Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
REID RALLY
at a rally, Harry Reid (PAB) distances himself from Barack Obama (FRA)
— Feels a little odd seeing Jay standing in the background right behind Fred’s President Obama, knowing the far-better Obama impression Jay had in his back pocket at the time and would later regularly do on the show starting in his third season.
— The timing during Fred and Paul’s discreet conversation with each other seems off, with too many long pauses between lines. Not sure if that’s Paul’s fault or not. He is noticeably staring at the cue cards during this portion of the sketch. Speaking of which, Paul’s cue card-staring habit in tonight’s episode in general was something that some online SNL fans unfairly tore Paul apart for at the time. I guess those fans didn’t consider the fact that it takes some new cast members a little while to get the hang of how to read off cue cards without making it look too noticeable. Bobby’s a perfect example, as he blatantly stared at the cue cards all throughout the Of Mice And Men sketch from his second episode (and, yes, some online SNL fans tore him apart for that), but it’s not like that went on to become a habit of his.
— Speaking of Paul, it’s surprising to see a new featured player like him co-starring in a cold opening, especially given how underused he was prior to this and hadn’t been given any lead roles until this point.
— The brief interjections that Fred’s Obama keeps making throughout Paul-as-Harry-Reid’s speech are doing very little for me. Unfortunately, that’s the only comedic conceit of most of this cold opening. Typical snooze-worthy political writing from Jim Downey’s later years.
— Wow, Paul even gets to say LFNY! In only his fourth episode as a featured player! I wonder if this is a record for the fastest that a featured player has ever said LFNY in SNL history. Abby comes close, as she said LFNY in her fifth episode as a featured player. [ADDENDUM: I just remembered that Eddie Murphy said LFNY in only his third episode as a credited featured player, so I guess he holds the record.]
STARS: *½
MONOLOGUE
audience nerds (KET), (BIH), (ANS) ask host if she’ll make out with them
— This monologue ALREADY seems to be going the same route as Natalie Portman’s season 31 monologue, with the female host taking questions from male nerds in the audience.
— Taran’s Michael Cera impression is very funny, and is almost singlehandedly saving this monologue for me. On the other hand, I don’t know what Bobby’s going for in his Jonah Hill impression, but it’s harmless enough.
— I’m tired of all the “I thank you for your time” lines from the audience nerds.
STARS: **
BABY SPANX
foundation garment hides chubby infants’ embarrassing fat
— Very funny delivery from spokesperson Jason of his first line to us upon his entrance: “Do you have a fat baby?”
— Blah, a commercial in the tradition of bland “babies wearing adult things” SNL commercials like Huggies Thong and Baby Toupees. A tired SNL trope.
— Overall, Jason’s great delivery was the only big thing this otherwise-bland commercial had going for it.
STARS: **
DREAM HOME EXTREME
contest winner’s (host) phlegmatism stymies Cheryl
— A very random and unnecessary reprisal of a one-off sketch from a Brian Williams-hosted episode THREE YEARS PRIOR. Why make this sketch recurring after such a long time?
— Kristen’s excited vocalizations and gestures amused me enough in the first installment of this sketch, but in tonight’s installment, they’re just plain ANNOYING to me. Absolutely grating.
— This sketch is following the exact same pattern as the first installment, and it worked far better with Brian Williams in the “unexcited winner” role.
— I’ve finally gotten a laugh, from Bill, Nasim, and Jay’s over-excited reactions in clips of past winners.
— Speaking of Bill, Nasim, and Jay’s parts, do you know what their character names are? Rudy Plank, Laverne Terms, and Syd Awnit. Yeesh, I see I don’t have to ask which writer penned this sketch.
— Even the ending is the same as the first installment, with the unexcited winner finally having an excited reaction when receiving an unrelated mundane gift from someone. Again, it was much funnier seeing Brian Williams do that.
— We’re four segments into tonight’s episode, and I haven’t cared for ANY of them so far.
STARS: *½
WXPD CHANNEL 9 NEWS
local news reporter’s (BIH) made-up stories scare teen’s (host) mom (KRW)
— When talking about the bad “Souping” trend, I love Bill’s line “Mmm-mmm dead”, spoofing the Campbell Soup slogan “Mmm-mmm good”.
— Oddly, Kristen’s acting seems forced in this sketch, and I could do without her over-the-top reactions, especially coming RIGHT AFTER a sketch where she just played an over-the-top character.
— A very funny escalation to all of the ridiculous teen fads covered in this sketch, especially the “Trampolining” fad.
— Very amusing delivery from Bill’s reporter character throughout this.
— Overall, finally, this episode had something I enjoyed.
STARS: ****
I BROKE MY ARM
(host)’s injuries move her classmates from envy to pity
— A good use of Emma, and she’s pulling off her character’s sudden slips on the floor humorously.
— Hilarious escalation to the gag, with Emma now entering in a wheelchair and a Stephen Hawking-esque computerized device she has to speak though.
— WTF at Andy taking over the short as a rapping jelly stain?!? Even for Lonely Island Digital Short standards, I’m finding this very questionable.
— And that rapping jelly stain bit is how this short ends??? Yeah, this ending did not work for me. Too bad, given how enjoyable this short was before then.
STARS: ***½
THE VIEW
panel considers bullies, Halloween, Lindsay Lohan (host)
— The final View sketch of this era. I will not miss these sketches’ presence. They got nothing on the original View sketches from the late 90s era. I have yet to see the newer View sketches from SNL’s present-day era, but I hope they’re better than these 2008-2010 View sketches.
— Kristen-as-Elisabeth-Hasselbeck’s dialogue is even more one-note than it usually is in these sketches.
— Fitting casting of Emma as Lindsay Lohan.
— Meh, as it turns out, they ended up not doing much with Emma’s Lohan in this overall sketch.
STARS: **
WRANGLER OPEN FLY JEANS
Wrangler Open Fly Jeans abet exhibitionists like Brett Favre (JAS)
— A pretty funny concept for a spoof of the Brett Favre sexting scandal.
— Great sleazy performance from Jason as Favre.
— Jason’s Brett Favre: “Look, I put my pants on just like anyone else: one leg at a time. Then…I pull muh penis out.”
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Radioactive”
WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM comments on Virginia Thomas’ exhumation of the Anita Hill controversy
New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan (KET) evinces innumeracy
John Mulaney [real] does stand-up with the theme of “I Love It”
Stefon’s nightclub suggestions for NYC tourists are not family-friendly
— Oof. The audience’s laughter during Seth’s Virginia Thomas/Anita Hill rant is VERY tepid. They are not into this.
— Wow, I had forgotten all about that “The Rent Is Too Damn High” guy. Kenan’s impression of him is good.
— Kenan’s lines and delivery are cracking me up, even though he’s just saying variations of what the real “The Rent Is Too Damn High” guy famously said in the viral video of him, and it’s hard to do a spoof of something that’s already comical enough on its own.
— I swear Seth (or maybe his former co-anchor Amy Poehler) already used that “fried chicken as bread” joke in a previous Update, but I can’t say for sure.
— John Mulaney in his second and final Update commentary during his tenure as an SNL writer.
— The “I Love It” motif to tonight’s Mulaney commentary is a good way to connect his various thoughts into one theme, and is very fitting for his distinct stand-up delivery.
— I love John’s comments about animals not knowing when they’re in a movie.
— Good ending to tonight’s Mulaney commentary, with him riffing on the style of Mad Men’s next-episode previews.
— Much like John’s previous Update commentary, he went through tonight’s commentary without Seth making any of the usual interjections he typically makes during guest commentaries on Update. I wish this was far more common. I don’t know when nor why it became a regular thing for Update anchors to always play a big part in a guest’s commentary, but it definitely started sometime in the 2000s.
— When this SNL era originally aired, I remember how I and several other online SNL fans took John Mulaney’s Update commentaries as a hopeful sign that this was SNL’s way of trying John out as a potential replacement for Seth as Update anchor. I and those aforementioned online fans were absolutely sick of Seth as Update anchor at that point (I’m finding him a lot more tolerable on re-watch, even if he’s still nothing particularly special), and we felt that John as an Update anchor would’ve been a refreshing and much-needed change from Seth. Fast-forward to today, 10 years later, when I’ve become more familiar with John and his comedic style, and it’s a little hard for me to imagine him as an Update anchor, and I’m now kinda thinking he might not have been as great in that role as we thought back in 2010.
— Our first Stefon appearance of the season. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only two Updates he’s appeared in by this point also happen to be Updates that Stefon writer John Mulaney did a commentary of his own in.
— Funniest bits in tonight’s Stefon commentary are the Cosby Face bit, a fat kid on a slip-and-slide being confused for Mick Jagger, and Furkels (a.k.a. Fat Urkels).
STARS: **½
LES JEUNES DE PARIS
in a bistro, “Ta Douleur” inspires youth dance-off
— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— After Paul has finally gotten his first SNL lead role earlier tonight, now it’s Taran’s turn. Taran’s been having a good night, between his Michael Cera impression and this.
— I absolutely LOVE the part where all the characters suddenly start dancing in unison to the bizarre portion of the French song that’s playing.
— Great gag with Taran imitating Emma’s bra removal by removing his own bra, which we then find out belongs to Abby.
— I love that the only cast members in this sketch’s main roles are newer players (Taran, Nasim, Abby, Paul, and Bobby, plus Vanessa in a brief walk-on).
— The combo of the odd French music being played and all the very funny actions happening during it is giving this sketch an epic, fun feel.
— Was that Jason as the older gentleman passing by with a cane who the main characters briefly stop dancing for? SNL Archives claims it is (link here), but I’m skeptical. It’s hard for me to tell if that’s really Jason, as we can only see his face from the side as he’s walking past the camera (screencap below).
If that is Jason, it’s very odd they would give a seven-season SNL veteran like him such a tiny, non-speaking role like that (though it did happen to him then-recently in the Bryan Cranston episode), especially in a sketch where the main roles are all played by new or new-ish cast members. Also, if that is Jason in this sketch, then it’s his ONLY live appearance all night. Aside from the Jane Lynch episode, Jason’s strangely been getting very little airtime this season, and it continues for quite a lot of the remainder of this season, IIRC. What’s the reason for this? Is he busy filming a movie this season? Horrible Bosses, perhaps?
— Such a strong and fun sketch overall.
STARS: ****½
MY BROTHER KNOWS EVERYTHING
annoyed (ANS) is little sister’s (NAP) hero
— Nice to see two consecutive sketches tonight starring a featured player(s).
— Nasim playing yet another child character, I see.
— In response to Emma saying Nasim’s brother is a hunk, Nasim says a well-delivered “Eww! Gross!….but yeah.”
— Emma’s comments about each of the “hot” posters from Andy’s room are pretty funny.
— Some decent in-show segments that Nasim and Emma’s characters do throughout this.
STARS: ***
“SEX” ED VINCENT’S SEX SYMPOSIUM
Ed Vincent’s (PAB) amateur lecture seminar opens minds
— Wow, the THIRD consecutive segment tonight starring a featured player. And it’s Paul’s SECOND lead role tonight.
— Right out of the gate, this already seems like a very promising character from Paul, and I love the format of this piece.
— Excellent performance and characterization from Paul. You can tell this is a character he had been doing before SNL.
— The “side of the penis/top of the penis” bit is particularly funny.
— I’m enjoying the “Tim & Eric”-esque vibe of this short.
— Great piece overall.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pyro”
GOOGIE RENE’S PARTIALLY DAMAGED HALLOWEEN COSTUME DISCOUNT BASEMENT
Googie Rene’s Halloween costumes are cheap but marred
— Another instance tonight of SNL randomly bringing back a one-off sketch from two or more years prior.
— Paul continues to get lots of airtime tonight.
— A cheap laugh from the “Stank Basket” that’s displayed.
— Kenan’s offbeat portrayal of this Googie Rene character continues to amuse me, but I can definitely see why it would annoy some people.
— Good portion of this sketch with the examples of things you can hide the stain on your costume with.
— Abby’s extremely brief, non-speaking walk-on might as well have been played by an extra.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A rough and worrisome start with the first four segments of this episode, but things got better as the show went along, especially when they started letting the featured players take over the show in the first few post-Weekend Update segments, which backs up my viewpoint that this season’s four new hires are breathing some much-needed new life into the show.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Les Jeunes De Paris
“Sex” Ed Vincent’s Sex Symposium
WXPD Channel 9 News
Wrangler Open Fly Jeans
I Broke My Arm
My Brother Knows Everything
Weekend Update
Monologue
Baby Spanx
The View
Dream Home Extreme
Reid Rally
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jane Lynch)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Jon Hamm hosts for his third and, as of 2020, final time