Tag: One Direction

Posted on

December 20, 2014 – Amy Adams / One Direction (S40 E10)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A VERY SOMBER CHRISTMAS WITH SAM SMITH / DR. EVIL ADDRESS
Dr. Evil (MIM) thinks North Korea & Sony Pictures should up their game

— At first, I almost thought Beck’s opening voice-over was him attempting to do a Don Pardo vocal imitation.
— Taran’s Sam Smith impression is always funny.
— Was it intentional for Taran to point in the wrong direction when singing the “decorate the tree” lyric? The tree is in the opposite direction he pointed to.
— Wow, Mike Myers as Dr. Evil out of freakin’ nowhere!
— Mike has absolutely still got it as Dr. Evil.
— Ha, when this originally aired, I remember wondering if that Uber mention from Dr. Evil infuriated the SNL fans who complained online about the various Uber mentions that this season’s Chris Rock episode contained.
— Some good lines and slams from Mike’s Dr. Evil here, including the self-deprecating Love Guru slam. However, the humor in this Dr. Evil speech isn’t quite as strong as I want it to be, and a few of his slams feel too tame.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
KRW adds pizzazz to host’s rendition of “We Need A Little Christmas”

— MUSICAL MONOLOGUE WARNING
— Wait, screw what I said above. More like: KRISTEN WIIG CAMEO WARNING
— The audience proceeds to give Kristen’s entrance what practically feels like a 30-second applause break. Oh, so you mean she’s NOT still in the cast? Could’ve fooled me with how often she’s appeared after leaving.
— Amy Adams, to Kristen: “Isn’t this the second time you’ve crashed my monologue?” Hell, Amy, it’s the second time Kristen crashed someone’s monologue THIS SEASON. Also, to nitpick, Kristen technically didn’t crash your previous monologue, Amy. You brought her up onstage yourself to address the facial resemblance that people say you and her have.
— At least Kristen appearing in Bill Hader’s monologue earlier this season made sense, given the Skeleton Twins movie Bill was promoting. But this??? Come the hell on, SNL. Learn to cut the umbilical cord with Kristen already!
— I did at least get a laugh just now from Kristen randomly telling an SNL stagehand, “Thank you, Mariah Carey.” Kristen is admittedly always solid at delivering random one-liners like that in a very straitlaced, deadpan manner.
— Ugh, this Wiig-involved “We Need A Little Christmas” musical number is a chore to sit through. And I hate that I’m being so salty towards such a jolly, fun-loving traditional Christmas song, but a Wiig cameo in an era bombarded with Wiig cameos tends to have that effect on me.
STARS: *½


ASIAN AMERICAN DOLL
to avoid political incorrectness, Asian American Doll is a blank slate

— I love Cecily-as-the-voice-over’s disclosure that the company had to have a lot of sensitivity meetings about their doll.
— Yikes, an odd audio gaffe during a close-up of Vanessa (in the ONLY appearance she’ll be making all night, by the way) speaking, where you can hear audio of an SNL stagehand testing out a microphone live in SNL’s studio, which drowns out the line that Vanessa’s saying at this moment.
— Cecily, in a kind manner, towards the little girl asking a string of questions about the Asian American Doll: “You ask a lot of questions. You should go play outside”, a very funny line that’s accompanied by a great shot of Vanessa guiding that little girl out of the room.
— Hilarious bit with Vanessa getting cut off when struggling badly to come up with a non-offensive phrase that the Asian American Doll can say when you pull her string.
— So many fantastic lines from Cecily, doing terrific work as the commercial’s voice-over.
— An absolutely priceless bit with one of the little girls questioning the puppy and chef hat accessories by wondering if the chef hat is so the doll can eat the puppy because she’s Asian, resulting in Cecily as the voice-over going into a total panic and Vanessa nervously leaving the room in a hurry. To me, that’s the moment that officially propels this already-perfect commercial into a bonafide classic.
— I feel that, in a lot of ways, this commercial is like a companion piece to The Dudleys commercial from earlier this season in the Woody Harrelson episode. (And Chris Kelly & Sarah Schneider wrote both, I believe.) As fantastic and sharp as that Dudleys commercial is, I’ve personally always felt that this Asian American Doll commercial is an even better variation of that concept, which is why I only gave The Dudleys a four-and-a-half-star rating in my review of it. I was saving the five-star rating for this.
STARS: *****


TENDERFIELD CHRISTMAS 2014
family’s video Christmas card documents unhappy events from the past year

— An interesting and unique structure to this sketch.
— I like the way the “…in my Christmas sweatpants!” lyric is being used as a recurring lyric throughout this, especially whenever it’s said after a disturbing revelation.
— I’m enjoying the increasingly unfortunate family stories being told.
— The way this ended felt kinda flat.
STARS: ***


SERIAL
Sarah Koenig’s (CES) podcast has Kris Kringle (KYM) skepticism

— I’m admittedly not familiar at all with Serial, but that’s never stopped me from finding this spoof of it to be absolutely fantastic. Even without having any familiarity with the source material, I have no trouble following the tone and style that this spoof is going for, and this spoof absolutely works for me on its own merits.
— Another outstanding performance from Cecily tonight.
— I absolutely love Kyle as a realistic, dodgy Kris Kringle. In particular, the phone calls messages of him throughout this are excellent.
— Man, the tone of this short, the acting, the humor, the way such a silly concept is being played so straight… everything in this is pure perfection.
— The courtroom sketch drawing of Aidy is hilarious, and is accompanied perfectly by the specific voice she’s using in her voice-over during it.
— Overall, an absolutely brilliant pre-tape, a season highlight, and an SNL highlight in general. I remember there were a lot of SNL reviewers at the time who didn’t like this Serial spoof at all and considered it to be overlong and a complete bore, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some SNL fans who still feel that way about it today, but let’s just say I strongly disagree and can’t understand the negativity.
STARS: *****


GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
dance squad members (musical guest) enchant Morgan

— Much like the Ex-Porn Stars recurring sketch, this Girlfriends Talk Show recurring sketch making its first appearance this far into the season is proof that it’s being phased out.
— I love Aidy’s delivery of her character’s awkward attempt at a sassy comeback: “You better take your chewable vitamins…along with your bitch sandwich…and then…go ahead and sit on the sandwich AS WELL!”
— Cue the incessant screams from teen girls in the audience upon One Direction making their obligatory sketch appearance of the night.
— Cecily’s “My boyfriend’s crazy” stories are beyond formulaic and tired by this point.
— Overall, aside from some good lines from Aidy as usual, this recurring sketch continues to be well past its expiration date, and the unnecessary One Direction involvement didn’t exactly help solve my lack of enthusiasm towards this sketch.
STARS: **


OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY
workers go mildly wild in corporate environment

— The first of many Pete Davidson rap videos, though, IIRC, these don’t become a regular thing until years later.
— The song itself isn’t very catchy, unlike a lot of SNL’s songs in this type of music video in this era (e.g. Boy Dance Party), but there are enough amusing things shown happening in this video, such as a drunken, uncontrolled Aidy diving into the Christmas tree. However, I’m not finding this short anywhere near as epic as SNL wants me to.
— Something about Pete’s rapper voice is coming off Samberg-lite at certain points of this short, though I know that’s not intentional.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Night Changes”


WEEKEND UPDATE
sniper attention leads BOM to call off his Kim Jong-un impression

MIC’s hard-luck neighbor Willie (KET) has unwarranted positive attitude

songs from Hanukkah album by Garth & Kat seem rather off-the-cuff

 

— The direct message that Michael delivers towards Kim Jong-un is funny, right from his memorable opening line: “Look, Kimberly….”
— A solid meta turn to Bobby’s Kim Jong-un commentary, reminding me of the Update commentary that Andy Samberg once did as Sarah Palin.
— The sniper laser bit is a very funny ending to Bobby’s commentary, as is him trying to save face by claiming he’s Seth Rogen.
— Ah, our very first of many instances over the years of Michael or Colin doing an Update joke where the punchline is about their co-anchor. In tonight’s case, Michael’s “Now That’s What Jost Calls Music” punchline was hilarious, as was the accompanying photo of that album cover (the fifth-to-last above screencap for this Update).
— The debut of Kenan’s Willie character, who I’ve always loved.
— Lots of funny depressing stories from Willie about himself, delivered in a jolly manner. However, with this being his first appearance, the disturbing nature of his stories is fairly tame here compared to later appearances of his, where they up the ante on the disturbing humor.
— I recall hearing that Michael took some heat from some online SNL fans for his mispronunciation of “sedatives”, leading him to go off on one of his infamous back-and-forth arguments with people online. Did such a heated, nasty argument really break out over a mere (and understandable) mispronunciation of a word? Geez, I guess it’s a good thing social media didn’t exist yet when Joe Pesci mispronounced “maniacal” in a Joe Pesci Show sketch he cameoed in.
— The return of Garth & Kat?!?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDI– (*without even finishing that last sentence, Stooge immediately douses himself with gasoline and sets himself aflame, welcoming the sweet pain that brings, finding it to be far more soothing than sitting through another dreaded Garth & Kat commentary*)
— Once again, I ask, has Kristen Wiig left the cast? Oh, the same goes for Fred Armisen, for that matter.
— Oh, how I look forward to seeing these wretched Garth & Kat characters deservedly bomb HARD with the audience when they appear in SNL’s then-upcoming 40th Anniversary Special that I’ll be reviewing when we come to that point of this season.
STARS: *** (as usual, Garth & Kat’s commentary was bad and overlong enough to bring Weekend Update’s rating down half a star)


A VERY CUBAN CHRISTMAS
lifted embargo inspires a scattershot special

— Because we didn’t already have enough Fred Armisen in our lives, we now hear him doing the voice-over throughout this sketch. Is he further trying to prove my point that it doesn’t feel like he ever left the cast?
— So far, the format of this sketch seems very boring, and seems like the type of “musical TV special” sketch I often dislike in recent SNL seasons like this.
— It’s now a minute-and-a-half later, and yep, I’m indeed very bored by this sketch.
— Kate playing her stock “brash hardass” role. As been-there-done-that as it feels here, it’s still working more for me than almost anything else in this sketch.
— Aaaaaaand there goes Fred now appearing in person in this sketch. (*sigh*) I know he’s part Venezuelan, but his appearance in this Cuban sketch still feels completely unnecessary. Lorne’s endless hard-on for nostalgia towards SNL’s then-recent late 00s/early 10s era just makes me shake my head, given how way-too-recent that era is at this point in 2014 for constant nostalgia and mini-reunions.
— Poor Beck has been almost completely non-existent tonight. I could use his and Vanessa’s extreme lack of appearances tonight as another excuse to bitch about how Fred and Kristen are taking away airtime from actual current cast members, but I don’t even have the strength anymore.
— Not even the Obama bit is anything great.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ready to Run”


A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS
in 1947, raccoons (KAM), (host), (CES) get to be human nightclub singers

— I recall absolutely hating this sketch when it originally aired, dismissing it as typical James Anderson/Kent Sublette-written tripe. However, it would later grow on me. I’m not even fully sure why it grew on me, but I think it has to do with the fact that, when re-watching it and knowing in hindsight about the raccoon reveal at the end, it causes Amy, Kate, and Cecily’s questionable actions to make sense and come off funnier to me than it did when I originally watched this sketch live and had no knowledge of the ending twist that was coming.
— I’m still enjoying this sketch in my current viewing, despite some typical annoying Anderson/Sublette tropes in this (e.g. Amy’s character being named Frebecca).
— The comically brief songs from the ladies are amusing me.
— As I somewhat implied above, I strangely like the ending reveal of the ladies actually being raccoons, and I also like the silly visual of puppet raccoons singing one of the (oddly catchy) brief jingles from earlier in this sketch.
STARS: ***


WHISKERS R’ WE
Barbara & her new girlfriend (host) give away cats

— Are literally half of this episode’s sketches (including the monologue) written by Anderson and/or Sublette?
— I liked this sketch in its first installment, but I can’t say this is working much for me as a recurring sketch. I’m finding most of the humor here only mildly funny at best. And it’s pure laziness to just repeat the same sexually frisky behavior that the character played by the host displays towards Kate’s character. At least give the character played by the host their own individual characteristic in each installment of this sketch.
— I did like Kate’s line just now towards a touchy-feely Amy: “I think you know where the cat ends and my boobs begin.”
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Despite two outstanding highlights, both of which are all-time favorites of mine (Asian American Doll and Serial), this episode was fairly meh as a whole. There were too many things that I either didn’t care for or felt were forgettably average, there was too much of the tired and completely unnecessary cameos from Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen, and there was a little too much of a “James Anderson/Kent Sublette influence” feel to the night (even if I liked their raccoons sketch).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Asian American Doll
Serial
A Very Somber Christmas with Sam Smith / Dr. Evil Address
A Magical Christmas
Weekend Update
Tenderfield Christmas 2014
Office Christmas Party
Girlfriends Talk Show
Whiskers R’ We
A Very Cuban Christmas
Monologue


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Martin Freeman)
a big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
We enter the year 2015, with host Kevin Hart

Posted on

December 7, 2013 – Paul Rudd / One Direction (S39 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE SOUND OF MUSIC: LIVE & CONDENSED
The Sound Of Music featuring Dooneese and Lawrence Welk (FRA)

— Former cast member Kristen Wiig out of freakin’ nowhere. And why tonight, of all nights? After all, there was a big announcement earlier in the week of this episode that we’d be getting cameos from Paul Rudd’s fellow “news team” members of the then-released Anchorman 2: Will Ferrell, David Koechner, and Steve Carell (and with that, the big announcement also revealed that Anchorman 2 director Adam McKay was returning behind-the-scenes at SNL to write a new installment of a certain late 90s recurring sketch we’ll be seeing at the end of this episode). That announcement was certainly exciting, but how am I supposed to also get excited about this episode throwing in an additional cameo from a former cast member who 1) comes from a much more recent era than Ferrell and Koechner, 2) appears on the show too often after she left just a mere year-and-a-half prior to this, and 3) is reprising an overdone character that only worked for me the first time?
— Oh, wow, folks. There goes Dooneese fondling somebody’s nipples with her baby hands. Something we’ve totally NEVER seen her do a million times before. [/end sarcasm]
— I can’t even enjoy this change in setting for Dooneese. She’s just doing the same old crap she always does.
— I did get a laugh just now from Taran’s Captain Von Trapp angrily ordering the kids to “march outside and stare at the sun!”
— Showing how Kristen’s recurring characters tend to blend together, wasn’t that butt-whistle gag that Dooneese did just now already previously done in one of Kristen’s Sexy Shana sketches?
— Aside from a few chuckles from some of the non-Dooneese parts of this Sound Of Music spoof, I’m miserable while watching this.
— (*groan*) Aaaaaaand now we get a Fred Armisen cameo (his first of way too many this season), as this Sound Of Music sketch concludes by randomly turning into yet another Lawrence Welk Show sketch, making this Dooneese appearance fully complete. Ugh. Very unnecessary.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host, musical guest, WIF, DAK, Steve Carell [real] do “Afternoon Delight”

— Paul Rudd mentions being overshadowed by a musical guest in his prior two hosting stints. To nitpick, it wasn’t just musical guest Beyonce who overshadowed Paul in his first episode. Remember, Justin Timberlake also made a few random cameos that night, and you know a Timberlake cameo is automatically going to take away the spotlight from someone.
— A very welcome sight of Paul’s “man band”: his Anchorman co-stars. And, man, it feels so great seeing David Koechner on the SNL stage again for the first time since he was unfairly fired after only one season as a cast member two decades prior. And seeing him and Will Ferrell onscreen together in an SNL segment makes me nostalgic for season 21.
— Steve Carell, to One Direction: “Why don’t you kids sit on Santa’s lap and ask for a pair of balls?”
— Not much to laugh at in the musical number, but it’s likable enough. However, I’m still not sure why they chose this as the monologue for the “Best Of This Season” special that aired in the middle of this season. (Is that the last time to this day that a season had a “Best Of” special?)
— Will Ferrell is so front-and-center for most of this monologue that, every time I watch this, I keep expecting him to be the one to say the usual monologue tagline (“We’ve got a great show for you tonight, etc.”), as this monologue tends to make one eventually forget that Paul is the host, not Will.
STARS: ***


POLITICS NATION WITH AL SHARPTON
Huffington Post contributor (host) discusses Obamacare

— Kenan’s Al Sharpton yelling “It’s fixed-ded!” reminds me of Kenan’s “FIX IT!” character from season 34.
— So far, the same-old same-old routine, but this recurring sketch somehow manages to always work decently for me.
— I got a good laugh from the ending with Kenan-as-Sharpton’s “Coming up next” announcement being him unknowingly reading off of the label on the side of one of the TV cameras.
STARS: ***


ONE DIRECTION’S #1 FAN
grown man Dan Charles (host) considers himself musical guest’s #1 fan

— A promising concept for a pre-taped Paul Rudd showcase.
— Paul is great in his execution of this, and it’s refreshing that they’re not taking this the predictable and overdone route of having Paul’s character act like a sexual predator towards the young girls.
— A big laugh from Paul’s excited initial reaction to One Direction making their entrance, made funnier by a spitwad being seen flying from Paul’s mouth when excitedly saying “It’s them!”
— Speaking of One Direction’s entrance, why are Jay and Brooks standing in the background as bodyguards? They have absolutely nothing to do or say in these roles, nor does the camera even focus on them at any point. They’re just silently standing in the background. What, SNL couldn’t be bothered to put two extras or writers in those roles?
STARS: ****


DIVORCE
divorcing (host) & (VAB) can’t resist grooving to “I Don’t Want To Know”

— Pretty funny bizarre bit about Paul’s new girlfriend being Wiccan.
— Another funny bizarre bit, this time regarding the pronunciation of the name of Vanessa’s new boyfriend, Dunkin Danish.
— A repetitive conceit with Paul and Vanessa always breaking out into jolly dancing whenever “I Don’t Want To Know” suddenly plays, but Paul and Vanessa are making this a lot of fun. I especially love Paul’s very energetic, spastic dance moves.
— Lots of funny oddball clarifications from Paul and Vanessa about their new lovers.
— Good reveal of “I Don’t Want To Know” turning out to be playing from Kenan’s phone, as it’s his ringtone.
— I like Paul knocking his chair backwards when getting up to energetically dance once again at the end of this sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Story Of My Life”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jacob outlines Hanukkah & gets emotional over SEM’s pending departure

Jebidiah Atkinson lays waste to beloved Christmas TV specials & movies

— (*groan*) Yet another Jacob commentary, continuing to beat that same one note into the ground.
— The only positive thing I can say about this Jacob commentary is that it at least ends on a different note, with him getting emotional over Seth’s soon-to-come departure from SNL.
— Oof, most of tonight’s Update jokes are awful so far, even for Seth and Cecily’s standards.
— We get a rare instance of interaction between Seth and Cecily, in a brief ad-lib they make towards each other after one of Cecily’s jokes. I’m probably forgetting something, but I think this is the first time we’ve Seth and Cecily interact with each other since their very first Update together. Sad how the only interaction between them since then was just a brief ad-lib. SNL’s not even trying to develop a chemistry between these two anchors, but then again, I guess SNL figured “Why even bother?”, considering Seth is outta here in February. But even when his mid-season replacement, Colin Jost, comes in, it’s not like SNL ends up trying to establish much chemistry between him and Cecily either.
— The great Jebidiah Atkinson has officially become recurring, only TWO EPISODES after his debut, which I guess shows how very well-received his first commentary was.
— Ha, SNL even openly acknowledges Jebidiah’s extremely-soon return, in the following exchange between Seth and him: “In case anyone forgot, the last time you were here, you shared your negative review of the Gettysburg Address.” “How could they forget it, Seth? It was only three weeks ago. Run things into the ground much?” That nice meta, self-deprecating bit sadly receives practically NO reaction from the audience.
— Man, the audience is kinda lousy during this Update in general. Some of Jebidiah’s great slams aren’t getting the big reactions they deserve. I blame Seth and Cecily’s lame-ass Update jokes for probably being what killed the audience’s mood.
— I love Jebidiah explaining “Time is not linear for me!” when Seth questions the credibility of Jebidiah’s statement about National Lampoon’s Vacation preceding Jesus’ birth.
— I admit tonight’s Jebidiah commentary is not as strong as his previous appearance, but he still has a lot of good lines here, and he’s certainly far preferable to anything else that this blah Update threw at us.
STARS: **½


MICHELANGELO’S DAVID
Michaelangelo (TAK) based David sculpture on (host), small penis & all

— Cecily’s delivery of “Oh, my god” when initially seeing the small penis on the David sculpture kinda made me laugh.
— Paul, when pointing out the size of the sculpture’s hands: “You know what they say about a man and his hands.” Cecily, pointing to the penis on the statue: “N-no. I can see it.” Jay, popping up out of nowhere: “Really? *I* can’t!”
— Another funny one-liner from Jay: “Man, kill yo’self!”
— Taran’s performance is kinda sloppy in this sketch, to the degree that he even flat out forgets at one point that it’s time for him to deliver a line, causing an awkward stretch of long silence.
— Other than the aforementioned lines, this sketch is nothing but a juvenile “small penis” joke, and not even a particularly good one.
STARS: **


WHITE CHRISTMAS
host stars in White Christmas, the black holiday movie for white people

— Funny concept.
— This is nailing a lot of tropes of black holiday movies, even if this isn’t turning out quite as strong as I feel it has the potential to be.
— Feels like Aidy has been almost non-existent in this episode. Geez, is this pre-taped short her first appearance all night???
— The black magazine review of this movie just stating “Can’t we have anything?” was funny.
— I got a huge laugh from another black magazine review, calling this “The Macklemore of movies”.
STARS: ***


SANTA’S WORKSHOP
elves don’t like skinny & health-conscious Santa’s (host) new attitude

— I feel like that opening exterior shot of “Santa’s Workshop” (screencap a little below in this review) is recycled from a previous sketch from years prior. It looks strangely very familiar. It was possibly used in the famous Glengarry Glen Elves sketch with Alec Baldwin in 2005, but I don’t have enough time to check right now.

— (*sigh*) Yet another sad reminder of how invisible SNL keeps making a lot of this season’s new featured players, as this sketch feels like the first time we’re seeing a lot of them tonight.
— Shortly after the reveal of Paul as a newly-thin Santa, something about this sketch is already giving off weak vibes.
— Yeah, it’s now a minute-and-a-half later, and I haven’t been caring for this sketch AT ALL.
— Not even Kate can steal this sketch in her walk-on.
— Okay, I do love Aidy’s (who’s finally making a live appearance in this episode, by the way) innocent delivery of “I don’t wanna hear Santa say…..’my junk’.”
— Overall, a real bummer. Aside from Aidy’s aforementioned line delivery, I got absolutely NOTHING from this sketch.
STARS: *½


PAST LOVERS
embarrassingly, (CES)’s memories of lost loves include pizza guy (host)

— I’m liking the structure to this sketch.
— Very solid acting from Cecily throughout this.
— A pretty good goofy characterization from Paul.
— Interesting turn with one of Cecily’s past lovers being a woman.
— I like the hint at the very end that Paul’s character isn’t an imagined spirit after all, but is unsettlingly actually there in person at Cecily’s apartment.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Through the Dark”


BILL BRASKY
(host) & fellow drunk businessmen laud Bill Brasky at Chuck E. Cheese’s

— YEEEESSSSS!!! The special return of Bill Brasky, one of my personal favorite recurring sketches of all time.
— David Koechner: “Brasky’s testicles have an I.Q. of 91!”
— Taran: “Brasky’s ejaculate can cure leprosy!” David: “I wish I had leprosy!”
— Man, Taran is coming off as an absolute NATURAL as one of the Brasky guys. He is nailing the usual characterization of these guys. He either must’ve been a big fan of this recurring sketch back in the day, or he binge-watched all of the Brasky sketches after being cast as one of the Brasky guys in this week’s reprisal of this recurring sketch. I’m guessing it’s the former and not the latter.
— Paul is also fitting in well as one of the Brasky guys.
— It would’ve been great if Steve Carell was also one of the Brasky guys here, not only so all of the Anchorman 2 stars who appeared earlier in tonight’s monologue could play Brasky guys here, but also because Carell seems like he’d fit in well doing a “Brasky guy” characterization.
— Cecily appearing in Ana Gasteyer’s usual “Would you men please quiet down?” role from previous installments of this sketch.
— Now Kenan appears in Tim Meadows’ usual “Hey, you guys talkin’ about Bill Brasky?” role. I recall hearing that Tim later disclosed he was bothered by the fact that SNL didn’t call him up to reprise this role.
— Overall, an absolute treat, as anticipated. This did not let me down.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An okay episode, but nothing special as a whole. A little better than I had remembered, but there were still a few real bummers in here (the Dooneese cold opening, some of the non-Jebidiah Atkinson portions of Weekend Update, the Santa’s Workshop sketch). Despite being “overshadowed” by One Direction and the various special guests of the night, Paul Rudd still held his own tonight and had some shining moments, moreso than he had in either of his prior two hosting stints.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bill Brasky
One Direction’s #1 Fan
Divorce
Past Lovers
White Christmas
Monologue
Politics Nation with Al Sharpton
Weekend Update
Michelangelo’s David
The Sound Of Music: Live & Condensed
Santa’s Workshop


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Josh Hutcherson)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
John Goodman makes his hosting return after a long 13-year hiatus

Posted on

April 7, 2012 – Sofia Vergara / One Direction (S37 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Mitt Romney’s (JAS) pandering fails to sway special interest audiences

— A fairly fun format with Jason’s Mitt Romney being shown giving a campaign speech at various, increasingly out-of-place events that he unconvincingly tries pandering to.
— I like Kenan’s delivery of “Are you crazy? This is a hell hole!”
— Kate McKinnon makes her very first SNL appearance, as this is her first episode as a cast member. Knowing what a hugely popular cast member she’d later become, I find it kinda amusing (though certainly understandable) to see in hindsight that her very first SNL appearance has her as a non-speaking, non-comedic background extra (seen to Jason’s left in the sixth above screencap for this cold opening).
— The scene with Jason’s Romney at a piercing convention is particularly funny, especially him disclosing the fact that he had his taint pierced.
— Ooh, a meta turn, with Jason-as-Romney’s next campaign stop being at SNL.
— A very nice, welcome, and funny way to shake up the usual LFNY routine. Kinda reminds me of the way SNL’s McLaughlin Group cold openings with Dana Carvey would always shake up the LFNYs.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— As I mentioned above in my review of the cold opening, Kate McKinnon has been added to the cast tonight.

Without checking, I think I implied in my review of the monologue from Kenan Thompson’s very first episode as a cast member (which was way back in season 29) that it’s going to feel odd when I eventually reach the debut of the second longest-tenured member of SNL’s current (as of 2020) cast: Kate McKinnon. And now that I’m finally at that point, yep, I was correct in that it indeed feels odd arriving at the tenure of a non-Kenan cast member who’s still on the show today. Not only does it feel odd, but it feels major in a way. It’s making me realize how closer and closer I’m getting to officially completing this SNL project of mine. I imagine that aforementioned odd, major feel I’m getting from reaching Kate’s debut will double when I reach the debuts of the also-still-currently-on-the-show-in-2020 Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong just a small handful of episodes from now.
— On another note about Kate, it also feels kinda odd in hindsight seeing her in the homestretch of the Kristen Wiig era. I often forget that Kate and Kristen’s SNL tenures overlapped for a few episodes.


MONOLOGUE
host relishes her success in America & introduces her son Manolo [real]

— Sofia Vergara’s accent is a little hard to understand at times here, but I find it kinda charming seeing a host with such a natural heavy foreign accent.
— Sofia gets a good laugh demonstrating how her accent can make the most un-sexiest words (e.g. gonorrhea) sound sexy.
— A pretty nice surprise to see that this ends up being a real monologue, with no involvement from the cast or anyone else but the host (not counting the non-speaking shots of Sofia’s family in the audience).
STARS: ***


JUST FRIENDS BOOTY SHORTS
Just Friends booty shorts belie guys’ protestations of heterosexuality

— A gay-themed premise that initially seems kinda cheap, but the visuals of a carefree Jason and Andy in the “Just Friends” booty shorts are goofy and jolly enough to make this commercial pretty fun. I especially like shot of Jason and Andy happily spinning each other around in a circle in Times Square. (IIRC, that shot would later be shown in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special during the highlight reel of SNL’s most New York City-centric moments.)
— Lately, Taran seems to be slowly taking over Fred’s place as SNL’s go-to performer for gay male roles.
— During the bit with Jason and Andy’s “Not” “Gay” matching tanktops, I got a laugh from the gag with Andy being approached by two gay guys at a bar when he’s left alone with just his “Gay” tanktop.
STARS: ***½


BEIN’ QUIRKY WITH ZOOEY DESCHANEL
Zooey Deschanel (ABE), Drew Barrymore (KRW) & Fran Drescher (host) are eccentric

Mayim Bialik (ANS) & Joey Lawrence (FRA) promote Old Navy

— The second and final appearance of this sketch.
— Like last time, the various random mini-segments within this talk show are fun.
— Also like last time, I’m enjoying all of Taran-as-Michael-Cera’s meek little interjections.
— Hmm, even Sofia Vergara can do a Fran Drescher impression?
— A good initially-disappointed reaction shot from Taran’s Cera when Abby’s Zooey Deschanel tells him, as a compliment, “You’re like a sister to me!”
STARS: ***½


ALMOST PIZZA
(BIH) is suspicious of pseudofood hyped by his wife (KRW)

— The premise reminds me a little of SNL’s That’s Not Yogurt commercial from season 18, but this is still good in its own right so far.
— A particularly funny gag with Kristen unconvincingly pretending to eat the pizza while having her face in a profile angle.
— Bill’s increasing frustration is solid.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½


NEWS TEAM PROMO
moronic (FRA) can’t execute simple turn during TV news team promo shoot

— Ugh. Like I said in a previous episode review, I know it’s not right to judge a non-recurring sketch from its first 15 seconds, but I can already tell from the early reveal of Fred as a slow-witted, dopey-voiced lead character that I am in for a looooooooong sketch.
— Fred’s character’s failure to do the simple task of turning towards the camera during the news team promo filming is not only unfunny, but it’s reminiscent of that really dumb sketch with Peyton Manning where Manning was an actor who kept failing throw a boulder that he was supposed to during the filming of a scene from the movie 300.
— Was that non-sequitur line from Sofia’s character about her boobs even necessary? They only seemed to throw in that line because this character is played by Sofia Vergara.
— I finally got one laugh, thanks to good ol’ Bill, with his delivery of “Don’t give me your wallet!” The line itself was nothing special; it was just something about the way Bill said it that tickled me.
— What an awful, awful ending.
STARS: *½


GILLY
Gilly antagonizes sex ed teacher (host) & foresees her own demise

— The first Gilly sketch in a year-and-a-half, and this ends up being the final Gilly sketch, not counting a brief pre-taped appearance she makes in Kristen’s monologue from the season 38 episode that Kristen hosts.
— Abby, who’s Paula character was introduced in the third-to-last Gilly sketch, continues to remind me of Melanie Hutsell with the open-mouthed mugging facial expression she makes at the end of every one of her lines as this Paula character.
— As I sheepishly admitted in my review of the Drew Barrymore installment of this recurring sketch, Gilly has begun to slightly grow on me after her first few sketches. I still don’t find her all that funny, but I do now find her tolerable and harmless enough. Call me crazy.
— What was with the random long pause from Sofia in the middle of her line after the Gilly theme song ended?
— It was weird enough to see Jason do Will Forte’s old “Gilllllyyyyyyyy” routine in the Gilly/Glee mash-up sketch, but it’s even weirder seeing Sofia Vergara do that “Gilllllyyyyyyyy” routine.
— Very funny visual gag of Bobby popping a boner under the books resting on his crotch, in response to a suggestive statement Sofia makes.
— Ooh, we get a big change of pace all of a sudden, with a fantasy sequence of an elderly Gilly on her deathbed. I’m really liking this.
— We get another change of pace at the very end of this sketch, where, after offending EVERYBODY in the classroom by going too far in telling Sofia, “Suck it, bitch”, Gilly uncharacteristically gives a very sincere apology many times in a row as the camera zooms in on her while her ending theme music plays. All of these changes of pace in tonight’s Gilly sketch have not only resulted in what is, IMO, easily the best Gilly sketch (not that that’s a high bar), but have offered nice closure to this recurring sketch. When this originally aired, all of these signs that this sketch was Gilly’s official retirement, along with rumors circulating at the time about upcoming departures of certain cast members (Kristen, Jason, and Andy), made some online SNL fans at the time, including myself (as seen here in my old 2012 review of this episode), speculate if this sketch was a sign that Kristen would be leaving at the end of this season. Also adding to that speculation was the late-in-the-season cast addition of Kate McKinnon, given the fact that some people who checked out Kate’s pre-SNL online comedy videos noted some Kristen Wiig similarities in Kate’s performance style, and this made those people wonder if SNL’s hiring of Kate was their way of preparing for Kristen’s upcoming departure.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What Makes You Beautiful”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Drunk Uncle isn’t looking forward to spending Easter with his family

— We get a glimpse of the voice that Seth likely would’ve used if he, instead of Jason, ever played Mitt Romney on SNL.
— The already-funny Drunk Uncle is getting even better and better with each passing appearance. My biggest laughs in his commentary tonight are from him exclaiming an annoyed “eBay of Pigs!” out of nowhere, him mistaking the then-upcoming Easter holiday for St. Patrick’s Day, and him saying, as a complete non-sequitur, “He’s still Cassius Clay to me, Seth.”
— Wow, Update’s over already? Surprised this had only one guest commentary, but it’s a nice contrast to how much space Update took up in the preceding episode.
STARS: ***


THE MANUEL ORTIZ SHOW
Latin rhythm engulfs (host)’s family reunion

— (*groan*) Figures they’d resort to bringing this sketch back tonight just because we have a Hispanic host. It’s like how SNL used to lazily resort to digging up the old Besos Y Lagrimas recurring sketch (which I think is from the same writer(s) of these Manuel Ortiz Show sketches) when they would have a Hispanic host. At least this ends up being the final Manuel Ortiz Show installment.
— I kinda chuckled at Taran’s intense delivery of “Si way!” after Sofia says “No way!”
— Is it just me, or does Bill wear that EXACT SAME wig and outfit in every single Manuel Ortiz Show sketch he appears in, despite playing a different character each time?
— When this originally aired, I and some other online SNL fans noted the fact that one of the One Direction guys looked eerily like Terry Sweeney in this sketch, with the fake mustache and the hammy facial expressions he was making (the guy second from the left in the last above screencap for this sketch). I don’t see the Sweeney resemblance quite as much anymore, but it’s still there a little bit.
STARS: *½


LIL POUNDCAKE
— Rerun from 10/1/11.
— Some major audio glitches at the beginning of this repeated ad.


WATCH WHAT HAPPENS: LIVE
Andy Cohen (TAK) chats with Desmond Tutu (KET) & others

— We get a Seth voice-over at the beginning, during the usual “You’re watching (insert TV network here)” bit that a lot of SNL’s TV show sketches in this era (including the Manuel Ortiz sketch that preceded this) open with.
— I’ve only seen a few glimpses of Andy Cohen, and thus, I can’t judge the accuracy of Taran’s impression of him, but Taran’s performance is pretty fun. However, it does further prove my earlier point about Taran playing more and more gay roles lately.
— I like the incongruity of Desmond Tutu appearing on a show like this.
— Kate McKinnon gets her very first SNL comedic role, in a small scene within this sketch in which she’s the only cast member present. I love the idea of that, but unfortunately, despite a decent performance from her, Kate’s scene itself isn’t doing much for me, maybe because I’ve never seen the Tabatha Takes Over show that Kate’s scene is spoofing.
— I feel crazy for saying this, but Kate somehow looks older to me in her first episode than she looks today, 8 years later.
— Kenan’s giddy portrayal of Desmond Tutu is amusing me throughout this sketch.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “One Thing”


PANTENE COMMERCIAL
Penelope Cruz (KAM) is given tricky words in Pantene commercial with host

— Ah, after getting a sample of Kate in a comedic role during one portion of the preceding sketch, we now get to see Kate lead an entire sketch, in her first episode!
— Given what a very popular crowd favorite Kate would later go on to become, it feels bizarre hearing dead silence from the studio audience (who’s probably wondering, “Who is this woman??? Why aren’t we seeing Kristen Wiig out there instead???”) in response to Kate entering this sketch and saying her comical greetings to Sofia and Jason while playing directly to the audience (a Cheri Oteri-esque trait). That’s the kind of thing that would easily get automatic laughs (and maybe even some applause) from the studio audience if Kate did that in more recent years, where she has the audience wrapped around her finger.
— Kate’s accent as Penelope Cruz is amusing, and she wins the initially-hesitant audience over with her-as-Cruz’s constant mispronunciations of increasingly-hard-to-pronounce shampoo ingredients. Kate’s executing this pretty well, and is already coming off like an experienced SNL cast member.
— I’m noticing that Kate looks much more her age here than she did in her previous appearances tonight.
— A standout funny part with Kate’s Cruz mispronouncing one particularly long shampoo ingredient as “refrigerator”. I also like the bit afterwards where Sofia, when misunderstanding what the director wants her to clarify for Kate’s Cruz, clarifies to Kate’s Cruz how to pronounce “refrigerator” instead of the ingredient she was supposed to say.
— I just now realized how strange it is that this is the second sketch tonight where the basic concept is a promo or commercial being filmed and one actor keeps messing up the filming by having an inability to do a certain something in the script. (News Team Promo being the first of those sketches tonight.) Both sketches even end with us seeing the heavily-altered finished product of the promo/commercial, after the director of that promo/commercial gave up out of frustration. This Pantene sketch is definitely the superior of those two sketches, though.
STARS: ***


74TH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
reporter (host) interviews Katniss (ABE) & other Hunger Games tributes

— Oh, Jay Pharoah is still in the cast apparently. Could’ve fooled me. He makes his ONLY appearance of this entire episode in this 10-to-1 sketch, briefly popping up onscreen in a non-speaking, one-second little “cameo”. Yeesh. The poor guy’s airtime has been particularly rough lately. In fact, this is the THIRD consecutive episode in which he hasn’t had a single live speaking role.
— Bill’s slogan for one of the Hunger Games’ sponsors, Tylenol, is hilarious: “Got a spear in your head? Tylenooollllll!”
— Sofia is fun and likable as the reporter, and I got a laugh from her nonchalant delivery of “Okay, I’m dying now” after eating poisonous berries.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While nothing in this episode got a rating over three-and-a-half stars from me, the episode had a fairly comfortable consistency, with almost everything working for me except the News Team Promo and Manuel Ortiz Show sketches.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Almost Pizza
Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel
Just Friends Booty Shorts
Road To The White House
Gilly
Pantene Commercial
Weekend Update
74th Annual Hunger Games
Monologue
Watch What Happens: Live
The Manuel Ortiz Show
News Team Promo


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jonah Hill)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Josh Brolin