Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW
Charlie Rangel (KET) steals the spotlight
— Rather surprisingly, this is the first time they’ve done this Abby Elliott-starring Rachel Maddow Show sketch since Abby’s fifth episode on SNL, back when that sketch was Abby’s very first big role. It’s sad that, in the almost two years that passed between then and tonight’s episode, Abby’s general airtime on SNL hasn’t progressed much, if at all.
— Abby seems to be trying harder in her Maddow impression tonight than she did in the last Rachel Maddow Show cold opening, but the voice she’s using is STILL too high-pitched to match Maddow’s voice.
— Bill sounded VERY Dan Aykroyd-esque in his-as-John-Boehner’s pronunciation of “barber”.
— Funny line about how Nancy Pelosi always looks like she’s staring at someone not using a coaster.
— (*groan*) Enough with all the cheap “Rachel Maddow looks like a man” jokes.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host lets ANS, BOM, KET think she’s going to do nude scenes on the show
— I love the genuinely very emotional, overjoyed look on Anne Hathaway’s face after she has entered the stage. You can tell how much hosting SNL means to her.
— Nice to see the underused and still-somewhat-new Bobby get some applause from the audience when he enters as himself in this.
— The premise of this monologue is a little cliched and tired (feels almost like a throwback to those “the male cast takes turns trying to hit on the female host” monologues from the late 90s, with hosts like Heather Graham and Sarah Michelle Gellar), but it’s being executed decently enough.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Kristen saying a sudden wholesome “And that’s what Thanksgiving is all about” right after all the sexual-related stuff in this monologue. Too bad she almost had to ruin it immediately afterwards by hammily staring down the camera during her exit for NO GOOD REASON. It made sense when Andy did that earlier in this monologue, but there was no logical reason for Kristen to do that at all.
STARS: ***
TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
TSA agents echo phone sex operators
— This TSA ad being presented in the style of a typical phone sex ad is a clever and very funny way to spoof the TSA pat-down controversy from this time.
— Solid delivery from Kenan of the line “But it’s proooobably gonna be us.”
STARS: ****
THE MILEY CYRUS SHOW
Katie Holmes (host) is peppered with queries by Miley Cyrus (VAB)
— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— Jason takes over the Billy Ray Cyrus role that was played by Bryan Cranston in the previous installment of this sketch.
— Turns out Jason is a lot of fun in this role, moreso than Cranston was.
— Vanessa’s Miley, as a segue: “So, as you probably heard, I’m sexy now!”
— The “sexy” photos of Vanessa’s Miley are all funny.
— Anne’s Katie Holmes impression is killer, especially the long, awkward pauses, which remind me of just how awkward the real Katie Holmes came off in her season 26 SNL hosting stint that I covered.
STARS: ***½
FREE THANKSGIVING DINNER
on Thanksgiving, volunteer Penelope harvests attention at a soup kitchen
— The first Penelope sketch to appear in a little over a year, and this also ends up being the final one.
— The audience’s laughter at some of Penelope’s lines tonight seems a bit mild and tepid. I’m enjoying this sketch a little more than they are, but I can understand the audience’s (or anyone else’s) lack of excitement towards this sketch.
— I like Penelope’s inappropriate comment about how it’s easy for homeless people to see fireworks on the Fourth of July because they live outside.
— An amusing cutaway to Penelope’s similarly-traited family members.
— While this Penelope installment is a slight improvement over the below-par last one that appeared prior to this, tonight’s installment still feels too average for Penelope standards. It’s a good thing this ends up being her final appearance, as this character has lost her novelty and seems to be running out of steam.
— I like how, at the very end of this sketch, after we see Penelope in her “celery boat”, the camera pulls back and reveals Kristen is lying on a greenscreen floor on SNL’s home base stage. In hindsight, there’s something strangely fitting about how that visual ends up being the last thing we ever see of Penelope.
STARS: ***
ROYAL ENGAGEMENT
secret chavs Queen Elizabeth (FRA) & Prince Philip (BIH) intimidate Kate Middleton (host)
— Good unexpected turn with Fred and Bill’s Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip suddenly dropping their dignified accents and demeanor, and suddenly talking brashly and threateningly in crude accents towards Anne’s Kate Middleton.
— Fred’s even managing to make this drag role not come off as groan-worthy as some of his other drag roles from around this time. I also like the almost-Mick Jagger-esque voice he’s using here.
— A funny “In the bedroom…THINK FERGIE” line from Bill’s Philip.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dog Days Are Over”
WEEKEND UPDATE
alcohol & raisins pervade Guy Fieri’s (BOM) extreme Thanksgiving menu
SEM says “Come On, Dictionary” to inclusion of Sarah Palin’s “refudiate”
Four Loko creator Chris Hunter (JAS) defends besieged upper-downer drink
JAP performs hip-hop Thanksgiving songs a la Jay-Z, Drake, Biggie Smalls
— Bobby’s always fun in the Guy Fieri role, and is making this otherwise nothing-special commentary work decently for me.
— Hmm, a variation of the recurring “Really?!?” segment, with Seth doing a new “Come On, Dictionary” segment.
— The overall “Come On, Dictionary” segment ended up being okay. My biggest laugh came from Seth’s “rafing” comment at the end.
— I always love seeing Jason play boorish fratboys like this.
— A funny passing mention from Jason’s character about his coke dealer getting busted.
— Wow, Jay appearing as himself here. A rarity in this SNL era to see a cast member do an Update commentary as themselves.
— Yeesh, Jay’s brief bit about how “Thank You For Being A Friend” should be a Thanksgiving song for white people was a lame and hacky joke.
— A fairly fun excuse to have Jay do a parade of various rapper impressions from his repertoire. The concept of this commentary of his kinda feels like a throwback to Jimmy Fallon’s routine of holiday song medleys, where he does impressions of various singers’ voices.
— Jay’s Drake impression here sounds a lot different from the version he would do in his later seasons, probably because this is before Drake really blew up in popularity.
STARS: ***
THE ESSENTIALS WITH ROBERT OSBORNE
whiny Weather Vane (FRA) was cut from The Wizard Of Oz
— The debut of Jason’s Robert Osborne impression.
— Blah, I already don’t like that nasal, dopey voice Fred’s using, which is worrisome given the fact that his character is the main comedic focus of this sketch.
— Great Cowardly Lion/Bert Lahr impression from Bill.
— Yeah, I’m currently a few minutes into this sketch, and the general routine of Fred’s character is doing nothing for me.
— The ending with Fred looking into the camera and saying “da Wizard of Oz!” in that nasal, dopey voice was just plain dumb.
STARS: *½
WXPD NEWS NEW YORK
elderly TV reporter Herb Welch (BIH) hits his mic but misses the story
— The debut of Bill’s memorable Herb Welch character.
— Reportedly, this Herb Welch character and his hitting-people-in-the-face-with-his-microphone habit was based on ad-libs Bill made during rehearsals of the news sketch from the Emma Stone episode earlier this season, in which Bill played a normal reporter character. I guess that explains why tonight’s sketch is using the same WXPD news station name that was used in the Emma Stone news sketch.
— Bill is just as great as this character as I had remembered.
— Geez, I keep forgetting Paul Brittain is even in the cast. I know he’s still very new at this point, but compared to his fellow three newbies, the poor guy has gotten practically NOTHING to do these past three episodes.
— I love Bill’s Welch responding to a correction from Jason by angrily saying “You son of a bitch!” while lunging at the camera and repeatedly hitting it with his microphone.
— Funny ending with a dead Herb Welch suddenly coming back to life just to continue repeatedly hitting the camera with the microphone because he’s angry at Jason.
STARS: ****
MEGA-MART
Mega-Mart’s 12-minute Black Friday sale is irresponsibly hazardous
— Bobby: “That’s right, Coked-Up Rooster!”
— Strong performance from Bobby in a spokesperson role that I feel like we don’t usually see him in.
— I love the extremely fast-paced and frantic pacing of this. That, combined with the increasingly insane features of this Black Friday sale, is VERY much in the vein of the Kickspit Underground Rock Festival commercials. I wonder if this Black Friday commercial has the same writer(s) as those Kickspit commercials.
— Very fun testimonial from Anne as a hyper, rapidly-speaking customer waiting in line.
STARS: ****½
CAMEL TAME
Camel Tame overcompensates while camouflaging female genital definition
— Amusing snarky comment from Bill about Kristen’s camel toe during her office presentation.
— Some decent cheap laughs from the various visuals of proud women’s bulky Camel Tame bulge, and how it’s treated as totally normal by bystanders.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You’ve Got The Love”
HORSE PLAY
star-laden soundtrack upstages animated equine baseball movie
— A variation of the Bunny Business sketch from the preceding season’s Taylor Swift episode.
— This even starts the exact same as the Bunny Business sketch, with Fred’s Randy Newman as the first singer.
— Kristen does another solid impression of a 90s singer, this time Dolores O’Riordan.
— Yet another fun performance from Anne tonight, even if I’ve seen better Alanis Morissette impressions elsewhere.
— Very funny take on Robert Smith from Andy.
— The “Buck You” song from Kenan’s Cee Lo Green has kinda stuck in my memory over the years.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A consistently good episode, and a nice rebound after the rough episode that preceded this. A few segments tonight stood out as strong, and there were no segments I disliked, aside from a bad Fred Armisen showcase (The Essentials with Robert Osborne). For the second time, Anne Hathaway was a great and likable host, not just with her sketch performances, but even the littlest things, from her aforementioned emotional, overjoyed demeanor after she made her entrance in the monologue to her endearing “Let’s do it all over again!” declaration during the goodnights.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mega-Mart
Transportation Security Administration
WXPD News New York
The Miley Cyrus Show
Royal Engagement
Horse Play
The Rachel Maddow Show
Weekend Update
Camel Tame
Monologue
Free Thanksgiving Dinner
The Essentials with Robert Osborne
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Scarlett Johansson)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Robert DeNiro