It seems like only last season that Jon Hamm hosted SNL for the first time. Oh wait, it was last year. It feels a little desperate when this show can’t fit enough unique guests that they already dip into the repeat drawer so quickly.
Cold Open: State of the Union Address – I loved the inclusion of footage from the actual State of the Union address … and the Golden Globes! Seriously, the amount of not only applause, but STANDING applause during these speeches is ridiculous.
Monologue: Jon Hamm – Was definitely funny to see Don Draper-ized roles in the other shows, but Hamm was in quite a few other notable shows that could have been funnier to spoof with Don Draper added, like The Division, Providence or What About Brian … OK, so maybe not-so-notable.
Don’t Make Me Sing – One thing: what the hell was with the dancing cats?
SNL Digital Short: Sergio Curse – Was anyone else reminded of the sax player from The Lost Boys movie, Timmy Cappello? Alright, I only know who he is because I looked him up. But, yeah, that’s definitely the same sweaty sax guy, just with a different name: Sergio! Sorta a funny skit, I guess, but mostly just downright weird.
Daydreaming of Senator Scott Brown – Damn if that Barney Frank wasn’t funny as hell, coming from someone from Massachusetts.
Musical Guest: Michael Bublé – Anyone else find Bublé’s performances annoying? He either looks drunk or way too much like Matt Dillon … or both. No? Just me? Anyway, I never got what’s all that special about him.
Weekend Update – Damn, Moynihan’s Snooki looked like a Cheeto!
Gametime with Randy & Greg – Holy crap, definitely one of the funniest skits for a while. The ending alone was funny as hell, with a classic Body Snatchers scream.
Hamm & Bublé - I think most of us had a feeling there would be some sort of follow-up to last season’s “Jon Hamm’s Jon Ham” sketch. Bublé did a good job in this sketch, even if he was singing every line he delivered. Having these two guys on the show at the same time, you just knew a food reference to both of them was inevitable.
Zipco Closet Organizer -This felt a lot like an Andy Samberg special, with how completely weird it was. A blue guy in a closet, getting papers, feathers, dirt and cheese thrown at him, while he craps in a bucket? What could have made it stranger? Funniest part of this was two sketches later….
Typewriting Court Stenographer – I’m stuck for anything to say about this sketch, really. It was short and unmemorable.
Return of Closet Organizer – I really wasn’t sure where this was going at first, but the connection to one of the previous sketches was awesome.
American Enterprise: Barnes & Noble – What a short and pointless sketch that I can only believe developed from one of the writers having a run-in with homeless people in a Barnes & Noble store.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Jan 31, 2010 @ 01:02 EST5EDT
“Was anyone else reminded of the sax player from The Lost Boys movie, Timmy Cappello? ” — Yes! I thought the same thing. So funny!!
The Sergio Curse reminded me of the Sax Player from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome music vids “One of the Living” and “We don’t need another hero”. Lo and behold SAME GUY! I suspect he appears in St Elmo’s Fire as well but didn’t bother to look that one up.
Nice to see them do something funny with such a classic piece of 80’s kitsch as the buff oily sax player which every music vid of that day was contractually obliged to have. Ah great days! I agree that it was a strange skit to anyone under 30 but it made me smile, specially when he emerged from birth suitably placentacized! Classic.
Mike
With the exception of the Gametime sketch, this episode was a winner, start to finish.
I skipped Buble’s second song, but I’ll be damned if he wasn’t lip-syncing on the first.
Lip-syncing? I doubt it. Seemed to me that he was forgetting the words.
Yes, I agree: It appeared that Michael Buble was lip syncing on both songs which is very disappointing. In fact most performers on SNL appear to lip sync. Maybe they just have bad acoustics or sonics at SNL that causes a true live performance to not sound as good as it good. Still, it is let down that lip syncing is not policed more and that we as a society keep falling for and paying for marketing of false talent, rather than the actuality of talent. Everything is fake these days: fake voices, fake instruments, audio filters, digital plastic surgery for aging actresses, fake breasts …etc.
You didn’t include the first “closet organizer” on your poll
*POST AUTHOR*
Sorry, I added that to the poll now.
Now says “Maximum number of choices allowed: 1″
Should be 2, no?
Snooki’s skin burned that color into my TV screen. Though once again it is nice for the real Snooki to come on the show and make fun of herself.
Definitely thought of the sax player. I believe he was in some Tina Turner videos too. Loved Snooki, again, and the daydream sketch was hilarious, especially Sen. Byrd’s black and white flapper daydream! As for the dancing cats, she did say something about going out on the balcony to watch the cats and that only they understood her, so I guess that’s why they popped up. And you’re right about Bublé. The first number was just uncomfortable to watch because it seemed like he was forgetting the words. At least he had some help on the second number. He does have a good voice though, but I guess he’s better to listen to on a CD than watch in person.
since John Hamm mentioned a paycheck in his monologue, how much do the hosts get paid for their appearance?
Xnifex – I believe the standing host paycheck (which has remained the same since SNL’s inception) is $5,000.