SNL Season Premiere Video Recap September 28, 2013: Tina Fey/Arcade Fire

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SNL Season Premiere Recap September 28, 2013: Tina Fey/Arcade Fire

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They’re all just twerkin’ 9 to 5.

Obama Press Conference
With  all the guests that Obama was bringing on to tell their stories, I thought this was going to be one of those every-cast-member-appears sketches, what with the huge cast and all.  But it ended up only covering about 60%.  There seemed to be a fair amount of applause for Beck Bennett – did people recognize him from the AT&T commercials?  Or was that just premature applause for Aaron Paul?  I had heard speculation that the cold opening would cover Ted Cruz, or maybe Breaking Bad – what do you know, they were both right!  Cecily’s appearance here was the first of several times this episode I was upset we’ll never see her again as a guest on the Update desk, with the complaint of a broken iPhone 5S a rather Girl at a Party-esque problem. B-

Tina Fey’s Monologue
I like a well-crafted pun, delivered with conviction (or a terrible pun delivered with conviction), so Tina’s fake recurring characters were a quick delight.  And I also like deconstruction, so Tina explaining that new cast members have to pay their dues as backup dancers to the host was better than just another plain old song and dance monologue.  And those outfits made it clear that we are living in a post-Magic Mike world. B+

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SNL Season Finale Video Recap May 18, 2013: Ben Affleck/Kanye West

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SNL Season Finale Recap May 18, 2013: Ben Affleck/Kanye West

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Cold Opening – Politics Nation
As far as I know, Al Sharpton has had only one recent major verbal gaffe, but that one gaffe has been enough to inspire a steady stream of malapropisms from Kenan Thompson’s Al Sharpton.  That graph (or “grapha”) was ridiculous, but it was also kind of meaningful.  Also, that Tea Party fellow deserved to be called out that way – the Founding Fathers don’t need people to dress up like them to honor them. B

Ben Affleck’s Monologue
The five-timers bit was essentially clever, but rather disappointing (for Ben’s sake).  Ben and Jen really seem to love each other. B-

HBO First Look: Bengo F#*@ Yourself
“Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd” – this is all so silly. B

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SNL Video Recap May 11, 2013: Kristen Wiig/Vampire Weekend

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SNL Recap May 11, 2013: Kristen Wiig/Vampire Weekend

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Who the hell this Chinese dude?

Cold Opening – Benghazi Hearing
This may have been the most esoteric SNL sketch ever.  Definitely the most esoteric in a good long while. B-

Kristen Wiig’s Monologue
I got the jokes, but I didn’t get the point. B-

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SNL Video Recap May 4, 2013: Zach Galifianakis/Of Monsters and Men

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SNL Recap May 4, 2013: Zach Galifianakis/Of Monster and Men

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I can barely hear you.  This is an Altoids box.

Cold Opening – Fox & Friends
Fox & Friends are reliably funny, though rarely excellent.  But, hey, that’s a winning formula when it comes to SNL cold opens these days.  The Fox crew generally needs a reliable “friend” to play the role of straight man, which Fred’s Mike Bloomberg dutifully provided.  His retort that you might as well leave your cars unlocked if you’re not going to have background checks was not too laugh-too-loud, but I did like the logic.  My favorite correction was “Croquettes are not female crocodiles.” B

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SNL Video Recap April 13, 2013: Vince Vaughn/Miguel

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SNL Recap April 13, 2013: Vince Vaughn/Miguel

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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-

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