This week certainly wasn’t as tight as the Anne Hathaway episode, but it was better than some of the earlier eps. They had the cameos going (Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Sarah Palin, Oliver Stone, and Alec Baldwin), and they all hit the mark, but the whole last half of the show was painfully bad. Josh Brolin did a fine job, but I’m disappointed that we didn’t get any skits with him being George Bush. We got a small taste of it in his monologue, but this could have made a great sketch.
Let’s breakdown the episode, skit by skit…
Cold Open/ Sarah Palin Press Conference: Holy cameos, Batman! It’s always great to see Tina Fey, and her Sarah Palin continues to be awesome (although this bit didn’t live up to the previous Palin sketches in my opinion). I love that Mark Wahlberg showed up, but was anyone else incredibly let down that he didn’t ask Lorne Michaels to say hello to his mother for him? Alec Baldwin confusing the actual Sarah Palin for Tina Fey was pretty brilliant though. Reminds me of how desperate I am for 30 Rock to start.
Monologue: More cameos! I would have preferred an appearance by Brolin’s lovely wife Diane Lane, but I had to make due with Oliver Stone. I thought they missed some good opportunities. I think it would have been funny to have Brolin giving Jason Sudeikis some tips for his Bush impression instead of just doing it himself.
MacGruber: What did we do to deserve three of these?
Sushi Engagement Dinner: Kristen Wiig is really the funniest person in this cast… Dare I say she’s the only funny person in this cast? We’ve pretty much seen this skit before, but it’s still funny.
The Suze Orman Show: Wiig’s Suze Orman impression is awesome (and her jacket was incredible), but it makes me wonder how many people actually know Suze Orman? I guess it doesn’t really matter. How many people knew Donatella Versace before Maya Rudolph turned her into comic gold?
Mark Wahlberg’s Revenge: Excellent. All the promise of the earlier cameo was fulfilled. I think I giggled through the whole thing. Wahlberg is a good sport, and I maintain that anytime you put a donkey on live TV only hilarity can ensue.
I’m No Angel: Amy Poehler is so hugely pregnant it’s working as a sight gag. I love it.
Adele: DVR + fast forwarding = happiness.
Weekend Update: I was afraid Amy and Seth were going to be short on content after the Thursday special, but they were as good as usual. TIm Calhoun may have been slightly funny the first time, but this bit is so old and tired; just put it away. Ditto Jean K Jean, except for that whole “funny the first time” part. Palin came back and didn’t do much, but Amy’s rap, which was “supposed” to be Palin’s bit, was hysterical – clearly the highlight of the whole show. The only thing that could have made it funnier was if Palin actually did the rap herself.
Fart Face: So… painfully… unfunny…
NARC School: A mildly amusing concept. That’s about the nicest thing I can say. Why isn’t this show just an hour long?
ReadiTrade.com: A clever little commercial. I would have loved to have seen a whole skit on the collapsing market. That could have been so much funnier than the fart face sketch. A color pattern would have been funnier than the fart face sketch…
New York Underground: Was this supposed to be funny? I think I missed something.
Fall Foliage: The pain, the pain… Just make it stop…
Next week we have Jon Hamm and Coldplay. What are you guys thinking about that? Do you think Hamm can do comedy? Are you happy to see a musical guest that people have actually heard of?
Cold opening: Fey’s Palin impression was off this week. Baldwin and Walburg made up for that. Palin just stood there. I waited for her to do something but she did nothing to make me laugh.
Monologue: Brolin does a great Bush impression. If only SNL could find someone that can do one as decent.
Macgruber: Dear God make these go away.
Suprise: When they did this with Walkin it was hilarious. This time I didnt like it as much.
Suzie Orman: Wiig is spot on as Orman.
Walburg’s Revenge: All the respect I had for Walburg that was lost for starring in The Happening has been returned.
Im No Angel: How many freakin babies is Amy having?! She’s huge!
Musical Guest: I couldnt understand her name nor care to know. I thought she was main girl from Hairspray for a moment.
Weekend Update: Calhoun was mildly funny. Usually I find him funnier. Any character Keenan plays annoys the crap out of me. Palin finally did something funny by just raising her hands to a rap. If only she did the rap herself it would of been epic. I wouldnt be surprised if Amy went into labor shortly after that rap.
Fart Face: Someone imed me on facebook before this sketch came on so I wasnt paying attention. I should thank that person since both you and tv squad hated it.
NARC School: Amusing
NY Underground: Ummm… wtf was this supposed to be making fun of? No matter what they were trying to do they failed.
Foilage: You know what come to think of it the fall foilage is beautiful. Must be the fact I just moved to the mountains on the NY/NJ border but the mountains look amazing in all the colors. And some butternut squash soup sounds delicious. But the rape joke was just foul.
I wish Lorne would pull that huge stick out of his ass and let the cast do at least 1 segment per show improv, maybe even the whole last 1/2 hour. That is the casts biggest strength. They could just throw a bunch of props on stage and give them a general idea and see what crazy shit they come up with. They need to tweak something, it’s getting a little stale.
Bob – Thanks for the great post and videos! We stopped watching after Wahlberg’s Revenge, because the other skits were so painfully unfunny.
I’m glad to have the chance to see the Weekend Update skit with Sarah Palin. I thought she did a great job, and clearly has a sense of humor about herself and her press.
I was actually quite surprised that Palin let SNL skewer so her so much with no comebacks, except the Baldwin jab. You gotta wonder why she let them turn her into a pin cushion.
Cold opening: Fey’s Palin impression was off this week. Baldwin and Walburg made up for that. Palin just stood there. I waited for her to do something but she did nothing to make me laugh.
Monologue: Brolin does a great Bush impression. If only SNL could find someone that can do one as decent.
Macgruber: Dear God make these go away.
Suprise: When they did this with Walkin it was hilarious. This time I didnt like it as much.
Suzie Orman: Wiig is spot on as Orman.
Walburg’s Revenge: All the respect I had for Walburg that was lost for starring in The Happening has been returned.
Im No Angel: How many freakin babies is Amy having?! She’s huge!
Musical Guest: I couldnt understand her name nor care to know. I thought she was main girl from Hairspray for a moment.
Weekend Update: Calhoun was mildly funny. Usually I find him funnier. Any character Keenan plays annoys the crap out of me. Palin finally did something funny by just raising her hands to a rap. If only she did the rap herself it would of been epic. I wouldnt be surprised if Amy went into labor shortly after that rap.
Fart Face: Someone imed me on facebook before this sketch came on so I wasnt paying attention. I should thank that person since both you and tv squad hated it.
NARC School: Amusing
NY Underground: Ummm… wtf was this supposed to be making fun of? No matter what they were trying to do they failed.
Foilage: You know what come to think of it the fall foilage is beautiful. Must be the fact I just moved to the mountains on the NY/NJ border but the mountains look amazing in all the colors. And some butternut squash soup sounds delicious. But the rape joke was just foul.
I wish Lorne would pull that huge stick out of his ass and let the cast do at least 1 segment per show improv, maybe even the whole last 1/2 hour. That is the casts biggest strength. They could just throw a bunch of props on stage and give them a general idea and see what crazy shit they come up with. They need to tweak something, it’s getting a little stale.
*POST AUTHOR*
I would love to see them do some improv, that’s a great idea.
Bob – Thanks for the great post and videos! We stopped watching after Wahlberg’s Revenge, because the other skits were so painfully unfunny.
I’m glad to have the chance to see the Weekend Update skit with Sarah Palin. I thought she did a great job, and clearly has a sense of humor about herself and her press.
*POST AUTHOR*
I just wish Palin did more. McCain is always really funny when he is on, and he gets his hands dirty, usually doing a lot on the show.
I was actually quite surprised that Palin let SNL skewer so her so much with no comebacks, except the Baldwin jab. You gotta wonder why she let them turn her into a pin cushion.
You obviously have very poor taste (if any) if you found NO humor in “Fall Foliage” or “Fartface”.
Not to mention you enjoyed fast-forwarding through the beauty of Adele’s voice.
Piss poor review.