their mind because they’re on their way out to a guy who just got fired and says rude things to his co-workers while carrying his box out of the office.
STARS: ****½


FOX & FRIENDS
FEMA official (host) tries rebutting bad disaster advice

— Feels so odd seeing Jason play Donald Trump, for the only time ever. As I mentioned in a recent review, I doubt a lot of SNL fans today remember Jason ever doing this impression.
— A few okay comments from Jason’s Trump, and his impression comes off less stale than how Darrell Hammond’s Trump gradually became prior to this.
— A particularly funny moronic line from Bobby’s Brian Kilmeade, disclosing the fact that he calls piranhas with AIDS “parades”.
— Louis is a solid straight man here.
— Another very funny moronic line from Bobby’s Kilmeade: “I threw my milk out and now I dunk my cookies in shampoo!”
STARS: ****


LINCOLN
stand-up comic Abraham Lincoln (host) expects assassination in dramedy

— Great to already see our second post-Lonely Island short film just one episode after the first one, which was fantastic (Sad Mouse).
— The opening scene between Louis’ Abe Lincoln and Kenan is excellent.
— A priceless reveal of this being a “Louie”-style sitcom starring Abraham Lincoln, complete with a spot-on and hilarious recreation of the Louie opening credits. I’m pretty sure I even spotted a passerby giving Louis’ Lincoln the finger, much like a passerby doing that to Louis in the actual Louie opening credits. Interestingly, in this version, it looks like the finger was left uncensored.
— Seeing Louis’ Lincoln doing stand-up in Louis’ trademark style is very funny.
— A solid tense conversation between Louis’ Lincoln and Aidy’s Mary Todd Lincoln.
— There’s even some great details in the names shown in the ending credits during the conversation Louis’ Lincoln has with Jay.
STARS: ****½


AUSTRALIAN SCREEN LEGENDS
down-under accents undermine dramatic scenes

— A funny unexpected turn during the opening love scene between Bill and Kate, with them suddenly breaking out extremely goofy Australian accents and expressions after such a long, tender build-up with their affectionate non-speaking actions.
— Seeing Louis C.K. attempt an Australian accent is alone worth a laugh.
— Louis, to a dying Kate: “Any last words?” Kate: “Uh…kangaroo, I guess.”
— Humorous goofy charm throughout this.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Some Nights”


WEEKEND UPDATE
sidelined by Hurricane Sandy, Mitt Romney (JAS) makes a final vote-for-me pitch

social media expert Kourtney Barnes (AIB) defends inane online commentary

The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party is strident & spacey

SEM tells viewers how they can contribute to the Hurricane Sandy relief effort

— During the Mitt Romney commentary, I like the mention of how Hurricane Sandy took so much attention away from the fact that there’s a presidential election taking place in just a few days. This really takes me back to this hectic portion of 2012.
— A laugh from Jason-as-Romney’s dismissive and mumbly “…or woman” and “…or she” when making statements like “It takes a man…”.
— Great to see Aidy finally get her very first comedic lead role.
— Aidy’s proving herself really well in this first big comedic showcase of hers. Her delivery in this commentary is terrific, making the ridiculous immature social media posts she reads come off even funnier than they already are.
— Kinda interesting how both of this season’s new female cast members each get their own Update commentary in the same episode.
— This is the first appearance that Cecily’s Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party makes in a regular episode. She made her actual debut earlier this season in a Weekend Update Thursday special.
— Cecily’s got a great handle on this character, and is making so many funny dumb “informed” statements and malaprops.
— Girl You Wish etc.: “Seth, can I sing a negro spiritual real quick?” Seth: “NO!”
— Tonight’s Update ends on a serious note with Seth telling us the URL and phone number to make a donation for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
STARS: ***


MOUNTAIN PASS
while on a Middle Ages quest, (host) annoys folk with his horn blowing

— Hoo, boy. I recall this sketch being…uh…something.
— A funny little detail with Louis subtly moving the horn away from his mouth a bit while the horn-blowing sound effect is still playing.
— Another laugh, this time from Louis moving the horn away from his mouth in a longer, more exaggerated, blatant manner the third time he blows the horn.
— Wait, is the horn-blowing going to be the whole joke of this sketch?
— Okay, at least now, the sketch is going in a different direction. Not sure I like this direction, though.
— A big laugh from what’s probably the most remembered part of this sketch: Louis giving up when having to read a hard-to-pronounce Middle Ages-type word off the cue card, and opting instead to just refer to that word as “something” while chuckling out of character.
— Boy, where is this sketch going??? Is this another example of SNL wasting money by going through the trouble of using an impressive, fancy set and costumes for a lousy sketch with little-to-no laughs?
— Bill at least has a funny line right now, where, after calling the name Zorg weird, he reveals his own name is Nornt.
— Another funny line from Bill right now, with him exasperatedly exclaiming “Zesus Jeist!”
— Overall, despite my occasional complaints about this sketch, and as mediocre as the material itself as a whole indeed was, it was given a boost by a few laughs and a really likable atmosphere, the latter mainly helped by Louis’ “Don’t give a fuck”-type looseness.
STARS: **½


HOTEL FEES
at the end of (BOM)’s hotel stay, (host) reviews items charged to bill

— Pretty funny bit regarding the diamonds Bobby’s being charged for.
— Something about Louis’ way of saying “potatoes” in that dignified, professional voice tickles me.
— I’m enjoying Louis causally mentioning bizarre things on Bobby’s bill, like “16 cubic meters of argon”.
— Good bit with Fred passing by with the stuffed bobcat that was mentioned earlier as being stolen from Bobby’s hotel room.
— An odd but pretty charming little moment at the very end, with Bobby and Louis both dropping character and openly laughing with each other right before the screen fades to black.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Louis even gets a good laugh from the audience during this musical guest intro, by quickly changing his smiling facial expression to an exaggeratedly serious facial expression when realizing the show has come back from commercial break, then playfully gesturing to the now-laughing audience to shut up.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Carry On”


LAST CALL
desperate (host) & Sheila Sovage (KAM) hurtle toward a last-call hook-up

— The debut of both Kate’s Sheila Sovage character and the Last Call recurring sketch.
— I’m already loving the offbeat, non-sequitur-filled conversation between Kate’s Sovage and Louis, right from the beginning of it.
— Kate and Louis’ conversation and interplay are getting increasingly hilarious, and are being so well-performed by both Kate and Louis.
— A very funny disgusting make-out session between Kate and Louis, which gets a wild audience reaction.
— Solid ending with Kenan trying to block Kate and Louis’ lovemaking outside the window by spraypainting the window and saying to us, “I don’t wanna know how that pans out.”
— An overall very strong closing sketch.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong episode, especially with that great string of segments rated four or four-and-a-half stars in the first 20 or so minutes. Even the only segment I found weak in this episode (Mountain Pass) had its redeemable factors. Louis C.K. did a solid job in his hosting debut, even coming off a little out of his element in a fun way during some sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lincoln
Press Conference
Last Call
Monologue
Fox & Friends
Hotel Fees
Australian Screen Legends
Weekend Update
Mountain Pass


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bruno Mars)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Anne Hathaway