Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
MCCAIN RECORDING SESSION
in a recording studio, John McCain (DAH) approves misleading attack ads
— Meh, some fairly hacky jokes early on regarding Darrell’s John McCain being out of touch with modern technology.
— Great use of Bill as a sarcastic announcer of attack ads.
— The ridiculous attack ads against Barack Obama are funny, especially the one comparing him to Charles Barkley.
— Some good bits with Kristen here, such as her explanation of the “tax benefits for pedophiles” claim that one attack ad made, and her knowingly responding “He won that election, right?” when Darrell’s McCain is about to negatively compare one of the anti-Obama attack ads to a ridiculous attack George W. Bush made on McCain during the 2000 presidential race.
STARS: ***½
OPENING MONTAGE
— Showing that he’s not yet used to saying newbie Bobby Moynihan’s name, Don Pardo mispronounces Bobby’s last name as “Monahan” tonight.
— Casey Wilson’s opening montage shot from all of the preceding live episodes she appeared in (first screencap below) has been replaced with a new shot tonight (second screencap below), which I believe remains her opening montage shot for the rest of her SNL tenure.
This new shot of Casey was actually previously used in a few NBC reruns of season 33 episodes (I was told that one of them was the reportedly heavily-edited rerun of the Ellen Page episode, a rerun of which I never saw myself), but tonight’s episode is the first time that shot has been used in a live episode.
MONOLOGUE
host has displaced Columbia University resident assistant (JAS) as BMOC
— Pretty fun use of Jason as a typical fratboy, and he fits this role well.
— Not much else to say about this monologue at all. Just average.
STARS: ***
THE COUGAR DEN
young musician (host) has a predilection for older women
— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— Wow, the audience’s laughter is VERY tepid early on in this sketch. They don’t seem like they’re into this at all.
— Special guest Cameron Diaz has officially become a staple of this recurring sketch.
— The aforementioned surprisingly quiet audience has started getting into this sketch after a while.
— Kenan gets another killer one-liner in this recurring sketch, with his “sexual peak/beauty trench” slam at Amy, Kristen, and Casey’s characters.
— Overall, I found this sketch okay, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the first installment. To be honest, I’m not sorry that we’re only going to be seeing one more appearance of this recurring sketch.
STARS: ***
AGENT 420
stoned spy Agent 420 (host) bungles mission to investigate a laser
— Funny fake-out with 007 apparently being summoned.
— James Franco playing a variation of his character in the then-recent movie Pineapple Express, right down to wearing a similar wig and headband.
— A solid James Bond-esque theme song performed by Kristen.
— Blah, a few minutes into this sketch, and it’s been doing almost nothing for me so far. Just a whole bunch of lazy, lame stoner humor. Too bad, as the initial set-up to this actually seemed promising. This SNL era seems to be very poor at pulling off stoner humor, between the preceding season’s America’s First Colonists sketch (starring James’ Pineapple Express co-star Seth Rogen) and this Agent 420 sketch.
— (*groan*) Here we have yet another display of Fred’s classic Asian stereotype routine.
— Very weak ending. SNL themselves seem to agree, as they would alter the ending in reruns, by having the laser explosion be shown BEFORE Kristen performs the ending theme song (not that that made it any funnier).
STARS: *½
SIMPSON JURY SELECTION
unbiased jurors are hard to find for O.J. Simpson (KET) robbery trial
— I love Fred’s delivery of “Yeah, but he’s O.J.!” when it’s pointed out that he should’ve had no knowledge of the O.J. Simpson murders, given the fact that he had been locked in a bomb shelter since 1968.
— Good premise, and I’m loving how the potential jurors who shouldn’t have any knowledge of O.J. Simpson for one reason or another end up revealing they do, in fact, know about O.J. and the murders. A fun progression to that conceit.
STARS: ****
HEY! (MURRAY HILL)
both (host) & (Blake Lively) have little ding-dongs
— A very lame comedic conceit with James constantly mentioning his “tiny ding-dong” among his general angsty whining.
— My only laugh in this short so far came from Kristen’s deadpan annoyed facial reaction (the fourth above screencap for this Digital Short) to one of the many times James randomly mentions his “tiny ding-dong”.
— A random Blake Lively cameo (who we’ll be seeing hosting SNL the following season) in a bad ending gag involving her speaking in a comically-deep man’s voice.
— Overall, a big ol’ flop. Easily one of my least favorite Lonely Island-made Digital Shorts to air up to this point.
STARS: *½
THE LOOKER
TV show stars Penny Marshall (FRA) as interrogation expert The Looker
— While I’m beyond sick of Fred dressing in drag by this point of his SNL tenure, his non-verbal Penny Marshall impression is spot-on and is amusing me.
— A technical gaffe at the end of James’ scene, causing his final line to accidentally get drowned out by the next line from the pre-taped announcer.
— I like the short scene with Jason easily giving in and confessing simply due to The Looker putting on even smaller glasses.
— Andy is actually pretty spot-on here in his facial resemblance to Juliette Lewis.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sex On Fire”
WEEKEND UPDATE
destitute Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld (JAS) missed out on bailout
creepy American Apparel CEO Dov Charney (FRA) sexually harasses SEM & AMP
— A bad return of Update’s former habit of having Amy open every Update with one of her lamest, most tepid jokes of the night, a habit that Update had thankfully been moving away from for a while.
— A good premise for this Jason Sudeikis commentary, related to the notorious 2008 financial crisis.
— Jason is great here, as he typically is whenever he does an Update commentary.
— Funny bit with a clip of Dora The Explorer being voiced by Amy as Rosie Perez, an impression of Amy’s that I always love. This is also the second consecutive episode where Weekend Update had a bit in which Seth and/or Amy do an off-camera voice of someone during a brief segment.
— A very Will Ferrell-esque role for Fred.
— I can definitely see people being annoyed and bothered by Fred’s sleazy sexual harassment commentary, especially in today’s Me Too age, but his performance is cracking me up in spite of myself. While Fred’s no Ferrell when it comes to playing this type of role and making it still come off harmless enough in today’s age, he’s still making it work for me.
— Okay, Fred’s commentary has lost me towards the end. I especially didn’t care for the boob-grab bit he did with Amy. Also, not that I want to bring this up, but I can’t help but now notice the unfortunate coincidence of this sexual harassment commentary appearing in an episode hosted by James Franco. (Then again, doesn’t Franco’s season 43 episode have an actual Me Too-based office sketch, not too long before he would get Me Too-ed in real life?)
— Amy milking the dog-themed Law & Order “bomp-bomp” sound effect is both amusing me and annoying me at the same time.
— Ugh, Amy’s iffy night continues, as she now resorts to the hacky habit of explaining the punchline of one’s own joke, always a comedy sin.
STARS: **½
THE NEW YORK TIMES
city slicker New York Times reporters are ill-suited for Alaska datelines
— Kristen’s first line was funny.
— This is actually a good use of Darrell’s typically low-energy performance style.
— Though it’s a very little thing, I love Jason’s cocky smiling and tie-straightening in the background when James is introducing him. Jason has the ability to make even something as little as THAT come off amusing.
— A noteworthy appearance from Kumail Nanjiani as an extra with a few lines (the sixth above screencap for this sketch). This is years before he became well-known. I can’t remember the reason for him appearing in this sketch. I know he guest-writes for SNL at some point towards the end of season 37, but I’m not sure if he guest-wrote for this episode.
— Very funny running bit regarding Will’s paranoia of getting attacked by a polar bear.
— I love Bill’s overconfidence in his incorrect answers.
— This rather long, full-cast sketch (I think the only non-Seth cast member missing from this is Amy, who’s barely appeared in anything tonight in general, presumably because of her pregnancy) has Jim Downey’s fingerprints all over it, but I’m enjoying this more than Downey’s typical long-winded, full-cast political cold openings. It also helps that we’re getting a lot of interesting different characterizations from each cast member in this.
— Hooooo, boy. If Fred’s sexual harassment commentary in this episode’s Weekend Update has aged poorly, then that goes double for Bobby’s comedic bit here about being in the middle of a sex change transition. This SNL era in general REALLY seems to be doubling down on transphobic humor ever since the last quarter of the preceding season.
— A good laugh from how, after learning there will be no Thai food, Andy and Kenan react by looking at each other and then storming off in unison.
— During the epilogue at the end, I love the part about what happened to Will’s character.
STARS: ***
OF MICE AND MEN
in lost Of Mice And Men ending, Lennie (BOM) wishes he had been leveled with
— As I explained in my review of the Of Mice And Men parody in the season 19 John Malkovich episode, Of Mice And Men is my personal favorite book of all time, and I’m always a sucker for SNL’s spoofs of it. The fact that this particular spoof is written by then-new SNL writer John Mulaney is the icing on the cake.
— I love the turn with Bobby’s Lennie realizing he was lied to by James’ George, and slowly becoming wise to lots of things.
— I remember some online SNL fans back at this time complaining about how blatantly Bobby was staring at the cue cards all throughout this sketch (those complaints probably came from some of the many people who unfairly wrote Bobby off as a dud after the poorly-received Mark Payne sketch he starred in in his very first episode), but he deserves some slack cut for that, as he’s only in his second episode, and understandably has yet to master how to read off of cue cards without making it blatant. As we know now, Bobby wouldn’t become a notorious cue card-starer during his SNL tenure.
— An overall very funny and clever sketch. Only two episodes in, and Mulaney hits a SECOND home run. Bobby also continues to show a lot of promise in his second episode as well, and this sketch is closer than the preceding episode’s Mark Payne sketch was to representing the type of work Bobby will typically do on SNL.
STARS: ****
YANKEE STADIUM STORIES
Martin Scorsese (FRA) & Rosie Perez (AMP) say bye
— A variation of the New York City Stories three-part runner from the season 32 Jaime Pressly episode, in which Fred and Amy played a different pair of celebrities in each part. One of the celebrity pairs they played in that runner was Martin Scorsese and Rosie Perez, who they’re also portraying in tonight’s Yankee Stadium Stories piece.
— This was actually cut from the preceding season’s finale. (You can tell even by just watching this that it must’ve been filmed at a much earlier time, given the fact that Amy’s belly is much less pregnant-looking.) Kinda odd, though, how SNL is airing this in the same episode in which Amy already does her Rosie Perez impression, in the Dora The Explorer bit on Weekend Update.
— A good laugh from the little scene with Fred and Amy’s Scorsese and Perez playing a game of baseball using a loaf of bread and a meatball.
— Fred’s Scorsese impression is coming off even funnier here than it did in the aforementioned New York City Stories piece.
— Overall, short and sweet.
— Much like the New York City Stories pieces, this Yankee Stadium Stories piece was originally supposed to be a three-part runner with Fred and Amy playing a different pair of celebrities in each part, but the other two parts don’t air. I think I recall one of them had Fred playing Gene Simmons, but that’s all I can remember from the details I read of it years ago.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Use Somebody”
DAFOE’S REVENGE
in host’s dressing room, Willem Dafoe (BIH) wants him to kill ANS
— Nice to see the underused Casey Wilson getting to do a scene as herself at the beginning of this, even if it’s just a small bit.
— I absolutely LOVE this concept, and it’s a very fun and creative use of a Willem Dafoe impression from Bill. Bill has been having a very strong night, by the way, which is so refreshing to see after how invisible he was in the preceding week’s season premiere, not to mention how constantly underused he was in his prior seasons.
— A very funny reason for Bill’s Dafoe wanting Andy Samberg dead.
— I love Bill’s delivery of “James, I played your father in a movie. YOU. OWE. ME.”
— Andy’s ridiculous Willem Dafoe “impression” feels like a nice throwback to/variation of the ridiculous celebrity “impressions” he did in his and Bill’s Impression-Off segment on Weekend Update from their very first episode.
— Funny bit with James incorrectly assuming a mirror is between him and Bill’s Dafoe when he throws a coffee mug towards Bill’s Dafoe.
— Great ending.
— Overall, an underrated Bill Hader sketch. This is one of my personal favorite things he’s ever done on SNL.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average episode. A few duds in the first half of the show, but the solid run of segments in the last 20 minutes of the show balanced it out.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Phelps)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Anna Faris
I think Seth wrote the cold open based on an idea from SNL alum and then-Sen. Al Franken.
Agent 420 has always been a guilty pleasure for me.
The OJ sketch is a sentimental favorite of mine. The progressively more confused utterances of ‘your honor..’ from Bill crack me up, especially the one he has after the reveal of Kristen’s character. Similarly, the cold open works for me because of the contrast between Bill’s tone and Darrell’s repetitive, nonplussed “…I’m John McCain and I approve this message”.
Ironically, Rosie Perez had a recurring role on Dora’s spin-off, Go, Diego, Go! Don’t ask me how I know that.
It seems that things are finally looking up for Bill. I think his breakout performance (or at least the one that led to him getting more screen time) is when Stefon debuts a few episodes from now.
I believe this was the week of the last game at the old Yankee Stadium, which I guess why the Yankee Stadium stories sketch was done in this episode.
From TV.com: “Sketches cut after dress rehearsal: Suze Orman (Kristin Wiig) talks to a man (James Franco) about his financial issues; an executive (Will Forte) is unable to avoid scheduling conflicts with his workers (Bill Hader, James Franco); two more “Yankee Stadium Stories” segments, one with Matthew Broderick (Fred Armisen) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Amy Poehler) reminisce about the ballpark, and the other with Gene Simmons (Fred Armisen) and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon (Amy Poehler) sharing fond memories of the stadium; a woman (Kristin Wiig) can’t break up with her boyfriend (James Franco) because he cries every time she attempts to do so; James Dean (James Franco) struggles with problems until he meets Liberace (Fred Armisen); and a spoof of match.com type websites with Will Forte as spokesman.”
@ HelloStuat, thank you for the rundown.
They would later (not too successfully, in my opinion) work Liberace and James Dean into the Vincent Price sketches.
@Carson, this episode has a very definite, and this period in general, has a “both sides both sides both sides,” feel, as the cold open is balanced out by the NYT sketch. It’s also an example of how meaningless that can often be in the long run, in terms of reaction, because while I’ve heard some people claim for years that these sketches helped ruin Palin’s career and so on, I had never even heard of this sketch until I watched it today. Considering the recent social media hoopla over the Times being elitist and “PC” and committing “cancel culture,” and all that buzzword stuff, this sketch is probably more relevant to today than it was to 2008. (even the strange “liberal coastal elites all want to be transgender” stuff would probably get some big applause…).
Stuart, those first two sketches in your cut dress rundown sound like pieces that would end up in the following months Josh Brolin/Adele episode. That episode has Forte and Hader debuting their initially divisive “fart face” characters who would then go on to do the exact same sketch you describe in this season’s Alec Baldwin/Jonas Bros episode but with Baldwin in Francos’ role. Franco would later get to play his own character in these sketches in his 09 Christmas episode the following season, but this sketch would just be his, Fortes’ and Haders’ characters having a discussion about getting all their company’s employees diodes as Christmas presents (except for Armisens’ character whom they loudly fire for being allergic to dildos). As John said, that James Dean/Liberate sketch would later be reworked into a Vincent Price Christmas special sketch in that same episode. Also, that Forte eHarmony sketch sounds suspiciously like the “meHarmony” sketch from the infamous season 30. I really hope they didn’t just air that. I mean, it seems like it would be impossible for them to anyway since they’d have to edit our Sanz, Riggle and Rudolph who are no longer in the cast which leaves them with basically nothing.
Dov Charney really was gross as all hell. How he made millions selling blank shirts for $35 is beyond me.
This episode was just so-so, but an improvement over Phelps/Weezy. The “New York Times” sketch has aged well, as has the undeservedly forgotten Willem Dafoe sketch. Everything else ranged from passable to forgettable, though it’s clear why Franco hosted three more times after this.
The Dov Charney piece has another layer of weirdness due to Fred’s own issues (Google Fred Armisen Gawker story – not quite cancelable, but in the ballpark).
The NYT piece is really interesting because it’s clearly coming from the conservative mind of Jim Downey. I think it nearly works. Making fun of coastal ignorance can seem like a rich vein of humor, but if often comes off like conservative whining with a subtle dose of white contempt. The NYT piece kind of does all the good and bad at once.
So we have reached James Franco, the first of our multiple hosts to basically disappear from the SNL ether. I guess at least this opens the door for more hosts…
Regarding cue card reading – I’ve seen the casts of recent years regularly raked over the coals for that by fans, and I don’t think it’s overly fair. I just don’t agree with the conventional wisdom that the older casts had to walk 10 miles in the snow and the newer casts are just bums. I blame the poor, lazy direction of the last 15+ years more than anything else.
I can’t be unbiased about the episode, because I’ve never cared for James Franco, even before the allegations started circulating. The endless me-me and the vanity projects irritated me – while I am aware it was just a bit (they clearly had no problem with Franco as he hosted 4 times and even filmed a documentary [his best contribution to SNL…]).
At least this episode doesn’t give the bad vibes it could have considering said allegations, but having this start off with that monologue about his being in college and a female college student throwing herself at him. has aged poorly. Beyond that element, it’s just not a good monologue, period.
(I also have to say that, in my opinion [and the opinion of several ladies in Hollywood, it seems], Jason Sudeikis is more attractive than James Franco, so talk about starting off with a zero)
I guess at least, other than the Dafoe sketch (which he overacts in – Bill is great though), his performances don’t really do anything to weaken the material he’s given. I’d say the only sketch he does a good job in is the OJ jury sketch – the casually aggressive way he delivers his line about OJ being a murderer reminds me of something Norm might’ve said.
The cold open is a clever idea, mostly well-written and performed, but Darrell’s dead-eyed, solemn LFNY, looking down to avoid the camera, is one that will haunt you if you think about it too long. I don’t need people to hoot and holler, but geez. And to think it was the more recent LFNYs that made Chevy Chase unhappy.
The Mice and Men alternate ending is another example of the latter day sketches which have a good idea and shaky execution – in this case the rushed ending. Bobby does a nice job with the material though, giving a layered performance.
I actually enjoyed this Cougar’s Den more than the first one, as I thought it was more focused and the ladies had a better back-and-forth. Cameron Diaz also gave a stronger, less OTT performance. There are some amusing lines too – Casey asking if James knows any young men who are interested in older women in shapewear; Wiig asking about funding the band and Franco asking to get a close look at her before saying no; Diaz and the face-covering makeup.
The subject matter of Fred’s Update piece bothers me less than his hammy, embarrassing performance. He is a grown man yet he is repeatedly making “stink faces” at the camera like a kid in a home movie trying to be cute. It’s one of the worst performances I have ever seen on Update, and possibly the worst since David Spade gave up on air mid-Foxworthy. And not only did no one question why this should be on national TV, but there are 5 more years of this to come. In contrast, Jason’s isn’t one of his best (it feels very padded), but it is at least well-performed and pleasant enough.
Fred’s Penny Marshall (RIP) impression can be fun. I remember when it comes back for the “Bond women” sketch in Daniel Craig’s first episode. Wonder what Penny thought about it.
Who is the extra playing the Asian college student in the monologue? Anyone in particular? I should note that while that monologue isn’t great, Jason is really funny.
The O.J. sketch is fantastic–the build-up to the insanity. The biggest problem is it just abruptly ends.
The Asian extra is a guy named Alan Wong, he got to be a featured extra through taking dance classes taught by Jason Sudeikis’s sister Kristin.
I forgot to say that Casey is really good in the New York Times sketch – good enough that I am very sorry she wasn’t a part of the late ’80s era, which nailed this type of material and showcased actresses who could play it.
If I remember anything from this ep, it’s probably “The Cougar Den” and “Yankee Stadium Stories”…
Simon Rich talks about the OJ sketch:
https://www.vulture.com/2016/01/simon-rich-favorite-obscure-saturday-night-live-sketches.html
“During the original O.J. trial, which I was in middle school for, there were jokes about how hard it would be to pick the jury given that it was the trial of the century. When he was arrested again, it got me thinking about which types of people would have somehow not heard about O.J.’s crimes at this point in American history. Colin Jost is one of the funniest writers in the world — before SNL, I got to work with him at the Harvard Lampoon — and I remember coming to him with this idea. We cranked out the sketch pretty quickly. It’s essentially just a list piece.”