Jmunney's Blog

4/14/12: Josh Brolin/Gotye: You all may have forgotten that Josh Brolin has already hosted once before.  What with Sarah Palin and Mark Wahlberg stopping by, as well Brolin’s W director Oliver Stone commandeering his monologue, as well as musical guest Adele having her first big break, there wasn’t much memorable from that episode that actually featured the host (except for that “I’m No Angel” sketch with a very pregnant Amy Poehler that keeps inexplicably being included in SNL clip shows).  Brolin seems like a nice guy, and he’s a fine actor, but, in my estimation, he doesn’t quite have the the temperament for sketch comedy.  Hopefully, the writing will be solid.
“Who’s Gotye,” some of you may be asking.  Well, his parents gave him the Dutch name “Wouter,” whose French version is “Gaultier,” for which “Gotye” is a fairly close phonetic approximation.  Anyway, you may have heard his song “Somebody That I Used to Know,” featuring Kiwi chanteuse Kimbra.  And you may be surprised that a tune that sounds like an art-rock piece from Peter Gabriel in his heyday has, as of this posting, charted as high as 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The music video is a brilliant piece of visual accompaniment, and hopefully Gotye will present something like it on the SNL stage.  (Also, Kimbra’s Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/kimbramusic) implies that she will be there to join Gotye, so that’s good.)

4/7/12: Sofia Vergara/One Direction: I had an inkling Sofia Vergara might host this season, as she seems to be the IT member of the Modern Family cast.  I would have preferred Ty Burrell or a return appearance by Ed O’Neill, but Sofia is certainly a capable comedienne.  I do fear, though, that the material may descend into ethnic clichés, but SNL seems to do that more with British folk (although, granted, there have been more British than Hispanic hosts).
One Direction?  I can understand booking a boy band – if they’re the biggest thing in the world.  One Direction might – might – be headed in that direction.  They were assembled on The X-Factor – the U.K. X-Factor!  Yeah,  I suppose they’re aiming to break into the U.S., but SNL isn’t known for breaking this type of band, and I don’t see why they would want to change that.  But I’ve heard their song “What Makes You Beautiful,” and … I don’t hate it.

3/3/12: Lindsay Lohan/Jack White: I had an inkling at the beginning of the season that Lindsay Lohan might stop by the 30 Rock stage for the first time in six years.  I had heard rumblings that she might go for some career rejuvenation in a place where she has had some success before.  She hosted three years in a row from 2004-06, right before he career became a complete wreck.  Her first stint included some memorable performances, including a well-endowed Hermione Granger and a member of the t.A.T.u.-parody pretend-lesbian group D.A.D.I.  But her ’05 and ’06 stints were relatively meh.  Apparently, she’s the most sober she’s been in a while, so that should help this go-round.
And SNL books Jack White right on the heels of his solo debut.  If there’s anyone who can figure out the weird acoustics of the SNL musical stage, it is he.  Check out the documentary It Might Get Loud to see what I am talking about.

3/10/12: Jonah Hill/The Shins: I like Jonah Hill, and I’ve come to like him even more since he has taken on (and acquitted himself quite well in) more dramatic roles.  His first time hosting appearance was back in 2008; save for a series of MacGruber’s, he wasn’t really given material worthy of his talents.  He definitely deserves another shot.
The Shins are still making music?  I thought that they belonged squarely in the first decade of the of the 21st century.  I’ll probably enjoy them.