The 4th show in as many weeks, I had more than a few questions leading in to this episode. Namely, I questioned Gerard Butler as a true comedic force. While watching the episode live, I realized why presuppositions sometimes prove incorrect. Here is my sketch-by-sketch review of the Gerard Butler/Shakira show.
Cold Opening: The Rock Obama--This is exactly the kind of opening I like to see. Albeit political, it finds a crack in the age-old, mind-dulling structure where SNL cold openings have to be the president sitting at a desk. It brings back a character from last season, Dwayne Johnson's "The Rock Obama" and it works perfectly. Although I question why Dwayne Johnson chose this episode to do a big cameo in, I still thought it was very enjoyable and a much better-than-average opening to the show.
Monologue--Ha, this was good as well. I liked Gerard Butler singing, that kind of surprised me. Good premise, funny lines and acting from the cast. So far a very good opening to the show.
Commercial-"Fuquay Satin" Well, this wasn't too bad. I mean its an ok premise, wine simply used for...other...purposes. It wasn't too funny, but I'll take it. Now let's get back to the live skits.
Game Time with Randy and Greg--Dwayne Johnson cameos in the cold opening and then fails to fulfil his role in this sketch? Too weird. Kenan fills in for him, and although I didn't prefer this version as much (the audience already knew what was going to happen) I still liked it overall. Watching Bill do that character is never going to be a bad thing. It's a genius role.
Beauty and the Beast--My favorite of the night. Beautifully played by Kristen, Bobby, Bill, and Gerard Butler. Maybe one of the top 10 sketches of the year.
Shakira 1--Not a fan of her. Just a lame performance, too, in my opinion. As usual, I'm, just waiting for Update to start.
Weekend Update--Seth does a solid job, as expected. The guest highlight for me was Gerard Butler playing homage to Scotland with Seth translating. Now, ladies and gentlemen, that was funny.
300--The second round of sketches begins with a cross-parody of the film 300 and the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military. Very clever, and well played by the cast. This is the kind of writing I like to see in an episode: Use what you have and make a good idea out of something going on in the world. Great job.
What Up With That?--This sketch baffles me. It shouldn't work, it's just nonsense. But you know what? I love it. Even though I know what's coming every time, its just a hoot to watch take place. This one, I believe the first in the series, was quite funny.
Thomas--Eh, not my favorite. This character of Kristen's is probably my least favorite of hers. It plays on the awkward factor of the plot, and it gets to be a little too much for me. Every episode has that one sketch you wish you could get rid of, and this is that sketch.
Shakira 2--Eh, what can I really say? Same as her first performance.
Daveheart--A scared version of Braveheart, huh? Well....it was ok. For the "5-to-1" sketch it worked out just fine. Didn't go out like a lion but it was doable.
Overall Review: What a solid episode. This was packed with good stuff and I was pleasantly surprised by Gerard Butler's good hosting job. Shakira wasn't good, but that was to be expected. The winners were the Monologue, Beauty and the Beast, 300, and What Up With That. Not much to complain about, it was a consistent episode. It might not go down as the most flashy, but it got the funny stuff in there, and that's worth something to me. Comparing it to the last 3 episodes, I'd have to say this was the most consistent and grades out the best overall. Four weeks in a row is a lot to put the cast and crew of SNL though. It says a lot that their last show of the 4 is the best.
Agree? Disagree? If you want to leave your thoughts and opinions about this episode, feel free to do so. Next up, I will be reviewing the Taylor Swift episode, oh goody.
LiveFromNY
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Kanye West Takes Jab at SNL
In his latest single, rapper Kanye West has some words for the cast of SNL. Here is the full article:
http://dimewars.com/HipHopNews/Kanye-West-Goes-At-Saturday-Night-Live-In-His-Latest-Single--Power-.aspx?PressReleaseID=d578724b-0eb3-4624-87a0-bca58c4828b5
LiveFromNY
http://dimewars.com/HipHopNews/Kanye-West-Goes-At-Saturday-Night-Live-In-His-Latest-Single--Power-.aspx?PressReleaseID=d578724b-0eb3-4624-87a0-bca58c4828b5
LiveFromNY
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Drew Barrymore/Regina Spektor
Well I haven't done this in a while so bear with me. I did watch all these episodes that I didn't write about, but I just never found the time to write comprehensive reviews of them. So, here we go with the Drew Barrymore episode:
Cold Opening: Obama's Nobel Prize--If you recall back to good ol' 2009, I made my opinion of Fred's "Obama" very clear--I don't like it. This is no exception. Another boring cold opening. I understand why they do it. Leading with political humor is something SNL hsas done for years. But I prefer switching it up every now and again, especially if there's not much going on in the news.
Monologue--This was good. How many impressions of Drew do we need? The more the merrier. Drew has a good laugh poking fun at herself here, and watching all the impressions was great fun. (especially Kristen's and Abby's) Now that's how you write a monologue.
Gilly--I'm not a fan of Gilly, yet this time it seemed to be much better. Drew definitely added to the sketch, and despite my general dislike of this character, Gilly did ok here.
Celebrity Ghost Stories--A bunch of impressions, and some are pretty good. Abby pulls off a great Anna Faris, and newbie Nasim Pedrad pulls off a great Charlyne Yi impression. Andy's Billy Bob Thornton is pretty solid too.
Commercial: "University of Westfield"-- This served to be a pretty good commercial parody. Showing the irrelevance of online degrees, ha. And I liked Jenny Slate here. That might be one of the only times I say that.
La Revista Della Televisione--Yes, some Bill Hader. In this latest installment, Vinny and Drew discuss Drew's directorial debut for "Whip It." Pretty much the same humor as always. (Although that's not a bad thing if the humor is still good) I love Bill and Fred singing Devo. Classic.
Regina Spektor 1--Never really cared for her. Not much of an opinion on her performance. Nothing too drastic.
Weekend Update--James Carville is really funny. Bill puts in another great showing. His impression is almost making fun of itself. Great stuff. Also, Kenan's Maya Angelou bit was good. A solid Update overall, Seth is the man.
Tampax to the Max--Oh, yes. In future episodes there will be versions of this that I liked better, but this is where it all began. The humor here is a little...how do I put it? One-sided to say the least. Everyone knows its coming. Yet I still can't stop myself from laughing. Great premise with the ESPN Classic setting, and a great job from both Jason and Will to make this recurring segment a fan favorite.
Cooking al Fresco--This is where the show started nose-diving. Not a fan of this sketch. Getting to be later in the show, isn't it? Bobby's Guy Fieti was all right, but it couldn't save the skit.
Larry King Live--Here again is a "downer" sketch. A weak punchline repeated over and over again doesn't make it any better. The Larry King sketches on SNL are hit-or-miss. This one missed.
SNL Digital Short "Brenda & Shaun"-- Not a fan. It was just.....weird. Andy and the Lonely Island crew have interesting minds, that's for sure. Not the worst Digital Short in the world, but to think someone had to actually write up this idea...surprising.
Regina Spektor 2--Same as before. I've got nothing interesting to say about Regina.
Book Reading--This gets my vote as one of the creepiest characters I've seen on the show. Will Forte is versatile, that's for sure. His character "Hamilton" isn't particularly funny. But the show has to close somehow, and why not leave the weirdo for the end.
Overall Review: This was a good episode, primarily based on the first half. A few very good sketches (Monologue, Vinny Vedecci, ESPN Classic) yet the second half had some real clunkers. (Larry King, Cooking al Fresco) So, all things considered, it wasn't a bad episode. Drew's a proven vet, and she pulled off another solid hosting job. Musical guest was so-so, and the writing was too. Compared to the first two episodes, I'd have to say it was much better than Megan Fox/U2 but not quite as good as Ryan Reynolds/Lady Gaga.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to post your thoughts and opinions below. Thanks everyone, and stay tuned for my next review of Gerard Butler/Shakira.
LiveFromNY
Cold Opening: Obama's Nobel Prize--If you recall back to good ol' 2009, I made my opinion of Fred's "Obama" very clear--I don't like it. This is no exception. Another boring cold opening. I understand why they do it. Leading with political humor is something SNL hsas done for years. But I prefer switching it up every now and again, especially if there's not much going on in the news.
Monologue--This was good. How many impressions of Drew do we need? The more the merrier. Drew has a good laugh poking fun at herself here, and watching all the impressions was great fun. (especially Kristen's and Abby's) Now that's how you write a monologue.
Gilly--I'm not a fan of Gilly, yet this time it seemed to be much better. Drew definitely added to the sketch, and despite my general dislike of this character, Gilly did ok here.
Celebrity Ghost Stories--A bunch of impressions, and some are pretty good. Abby pulls off a great Anna Faris, and newbie Nasim Pedrad pulls off a great Charlyne Yi impression. Andy's Billy Bob Thornton is pretty solid too.
Commercial: "University of Westfield"-- This served to be a pretty good commercial parody. Showing the irrelevance of online degrees, ha. And I liked Jenny Slate here. That might be one of the only times I say that.
La Revista Della Televisione--Yes, some Bill Hader. In this latest installment, Vinny and Drew discuss Drew's directorial debut for "Whip It." Pretty much the same humor as always. (Although that's not a bad thing if the humor is still good) I love Bill and Fred singing Devo. Classic.
Regina Spektor 1--Never really cared for her. Not much of an opinion on her performance. Nothing too drastic.
Weekend Update--James Carville is really funny. Bill puts in another great showing. His impression is almost making fun of itself. Great stuff. Also, Kenan's Maya Angelou bit was good. A solid Update overall, Seth is the man.
Tampax to the Max--Oh, yes. In future episodes there will be versions of this that I liked better, but this is where it all began. The humor here is a little...how do I put it? One-sided to say the least. Everyone knows its coming. Yet I still can't stop myself from laughing. Great premise with the ESPN Classic setting, and a great job from both Jason and Will to make this recurring segment a fan favorite.
Cooking al Fresco--This is where the show started nose-diving. Not a fan of this sketch. Getting to be later in the show, isn't it? Bobby's Guy Fieti was all right, but it couldn't save the skit.
Larry King Live--Here again is a "downer" sketch. A weak punchline repeated over and over again doesn't make it any better. The Larry King sketches on SNL are hit-or-miss. This one missed.
SNL Digital Short "Brenda & Shaun"-- Not a fan. It was just.....weird. Andy and the Lonely Island crew have interesting minds, that's for sure. Not the worst Digital Short in the world, but to think someone had to actually write up this idea...surprising.
Regina Spektor 2--Same as before. I've got nothing interesting to say about Regina.
Book Reading--This gets my vote as one of the creepiest characters I've seen on the show. Will Forte is versatile, that's for sure. His character "Hamilton" isn't particularly funny. But the show has to close somehow, and why not leave the weirdo for the end.
Overall Review: This was a good episode, primarily based on the first half. A few very good sketches (Monologue, Vinny Vedecci, ESPN Classic) yet the second half had some real clunkers. (Larry King, Cooking al Fresco) So, all things considered, it wasn't a bad episode. Drew's a proven vet, and she pulled off another solid hosting job. Musical guest was so-so, and the writing was too. Compared to the first two episodes, I'd have to say it was much better than Megan Fox/U2 but not quite as good as Ryan Reynolds/Lady Gaga.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to post your thoughts and opinions below. Thanks everyone, and stay tuned for my next review of Gerard Butler/Shakira.
LiveFromNY
I'm Back
Hello everyone! Well I haven't brought my top-notch SNL news and reviews in quite some time. My last post, as I recall, was after the Ryan Reynolds episode back in October, yikes. Frankly, I wish I could have kept up my posts, but I'm still committed to the show and will bring you updates on what's happening, as well as my personal opinions.
Over the summer, I intend to give full-length reviews of all the episodes that I failed to review during the year. If you're a fan of SNL please read my posts and leave comments. Thanks for reading and here's to a great year
LiveFromNY
Over the summer, I intend to give full-length reviews of all the episodes that I failed to review during the year. If you're a fan of SNL please read my posts and leave comments. Thanks for reading and here's to a great year
LiveFromNY
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Ryan Reynolds/Lady Gaga
Ok, here is my sketch-by-sketch review and analysis of the Ryan Reynolds/Lady Gaga episode:
Cold Opening – Fred’s Obama is not good. Yeah, this time he didn’t even try to sound or act like him, and it showed. However, the premise of the sketch is very good, and somehow managed to overshadow Fred’s lagging impression. Obama says not to blame him because he hasn’t done anything yet as President. The punchlines work, and I thought it was a decent opening if you could look past Fred’s faults.
Monologue – This was good. Rarely is the host’s monologue a true “monologue” but this actually was. I liked the simplicity of it; he didn’t try to make it into a spectacle. The whole romantic comedy/superhero bit worked well, and it was a pleasant introduction to our guest host.
“Mostly Garbage” – This was ok, it was a blatant premise that seemed to be mildly funny. I liked that Jason was in it, as I would have guessed him for that role. The best and most under-appreciated part of this commercial is the length. It was short, and when you have a short piece of comedy you can get away with almost any concept. If this had gone long, I’d have been complaining about it being a poor idea. However, because it was short it was somewhat enjoyable.
Celebrity Family Feud – I liked Jason again, because of his uncanny impression of the old host of Family Feud. The two families were fun to watch. I liked the Osmond/Phillips thing, and they definitely played up the McKenzie Phillips/Dad thing. It was ok, a bit over-done, but still not bad.
SNL Digital Short – “Threw it on the ground!” I loved this short! It was direct, and had a clear and funny concept. Andy threw stuff on the ground, and felt the need to create a song about it. I always enjoy the “singing” Digital Shorts. It was one of my favorite bits of the night, and the start of a rather impressive night for Andy.
Porcelain Fountains – Ah, yes. It lives! Bringing back the old sketch after a long wait, with Scarlet there to reprise her role. Ryan was good in this too, although we didn’t see him on the “front lines” much tonight. Basically this was just Fred ranting about buying porcelain fountains, but I still liked it because of the “throwback” to an earlier sketch that many people, myself included, had forgotten about.
Deep House Dish – And now the institution that is: Deep House Dish. I really enjoyed this sketch as well. Kenan and Andy were back as their regular roles. Kristen played a funny character that I found entertaining, although the clear headline of the sketch was the fight between Madonna and Lady Gaga. Yes, the real Madonna. I thought it was funny, and amusing to see them fighting, while Kenan tried to keep it together. The interrupted kiss at the end was great too. :)
Lady Gaga 1 – Not too crazy about this performance. Although it should be said: Lady Gaga is nothing if not interesting.
Weekend Update – Another wonderful performance from our head anchor. Seth shines again, and delivers several great lines that have the crowd laughing. You always know what you’re getting with him. The guests: Darrell Hammond returns to play Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s good to see him back, but maybe not so soon. After all, he officially is NOT a castmember anymore. Kenan does Charles Barkley. This wasn’t very good, at least to me. He’s done better with the impression in past sketches. However, I really liked Fred & Nasim as Iranian president Ahmadinejad and his wife. Nasim gets her first chance to shine, and she does. The best part is Fred keeping the same face through the whole thing. Priceless.
So You Committed a Crime & You Think You Can Dance – I really liked this. Andy does a great job returning as a much fatter Kevin Federline. Appearances by most every castmember—that’s always a big deal to me. Some of my favorites were: Fred as the guy who always tried to escape, and Kenan as the crazy guy who bites people. A very good concept for a sketch, and good job to the entire cast for executing this one very well.
International Masterworks – This was ok. A bit too redundant, but I’ll deal with it. Norwegians playing the roles of Americans in a show. Ok, yeah we get it. However this wasn’t too bad, especially for a late 2nd half sketch. Forgettable, but still average.
Lady Gaga 2 – This was quite interesting. First of all, something was orbiting Lady Gaga. I don’t know what it was, but it got in her way several times! When she went to the piano and sort of “free styled” the 2nd half of her performance, I thought it was very good. She actually has a pretty good voice and its shown best when she’s not doing a gimmicky dance. As a whole, this performance was excellent.
Dress – The last sketch of the night didn’t disappoint. Andy and Lady Gaga wearing the same dress—and a Lorne cameo. My favorite line was when Lady Gaga said her outfit cost a lot of money, and Andy said he made his dress out of garbage. :) A good way to end a very impressive episode.
Overall, I really liked this episode a lot. It was consistent, funny, and every castmember seemed to be in many sketches. Lady Gaga did her fair share of work, including 2 sketches. The host, Ryan Reynolds, stayed in the background a lot and didn’t have a whole lot to do with the success of this show. I do applaud some of his smaller roles. He wasn’t bad, just not the center of attention as many hosts are. This episode was very entertaining, clearly better than last week’s premiere, and I’m definitely looking forward to Drew Barrymore/Regina Spektor next week.
That’s my review of the show. Feel free to post any thoughts below! Thanks for reading,
LiveFromNY
Cold Opening – Fred’s Obama is not good. Yeah, this time he didn’t even try to sound or act like him, and it showed. However, the premise of the sketch is very good, and somehow managed to overshadow Fred’s lagging impression. Obama says not to blame him because he hasn’t done anything yet as President. The punchlines work, and I thought it was a decent opening if you could look past Fred’s faults.
Monologue – This was good. Rarely is the host’s monologue a true “monologue” but this actually was. I liked the simplicity of it; he didn’t try to make it into a spectacle. The whole romantic comedy/superhero bit worked well, and it was a pleasant introduction to our guest host.
“Mostly Garbage” – This was ok, it was a blatant premise that seemed to be mildly funny. I liked that Jason was in it, as I would have guessed him for that role. The best and most under-appreciated part of this commercial is the length. It was short, and when you have a short piece of comedy you can get away with almost any concept. If this had gone long, I’d have been complaining about it being a poor idea. However, because it was short it was somewhat enjoyable.
Celebrity Family Feud – I liked Jason again, because of his uncanny impression of the old host of Family Feud. The two families were fun to watch. I liked the Osmond/Phillips thing, and they definitely played up the McKenzie Phillips/Dad thing. It was ok, a bit over-done, but still not bad.
SNL Digital Short – “Threw it on the ground!” I loved this short! It was direct, and had a clear and funny concept. Andy threw stuff on the ground, and felt the need to create a song about it. I always enjoy the “singing” Digital Shorts. It was one of my favorite bits of the night, and the start of a rather impressive night for Andy.
Porcelain Fountains – Ah, yes. It lives! Bringing back the old sketch after a long wait, with Scarlet there to reprise her role. Ryan was good in this too, although we didn’t see him on the “front lines” much tonight. Basically this was just Fred ranting about buying porcelain fountains, but I still liked it because of the “throwback” to an earlier sketch that many people, myself included, had forgotten about.
Deep House Dish – And now the institution that is: Deep House Dish. I really enjoyed this sketch as well. Kenan and Andy were back as their regular roles. Kristen played a funny character that I found entertaining, although the clear headline of the sketch was the fight between Madonna and Lady Gaga. Yes, the real Madonna. I thought it was funny, and amusing to see them fighting, while Kenan tried to keep it together. The interrupted kiss at the end was great too. :)
Lady Gaga 1 – Not too crazy about this performance. Although it should be said: Lady Gaga is nothing if not interesting.
Weekend Update – Another wonderful performance from our head anchor. Seth shines again, and delivers several great lines that have the crowd laughing. You always know what you’re getting with him. The guests: Darrell Hammond returns to play Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s good to see him back, but maybe not so soon. After all, he officially is NOT a castmember anymore. Kenan does Charles Barkley. This wasn’t very good, at least to me. He’s done better with the impression in past sketches. However, I really liked Fred & Nasim as Iranian president Ahmadinejad and his wife. Nasim gets her first chance to shine, and she does. The best part is Fred keeping the same face through the whole thing. Priceless.
So You Committed a Crime & You Think You Can Dance – I really liked this. Andy does a great job returning as a much fatter Kevin Federline. Appearances by most every castmember—that’s always a big deal to me. Some of my favorites were: Fred as the guy who always tried to escape, and Kenan as the crazy guy who bites people. A very good concept for a sketch, and good job to the entire cast for executing this one very well.
International Masterworks – This was ok. A bit too redundant, but I’ll deal with it. Norwegians playing the roles of Americans in a show. Ok, yeah we get it. However this wasn’t too bad, especially for a late 2nd half sketch. Forgettable, but still average.
Lady Gaga 2 – This was quite interesting. First of all, something was orbiting Lady Gaga. I don’t know what it was, but it got in her way several times! When she went to the piano and sort of “free styled” the 2nd half of her performance, I thought it was very good. She actually has a pretty good voice and its shown best when she’s not doing a gimmicky dance. As a whole, this performance was excellent.
Dress – The last sketch of the night didn’t disappoint. Andy and Lady Gaga wearing the same dress—and a Lorne cameo. My favorite line was when Lady Gaga said her outfit cost a lot of money, and Andy said he made his dress out of garbage. :) A good way to end a very impressive episode.
Overall, I really liked this episode a lot. It was consistent, funny, and every castmember seemed to be in many sketches. Lady Gaga did her fair share of work, including 2 sketches. The host, Ryan Reynolds, stayed in the background a lot and didn’t have a whole lot to do with the success of this show. I do applaud some of his smaller roles. He wasn’t bad, just not the center of attention as many hosts are. This episode was very entertaining, clearly better than last week’s premiere, and I’m definitely looking forward to Drew Barrymore/Regina Spektor next week.
That’s my review of the show. Feel free to post any thoughts below! Thanks for reading,
LiveFromNY
Saturday, October 3, 2009
New SNL Tonight!
Ok everyone, don't forget to watch an all-new SNL tonight with host Ryan Reynolds and musical guest Lady Gaga. I'm predicting a very good show--Ryan Reynolds should be pretty funny, and the cast/writing should be better after the "tune-up" season premiere. Lady Gaga is nothing if not interesting, even if her music is poor. So, everyone watch the show tonight at 11:30! And I'll have my full episode review and analysis posted after the show, so be sure to check that out too.
LiveFromNY
LiveFromNY
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Jenny Slate will NOT be Fired for F-Bomb
http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/09/28/f-bomb-dropper-jenny-slate-to-remain-on-saturday-night-live/
It has been confirmed that Jenny Slate will not be fired for dropping the F-bomb during last Saturday's season premiere of SNL. I'm very relieved that this decision was made, as her slip-up was clearly unintentional, and almost certain to happen given the context of the sketch. I look forward to seeing more of Jenny because I think she's very funny and has a lot to bring to the show. I don't think any castmember has ever had a more eventful first show than Jenny!
It has been confirmed that Jenny Slate will not be fired for dropping the F-bomb during last Saturday's season premiere of SNL. I'm very relieved that this decision was made, as her slip-up was clearly unintentional, and almost certain to happen given the context of the sketch. I look forward to seeing more of Jenny because I think she's very funny and has a lot to bring to the show. I don't think any castmember has ever had a more eventful first show than Jenny!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Megan Fox/U2 Episode Review
Ok, I'll jump right into my review for this first (and very eventful) episode of SNL:
Cold Opening -- Gadhafi rants and raves. Armisen does this impression decently, but without much pizazz and it leaves the viewer lazily uniterested. Nothing laugh-out-loud funny, some remotely good jokes but nothing to write home about. This went on far too long, and didn't seem to hold my interest.
New Opening Credits/Montage -- I was very excited about this! Finally, a new look and new credits to go along with it. Some MAJOR cast notes: Darrell is ABSENT from the opening credits, leaving everyone to assume he is finally gone for good. A rule for thought is that you haven't left SNL until they remove you from the credits. And once you're removed from the credits, you're done.Other cast notes: Both Bobby Moynihan and Abby Elliott remain as featured players (at least for now) I'm not terribly surprised about Abby, however I'm actually shocked Bobby wasn't upgraded to the regular cast. He deserves it. However, I think they'll both be upgraded by January.
Monologue -- Very poor. They went with the whole "Megan Fox is hot" theme, and it seriously fell flat. I was hoping Megan would show a more comedic side of her during her monologue, but she didn't. This wasn't a good start for her.
Commercial Parody -- Bladdivian, or whatever its called. It seemed to be less-than-funny. Nothing entirely great about it, but eh, its the first commercial parody so what do you expect? by this point, I'm very much not liking the episode. Nothing to give the viewers even a good chuckle.
Airplane -- Ok, this was pretty good. The audio on NBC cut off about 3/4 of the way through this sketch, so I admit I missed the ending. But the first 3/4 of it was quite funny. Kristen seemed to shine in her role, and the jokes were working pretty well with the studio audience as well as myself. First sketch I clearly laughed at. I'll have to re-watch it to catch the ending, so technically I can't give a true "thumbs-up" yet, but it seemed to be good. Megan Fox even had a pretty good showing in this sketch.
Russian Girl -- A typical "guy in drag" skit. But it was mildy entertaining. Fred did his part well. (why does he always seem so good in drag? i.e. The Looker) However, like many sketches do, it went on too long. They'd have been better off to just cut it short, because the same joke kept being repeated, and after the first 3 times it just wasn't that funny anymore. Yeah, we get it--the one girl costs $10 less! Decent overall though, not too bad.
Digital Short 1 -- Ok, this was pretty strange until the ending. Basically, Will Forte is a creepy guy who's dating Megan Fox, and 90% of the sketch was Will acting weird. The end was pretty good, at least I know that I laughed at it. Megan asks Will to marry him and Will stands up and says "No (expletive) way!" Very odd ending, but still funny.
Grady Wilson -- Another installment of Kenan Thompson's school of love-making. Again it draws some laughs from the audience, and true--it deserves some credit for creativity. However it just lacked a certain something. It seemed to similar to what I thought it would be. After the first 10 seconds, I could easily tell you what was going to happen. Megan Fox did come in at the end, which made it a bit better. Still, just ok for me.
U2 1 -- Pretty good first song. I liked it. It didn't make up for a lack-luster 1st half, but it was a pretty good song.
Weekend Update -- During the commercial break before Update, I could only think "Save me, Seth!" This episode had such a below-average first half that I desperately needed Update to turn it around. And it did. Seth NAILED his jokes. The audience was really getting into it. He KILLED it, plain and simple. Almost every joke was a winner. Jean K. Jean was decent enough, and Kristen's Judy Grimes character was fantastic as usual. And I'm not kidding! This was easily the best sketch of the night, and Seth was probably the MVP of the whole episode for this one sketch alone.
Live Lounge -- Now here's something good! A short sketch mocking the late-night chat commercials. I loved the appearances from nearly every castmember. It was short, sweet, and very funny. Excellent start for the 2nd half of the show.
U2 2 -- U2 showed again why they're just so darn great. I loved this song much more than the first. It was odd to me why their second performance was so early in the show, but it was great nonetheless. Just plain fantastic.
Biker Chat -- This is what people will be talking about tomorrow. Poor Jenny Slate...
Ok, so the sketch seemed to be a good concept. Basically a biker chick talk show, staring brand new castmember Jenny Slate. I was really excited to see her get a major role on her first episode! That doesn't happen too often. However, an extremely bad event happened. During the sketch, the biker ladies would frequently say the word "frickin" or "freakin". And at least once during the sketch, Jenny accidentally said the F-word. It was difficult to tell if she said it once or twice. I watched it live, and thought she said it only once, but I have varying sources saying different things. But the fact is, she definitely said it. That's a HUGE issue. All that I could think was "It's a live show, folks!" No censorship. I'm sure the FCC will slap a hefty fine on the show, but I'm very concerned for Jenny and her future on the show. I've heard stories of people getting fired for things like this, and I hope that doesn't happen to Jenny. And on top of all this, it was her very first show! She must feel terrible. This will be the talk of the town for the next few days at least, and I hope matters will be resolved quickly.
Digital Short #2 -- Very weird. Megan Fox, Andy Samberg, Optimus Prime, and male body parts. I guess they were making fun of "Transformers". But it was just really weird and gross to me. Didn't care for it at all.
Mom talks to Megan Fox -- Ok, this was acceptable. A mom talks to Megan Fox and gives her movie advice and what not. Ok--this was good. Not fantastic, but for a 5-to-1 skit, it worked just fine. Kristen as a mom was very believable, and it flowed pretty nicely. A pretty good final sketch of the night.
Goodnights/U2 3 -- First, the goodnights: Seth is seen wrapping his arms around Jenny Slate, clearly in reference to her previous debacle. I'm glad Seth was trying to ease her pain. Hopefully people don't dwell too much on this, it clearly wasn't intentional, and could have happened to anyone.
Ok, now on to the third performance from U2. As the credits roll, front man Bono is lifted up by his red laser lighted microphone while he sings the show to a close. Wow. That was really cool, something I wasn't expecting and a great way to close the show.
Wow. That's all I can say. It was a bad 1st half, a good 2nd half, a whole lot of U2, a great Weekend Update, and a gigantic flub-up from a first time castmember. What else do you want, folks?
Feel free to post any comments/reviews below. Thanks for reading my sketch-by sketch analysis,
LiveFromNY
Cold Opening -- Gadhafi rants and raves. Armisen does this impression decently, but without much pizazz and it leaves the viewer lazily uniterested. Nothing laugh-out-loud funny, some remotely good jokes but nothing to write home about. This went on far too long, and didn't seem to hold my interest.
New Opening Credits/Montage -- I was very excited about this! Finally, a new look and new credits to go along with it. Some MAJOR cast notes: Darrell is ABSENT from the opening credits, leaving everyone to assume he is finally gone for good. A rule for thought is that you haven't left SNL until they remove you from the credits. And once you're removed from the credits, you're done.Other cast notes: Both Bobby Moynihan and Abby Elliott remain as featured players (at least for now) I'm not terribly surprised about Abby, however I'm actually shocked Bobby wasn't upgraded to the regular cast. He deserves it. However, I think they'll both be upgraded by January.
Monologue -- Very poor. They went with the whole "Megan Fox is hot" theme, and it seriously fell flat. I was hoping Megan would show a more comedic side of her during her monologue, but she didn't. This wasn't a good start for her.
Commercial Parody -- Bladdivian, or whatever its called. It seemed to be less-than-funny. Nothing entirely great about it, but eh, its the first commercial parody so what do you expect? by this point, I'm very much not liking the episode. Nothing to give the viewers even a good chuckle.
Airplane -- Ok, this was pretty good. The audio on NBC cut off about 3/4 of the way through this sketch, so I admit I missed the ending. But the first 3/4 of it was quite funny. Kristen seemed to shine in her role, and the jokes were working pretty well with the studio audience as well as myself. First sketch I clearly laughed at. I'll have to re-watch it to catch the ending, so technically I can't give a true "thumbs-up" yet, but it seemed to be good. Megan Fox even had a pretty good showing in this sketch.
Russian Girl -- A typical "guy in drag" skit. But it was mildy entertaining. Fred did his part well. (why does he always seem so good in drag? i.e. The Looker) However, like many sketches do, it went on too long. They'd have been better off to just cut it short, because the same joke kept being repeated, and after the first 3 times it just wasn't that funny anymore. Yeah, we get it--the one girl costs $10 less! Decent overall though, not too bad.
Digital Short 1 -- Ok, this was pretty strange until the ending. Basically, Will Forte is a creepy guy who's dating Megan Fox, and 90% of the sketch was Will acting weird. The end was pretty good, at least I know that I laughed at it. Megan asks Will to marry him and Will stands up and says "No (expletive) way!" Very odd ending, but still funny.
Grady Wilson -- Another installment of Kenan Thompson's school of love-making. Again it draws some laughs from the audience, and true--it deserves some credit for creativity. However it just lacked a certain something. It seemed to similar to what I thought it would be. After the first 10 seconds, I could easily tell you what was going to happen. Megan Fox did come in at the end, which made it a bit better. Still, just ok for me.
U2 1 -- Pretty good first song. I liked it. It didn't make up for a lack-luster 1st half, but it was a pretty good song.
Weekend Update -- During the commercial break before Update, I could only think "Save me, Seth!" This episode had such a below-average first half that I desperately needed Update to turn it around. And it did. Seth NAILED his jokes. The audience was really getting into it. He KILLED it, plain and simple. Almost every joke was a winner. Jean K. Jean was decent enough, and Kristen's Judy Grimes character was fantastic as usual. And I'm not kidding! This was easily the best sketch of the night, and Seth was probably the MVP of the whole episode for this one sketch alone.
Live Lounge -- Now here's something good! A short sketch mocking the late-night chat commercials. I loved the appearances from nearly every castmember. It was short, sweet, and very funny. Excellent start for the 2nd half of the show.
U2 2 -- U2 showed again why they're just so darn great. I loved this song much more than the first. It was odd to me why their second performance was so early in the show, but it was great nonetheless. Just plain fantastic.
Biker Chat -- This is what people will be talking about tomorrow. Poor Jenny Slate...
Ok, so the sketch seemed to be a good concept. Basically a biker chick talk show, staring brand new castmember Jenny Slate. I was really excited to see her get a major role on her first episode! That doesn't happen too often. However, an extremely bad event happened. During the sketch, the biker ladies would frequently say the word "frickin" or "freakin". And at least once during the sketch, Jenny accidentally said the F-word. It was difficult to tell if she said it once or twice. I watched it live, and thought she said it only once, but I have varying sources saying different things. But the fact is, she definitely said it. That's a HUGE issue. All that I could think was "It's a live show, folks!" No censorship. I'm sure the FCC will slap a hefty fine on the show, but I'm very concerned for Jenny and her future on the show. I've heard stories of people getting fired for things like this, and I hope that doesn't happen to Jenny. And on top of all this, it was her very first show! She must feel terrible. This will be the talk of the town for the next few days at least, and I hope matters will be resolved quickly.
Digital Short #2 -- Very weird. Megan Fox, Andy Samberg, Optimus Prime, and male body parts. I guess they were making fun of "Transformers". But it was just really weird and gross to me. Didn't care for it at all.
Mom talks to Megan Fox -- Ok, this was acceptable. A mom talks to Megan Fox and gives her movie advice and what not. Ok--this was good. Not fantastic, but for a 5-to-1 skit, it worked just fine. Kristen as a mom was very believable, and it flowed pretty nicely. A pretty good final sketch of the night.
Goodnights/U2 3 -- First, the goodnights: Seth is seen wrapping his arms around Jenny Slate, clearly in reference to her previous debacle. I'm glad Seth was trying to ease her pain. Hopefully people don't dwell too much on this, it clearly wasn't intentional, and could have happened to anyone.
Ok, now on to the third performance from U2. As the credits roll, front man Bono is lifted up by his red laser lighted microphone while he sings the show to a close. Wow. That was really cool, something I wasn't expecting and a great way to close the show.
Wow. That's all I can say. It was a bad 1st half, a good 2nd half, a whole lot of U2, a great Weekend Update, and a gigantic flub-up from a first time castmember. What else do you want, folks?
Feel free to post any comments/reviews below. Thanks for reading my sketch-by sketch analysis,
LiveFromNY
Friday, September 25, 2009
Weekend Update Thursday 9/24/09
Ok, here is my review and analysis of the 2nd installment of SNL Weekend Update Thursday:
Opening -- I LOVED this. It was such a good parody of Obama, as well as the conservatives. SNL is widely known to have a problem when it comes to making fun of Obama. One of the main issues is that Fred Armisen doesn't even resemble President Obama. However, this was a very creative way to take a shot at his talk show appearances, and his disdain for Fox News. The guests who 'interviewed' Obama in this sketch were fantastic. I especially liked Bobby as Guy Fieri. That was just priceless. But basically everyone did well in this sketch. Jason as Glenn Beck was hilarious, and of course Bill Hader's Keith Morrison scored huge laughs. Oh, and we have a Nasim Pedrad sighting! She did her Kathy Griffin impression, and I thought it was very good. She made an excellent first impression on me. Overall, a fantastic opening.
Weekend Update 1, 2, & 3 -- I lump all the Update segments together, because they seemed to all be very similar. None of them really impressed me. The jokes were just average, and the guests were good but not great. Patterson was just ok for me. Sure, I love a good New Jersey joke as much as the next guy, but the impression is wearing on me now. Just not as good as before. Bill Clinton was the best guest of the night. Darrell has been doing this impression for what seems like a lifetime, yet it never seems to get old. Darrell's back again tonight, so I'm almost certain that he'll be back to start the season on Saturday. Overall however, Update didn't impress me too much. Megan Fox showed up, which was good to see. The more I see her and hear her interviews, the more I think she'll do a good job hosting this weekend. Oh, and Andy Samberg's character at the end of Update wasn't that good, and on top of that it went on for far too long.
There was a lot to like as a whole, especially after seeing that fantastic cold opening sketch. I'm really liking the current cast, and Nasim's appearance tonight only helps that. I'm really hoping for more good stuff for the "real show" this Saturday night.
What did you think? Good episode tonight? Are you psyched for the premiere?
Opening -- I LOVED this. It was such a good parody of Obama, as well as the conservatives. SNL is widely known to have a problem when it comes to making fun of Obama. One of the main issues is that Fred Armisen doesn't even resemble President Obama. However, this was a very creative way to take a shot at his talk show appearances, and his disdain for Fox News. The guests who 'interviewed' Obama in this sketch were fantastic. I especially liked Bobby as Guy Fieri. That was just priceless. But basically everyone did well in this sketch. Jason as Glenn Beck was hilarious, and of course Bill Hader's Keith Morrison scored huge laughs. Oh, and we have a Nasim Pedrad sighting! She did her Kathy Griffin impression, and I thought it was very good. She made an excellent first impression on me. Overall, a fantastic opening.
Weekend Update 1, 2, & 3 -- I lump all the Update segments together, because they seemed to all be very similar. None of them really impressed me. The jokes were just average, and the guests were good but not great. Patterson was just ok for me. Sure, I love a good New Jersey joke as much as the next guy, but the impression is wearing on me now. Just not as good as before. Bill Clinton was the best guest of the night. Darrell has been doing this impression for what seems like a lifetime, yet it never seems to get old. Darrell's back again tonight, so I'm almost certain that he'll be back to start the season on Saturday. Overall however, Update didn't impress me too much. Megan Fox showed up, which was good to see. The more I see her and hear her interviews, the more I think she'll do a good job hosting this weekend. Oh, and Andy Samberg's character at the end of Update wasn't that good, and on top of that it went on for far too long.
There was a lot to like as a whole, especially after seeing that fantastic cold opening sketch. I'm really liking the current cast, and Nasim's appearance tonight only helps that. I'm really hoping for more good stuff for the "real show" this Saturday night.
What did you think? Good episode tonight? Are you psyched for the premiere?
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