Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
HEALTH CARE REFORM
Barack Obama (FRA) thinks Harry Reid’s (WLF) Senate seat is in jeopardy
— Out of the following two things, I don’t know what I’m more tired of seeing in a cold opening in this SNL era: a Jim Downey-voiced C-SPAN intro, or a Fredbama address to the nation. Here, we get BOTH.
— Yeesh, Will screwed up one of his ONLY lines in this long, laughless, insufferable cold opening.
— Will-as-Harry-Reid’s little head nod when Fred’s Obama says maybe they could do without him is the closest to a smirk I’ve gotten in this cold opening so far, and that’s still not saying much.
— Overall, what a horrible way to start an episode.
STARS: *
MONOLOGUE
host plays piano & does stand-up on various topics
— In true Zach Galifianakis fashion, he even manages to make his monologue entrance funny, by patting the SNL Band’s bass player on the butt when passing by him.
— Even Zach’s opening statements are great: yelling an angry “Stop clapping!”, and saying “It’s great to be back hosting Saturday Night Live” before being told by someone off-screen that he’s never hosted before.
— A hilarious “Oh, you’re out of that one?” sequence, with Zach telling us the many looks he asked the SNL stylist to give him for this monologue (e.g. “Oh, just give me the lighthouse attendant”, “Just give me Vice President of Ultimate Frisbee”, “Just give me Wolf Blitzer at Burning Man”).
— Every single line from Zach is absolutely slaying in this.
— Great detail with Zach calling the Canadian version of Miles Davis “Kilometers Davis”.
— Zach: “I like dark comedies. That’s why I like the Wayans Brothers.”
— The piano-playing that Zach’s now doing is a great accompaniment to his jokes.
— The “spouting off random one-liners” format of this monologue is my personal favorite style of stand-up comedy, as I’ve said in some of my earlier episode reviews, such as when I covered Steven Wright’s various stand-up guest spots in the 80s, and when I covered George Carlin’s various stand-up segments in the very first SNL episode.
— Even the “We got a great show for you tonight” sign-off of this monologue is killer, with Zach’s random “Hoobastank is here!” announcement.
STARS: *****
AFFECTIONATE FAMILY
at a funeral, the Vogelchecks grieve by kissing family members & mourners
— (*grooooooaaaaaaaannnnnnnn*)
— At least they changed the setting of this recurring sketch, not that that’ll magically make this recurring sketch funny all of a sudden.
— Two-and-a-half minutes into this unbearable sketch, and I’m wondering to myself, where the fuck is Zach Galifianakis? Then again, maybe I should be happy to not see him get mixed up in this unfunny Vogelchecks mess.
— What was with the really awkward stalling and out-of-character mild giggling from Bill and Fred right before Zach appeared? Did somebody forget their line?
— Aaaaaaand there’s Zach, and, of course, he’s unfortunately getting mixed up in in this everybody-kissing-each-other mess. Yeah, I’m starting to think it would’ve been better if Zach sat this sketch out. I do at least kinda like the detail of his character being named Father Yankovich.
— Assuming Will is playing the same Grandpa Vogelcheck he played in the James Franco installment of this sketch earlier this season, where’s Grandma Vogelcheck, played by Nasim in that Franco installment? Wouldn’t she attend her own husband’s funeral? Or are we supposed to assume she died off-camera sometime between the Franco installment and tonight’s installment? Geez, both Grandma AND Grandpa Vogelcheck dying within just three months after the previous installment of this sketch? Must’ve been all that spit-swappin’ with James Franco that killed them.
STARS: * (This may be the first time in my SNL project that a segment I gave a perfect five-star rating to [the monologue] was sandwiched between two segments I gave a lowest-of-low one-star rating to [the cold opening and this sketch].)
BIDET
all of hotel guests’ (host) & (KRW) questions are related to the bidet
— I recall hearing this got cut after dress rehearsal from the preceding season’s Will Ferrell episode.
— A simplistic sketch, but Kristen and Zach’s overly specific questions about the bidet are funny.
— I like Andy’s unfazed reactions to all the odd bidet questions he’s being bombarded with.
— I love Zach’s question of if there would be a gap “bidet-wise” between the hotel and the hospital in the event that either he or Kristen suffer a bidet-related injury.
STARS: ***½
ZACH DROPS BY THE SET
host has been crashing video shoots for years
— Ooh, just from the opening title sequence, you can already tell this is going to be a blast.
— Priceless background sighting of Zach behind Brian Williams in the first scene.
— Such a great use of Zach and his comedic style.
— I love how they’re even doing a 30 Rock scene, which is giving this short even more of a special feel.
— Lots of SNL cameos from Jack McBrayer these past two seasons.
— When this originally aired, my local NBC affiliate in New York accidentally cut to a blank screen for several seconds right when the camera was panning over to Zach at the children’s birthday party. Then when the screen came back on, the sound wasn’t working until the Law & Order scene began. I recall later finding out that the reason for this gaffe was because of some kind of HD switchover by the network at midnight, but I can’t remember the specifics.
— Oh, hell yeah! Now this is getting meta, by cutting to a Robin Williams monologue from a 1984 Dick Ebersol-era SNL episode! As an SNL nerd, words cannot express how much I love this meta-ness, as well as this shoutout to such a neglected SNL era.
— Perfect ending with a bearded kiddie Zach Galifianakis in the 1984 SNL audience.
STARS: ****½
TODAY
wine-addicted Kathie Lee Gifford (KRW) helps host drop by the set
— This would end up being Jenny’s final time playing Hoda Kotb before suffering the same fate of SNL’s previous short-lived Hoda Kotb impersonator, Michaela Watkins, by getting fired after this season, sparking a famous theory among online SNL fans that the Hoda Kotb role on SNL is cursed. Nasim would end up breaking this curse, as she takes over the Hoda role in the next Today sketch, which (surprisingly) isn’t until two seasons later. Then again, that ends up being the final Today sketch, so maybe that’s why Nasim doesn’t suffer “the curse” after playing Hoda in it.
— I’m getting my usual mild laughs from Kristen’s Kathie Lee shtick, ever since I’ve surprisingly developed some goodwill towards it starting with the preceding season’s Zac Efron episode, after absolutely HATING Kristen’s Kathie Lee shtick prior to that. (Maybe the change of heart I’ve had towards Kristen’s Kathie Lee is a case of Stockholm Syndrome.)
— As usual, Jenny’s not doing it for me in this Hoda role compared to how masterfully Michaela Watkins played such a thankless role.
— Ha, we suddenly get a continuation of the Zach Drops By The Set gag, with a creepily-smiling Zach appearing in the background! I absolutely LOVE this rare case of sketches overlapping. And just three episodes after a brilliant case of sketches overlapping (Closet Organizer).
— This sketch, which was only mildly funny and rather forgettable before Zach’s part, has taken such a good turn, and I love Zach being brought into the Today studio after declaring his unsettling love for his “Egyptian goddess” Hoda Kotb. Even Jenny’s Hoda performance is now working for me in this portion of the sketch.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Cousins”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Mo’Nique (KET) won’t limit her Oscar acceptance speech to 45 seconds
WLF is mad high schools won’t buy his sketchy song about women’s history
— Kenan In A Dress alert.
— Ugh, in true Kenan In A Dress fashion, he’s not even attempting to imitate Mo’Nique’s distinct voice, instead just doing a generic “confident black woman” voice that sounds nothing like Mo’Nique’s voice. He also, at one point, for whatever reason, slipped into his Googie Rene character by throwing in a “Sheeyeah!” utterance.
— A traditional Will Forte Update song! And, sadly, it’s the last one we’ll ever see during Will’s tenure as a cast member.
— As expected, Will’s fast-paced Herstory song is fantastic. I especially got a big laugh from the lyric “Helen Keller said ‘Waaauuugh’”.
— Seth has some really solid jokes tonight.
— The “(insert crazy action here) is the (insert state here) state flag” punchline has become a recurring joke these past two Updates.
— I recall hearing that a David Paterson commentary got cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal. If that’s true, THANK GOD. I like Fred’s Paterson more than most people seem to, but Jesus Christ, why the fuck is SNL going so heavy on it in the second half of this season? Hell, Fred’s Paterson just did an Update commentary in the preceding episode. Were they seriously going to have a Paterson commentary on Update TWO WEEKS IN A ROW?!? That’s insane. To those of you who don’t like Fred’s Paterson, you dodged a bullet with tonight’s Paterson commentary getting cut.
STARS: ***½
WHAT UP WITH THAT?
Paul Rudd & Frank Rich [real] don’t get to say much
— This would end up being Will’s final time playing the announcer of these sketches, which serves as another reminder in this review that the end of Will’s SNL tenure is near.
— As usual, this sketch is very formulaic but a blast.
— A freakin’ hilarious walk-on from Zach as a flute player.
— I’m enjoying the escalation each passing What Up With That sketch is making to the running gag with Kenan trying to get a smile out of Bill’s Lindsey Buckingham, who’s unhappy due to getting bumped once again.
STARS: ****
THE SITUATION ROOM
unvetted viewer-submitted content is unjournalistic
— Feels odd seeing a Situation Room sketch appearing so late in an episode.
— A very funny obscene photo of then-writer Mike O’Brien (the fifth above screencap for this sketch).
— Geez, another sketch tonight in which Zach has yet to be seen when we’re halfway through the sketch.
— Some decent laughs from the juvenile messages submitted to the show.
— Finally, there’s Zach. His appearance is funny, of course, but I’m starting to be bothered by how it seems like, after the Bidet sketch ended, SNL has only been using Zach in non-speaking walk-on roles.
— Pretty funny voice from Nasim as Christiane Amanpour.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Giving Up The Gun”
PAGEANT TALK
contestant (JES) has been coached by her queer dad (host)
— Ha, we suddenly get a beardless Zach! He shaved off his beard after introducing the Vampire Weekend musical performance that preceded this sketch. After this episode’s original airing, NBC.com (I think) would put up a backstage video of Zach shaving his beard behind the scenes during Vampire Weekend’s performance.
— After my complaint about Zach being relegated to nothing but silent walk-on roles in a long string of segments that preceded this, it feels good to see Zach not only in an actual speaking role, but actually front-and-center as the lead in this sketch.
— I got a laugh from the random detail of Kristen having a baggie of Cheetos in her hand during her entrance.
— The lispy gay stereotypes here feel way too typical of this SNL era (I don’t need to ask which writer penned this sketch), but the performances are at least fun (including one of Jenny’s better performances in her short-lived SNL tenure) and are elevating the material.
— I see Kristen’s apparently playing a variation of her cigarette-smoking, ashtray-throwing character from the notorious Biker Chick Chat sketch from this season’s premiere.
— Zach’s over-the-top delivery of “If I see one more updo pouf, I’m gonna have to jack myself down in a hot shower!” was hilarious.
— A rare-feeling instance of Zach breaking, as he helplessly cracks up after one of (several) line flubs he makes in this sketch.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
— Amusingly, Zach’s clearly wearing a fake beard for these goodnights.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty good episode. Certainly better than I had remembered it (I feel like I’m saying that quite a lot this season). When this episode originally aired, the “poor” quality of most of the material and the aforementioned fact that Zach Galifianakis was relegated to too many non-speaking walk-on roles made many online SNL fans (including myself) consider this episode to be a HUGE letdown for a Zach Galifianakis episode, after how highly we were anticipating his hosting stint. The perceived disappointment of this episode even led to some of the staunchest season 35 defenders having an epiphany and realizing “All of the complainers are right: this season does suck.” I’ve recently come to realize in my coverage of this season in my SNL project that this season isn’t quite as bad as I and others made it out to be back when it originally aired. It’s more bland than outright bad. Aside from January Jones and Taylor Lautner, there haven’t been any episodes that I felt were awful (and even the January Jones episode was a little less dreadful than I had remembered). “Mediocre” or “Meh” is how I would describe the other episodes I didn’t like from this season so far. (Then again, we haven’t gotten to the Gabourey Sidibe episode yet, which I remember being very poorly received among SNL fans back in 2010.) Speaking of which, in my original 2010 review of this Zach Galifianakis episode, I was so disappointed in the outcome of this episode that I went into a HUGE rant about the poor quality of this season (seen here, in the “Final Thoughts” portion towards the end of the review). Looking back on that rant, some of what I said about this season doesn’t hold up well, now that I find this season more bland than outright bad. The blandness of this season, while certainly still a problem, doesn’t warrant such an angry, long rant like the one I gave in the link above. I was also dead wrong in my prediction in that rant that the following season (season 36) would be the next 1994-95 in terms of being a disastrous, notorious season.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Zach Drops By The Set
What Up With That?
Bidet
Today
Weekend Update
The Situation Room
Pageant Talk
Health Care Reform
Affectionate Family
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jennifer Lopez)
a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Jude Law