Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
1-800-IDEAS?
Timothy Geithner (WLF) has $420,000,000,000 for solver of banking crisis
— A funny conceit with Will’s Timothy Geithner resorting to having average citizens, through a call-in number, give him a plan to solve the banking crisis.
— I love the part with Bill (doing a great “aged southerner” voice, by the way) as a caller insisting that he’ll give them his plan to solve the banking crisis AFTER they give him the money first.
— Meh at the cliched Nigerian prince bit. Hasn’t SNL already gotten more than enough mileage out of that trope in this era?
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
a Chicago-esque dance number fails to bolster host’s tough-guy reputation
— When saying this is his third hosting stint, I love Dwayne Johnson mentioning he’s moved up from a tie for 53rd place with Tony Danza to a tie for 36th place with Rob Lowe. I wonder if those numbers are true, by the way.
— Oh, no, a musical monologue. Dwayne seems like he has the charm to make it tolerable, though. I recall really liking his “Franchise Viagra” musical monologue that he would later do in season 40.
— The “Hit me, Kenan!” bit was pretty funny.
— Fred making a walk-on in his typical gay stereotype role, I see.
— The premise of this musical number feels like a precursor to the Best Of Both Worlds recurring sketch that Andy would later star in as Hugh Jackman. I wonder if those sketches are written by the same person who wrote this monologue.
STARS: **½
MACGRUBER
MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) reveals his paternity
— A variation of the Richard Dean Anderson-involved MacGruber Pepsi ads that aired during the commercial breaks of this season’s Steve Martin episode. I’m glad I didn’t have to review those ads when covering that Steve Martin episode, because something about those ads rubbed me the wrong way.
— I love the absurdity of how we’re suddenly getting a flashback right in the middle of this MacGruber short.
— Hilarious how, almost immediately after the explosion ending of the MacGyver scene, the MacGruber portion of this short has a similar explosion ending of its own.
STARS: ****½
THE ROCK OBAMA
were Barack Obama (FRA) to anger, he would become The Rock Obama (host)
— I love Andy’s Rahm Emanuel devilishly whispering things to Fred’s President Obama, such as “Get angry!”
— A fantastic Hulk-like transformation for Fred’s Obama, giving us the debut of The Rock Obama. Perfect concept, especially given the fact that people used to often point out back in these days that Dwayne Johnson and Barack Obama have similar-sounding voices.
— When this Dwayne Johnson episode originally aired, I missed the first 15 minutes or so, and when I tuned into this episode in progress, they were in the middle of this The Rock Obama sketch. I remember being confused as to why Obama was being played by Dwayne Johnson instead of Fred, and I was also VERY baffled over why the clothes Dwayne’s Obama was wearing were all torn up.
— Andy is fantastic in his conveying of Rahm Emanuel’s glee over The Rock Obama’s anger.
— Lots of big laughs from The Rock Obama’s violent actions.
— Wait, this turned out to be a dream sequence? Why don’t I remember this aspect of this first The Rock Obama sketch? Apparently, the writers didn’t remember, either, because they would end up turning the whole The Rock Obama thing into a recurring sketch, ignoring the fact that it was just a dream sequence the first time. Doesn’t matter, though. (Also, I feel like there was another time SNL made a sketch recurring despite it being a dream sequence in its first installment, but I can’t remember which sketch I’m thinking of.)
STARS: ****½
MACGRUBER
flashback reveals that MacGyver abandoned his wife & son
— I love MacGruber’s “Oh my god. My dad’s a dick” line.
— Another funny parallel between the explosion at the end of the MacGyver flashback and the explosion at the end of the MacGruber short.
STARS: ****½
ACTIVIA COMMERCIAL SHOOT
(ABE) & Jamie Lee Curtis (KRW) lose bowel control during Activia shoot
— Ehhh, as popular as the first installment of this sketch was back in these days (I personally never cared for it, then OR now), we didn’t need a follow-up.
— Wow, it feels kinda surprising to see then-writer John Mulaney making a live, onscreen appearance as the marker of this commercial shoot (the second above screencap for this sketch). I don’t remember this appearance of his from the last time I saw this sketch way back in 2009, probably because I wasn’t familiar with Mulaney back then.
— Jason’s various “No pun intended”s are pretty funny.
— So the main joke of tonight’s installment is now two people instead of one pooping their pants during the Activia commercial shoot? If I didn’t care for this joke the first time when it was just one person doing that, you can be damn sure I ain’t gonna care for it when it’s TWO people doing that.
— I don’t like the goofy, exaggerated face Abby keeps making when pooping herself. She seems to be trying too hard to be funny here. Kristen makes it look far more natural when she does the facial-reaction-while-pooping thing.
— I did kinda laugh at Kristen’s Jamie Lee Curtis saying “You know how when one person yawns……”, when explaining why she had a pants-pooping reaction after Abby had one.
— Blah, now we get Jason joining in on the pants-pooping.
STARS: **
HAWAII
bitter, inhospitable Hawaiians (host) & (FRA) serenade & berate tourists
— Wow, that “Garbage” insult from Dwayne to two tourists was very lame.
— Dwayne isn’t even trying to hide the fact that he’s reading most of his lines off the cue cards. I can let it slide, given how damn strong and fun he typically is as an SNL host.
— I love Darrell’s “Skip me, please!” bit. He’s doing a great impression of how I would be if I were in a situation like this.
— After a slow start, Dwayne and Fred’s bitter, sarcastic remarks to the tourists are getting funnier and funnier as this sketch goes along. I particularly love how their only response to Kenan and Jason’s jackassery is to just tip over Kenan and Jason’s drinks.
— I got a big laugh from Dwayne telling Will and Abby “Aloha hard” after revealing “Aloha” may mean “Suck it”.
— Hilarious ending with Dwayne AGAIN tipping over Kenan and Jason’s drinks after they went through all the trouble of ordering new ones after Dwayne tipped their previous drinks over.
STARS: ****
MACGRUBER
MacGyver’s earthly remains end up in a space toilet
— I love how we’re now getting a futuristic flash-forward scene.
— Priceless reveal of an elderly MacGruber taking a dump on his father MacGyver’s ashes, following through on his bitter promise that we saw him make in a present-day scene earlier in this short.
— Our second season 34 cameo from Will Forte’s bare ass.
— Tonight’s overall MacGruber runner was much better than those Pepsi ads.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Are The Best Thing”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Michael Steele (KET) stays on-message thanks to Rush Limbaugh’s electrode
Cathy’s boyfriend Irving (Justin Timberlake) goes for Jessica Rabbit (Jessica Biel)
gig-hungry Jon Bovi extends lyrics negation technique to other artists
— Very energetic responses from the audience to Seth’s Update jokes so far tonight, with several of the jokes receiving applause.
— Good bit with Kenan’s Michael Steele receiving electric shocks from the electrode in his head every time he says something Rush Limbaugh is unhappy with.
— The return of Andy’s Cathy bit, a quintessential example of how good Andy typically is at pulling off Adam Sandler-esque “It’s funny because it’s delightfully self-aware of how dumb it is” humor.
— Our THIRD episode this season with a random Justin Timberlake cameo.
— Justin takes a page out of Chevy Chase’s playbook by jokingly acting like he’s going to exit the scene during the audience’s long-winded applause for his entrance.
— Now we get a cameo from Jessica Biel, fittingly as Jessica Rabbit.
— After Timberlake and Biel’s respective exit (which Timberlake milked THE HELL out of, in true Justin Timberlake fashion), the ending of the Cathy commentary seemed ad-libbed. Did SNL seriously not write an ending to this, and just told Andy and Seth to wing it?
— Seth has been using a rapid-fire delivery for quite a number of jokes tonight.
— Why has EVERY solo Seth Meyers-anchored Update by this point had at least three guest commentaries?
— We get a random return of Jason and Will’s Jon Bovi characters two-and-a-half years after their debut (which was in a sketch, and would end up being their only non-Weekend Update appearance). I love these characters, so I’m glad SNL pulled these previously-one-off characters out of the mothballs.
— Like last time Jon Bovi appeared, I like how there’s always a funny bit regarding the countdown they do before singing a song.
— Also like last time, I love Jon Bovi’s opposite versions of rock songs. Such silly fun.
— Funny touch after Jon Bovi’s commentary, with Seth signing off as “Meth Seyers”.
STARS: ***
GAME TIME WITH DAVE AND GREG
callers identify (host)’s sports co-anchor Greg (BIH) as alien
— The debut of a fondly-remembered Bill Hader bit.
— I love Dwayne blurting out a very casual “Greg is not an alien” when introducing himself and Bill’s Greg character.
— Bill is freakin’ fantastic in this alien role. His voice, his facial expressions, his lines, EVERYTHING.
— Greg: “Way to gooooooooo, Chuck! Haw hawwww!”
— Very funny montage of calendar photos showing Greg from over the decades, all photos of which have him suspiciously looking the exact same without ever aging.
— Greg freaking out over the spilled water is HILARIOUS.
— A rare Seth Meyers non-Weekend Update sketch role in the second half of his SNL tenure, as he’s the voice of the caller from New Jersey. This is actually one of my favorite parts of this already-excellent sketch, as I love Seth’s character’s theory that athletes are brought onto this show so Greg can eat their muscles for survival.
— Oh, now Greg’s wings have come out…..
— For some reason, I love Seth immediately following his aforementioned theory about Greg by randomly ending his phone call with a sports-related, deep-voiced, enthusiastic “Gangway for UConn all the way this year, baaayyy-beeee!”
— Interesting in hindsight seeing tonight’s Game Time installment end with Kenan being shown as the upcoming guest, a character named Randy Dukes. The reason this is interesting in hindsight is because this is the same character SNL would later replace Dwayne’s character with as Greg’s regular co-host in all subsequent installments of this sketch.
STARS: *****
APPRENTICE COMMERCIAL SHOOT
Donald Trump (DAH) shoots NBC spot with Celebrity Apprentice participants
— Perfect casting of Fred as Tom Green.
— This appears to be the return of the recurring Trump Promo Shoot sketches from all the way back in season 30, only with other people appearing onscreen with Trump this time, and with Bill replacing Seth’s former role as the voice of the off-camera director. I’m a little surprised they didn’t have Seth reprise his off-camera director voice role, especially since they did have him do voice-over work in the Game Time sketch that preceded this, though that was a much more minor role than this off-camera director one.
— Great Joan Rivers voice from Michaela. When it comes to doing a celebrity impression that a female cast member from the late 90s already did much more famously (Ana Gasteyer, in this case), this Joan Rivers impression of Michaela’s is much better than her Barbara Walters.
— Hilarious visual of Dwayne as Dennis Rodman, and he’s giving a funny performance as him.
— This overall sketch was fine, but doesn’t compare to the quality of the season 30 Trump Promo Shoot sketches (some of the rare gems from that dreary season).
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Trouble”
LIGHTHOUSE
lighthouse keeper (host) neglects his duty during a date with (KRW)
— Amusing initial cutaway to Will and Andy as marooned, old-timey sailors/pirates after Dwayne first turns off the lighthouse light.
— Funny escalation with the other marooned sea-centric characters joining Will and Andy over the course of this sketch.
— Dwayne’s “BJ” line was hilarious, as was his reaction to Kristen following that with an innocent, unrelated “I’m gonna down there.”
— There’s a lot of fun absurdity in the exchanges between Kristen and Dwayne.
— The constant splashes of water from off-camera onto the marooned characters’ faces is causing a “dead” Jason Sudeikis to move around uncomfortably (the water must’ve gotten into his eyes while he was acting dead).
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A solid episode, and the best one in a while. Several really strong pieces tonight, including a favorite of mine (Game Time With Dave And Greg). And with this third hosting stint of his, Dwayne Johnson has further established himself as one of the best and most fun, charismatic, and reliable recurring hosts SNL has ever had.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Game Time With Dave And Greg
The Rock Obama
MacGruber 1-3
Hawaii
Lighthouse
1-800-Ideas?
Apprentice Commercial Shoot
Weekend Update
Monologue
Activia Commercial Shoot
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Tracy Morgan
Greg the alien should have been a one-time thing. The subsequent installments with Kenan were not the same.
Could have done with the Timberlake/Biel cameos. Wasn’t crazy at all about their appearances.
I was never a fan of The Rock Obama sketches and that also should have stayed a one-time thing.
The rest of the episode was downright forgettable.
Tomorrow: a Mulaney/Rich/Sawyer classic.
“Life is a highway…”
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A DOG!!!
They were going to do a sketch where Greg hosted a kids’ show in the Zac Efron episode later this season. It never made it past dress, even people who were there thought it was very funny and deserved to be in the live show.
Semi-related:
Someone remade the intro with the current cast as an anime.
https://twitter.com/kylevorbach/status/1300878605619048451?s=19
A not great, not bad, solid episode. The Rock is always a terrific SNL host–the guy just oozes charisma and is willing to basically play any sort of role.
I realize why you didn’t like the Pepsi MacGruber spots, but to me, they sort of the cross into the threshold of anti comedy that I enjoy. Particularly the spot in which the theme song is just PEPSI PEPSI PEPSI. That said, they were pretty horrible actual commercials and would have worked better as a parody of MacGruber selling out.
I’ve always found the Game Time sketches slightly overrated, but the first one is funny and Hader’s performances are always terrific. There really is no reason why they should have been recurring–at the very least change up what Greg’s job is each time.
The Biel/Timberlake cameo struck me as a touch TOO much navel gazing for my tastes. This is definitely around the point where being a “friend of the show” was turning into “you gave a key to your apartment to your friend for emergencies and he’s showing up all the time.”
If Rocket Dog is next episode, it is indeed a classic, which I didn’t realize had that reputation. HOUSTON WE HAVE A DOG.
I’ll say it again, it’s crazy how significant Justin Timberlake’s presence became after only two hosting stints. Is there any other host who was a fan favorite/frequent cameo guest in such a short period? (in terms of times hosting, not time-wise)
Jon Hamm from 2010-2014 falls into this category
I enjoyed this whole episode. Everyone has an SNL era that they give too much leeway—usually whichever one was on when they were a teenager—and for me it’s definitely this period. I liked the Activia sketch the second time around, even though it was basically the exact same.
Dwayne Johnson is an all time great host, as has been stated numerous times. He makes that Hawaii sketch work really well. The Rock Obama is one of the only times they had a fun angle on Obama in terms of voice AND content. The premise reminds me of the Key & Peele Anger Translator sketches (I think that character’s name was Luther.)
This is a really strong episode in my opinion! Two quick Fun Facts about it!
1. Mulaney’s second walk on in his sketch has some awkward dead air before it, which he said on Fallon recently was because he was backstage highfiving Bobby in celebration of his first walk on in the sketch. Basically, John misses his cue because he was too busy celebrating.
2. In an interview with Seth and Andy, they spoke about how The Rock Obama was something Andy did as a fake pitch in the Monday pitch meeting, that he made up on the spot and had no intention of writing. After the meeting Seth came up to him and asked if he could actually use that idea and write it as a sketch – and so the best use SNL found for their Obama was the result of a goofy Andy Samberg idea, which makes me laugh just because of how non-political Andy tended to be on SNL
I’m going to have to disagree with everyone who thinks Greg should have only appeared once. I absolutely love the sketch where he jumps Jon Hamm – it’s just about flawless to me.
Many times episodes that are KNOWN for certain sketches make me feel contrary and more likely to say – hey, let’s talk about this less popular sketch instead. This episode is an exception. There are 2-3 great pieces and then there is the rest – the pattern for the episode as a whole is mostly set with that beyond generic cold open (which I mostly just watched for Will) and that “well, it was an interesting idea…” monologue which just dies early on and lays (lies?) there dead the rest of the time, has some really bad lyrics (“shoesies” made me cringe about as hard as anything on this show ever has, whether it was meant to be bad or not) and mostly makes me feel bad for Abby and Kristen having to play such nothing roles.
I’m not sure it’s my “favorite” Bill Hader performance (who can choose???), but Greg the Alien may be the best use of his very unique gifts as a cast member. The intensity. The voices. The craziness. The commitment. All rolled into one phenomenal moment from Bill. Even better is the writing mostly lives up to his work – a lot of stuff that probably shouldn’t amuse me (like the callers repeatedly calling out every attempt to hide that he’s an alien) does. And what a fun cameo from Seth here, showing again that he was better at sketch comedy than he claims to be. I think Dwayne is fine but I do love Kenan’s turn in the host role as well.
The MacGruber segments, after up to this point always having the host in them, feel jarringly out of place and kind of mess up the flow of the episode. I have a hard time even considering them part of the episode. If I judge them in of themselves, they’re extremely good, with Will giving an excellent performance that never just goes for the easy laughs even in a comedy piece. I also love the detail work with both the flashbacks and the new segments ending the same way, Michaela as Macgyver’s version of Vicky, etc. I would be interested in knowing why they filmed two different pieces with Richard Dean Anderson. Were these filmed back-to-back? Or after the whole Pepsuber mess, did they decide to have him come back to have a better showcase?
(@Michael Cheyne pretty much sums up my thoughts on Pepsuber – the mix of shameless product placement alongside admitting how terrible the product placement is makes me laugh, and Will is in fine form, especially the last moments when he’s asked to say something else and can only come up with “…Diet Pepsi?”)
I guess Dwayne was very busy and not really there for a big week, but I’m not sure these writers knew what to do with him. Other than The Rock Obama, he’s mostly used as a straight man, who at most gets a few chances to let his charisma take over (like the lighthouse sketch). I wish the Hawaii sketch had been better as that was his biggest chance at a fun part (Rock Obama is fun too but it’s more the idea that carries it, rather than his performance). There was no real need to have Fred and Dwayne as a duo in this – they have no chemistry together and actually sort of cancel each other out.
Will and Jason are just fucking fantastic on Update – a real blast of energy and entertainment. It’s also a huge contrast to what comes right before them, as they are there to entertain the audience, while Timberlake is, seemingly, just there so that we can applaud how Funny and Hilarious he is. This also goes back to, similar to the Hawaii sketch, the chemistry issue, which pops up repeatedly in this era (in spite of a relatively small cast made up by a lot of people who were very close) – Timberlake and Andy barely even seem to be performing together in this (they are more fun in the pre-tapes), whereas Will and Jason are right in lockstep even though this was one of their few recurring pieces together.
Kenan is also great on Update – a very clever idea (with the shock device keeping Michael Steele in check) executed perfectly with sharp writing and an even better performance. Kenan, Will and Jason being before and after Timberlake was probably the harshest and most unintentional puncturing of a balloon SNL could have had.
You can see in this episode why we head more and more into Update changing to Seth Myers & Friends, with a good-natured Seth smiling and giggling at those around him – the main thing he has in this Update which breaks that formula (the Iran rant which continues on a theme he’s done in these last 2-3 seasons) is so tonally off both for this era of Update and also for the persona Seth had mostly built for himself outside of these moments, it feels like a demolition derby version of claptor. Yes, everyone applauded, but it’s just grimy to watch.
This may be one of the lazier impression parades even for this period – Fred and Darrell are not even trying, and Dwayne is basically just put in a wig and a scarf. Michaela is fantastic, which makes her firing give this sketch a sting that it shouldn’t have.
The Jamie Lee Curtis reprisal is memorable to me solely because of the Mulaney cameo.
The lighthouse sketch has a fun concept which doesn’t go anywhere. I do still love the OTT sea captain performances, and Dwayne is very spirited and charismatic. Something doesn’t come together for me. It just…should have been better than it was. Which sums up this era in general, I suppose.
I mainly remember the original MacGyver appearing in the MacGruber sketches which I remember being much better than those “Pepsuber” commercials that aired during the Steve Martin ep…
A very good episode, but also a reminder that Year 34 is more uneven than most people remember. This was a strong night for Bill Hader and John Mulaney, and outside of “Activia” Wiigy takes a backseat to the other women in the cast. I nearly forgot Forte did *two* Geithner sketches. Dwayne was solid as usual.
Five-Timers Individual Rankings
7.4 – Dwayne Johnson/Ray LaMontagne (34.17)
6.9 – Dwayne Johnson/ACDC (25.15)
6.5 – Dwayne Johnson/Andrew W.K. (27.17)
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin, as of December 24, 2009)
a huge step up