Tag: Paul Rudd

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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

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December 11, 2010 – Paul Rudd / Paul McCartney (S36 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TAX PACKAGE
Stockholm Syndrome has left Barack Obama (FRA) voicing GOP talking points

— OH, FUCK. After the preceding episode’s Fredbama-addresses-the-nation cold opening thankfully turned out to be a fake-out, with it quickly getting interrupted by a far-more-welcome WikiLeaks TMZ piece, we end up getting a full-on, uninterrupted Fredbama-addresses-the-nation cold opening in tonight’s episode. Is SNL trolling me?
— An actual fairly funny premise with Fred’s Obama agreeing with the GOP due to Stockholm Syndrome, as he explains.
— Blah, a very lame turn with Fred’s Obama complaining about Bristol Palin getting eliminated from Dancing With The Stars.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host belatedly realizes musical guest is the show’s most popular Paul

— Though the bit with Paul Rudd assuming that the people lined up outside 30 Rock chanting “Paul!” are fans of his is cliched and has been done on SNL before (Harvey Keitel’s season 18 monologue, for example), it’s coming off decent enough here, and Rudd has some funny lines.
— Our obligatory meeting of the Pauls.
— Great little bit with the new and underused Paul Brittain joining in on the meeting of the Pauls, only to sulk away when realizing which Paul the Paul fans outside 30 Rock are really fans of.
STARS: ***


FELINE CULINARY CREATIONS
gloppy presentation overshadows gourmet ingredients

— Some laughs from the fancy atmosphere and visuals of this cat food commercial being interspersed with incongruous shots of nasty-looking cat food being carelessly plopped onto plates.
— Great brief shot of Brittain doing a chef’s kiss gesture during his cooking of the fancy cat food.
— Another great brief shot, this time of Nasim as a chef tasting a bit of the cat food herself.
— Funny ending shot of the cat’s paw clinking wine glasses with Abby.
STARS: ****


AFFECTIONATE FAMILY
Austin Vogelcheck’s girlfriend (VAB) is wary of his clan’s yule canoodles

— (*groooooaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn*)
— So far, the only thing I can find to say about tonight’s installment of this typically horrible sketch is that Brittain’s getting quite a bit of airtime so far tonight.
STARS: *


WHAT’S THAT NAME?
contestants (host) & (VAB) fail to identify vassals

— This soon-to-be-very-occasionally-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— After a simple beginning with the contestants easily guessing celebrity names, we get a very funny turn with Kenan entering as Rudd’s doorman.
— Such a great and realistic concept to this sketch.
— I love Kristen’s bitter, foreign-accented delivery of “But Steve Zahn you know.”
— Bill doing his usual excellent job as a game show host. His incredulous delivery of “Those people???” was particularly great.
— Solid escalation to the type of guests who show up.
STARS: ****½


STUMBLIN’
(ANS) & (host) trip to “9 to 5” theme; Mario Batali cameo

— Such a fun concept and very catchy music.
— Funny random inclusion of Paul McCartney, especially the “Tiny Harmonica Solo” part.
— Wait, has that been Kristen singing the “Stumblin’” song the whole time? If so, it’s odd how I didn’t even notice until the final verse of the song, where I heard a distinct Wiig-ism in the singer’s vocal inflection.
STARS: ****


A MESSAGE FROM MASTERCARD / A MESSAGE FROM JULIAN ASSANGE
jailed Julian Assange (BIH) threatens online attacks if he’s not released

— It’s great how it’s become a weekly running gag for a sketch to suddenly get interrupted by a message from Bill’s Julian Assange. How often in recent SNL decades like this do you get a running gag that lasts for a string of consecutive episodes?
— That joke from Bill’s Assange about America still not having caught Osama Bin Laden would no longer be relevant just a few months later.
— I love how Bill now portrays Assange like a diabolical villain, complete with him smugly taking a sip of tea each time he laughs evilly.
— A funny list of cruel website attacks Bill’s Assange threatens to make, especially the Netflix/Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper threat.
STARS: ***½


SEXUALLY SPEAKING
Rodger Brush’s facile sexist coital advice doesn’t help

— I was about to groan at the appearance of this bad recurring sketch, but the preceding installment of it from this season’s premiere was slightly better than usual, as Fred’s Rodger Brush actually had a few funny lines. Then again, that sketch as a whole still sucked.
— I will groan at the obligatory and insufferable portions of this recurring sketch where Rodger Brush repeatedly asks the guests to speak louder.
— Funny cutaway to an ashamed, head-shaking Bobby.
— We get at least one funny Rodger Brush line in this installment, with him asking “You want Dr. Linda up here peein’ out of her ass?”
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Jet”


WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM & musical guest create an audio caption for a British royal photo

all of Stefon’s club ideas for NYC holiday visitors are non-traditional

— The Weekend Update Audio Caption segment with Seth and Paul McCartney doing the voices of Prince Charles and Camilla is silly fun. Seth also seems to be having fun reprising the stuffy high-pitched British voice he used to regularly do in sketches earlier in his SNL tenure, when playing Prince Charles and other Brits.
— Stefon’s explanation of what a Human Parking Cone is receives what may be one of Bill’s biggest and more memorable breaks in these Stefon pieces.
— Funniest parts of tonight’s Stefon commentary are his Miss Piggy vocal imitation and his twisted version of the Twelve Days Of Christmas song.
STARS: ***½


HOLIDAY JAM
Principal Frye (JAP) gives crisis updates during high school assembly

— The debut of Jay’s Principal Frye character, who’s reportedly based on Jay’s real-life high school principal.
— Jay’s Principal Frye voice is fairly amusing, as are his various reports, but I hate that sharp inhale sound he keeps making between sentences. I believe Jay would thankfully drop that aspect of this character in subsequent installments of this sketch.
— Kenan’s angry speech gets my biggest laughs of this sketch so far.
STARS: ***


MERYL STREEP ON ICE
audiences love Meryl Streep’s (ABE) effortless rink artistry

— An okay-seeming concept for a showcase of the Meryl Streep impression that Abby previously did in a Weekend Update commentary.
— This is Jason’s first appearance ALL NIGHT. And it’s not even a live appearance! Wow. I know his airtime has been diminished in a number of episodes this season in general (I’m still wondering if he was possibly filming Horrible Bosses at this time. Does anyone know?), but THIS is insane. At least he’s his usual likable and charming self in this commercial, though.
— Taran’s testimonial gets my only big laugh of this rather forgettable commercial. Despite him playing a gay stereotype, his testimonial simply being him saying a sassy “Um…the bitch can skate” certainly made me laugh.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Band on the Run”


BROADWAY CARES
unprofessional spotlight technician Jeff foils host’s Cabaret performance

— This recurring sketch makes its first appearance in years, surprisingly. This also ends up being its final appearance, though there’s a variation of it in the season 38 Jeremy Renner episode, where the name of Bill’s Mike Underballs character is changed to Wes Underballs for some inexplicable reason, and instead of playing a douchey crew member named Jeff who ruins every take being filmed, Jason plays an idiot movie star named Dick Fuel who ruins every take.
— Very odd how Jason is making his first and ONLY live appearance of the night in 1) the final sketch of the night, and 2) with his scenes taking place in the rafters in SNL’s studio. (How often has a live sketch involved a performer in SNL’s rafters? Hell, is this the ONLY time in SNL history? Jerry Seinfeld had a scene in the rafters in Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ season 31 monologue, but his appearance was pre-taped.) When this originally aired, I remember almost wondering if the fact that Jason’s only live sketch appearance in this episode had him appearing in a separate part of the studio from the rest of his scene partners meant his appearance was filmed at a different time or in a different studio or something. This, and his diminished airtime in general this season, also almost made it feel to me back then like he was only a “part-time cast member” this season, much like how Eddie Murphy was, in some ways, only a “part-time cast member” in his final season, and Dana Carvey kinda was, too, in his final half-season. I hear that several of the veterans in SNL’s present-day season 46 cast will also only be “part-time cast members” this current season. (If you didn’t know, I’ve been on hiatus from watching new SNL episodes since December 2018, and thus, I can only go by what I’ve read about the current season.)
— I got a good laugh from Jason explaining that his mind is so distracted because “I saw Tangled again this week”.
— There’s Bill-as-Mike-Underballs’ angry pronunciation of “Jeff” that I always love: “JYYEEEEEEFF!”
— Jason’s getting the usual big laughs he always gets as this Jeff character, even if this installment isn’t quite as memorable as either of the previous two installments of this sketch.
— Unlike Rudd’s preceding episode from season 34, in which he got a number of fun things to do, especially with cast members like Bill and Andy, Rudd has been utilized poorly tonight. It feels like he’s been given nothing but forgettable straight roles practically all night.
— Very funny ending.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “A Day in the Life” & “Give Peace a Chance”


GOODNIGHTS
musical guest performs “Get Back”

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode. Not great, but pretty good. (“Pretty good” sadly seems to be the best this season can achieve, it feels like so far. There has yet to be a standout strong season 36 episode by this point.) Also, even though I don’t usually factor musical performances into the quality of episodes, it goes without saying that the many musical performances from the legendary Paul McCartney added a nice vibe to tonight’s episode.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
What’s That Name?
Stumblin’
Feline Culinary Creations
Broadway Cares
A Message From MasterCard / A Message From Julian Assange
Weekend Update
Monologue
Holiday Jam
Meryl Streep On Ice
Tax Package
Sexually Speaking
Affectionate Family


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Robert DeNiro)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jeff Bridges, after previously hosting the show a whopping 27 years prior, hosts the Christmas episode

Posted on

November 15, 2008 – Paul Rudd / Beyonce (S34 E8)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT ELECT
blundering Joe Biden (JAS) promises to be as entertaining as Sarah Palin

— The fact that SNL’s first post-election cold opening is oddly about vice president elect Joe Biden, and not, you know, the ACTUAL president elect himself, Barack Obama, seems to be an admission from SNL that they’re far more confident in Jason’s Biden impression than they are in Fred’s Obama impression. And yet Lorne STILL keeps Fred in the Obama role for four damn years. Unbelievable.
— Jason’s Biden assuring us that he can be as entertaining and wacky as Sarah Palin kinda seems like a thinly-veiled way for SNL themselves to assure us viewers that SNL can continue to be entertaining after all the Palin stuff they got lots of acclaim and media attention from.
— Lots of pretty funny “wild” lines and hot takes from Jason’s Biden throughout this.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Added to the cast tonight are Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins, the former being the first second-generation cast member in SNL history, as she’s the daughter of season 20 cast member Chris Elliott.

— As yet another sign of how old he’s getting, Don Pardo bizarrely announces Michaela Watkins as “Michaelllliallia Watson”. I kid you not, folks. You gotta feel bad for Michaela. I’ve heard several different SNL cast members (including Casey Wilson) mention what an honor and a very important moment they consider it to hear Don Pardo call out their name during their first episode. So, to picture Michaela backstage eagerly awaiting to hear Don announce her name during this episode, only to hear Don spit out…THAT? Poor girl.


MONOLOGUE
host is disappointed he missed all the election-related excitement at SNL

— I like Paul Rudd saying that appearing on SNL right after their exciting election year has ended is the equivalent to being in Times Square on New Years Day.
— Ha, after I said the cold opening seemed like a thinly-veiled way for SNL themselves to assure us their show will be fine without the Palin stuff, now we get a monologue that features SNL openly assuring us that their show will be fine without the Palin stuff. I guess there really was a concern from SNL that they’d lose the publicity and ratings boost they got from the Palin stuff.
— Funny bit with Kristen’s impression of a mild Janet Napolitano being a very unfitting replacement for Tina Fey’s Palin impression.
STARS: ***½


SPROINGO
audible cue marks activation of Sproingo erectile dysfunction treatment

— I almost want to say Kristen and Jason are playing the same married couple they previously played in the Jar Glove commercial earlier this season, though that would mean this Sproingo commercial takes place before the Jar Glove commercial, since Jason’s character got killed in Jar Glove.
— Meh, not crazy about this commercial.
— Okay, I got a laugh just now from the drooping sound effect when the medication stops working.
STARS: **


AFFECTIONATE FAMILY
Austin Vogelcheck’s (host) over-affectionate family makes (ANS) uneasy

— OH, NO. The debut of a recurring sketch that I’ve always fucking DESPISED.
— When this originally aired, I remember thinking it came off as a very inferior kissing-themed variation of the famous Bird Family sketch from the season 25 Julianna Margulies episode. I don’t see those similarities as much anymore, probably because, due to how often this Affectionate Family sketch ended up recurring over the years, I now see it as its own entity. A very bad entity, but it’s own entity nonetheless.
— (*groan*) A minute-and-a-half into this, and I already can’t wait for this insufferable sketch to end.
— I remember being so disappointed to eventually learn that Bill writes or co-writes these sketches.
— Not a single laugh from me during this sketch.
STARS: *


SCARED STRAIGHT
Lorenzo McIntosh’s scare tactics fail to intimidate delinquent teens

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— Like last time, I’m getting laughs from Kenan-as-Lorenzo-McIntosh’s movie plot references and crude prison rape lines.
— Kenan’s delivery of “You just transformed from a man to a BITCH!” had me howling.
— I love the little detail of McIntosh pronouncing Socrates as “so-crates”.
— Overall, while this was pretty much a carbon copy of the first installment, I still enjoyed this, though not quite as much as last time.
STARS: ***½


EVERYONE’S A CRITIC
host’s nude portrait of ANS horrifies viewers

— A good laugh from the sudden turn with Andy randomly asking Paul, in a dramatic manner, “…………Can I paint you?”
— The “huh huh huh-huh-huh-huh” music playing on the radio is hilarious.
— Lonely Island continues to make homoerotic humor work much better than the rest of SNL tends to.
— I like the fake-out with a shirt-wearing Andy initially being shown from the waist up during his portrait posing, making you think he’s fully clothed, only for the camera to cut to a wide shot and reveal that he’s completely bottomless.
— Holy fucking hell at the violent mass death sequence (complete with a “Don’t open your eyes, Marion!” Indiana Jones reference) when everybody at the auction is reacting negatively to the reveal of Paul’s painting. I absolutely LOVE this. This very detailed mass death sequence is so beautifully dark, disturbing, AND funny. Michael O’Donoghue would’ve been proud.
— This mass death sequence is also quite a unique way for Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins to make their very first SNL appearance. At least that’s better than this being the final appearance of newbies, as would later happen with most of the season 39 newbies (Noel Wells, Mike O’Brien, Brooks Wheelan, John Milhiser), who get the dishonor of making their final SNL appearance in a very similar mass death sequence in another Digital Short, When Will The Bass Drop, leading to online jokes that SNL killed those newbies off.
— Casey makes her ONLY appearance of tonight’s entire episode at the end of this pre-taped short, meaning she makes no live appearances tonight. I hate to say it, but, with two new women being added to the cast tonight, the writing is clearly on the wall for Casey in regards to her SNL future.
— Solid ending.
STARS: ****½


SONGWRITER SHOWCASE
open mic song by (host) & (KRW) details minutiae of a package delivery

— Funny story from Will’s character about his wife.
— In a genuine blooper, Will misreads the names of Kristen and Paul’s characters off the cue cards, and then, when correcting himself, ad-libs “I can’t read my own writing.” Does that mean Will wrote this sketch?
— Catchy melody to Kristen and Paul’s song.
— A funny little touch during the song, with Kristen leaning back in an absurdly far manner.
— The lyrics to the song just being a very long and overly detailed description of a package delivery is very funny.
— I like Will’s slow burn each time the camera cuts to his reaction throughout Kristen and Paul’s song.
— Yeah, I’m definitely getting the feeling Will wrote this sketch. Kristen and Paul’s song turning into an endless recitation of the very long tracking number of the package feels kinda like a variation of the long misspelling of the word “business” in Will’s legendary Spelling Bee sketch (though I don’t even know if Will himself wrote that sketch). This Songwriter Showcase sketch is nowhere near as memorable or epic as that Spelling Bee sketch, but I’m still enjoying it a lot.
STARS: ****


SONG MEMORIES
“Garden Party” evokes yucky anecdotes by (host) & other icky reminiscers

— Hopefully, this will be a return to form for this recurring sketch, after the disappointingly subpar installment of this sketch that last appeared when Ashton Kutcher hosted the preceding season.
— I love the big change of scenery for this sketch. Having tonight’s installment take place inside a car during a road trip is fun.
— The twist to Bill’s story, with his girlfriend being Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter, is hilarious, as is his addendum shortly afterwards: “I dumped her on November 5th” (the day after the 2008 presidential election).
— The audience is REALLY into this sketch.
— Great addendum from Will to his story: “Still failed; my friend does coke, too.”
— Funny little random bit with Jason casually offering mushrooms to his friends.
— The whole bit with Paul’s vibrating cellphone is cracking me up.
— Wow, a gory ending all of a sudden, with Bill’s character accidentally getting his brains blown out all over the back window of the car via gunshot, complete with realistic effects. The dark humor fan in me absolutely loves this. In fact, the dark humor fan in me has been getting quite a lot of kicks from this episode in general, between the mass death sequence in the Digital Short and the realistic-looking gunshot to the head Bill takes at the end of this sketch.
— Overall, one of the better installments of this recurring sketch, and definitely a bounce back after the weak Ashton Kutcher installment of this sketch.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “If I Were A Boy”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Snagglepuss (BOM) & The Great Gazoo (WLF) lament gay marriage vote result

Justin Timberlake [real] recaps SNL episode he would’ve done next week

— I got an unintended chuckle from some audience members booing Seth’s joke about Laura Bush never taking her hand off of her pocketbook during her meeting with the First Lady elect, Michelle Obama.
— Ha, we’re getting the return of a routine from earlier this season in which Seth and/or Amy (just Seth in this particular case) constantly do the same joke multiple times in a row with a different punchline each time. I always love this routine, and I especially love the fake-out tonight in which, after initially doing the same Germany Robbery joke multiple times, Seth turns to the next camera to introduce the next guest commentary, only to suddenly cut himself off and turn back to the first camera to continue doing the same Germany Robbery joke.
— More booing from tonight’s audience, this time when Seth mentions the state of California passing Proposition 8 earlier that week, banning gay marriage. I love Seth’s ad-lib in reaction to that booing.
— Fun Snagglepuss impression from Bobby. I think I recall once hearing Bobby say that he did this Snagglepuss impression in his SNL audition.
— Kind of an odd choice of having Snagglepuss’ lover be The Great Gazoo from another Hanna-Barbera 1960s cartoon, The Flintstones (I personally would’ve chose some other 1960s Hanna-Barbera character), but it’s working enough, I guess.
— A surprise Justin Timberlake appearance, which gets tonight’s already-lively audience even more hyped up.
— Is Justin’s comment about having to cancel a hosting gig he was booked for the following week true? There wasn’t an official announcement in the press of this booking prior to tonight’s episode.
— Oh, I am absolutely LOVING this whole very meta bit with Justin acting out a rundown of how his episode the following week would’ve went. There are so many fun things here, such as Justin doing an imitation of various SNL characters and impressions that he says would’ve appeared that night (e.g. Vincent Price, Nicholas Fehn, Target Lady), him mentioning that night’s Digital Short would’ve been a lazy, Thanksgiving-themed carbon copy of “Dick In A Box” (of which Justin openly and rightfully admits “Bad idea, should NOT have done that”), him mentioning Kenan In A Dress would’ve been one of the Weekend Update commentators, his goodnights speech including him thanking Senator Chris Dodd for appearing (which I take it is a self-deprecating dig at how SNL has had so many cameos from presidential candidates during the 2008 presidential race). I even love the little details, such as Justin actually humming the then-current SNL theme music when imitating Don Pardo’s opening montage announcements, and Justin saying his monologue includes Andy and Bill as backup dancers “because they’re not in anything else”. I know how polarizing Justin is among hardcore online SNL fans, so your mileage definitely may vary on what I’m about to say, but, as an SNL nerd, I’m finding Justin’s whole meta SNL episode rundown to be a fucking BLAST. This is such a spot-on and fun spoof of not only the formula of a typical SNL episode from this era, but also the formula of a typical Justin Timberlake-hosted episode.
STARS: ***½


BEYONCE VIDEO SHOOT
male dancers (BOM), (ANS), (Justin Timberlake) muss musical guest’s video

— (*sigh*) Yet another episode this season in which Darrell makes his ONLY appearance of the night in a very brief, awkward, pointless, non-impression role. His whole bit in this sketch bombs HORRIBLY with the audience, by the way. It’s starting to get just plain sad seeing him still on the show this season. SNL has clearly been struggling to find ways to use him in this 14th season of his. No wonder he finally ends up leaving after this season.
— I think I recall hearing Bobby wrote or co-wrote this sketch. By the way, for a newbie, Bobby is impressively holding his own in this sketch among the far-more-popular-at-the-time Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake.
— A very thin and one-note sketch, but it’s pretty fun, mainly due to the performances from Andy, Bobby, and Justin. However, I was never as crazy about this sketch as a lot of people seem to be.
— Paul is making the best of a role that would’ve come off as a meh role under most hosts.
— Something about Beyonce’s acting isn’t working for me here.
— Funny reveal of Andy, Bobby, and Justin being Paul’s stepsons.
— I like Paul’s silly dancing at the end.
STARS: ***½


LEDGE JUMPER
(WLF) & (BIH) try talking suicidal (host) off a ledge by saying “don’t”

— As always, I can’t get enough of the great pairing of Will and Bill.
— The names of Will and Bill’s characters, Louis and Jamie, are based on Louis and Jamie Klein, two long-time SNL viewers who are well-known for attending SNL every single week. This is actually the second Will Forte-starring sketch to use Louis and Jamie Klein’s first names in a sketch; the first was the Pepper Grinder sketch (a personal favorite of mine, even if I’m apparently in the very small minority) in the season 30 episode that Will Ferrell hosted. Forte was very close with the real Louis and Jamie Klein during his SNL tenure, so the fact that their names were used in both the Pepper Grinder sketch and tonight’s Ledge Jumper sketch may mean that Forte himself wrote those sketches.
— I love Will’s line about Paul becoming a Jackson Pollack painting on the pavement if he jumps off the ledge.
— I got a big laugh from Will, after acting like he’s tenderly going to attempt talking Paul off the ledge, asking Paul a very blunt “Sir, what is your freakin’ problem?!?” through a bullhorn.
— So many laughs from Will’s constant “DON’T”s through the bullhorn.
— Paul: “If you say ‘don’t’ one more time, I’m gonna jump off this building!” Will: “DO NOT.”
— Hilarious how Will requests that Paul zip up his sweatshirt and put on his hood to help the cleanup crew with the “splashback” that will inevitably occur when he hits the pavement after jumping off the ledge.
— The ending of this sketch with Paul finally committing suicide, not to mention all the talk earlier in this sketch about the mess Paul’s body will leave on the pavement after jumping to his death, continues the dark, disturbing theme in tonight’s episode.
— The gag with Bill pulling out his car keys and shutting off the car alarm that goes off after Paul jumps to his death off-camera is the return of a gag that SNL seemed to like using in season 21 (it was used in both the Gary Macdonald sketch from that season’s John Goodman episode, and the Roofers sketch from that season’s Steve Forbes episode).
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”


PARKING LOT WORKERS
jokey (BIH) & (host) are in denial about their stake in same-sex marriage

— Great to see the usually-underused Bill Hader getting so many big roles tonight. Great voice he’s doing in this sketch, by the way.
— In addition to the dark, disturbing theme in tonight’s episode, we’ve also been getting a big focus on gay/homoerotic humor tonight. The latter theme is supposedly intentional. While I don’t know if this has ever been confirmed, rumor has it that the gay/homoerotic theme tonight was the SNL writing staff’s way of objecting to Proposition 8 being passed.
— The two new girls, Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins, have only appeared in very tiny bit roles all night, roles that might as well have been given to extras. A disappointing way for them to debut. What’s up with this? Was SNL intentionally trying to break Abby and Michaela in very slowly, for whatever reason? Did Abby and Michaela have more noteworthy roles that were cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal? Were they not hired until AFTER this week’s sketches were already written, and thus, SNL could only squeeze them into very tiny bit roles?
— I’m enjoying the progression to this sketch, and it’s an interesting commentary on homophobia and gay marriage.
STARS: ***½


CLEARING THE AIR
(BIH), (host), (FRA) reiterate relationship tangles

— Hmm, “A Movie By Fred, Bill & Noah”. Noah, by the way, is movie director Noah Baumbach.
— Wow, Bill in yet ANOTHER big role tonight. Hell yeah!
— An interesting and very different-feeling short film for this SNL era. I’m enjoying it, even if it’s not laugh-out-loud funny.
— I remember some online SNL fans back at this time in 2008 wondered if the waitress in this short (the fourth above screencap for this short) was played by newbie Abby Elliott. That’s clearly not her. It’s just an unknown (to me, at least) extra playing that role, which gives this short film even more of an “outsider” feel, as if it wasn’t originally made for SNL (despite involving two then-current SNL cast members and tonight’s host), but ended up airing on SNL anyway, much like some of the “outsider” short films that aired on SNL in the 70s and 80s.
— Given the aforementioned gay/homoerotic theme in tonight’s episode, I remember how, back when this episode was originally airing, some people in an online live discussion thread for this episode made a prediction that this short was going to end with a twist that the Tracy who Fred, Bill, and Paul are all talking about dating is a man, since Tracy is a unisex name. That prediction would turn out to be wrong, as we end up never getting that twist ending. I haven’t been paying attention to if any gender pronouns were used by Fred, Bill, or Paul when referring to Tracy, though, but I think it’s safe to say we’re meant to assume Tracy is a woman. (If I’m wrong, I apologize.)
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Yet another in a long line of good episodes, though I don’t feel this episode is quite as strong as the last few. Still barely anything to complain about, though, besides a few lowlights right after the monologue. Even the big focus on gay/homoerotic humor was mostly handled a little better than I would’ve expected. I also felt Paul Rudd had a decent presence, and he worked well with the male cast, Bill Hader and Andy Samberg in particular.


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


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ben Affleck)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Tim McGraw