Cold Opening – A Message From the President
Until (or, unless) Jay starts adding some personality to his Obama, these political cold opens are going to remain bland for the foreseeable future, even for sketches that actually have a few funny lines, like this one did.  This time didn’t actually focus on Obama, but it didn’t help that the focus was on a couple of senators that most people are probably unfamiliar with. B-

Vince Vaughn’s Monologue
Yeah, this is where it’s at.  “Vince Vaughn talks to the audience” doesn’t do this monologue anywhere near justice.  It lasted a while, but that was part of the fun of it.  It would have been enjoyable if it had dragged on the whole episode.  And it kind of did, when he gave Eric his phone back during the goodnights. A-

The Al Pacino Accused Murderer Biopic Series
There wasn’t much of a point to this beyond letting Bill go crazy with his Pacino impression, which is certainly agreeable.  He didn’t really do an impression of any of the accused murderers, save for the comically broad accents of the Menendez brothers. B+

Stormy Skies
“With little to no precipitation” was a strong enough turn of phrase to make this sketch somewhat worthwhile.  Can somebody please tell Kenan his Al Roker makes no sense? B–

History of Punk
This didn’t go beyond the oddness of Ian Rubbish’s support of Thatcher, but at least Fred and company committed to their English punk personalities.  Steve Jones didn’t really need to be there, but he did add all to the whole milieu.  B

Short Term Memory Loss Theatre
This could have used more of a point to make up for the only sporadic laughter. B-

Miguel performs “Adorn”
At first, I didn’t even recognize this as “Adorn.”  It felt like an odd choice to emphasize the instruments as much as this performance did, but it wasn’t like Miguel’s vocals were drowned out.  Ultimately, it worked. A-

Weekend Update
-The Jokes: It is an accomplishment that Seth is consistently making me chuckle.  Pointing out that Cookie Monster is indeed “still a monster” was worth a guffaw. B–
-The Segments: -Brad Paisley and LL Cool J: Kenan offered something as LL (“Buh-ring, I’ll do it.”), Jason offered basically nothing as Brad. B-
-Marina Chapman: Kate can indeed play crazy well.  Also there was stuff about monkeys. C+

Northside Junior High Prom
This sketch had the most aggressively awful ending of an SNL sketch in some time.  Not that that mattered all that much, but it mattered somewhat, because it felt like this sketch was leading to some sort of ending.  At least the Vince Vaughn style and energy offered something to the role of enigmatic philanthropist. B-

Tesh Brothers
Well, I’m not going to complain about a bit focused on John Tesh.  But I am going to complain about an SNL sketch that doesn’t do much with its premise.  This wasn’t quite what I’d call a slam dunk. B-

Miguel performs “How Many Drinks?”
I don’t listen to too much R&B, so it takes some calibrating for me to effectively watch a performance by the likes of Miguel.  But I think he hit his marks. B+

Last Call
This sketch was kind of meaningful in the Louis C.K. episode.  This time it was just overkill. C+

Overall
The vibe Vince was bringing with his monologue seemed to augur well.  But then most of the sketches just weren’t doing much.  They all had interesting ideas … to start out with.  They just didn’t go much beyond the beginning.

Regarding the best of the night, the monologue was money, baby: