Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR
one-percenter Michael Bloomberg (FRA) ducks Occupy Wall Street protesters
— I liked the previous Fred-as-Michael-Bloomberg-addressing-the-nation cold opening from the preceding season, but I can’t say I’m crazy about seeing another one. Then again, I’m rarely eager to see ANY cold opening involving a politician sitting behind a desk (or standing behind a podium, in this case) and delivering an address to the nation.
— Funny line regarding New York supposedly being a trendsetter.
— Aside from a few okay lines, this cold opening is droning on and on for me. Fred might as well be playing Obama here, because this cold opening is almost as boring as a typical Obama-addresses-the-nation cold opening.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
in Hanna Garis (ABE), host finds a familiar face in the audience
— An okay-ish conceit with the overly-intelligent, complicated questions audience members ask the ditzy Anna Faris.
— Hmm, playing a Jeff Montgomery-esque character, right down to the clothing choices, are we, Bill? Then again, maybe we can consider this to possibly be the same character Bill previously played in the MySpace Seminar sketch from season 31, just like my personal theory that Will Forte’s character in that MySpace Seminar sketch could possibly be a then-unnamed Jeff Montgomery.
— A fairly fun way to work Abby’s Anna Faris impression into this, and I like how Anna is exaggerating her own voice and mannerisms to match Abby’s over-the-top impression. This is probably more cute than funny, but I’m still enjoying it.
STARS: ***
THE MANUEL ORTIZ SHOW
Latin beats saturate philandering sting operation
— (*groooooaaaaaaaaaaan*)
— What was with that mic’ed gravelly throat-clearing sound I heard from someone at the very beginning of this?
— Is it me, or have they shortened the usual music they always dance to in this recurring sketch? If so, thank god.
— Ha, I actually laughed at the hidden camera scene, even how it ended with this sketch’s usual dance routine.
STARS: **
WHAT’S WRONG WITH TANYA?!
game show tests Lifetime Original Movie moms
— A solid premise for a Lifetime game show sketch.
— There’s Bill’s omnipresent Vince Blight character hosting yet another new game show sketch.
— A funny detail of the first prize being “a Volvo full of groceries!”
— A good running bit with all the contestants talking over each other when initially asking each Tanya what’s wrong.
— I love how the losing contestants have to pretend to rake leaves slowly while the rest of the game goes on.
— A hilarious tense, dramatic “Ow, you’re hurting my arm!” “WHO’S GONNA BELIEVE YOU?!?” exchange between Anna and Bill.
STARS: ****
DRAKE INTERVIEW
ANS gets brief, close, sarcastic, racist, seductive, sweater-matching, horribly dubbed, and dark with musical guest
— Girls in the audience are excitedly screaming at the top of their lungs at 1) the mere appearance of Drake’s name in the opening title of this short, and 2) the initial appearance of Drake himself. Rather reminiscent of how the audience usually is whenever Justin Timberlake is on the show.
— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary structure to this Digital Short, with it being comprised of various different-themed mini interviews of Drake.
— Drake immediately shutting down the racist-themed interview before Andy actually said anything bad was particularly funny.
— A good silly atmosphere to this whole short.
— Meh, I didn’t care for the extremely random and off-topic “Happy Halloween” ending, which gave off the desperation and fatigue that a lot of Digital Shorts this season in general reek of. Aside from that, though, this was a good short, and was the first Digital Short all season that I actually liked.
STARS: ***½
YET ANOTHER GOP DEBATE
debating GOP presidential hopefuls are realistically cynical about future
— Bill takes over the Rick Perry impression that Alec Baldwin previously did in the season premiere. Hmm, an actual cast member taking over a politician role that was previously played by a non-cast member. Hear that, 2020 SNL?
— I like the very loose, silly, experimental approach to this debate sketch, especially with the increasingly odd location each GOP candidate is placed in. I’m finding this fun. Hmm, an actual fun and loose debate sketch. Again I ask, hear that, 2020 SNL?
— “Jon Huntsman couldn’t be here tonight”? You’d think Taran (who previously played Huntsman earlier this season) was out sick tonight, especially since we’ve yet to see him appear in any sketches so far tonight. However, we’ll finally be seeing him towards the end of this episode.
— Jason-as-Mitt-Romney’s Forrest Gump analogy is pretty funny.
— Love the whole bit with Paul’s Ron Paul being kidnapped in a van, then immediately defending himself from his kidnappers in a badass manner.
— From my past viewing of this sketch when it originally aired, I had remembered Vanessa being really stumbly in her delivery throughout this sketch as the moderator, and I recall that ended up setting off a lot of somewhat harsh criticisms of Vanessa in general from some online SNL fans for the remainder of this season (until she won a lot of those people back over the following season). In my current viewing, however, I’m seeing that she hasn’t flubbed anything in this sketch, aside from her opening line. (And, yes, I’m watching the live version of this episode, not a rerun version that might’ve fixed any flubs.) However, she is coming off rather stiff here, but not to the detriment of the sketch or anything.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Headlines”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Anthony Crispino spreads falsehoods about Walgreens, Courteney Cox, more
teens (JAP) & (musical guest) do a rap about jacking kids’ Halloween candy bags
— Bobby’s Anthony Crispino mentions that he got one of his false news scoops from a Nazi friend named Pee-Wee German. That sounds like that could easily be a name of a club owner mentioned by Stefon, given how the club owner names that Stefon usually mentions are malaprops of celebrity names (e.g. Jew Diamond Phillips, Tranny Oakley, Snoozin Lucci).
— Tonight’s Crispino commentary is slaying me as usual, even if there’s nothing specific I can single out in tonight’s commentary.
— Hmm, interesting use of tonight’s musical guest, Drake. Also good to see Jay finally getting his first big live role of this season, after how badly he had been struggling for airtime this season.
— During the pre-song portion of the Jay/Drake commentary, Drake is coming off as a natural in his delivery. An early sign of what a good host he’ll make a few years later.
— Cue the screaming girls in the audience again during certain things Drake does in this commentary, including thrusting his hips in a suggestive manner at one point.
— A decent Halloween song from Jay and Drake, made better by Drake’s fun performance.
STARS: ***
TELL HIM
(VAB)’s friends advocate lying for dating success with “Tell Him” variant
— While I’m often not too crazy about musical sketches, I really like how “old school SNL” this particular sketch feels. This sketch would’ve came off right at home in the 70s or the Dick Ebersol era, and it comes off as a very refreshing novelty in this early 2010s era.
— This is also a great ensemble sketch for the female cast, which feels rare in these later years of Kristen’s SNL tenure. The usually-underused Abby even gets a big solo at one point of this song!
— There’s Andy doing his usual funny brief walk-on work.
— A fun and great ending to the song.
STARS: ****
J-POP AMERICA FUN TIME NOW!
Midwestern weeaboos (TAK) & (VAB) love Japan
— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— There’s Taran, finally making his first (and only) appearance tonight.
— I like how the two lead characters in this are played by second-season featured players Taran and Vanessa, the future of SNL.
— Jason doing great straight man work as the teacher.
— Why is Vanessa facing the wrong camera right now while intending to speak into the camera?
— Ugh, cue the cutaway to Fred in drag as Taran’s Japanese girlfriend. And even more unfortunate, that ends up becoming a regular part of this soon-to-be-recurring sketch.
— I’m enjoying this sketch, even if I’ve never been quite as crazy about these sketches as some people are. Maybe it’s because I’m not too familiar with Japanese culture tropes and people who are obsessed with them like Taran and Vanessa’s characters.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Nicki Minaj [real] perform “Make Me Proud”
LORD WYNDEMERE
cavalier dandy Cecil (PAB) meets his girlfriend’s (host) family
— After he had been so under the radar in all his prior appearances this season, Paul finally gets an actual showcase!
— Right out of the gate, this character of Paul’s and the comedic dissonance of him in a modern-day setting is fantastic.
— Equally (or maybe even moreso) fantastic is Jason’s performance, between his overjoyed reactions to everything Paul’s character is doing, and his sudden loud, angry outbursts at Andy. Jason’s ability to seamlessly switch from “jolly” mode to “viciously angry” mode at the drop of a hat rivals that of Will Ferrell’s.
— Even Bill in a mostly silent role is adding to the greatness of this sketch with his creepy frozen smile in the brief cutaway to a close-up of him. I’m loving pretty much everything about this sketch.
STARS: ****½
FERRARI CALENDAR
(KRW) & (host) ogle untraditionally-handsome Ferrari calendar models
— A somewhat amusing conceit with Kristen and Anna inexplicably lusting after grotesque Ferrari calendar models, especially Anna with her initial “Ohh!” facial reactions to each model.
— Ehh, the descriptions of each grotesque model are getting less and less funny, even if I’m still liking Kristen and Anna’s delivery.
— What’s with the random running gag with Bill’s character wording some of his sentences awkwardly, then expressing frustration with himself because of that? Speaking of random running gags, I’m also not caring for the one with Kristen and Anna occasionally saying “…or our asses are gonna explode”.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty fun episode. While certainly not without its faults, this overall episode was entertaining due to a few great highlights and the fun atmosphere of many of the segments.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Lord Wyndemere
Tell Him
What’s Wrong With Tanya?!
Yet Another GOP Debate
Drake Interview
J-Pop America Fun Time Now!
Weekend Update
Monologue
A Message From The Mayor
The Manuel Ortiz Show
Ferrari Calendar
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ben Stiller)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Charlie Day