Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
NEW YORK SPORTS NOW
Asian stereotype puns inspired by Jeremy Lin are OK
— The format of this reminds me of the Inside The NBA sketch from earlier this season, and even has most of the same cast members in the sports anchor roles, including Bill as the lead anchor.
— A good spoof of the “Lin-sanity” craze going on at the time, and the guys’ performances as the anchors are a lot of fun.
— Funny running bit with Jay and Kenan’s characters hypocritically calling Taran’s character out on his inappropriate black stereotype jokes, after Jay and Kenan’s characters themselves made plenty of Asian stereotype jokes about Jeremy Lin.
— I love Bill’s throwaway line at the end about how their next discussion about Jeremy Lin will be with Don Rickles and a crotchety WWII veteran.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
MAR sings “Do You Want To Funk?” to conquests including Paul Simon [real]
— To me, it feels kinda odd seeing Maya Rudolph hosting, though not odd in a bad way.
— Seems to be a thing for SNL to have some former female cast members jokingly mention in their monologue that their SNL tenure was filled with lots of behind-the-scenes sex, as Molly Shannon did the same thing in her season 32 monologue. The difference is that the sex thing was just a small portion of Molly’s monologue, whereas it’s the main premise of this Maya Rudolph monologue.
— It’s a given that Maya would do a musical monologue, but at least it has a fun vibe.
— A rare non-Update appearance for Seth.
— Speaking of rare non-Update appearances, we get freakin’ Stefon hanging out with Lorne and Paul Simon.
— I always like monologues like this where the host sings around the entire studio & backstage, especially when the host doing that is a former cast member (Mike Myers, Jimmy Fallon, etc.).
STARS: ***½
BRONX BEAT WITH BETTY AND JODI
crew members (ANS) & (Justin Timberlake) reciprocate flirting
— Much like Maya making a cameo in the preceding season’s Amy Poehler-hosted episode to do a Bronx Beat reprisal, we get Amy making a cameo in this Maya Rudolph-hosted episode to do a Bronx Beat reprisal.
— The usual funny banter from Amy and Maya in the pre-interview portion of this recurring sketch.
— Great ad-libs from Amy and Maya when Maya unintentionally starts literally getting choked-up when doing the crying routine she usually does in these sketches.
— Random Justin Timberlake out of nowhere.
— We actually get a change of pace in this recurring sketch, with the guests played by Justin and Andy basically being male versions of Amy and Maya’s characters, and hitting on them in the same manner that Amy and Maya’s characters usually do to their guests. I’m finding this to be very solid.
— Hilarious comment from a horny Amy about putting her phone on vibrate and calling herself over and over again.
STARS: ****
MAYA ANGELOU’S: I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD LAUGHS!
Maya Angelou (MAR) has a prank show
— Maya is playing Maya Angelou to utter perfection here.
— It took SNL three tries, but they FINALLY got a strong sketch out of the “prankster has friendly conversations with their victim after pranking them” concept. (The previous two instances of this concept was with Tim McGraw and Jeff Bridges.)
— A big laugh from the following exchange between Kenan’s Cornel West and Maya’s Maya Angelou, delivered in their usual noble, poignant, slow-paced manner: “Sister Maya, was this an act of malice?” “No, Brother West, it was an act of whimsy.”
— Bill was born to play Stephen King, given their natural facial resemblance to each other.
STARS: ****½
BABY BLUE IVY
Prince (FRA) & other celebs visit new parents Jay-Z (JAP) & Beyonce (MAR)
— A pretty good laugh from Maya’s Beyonce casually telling Andy, “Thank you, white butler.”
— Feels kinda weird seeing a reprisal of the “Prince whispers his statements into Beyonce’s ear” running gag from the old Prince Show sketches being done in THIS sketch.
— Nasim as Nicki Minaj?!?!?!? I…I have no idea what to say.
— Taran’s goofy “Bdaaaah!” portrayal of Brad Pitt is growing on me.
— Kristen’s speechless, humble portrayal of Taylor Swift always makes me laugh, especially in this particular context.
— The Bon Iver part is going on awfully long (gotta milk that sweet Timberlake airtime, I guess), but there are a few funny jokes within it.
— Not sure what happened, but somebody seemed to miss a cue at the end of this sketch, as Maya was forced to say “Byeee!” to us in a goofy voice TWICE, the second instance coming after a long stretch of silence, all the while Fred and Kristen’s Prince and Taylor Swift popped up in the background outside the window. Then, right before the screen fades to black while the audience is applauding, Maya laughs out of character at the awkwardness of what just happened. Again, not sure what went wrong, but this whole gaffe amused me.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Comeback Kid”
WEEKEND UPDATE
incredulous SEM & AMP say “Really!?!” to reactionary birth control talk
— The return of the Seth-and-Amy-helmed version of the recurring “Really?!?” segment.
— The funny Transvaginal/Lady Business bit from Amy during the “Really?!?” segment feels kinda Tina Fey-esque.
— Tonight’s overall “Really?!?” segment wasn’t all that memorable as a whole. It was carried by Seth and Amy’s always-fun chemistry with each other.
— A pretty funny transition regarding Seth “making” Amy stick around to tell Update jokes.
— Wow, a rarity, with tonight’s overall Update having no actual guest commentaries at all. As far as I know, as of November 2020, this is the last Update to feature no guest commentaries.
STARS: ***
WHAT UP WITH THAT? PRESIDENTS’ DAY EDITION
Bill O’Reilly & Kate Upton [real] for Presidents’ Day
— After retiring this recurring sketch with the special installment that appeared in the preceding season’s Ed Helms episode, SNL already brings it out of retirement. As I explained in my review of the Ed Helms installment, the reason for SNL un-retiring this recurring sketch so soon is because when Maya came in this week, she reeeaaaaallly wanted to do a What Up With That, so they brought it back, despite all the closure they gave it in the Ed Helms installment.
— Uh, what the hell happened during Taran’s intro of the three guests? He stumbled over a word at the beginning of it, then awkwardly paused for a long time while just staring at the camera, before finally continuing. Very odd. Did the cue cards accidentally get dropped on the floor during this part or something?
— No comment from me regarding Bill Fucking O’Reilly being one of the guests in this.
— A fairly fun and fitting character for Maya to play in this recurring sketch.
— Overall, as a whole, this What Up With That installment was fine and, as always, certainly fun, but it was just a standard installment, which feels a little forgettable compared to 1) all the special things they did in the last installment prior to this, and 2) the noteworthy things that happen in the next (and final) installment from the following season’s Martin Short episode.
STARS: ***½
SUPER SHOWCASE
game show models (KRW) & (MAR) present prizes not won
— A sketch well-known for featuring a laughing meltdown among the performers.
— Aaaaand there’s the point where things famously start going off the rails, when Maya and Kristen make a delayed entrance in a golf cart.
— Despite what a mess this sketch has unintentionally become, it’s a pretty fun mess. I’m not always forgiving of when sketches go off the rails (especially not when, say, Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz are involved), but I have no issues with this instance. While this laughing meltdown is no Debbie Downer-level classic for me personally, it’s infectious.
— Props to Vanessa for being the only performer managing to stay in character the whole time.
STARS: ***½
THE OBAMA SHOW
Barack (FRA) & Michelle (MAR) Obama copy The Cosby Show to fight obesity
— A great concept, doing a hybrid of the Obamas and the Huxtables.
— The recreation of the Cosby Show opening credits is absolutely spot-on and a lot of fun, right down to the very funny detail of Jason’s Joe Biden being credited as “Joe Jamal-Biden”.
— This is only the second of a mere THREE appearances that Fred’s Obama makes all season, and it’s easily one of Fred’s better Obama performances. He’s doing a solid mixture of Obama and Cosby’s voices.
— I always love Maya’s spot-on imitation of Clair Huxtable’s patented rants, which we previously saw Maya do in a Weekend Update commentary from season 30 where she and Kenan played Clair and Cliff Huxtable.
— Jason’s Biden entering in that trendy 90s outfit is hilarious.
— I like Maya’s ad-lib about eating the rice cake that’s unintentionally on the floor.
— Fun use of Amy’s Hillary Clinton at the end.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “End Of The Line”
HOW’S HE DOING?
black voters will unconditionally support Barack Obama
— The debut of this occasionally-appearing recurring sketch.
— Good to see Jay getting a lot of airtime tonight, which is rare for him this season.
— The “What Would It Take?” segment is particularly solid.
— I like how stumped the guests initially are over the question of if Obama would lose their vote if he was arrested for the 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur.
— The black-centric humor in this sketch feels refreshing and much-needed for this SNL era, and this sketch is succeeding at that type of humor more than the White People Problems sketch (from this season’s Charles Barkley episode) did for me. This How’s He Doing sketch feels a bit like a precursor to the black-centric humor that SNL’s current era (mid-2010s to present) is really good at doing.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A pretty solid, fun, and very consistent episode. There were no segments I disliked, and several segments stood out as strong. Maya Rudolph’s performances added to the fun atmosphere of this episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Maya Angelou’s: I Know Why The Caged Bird Laughs!
The Obama Show
Bronx Beat with Betty and Jodi
How’s He Doing?
New York Sports Now
Monologue
Super Showcase
What Up With That? Presidents’ Day Edition
Weekend Update
Baby Blue Ivy
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Zooey Deschanel)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Lindsay Lohan