SNL Recap May 12, 2012: Will Ferrell/Usher

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Cold Opening – Biden’s Room
Biden’s presence in political sketches the past few seasons has generally worked in SNL‘s favor, as he brings a silly energy that tends to mix up the staid formula that has set in for most recent political sketches.  Biden’s starring role – along with Will’s goofy-at-a-Hall-of-Fame-level Dubya – set the tone for an episode that was at its best when it was seriously silly. B+

Will Ferrell’s Monologue
The cue card gag was on a par with Steve Martin saying, “Line?” at the end of the Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight cold open.  Will Ferrell and Mom = Will Ferrell and emotions, which is always a formula for at least some success. B

One-a-Day Extra Strength Nasaflu
Well, one doesn’t really need any reason to listen to Will Ferrell scream-sneeze, but it would have been nice to have more of a sketch built around it. B

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SNL Video Recap May 5, 2012: Eli Manning/Rihanna

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SNL Recap May 5, 2012: Eli Manning/Rihanna

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Cold Opening – Fox and Friends
“Baseball is a land sport” was one of the corrections – I wonder what they claimed otherwise.  As usual, the corrections were the best part, and they can only work in an age when pausing is easy.  The bits with Bobby as Brian Kilmeade were also amusing, including the lines about pandas. B

Eli Manning’s Monologue
Monologues have gone to the well of “host claims to know New York, but gets it all wrong” plenty of times before, but they usually work, so that’s fine.  I thought I fully knew where this was going at first, but there were some surprises, and Eli was sufficient. B

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SNL 5/19 Guest Announcements: Reactions

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5/19/12: Mick Jagger: Whaaa- ???

SNL 5/5 and 5/12 Guest Announcements: Reactions

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5/5/12: Eli Manning/Rihanna: Guess what?  Little Eli may just be the best quarterback in the Manning family.  Now, yes, he absolutely has a ways to go to catch up to Peyton statistically, but he does have more Super Bowl rings, and that is no fluke.  But … the topic at hand is hosting SNL.  Peyton Manning is hands down the best athlete host in SNL history, and Eli has never really indicated that he has the charisma to match his brother when it comes to endorsement deals or television appearances.  All I’m saying is, Eli may want to take some pointers from big brother.
RiRi appears for her third time, for the third season in a row.  I’m not sure what songs she’ll be peforming, though.  “We Found Love” is the only major hit from her most recent album Talk That Talk, and that has already peaked.  The best song she is a part of right now is Drake’s “Take Care,” which I would be happy to see a performance of, but that seems unlikely, as Drake was already an MG this season.  This seems like a perfect time to dip into the classics and whip out that “Umbrella.”

5/12/12: Will Ferrell/Usher: I keep thinking that Will Ferrell has only hosted season finales, but he has actually hosted one season finale and one second-to-last episode of the season.  So, with this third hosting appearance, it will still be true that he has only hosted the last or the second-to-last episode of the season.  Anyway, he is the greatest SNL cast member of all time.  ‘Nuff said.
Usher (like Will Ferrell the host) has only appeared on SNL in May.  During his two previous stints, he was reliable for fun club-bangers like “Yeah” and “Love in This Club,” but if his current single “Climax” is an indication of what he has in store for May 12, then I am not excited.

SNL Video Recap April 14, 2012: Josh Brolin/Gotye

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SNL Recap April 14, 2012: Josh Brolin/Gotye

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We need beans, like, yesterday.

Republican Candidates at a Bar
It felt like this sketch could have been written months ago, and SNL was just waiting for everyone besides Romney to drop out before airing it.  Humorously keen observations were made about each candidate.  The digs at Rick Perry’s propensity for gaffes in this sketch were the best digs at him all season. B+

Josh Brolin’s Monologue
It was nice to see that Josh Brolin was comfortable enough to get through his monologue (mostly) by himself, despite not having much material.  I got that he only said one word as Tommy Lee Jones because Tommy Lee isn’t a big talker, but it would have been nice to hear more of that impression, because based on the MIB3 trailer, he has his cadence down well. B-

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SNL Video Recap April 7, 2012: Sofia Vergara/One Direction

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SNL Recap April 7, 2012: Sofia Vergara/One Direction

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eBay of Pigs!

Cold Opening – Road to the White House
The best part of all those cookie-cutter Mitt Romney sketches from this season has been Mitt attempting to sound like an actual human with actual human interests, so a compilation of those bits was an apt choice. B

Sofia Vergara’s Monologue
Rather lightweight, but the joke about how Hispanic people age fast initially and then stop aging completely was funny, despite being based on a very small portion of reality. B

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SNL 4/14 Guest Announcements: Reactions

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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.)

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