Cold Opening – Live! with Kelly and Michael
That was a solid Michael Strahan.  Is it true that every era of Live! gets the SNL parody it deserves? B-

Joseph Gordon Levitt’s Monologue
A Magic Mike-based routine is timely-ish, I suppose.  I am a straight male, but I still find something worth admiring in the beefcake. B-

Low-Information Voters of America
Random Asian person sighting!  No, but seriously, this commercial went into full-on Winning[!] territory when it embraced the silly with questions like “What is oil?” and “Where’s my power cord?” B+

Tres Equis I
Wow, it’s been six years since “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign started?  The fact that JGL’s douchebag character turned out the be the son of the most interesting man was the most appropriate revelation possible.  All of his attributes were hilarious with a capital “HA!”  Cecily was great as the bored prostitute, particularly with her wandering eyes. A-

Private Detective
Why so short?  (Why so unimaginative in my criticism?)  Whoever drew those caricatures ought to have been on stage to take a bow during the goodnights, at the very least. B

Tres Equis II
The “first printing of every John Grisham novel” line may have produced the biggest laugh from me.  Initially, I wasn’t on board with the screaming match with Dad, as I thought it changed the tone too much and I didn’t think that the Most Interesting Man would really be like that.  Ultimately, after a few rewatches, I decided that it was funny in and of itself, and that since this was a parody, it was OKAY if it didn’t match up perfectly with the real thing. B+

Hypnotist
Wow, Taran Killam has a BIG smile!  Kenan really should have at least one role per episode of someone in an uncomfortable position such as being humped by a “hypnotized” guy in his underwear. B

g.o.b Tampons
Tina Fey’s mark on SNL is still alive and well. B

Mumford & Sons perform “I Will Wait”
Mumford & Sons, I know folk music is generally mellow, but this song seems to have a fast pace, which you seemed to have slowed down for some reason I couldn’t quite gather. B

Weekend Update
-The Jokes: Hey, Seth actually had a few good jokes this week: the interviewer immediately entering the presidential race and leading Romney right away, and Brad Pitt’s life being a Bollywood musical.  Story That Was Plenty Funny Itself With a Bad Punchline of the Week: the Paris Hilton one. B-
-The Segments: -What Are You Doing?: I’ll allow it. B
-Bashar Assad’s Two Best Friends from Growing Up: Their commitment to really being hard to hear is what sells it! B
-Ann Romney: I wrote down in my notes, “If he’s lucky, high school.”  I had to look that up to remind myself what it was referring to.  (Well-timed dig on Rick Perry.)  Anyway, Kate seems to enjoy doing this impression. B
-Stephen A. Smith: Oh man, this was such a retread of the Stephen A. Smith bit that was cut from last year’s season finale.  A line that stood out on its own was “Tim Tebow’s throwing arm is proof that there is no god.” B

Song Memories
This is a pleasant enough recurring sketch, but it just feels a little off – a little not strange enough – to do it without Will Forte, who even when calm, was gratifyingly strange. B

The Finer Things
At first I thought this was going to be a decidedly bland sketch, the way that some of Kenan’s weaker sketches are, but then this proved to be full of clever observations.  I would have liked there to have been more guffaw-inducing moments, but I’ll take the chuckles.  Also Bobby as a gangsta = gold. B

Mumford & Sons perform “Below My Feet”
This performance didn’t offend me, but I don’t really remember anything about it.  Usually I challenge myself to say something more substantive than “I don’t remember anything,” but lack of memorability is what struck me the most about this performance. B-

Evelyn
At first, I thought this was a Vogelchecks sketch, and I was like, “Wow.  They’re going to have Kate just completely take over one of Kristen Wiig’s characters.”  But then it turned out to be something else.  Still, Kate really seemed like she was playing a Kristen Wiig character.  Otherwise, this sketch was plainly bizarre.  I feel like it could have worked better as a pre-taped bit, because the music could have used a tune-up in postproduction. B-

Powers Realty
Played a little too straight. B

Overall
A few standouts, nothing aggressively bad.  JGL performed in every sketch like his life depended on it.  There was really only one bit (Tres Equis) that has any chance of becoming a classic, but I liked the overall premise-based style of the sketches.  In fact, the first two episodes this season have overall been heavily premise-based.  This is good.  Also, the newbies seem to be fitting in quite well.  This is also good.

And I’ll leave you with the best sketch(es) of the night: