Still phrazy after all these years!

Cold Opening – A Message from the Ghost of Muammar Gaddafi
This is one of those Fred-centric sketches in which the humor is generally derived from Fred’s goofy mannerisms and conversational tone of voice, juxtaposed with the fact  that he is playing an unsavory character.  There weren’t any particular funny lines, but it is amusing to think that the real (ghost of) Gaddafi would talk like that. B-

Charlie Day’s Monologue
I imagine that this monologue was more amusing for fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, who would actually recognize how similar this was to Charlie and Danny DeVito’s interactions on Always Sunny.  It would also have helped if one has been a fan of SNL long enough to know that DeVito has hosted himself six times and that it made sense that he would could serve as mentor to Charlie.  Since I met both of these requirements, this worked for me. B

Kim’s Fairytale Divorce
An obvious sketch with mostly clever execution. B

The Dr. Oz Show
At first I thought the point of this sketch was to parody Dr. Oz and his show, and I thought that this was a show worth parodying and that Dr. Oz was someone worth impersonating.  But after thinking about it some more, I realized that the setting of the Dr. Oz show was just an excuse for some scatological humor.  And the scatological humor was somewhat funny, mostly thanks to Bill’s Dr. Oz impression. B-

Greek Gods
This was a good idea for one of those sketches in which just about the entire cast plays all the members of a particular group, because there wasn’t a need for everyone to have a strong impression.  The Greek gods are personalities more than they are people, which provided plenty of leeway in terms of how they were to be portrayed.  The entire cast was solid, and then Charlie ran on as Dionysus and just did his Charlie Day thing.  Did anyone else enjoy the info about dolphins in the New York Times article at the end? B+

it’s Getting Freaky with Cee-Lo Green!
Bill as Col. Nasty – the highlight of the sketch, no surprise there – looked like a cross between Col. Sanders and Max Headroom.  As far as Kenan’s Cee-Lo impression goes, this was a first: Kenan’s impressions are usually either perfect (Cosby, Barkley, Forest Whitaker) or not really an impression at all; Cee-Lo was actually somewhere in the middle. B

The Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy Volume 2
The kings still have it. A-

Maroon 5 perform “Moves Like Jagger”
Vocal-wise, Adam Levine didn’t sound his best, which is probably because he moves around so much and loses his breath a bit.  While that is understandable, it doesn’t exactly improve the mediocre quality. B-

Weekend Update
-The Jokes: Seth?  We get it.  Okay.  We get it? C+
-The Segments: -Rick Perry: Bill looked like he just loved, loved to have the opportunity to play a loopy Rick Perry. B+
-Judy Grimes: Judy Grimes can claim to be kidding only so many times before you start to wonder if she could really possibly be kidding so much, and she has already crossed that line.  But the thing is, she fits so much into her routines, such that there is about one joke per second, and I like the odds that rate creates. B

Because of One Dolphin
Dolphins are apparently the theme of the night.  (I guess some folks at SNL were big fans of Dolphin Tale?)  The main point of this sketch is that Kenan knows how to do his job. B-

Maroon 5 and Travie McCoy perform “Stereo Hearts”
There’s nothing like hearing it live to make you realize that a very silly song can actually be quite fun. B

Crime Scene
The premise was absurd, in a small-scale way.  It was also purposefully inconsistent.  It required a powerful, straightly played lead performance, which Charlie Day provided.  And Jason Sudeikis was perfect as the disbelieving supporting player. A

Lil’ Poundcake
Oh, Lil’ Poundcake, you’re such a great friend, always helping out with the tough things in life. Original Grade: B

Overall
This was the best episode of the season so far, and it was so because two principles that SNL should always follow were closely adhered to:
1. The entire cast ought to be utilized to a noticeable degree.
2. The host should be given plenty of room to do what the host does best (although some extreme cases may call for some reining in).
Principle 1 was illustrated by the fact that there was one sketch that featured everyone in the cast (Kings of Catchphrase) and another that featured everyone but Seth (Greek Gods), and both of those sketches also featured the host and the frontman of the musical act.  Principle 2 was illustrated by the fact that every one of Charlie Day’s roles allowed him to scream and flail about in his patented Charlie Day way.  He could have been the star of the sketch more often, but he didn’t have to be, since he was used so well in supporting roles.  There was a happy medium here between a host who the cast could not keep up with (Zach Galifianakis) and hosts who were criminally underused (Anna Faris, Helen Mirren, Jane Lynch, Bryan Cranston, etc.).