SNL Recap November 15, 2014: Woody Harrelson/Kendrick Lamar

November 17, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

SNL: Kendrick Lamar, Woody Harrelson, Kate McKinnon (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in November 2014.

Season 40 of “Saturday Night Live” has been notably light on recurring material; this episode, with the exception of one sketch and one Weekend Update segment, was completely devoid of anything recurring.  While it is nice to have a tendency towards original material, the best “SNL” seasons have always had a decent mix of new and repeating characters.  It is time for the cast and writers to really figure out what they do best and focus on that. If the show was relying on the host to kick itself into gear in this way, then Woody Harrelson was never going to be the man for that job.  Instead, he was happy to ride along with whatever he was asked to do, a style that worked just fine but would have worked better if this season had a better sense of its identity.  Kendrick Lamar definitely brought it, though.

Barack Obama and Mitch McConnell – It can work comedically to have politicians appear laid-back in an atypical setting, but it requires playing off or playing against their known personas.  This sketch did play off Obama’s enmity with the GOP Congress, but it was not specific enough to have anything to do with Mitch McConnell.  Overall, this felt like an impression of the format of this type of gradual time-lapse sketch, but there was hardly any rhyme or reason to its pacing (the subtitles of what number drink the guys were on were meaningless). C

More

SNL Recap November 1, 2014: Chris Rock/Prince

November 3, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

SNL: Chris Rock Monologue (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in November 2014.

In the past year, “SNL” was widely criticized for its lack of diversity, hired a new black cast member following that public pressure, debuted its first black Weekend Update cast member, and from the writer’s room brought on another black cast member.  So an episode hosted by Chris Rock seemed poised to be the most head-on examination of race on “SNL” in years, or even decades.  While that element was present, it was not really any more so than it has been in the past couple of years.  Overall, in fact, this edition ended up like most episodes of the past couple of years: consisting of mostly new material that was mostly more interesting than fully successful and at its best when it got weird.  Let’s take a closer look at each of the sketches.

The Kelly File – There was no particular need for “SNL” to parody this particular Fox News talk show to cover the Kaci Hickox Ebola story.  This sketch did not break apart the form of “The Kelly File,” nor did Cecily Strong offer that strong of an impression.  Thus, the whole thing was rather formless.  Bobby Moynihan continued to play Chris Christie as loud and obnoxious, which is fine, while Kate McKinnon played Kaci Hickox as a typical Kate McKinnon character who won’t take any guff from someone like Chris Christie, which is also fine.  But ultimately, this sketch didn’t really say anything. C

More

SNL Recap October 25, 2014: Jim Carrey/Iggy Azalea

October 27, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

SNL: Jim Carrey, Iggy Azalea (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in October 2014.

When Jim Carrey first hosted “SNL” in 1996, it was one of the times when the host temporarily revamped the show according to his own performance style.  That can be a good thing or a bad thing; in Jim’s case, it was very good.  For his third hosting stint, he was not quite as unstoppable, but he was still quite the blast of energy.  As he pointed out in his monologue, Halloween is the one day each year that he is able to blend in with everyone else, and with a plethora of mostly successful All Hallow’s Eve-themed sketches, he proved to be the most apt host for the occasion.  There were a few clunkers that were too intense for their own good, but there were also several incredibly thrilling moments.  Even though it was wildly uneven, this was probably the best episode of the season thus far.  Meanwhile, Leslie Jones, after making memorable appearances in the first three weeks of the season, was promoted from writer to featured player. Let’s take a closer look at each segment of the show:

Ebola Press Conference – Kenan Thompson’s Al Sharpton impression is too silly to work for viewer, but there can be no doubt that his entrance instantly livened up this rather staid cold opening.  Even though Ebola has rendered Ron Klain a timely public figure, most “SNL” viewers probably have no idea who he is.  Thus, vote-baiting jokes in which Latinos have immunity to Ebola, though kind of clever, could be nothing more than cookie-cutter.  So Sharpton sauntering on to call Klain the “Ebola Caesar” and talk about “pigeons, rats, and sewer monsters” was undoubtedly a welcome blast of energy. C+

More

SNL Recap October 11, 2014: Bill Hader/Hozier

October 13, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , 1 Comment

SNL: Hozier, Bill Hader, Cecily Strong (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in October 2014.

Recent alumni returning to host “SNL” has lately served as an excuse to fill the episode with cameos, with last season’s finale hosted by Andy Samberg serving as a particularly egregious example.  That tendency is not a good fit for a show with a large repertory cast including several rookies and sophomores fighting to make themselves known.  Luckily, this episode only featured two cameos, only one of whom was a former cast member, and neither of whom overwhelmed the show.  Hader did resurrect a few of his most memorable characters, but he did not get in the way of what the current cast is doing.  The bottom line is, it is pretty much impossible to have a bad episode hosted by Bill Hader.  He was in a lot of sketches while a cast member, because he could take on the lead and the utility roles just as easily.  Thus, putting him in the entire episode, as is the norm with the hosts, served to guarantee at least one good performance per sketch.  Let’s take a closer look at each segment of the show:

Kim Jong-Un – The running time of this sketch was about 3 minutes, a speed that is practically unheard of for “SNL” cold openings in 2014.  It harked back to a time when the first sketch could get in there with a familiar routine, make it point, and get right to the “Live from New York!”  But the weird thing about this sketch was that Bobby Moynihan’s Kim Jong-Un impression is not particularly popular, nor has North Korea really been dominating headlines.  This sketch did not really focus on being timely anyway, instead making bizarre observational points about the Korean leader, such as how he fancies himself the world’s greatest athlete and that his haircut resembles Brad Pitt in his current movie.  Ultimately, this was admirable for being stranger than most openings, but disappointing for being too slight to do something with that strangeness. B-

More

SNL Recap October 4, 2014: Sarah Silverman/Maroon 5

October 4, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

SNL: Sarah Silverman, Maroon 5 (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in October 2014.

It has been 20 years since Sarah Silverman was an “SNL” featured player for a single season.  In the past year, she had a stand-up special on HBO and guest starred on a few episodes of “Masters of Sex.”  This is all to say, she does not have any major projects at the moment, nor does she have that strong a connection to “SNL,” so there was no obvious reason for her to be hosting at this time.  The episode she hosted ended up having a similar vibe, insofar as most of the sketches did not have an immediate reason for existing.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, and it points to the show’s willingness so far in Season 40 to avoid relying on recurring material.  Ultimately, this episode was not cohesive enough to have any truly classic moments, but it was quietly encouraging, if you allow yourself to view the show with a generous spirit.  Let’s take a closer look at each of the sketches:

60 Minutes – There is a certain concept in improv and sketch comedy known as “game.”  It is the unusual thing about the scene that is built upon and explored as the scene progresses.  In this interview with the president courtesy of Steve Kroft, the game appeared to be ISIS members tweeting a series of tweets that inexplicably combined plans of jihad with more secular sentiments, such as an emoji of a ghost with an eyepatch or the hashtag #TheVoiceIsBack.  But that gag lasted only about a minute, while the rest of the sketch was a bunch of less fully-formed ideas. C+

More

SNL Season 40 Premiere Recap September 27, 2014: Chris Pratt/Ariana Grande

September 29, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , Leave a comment

SNL: Ariana Grande, Chris Pratt (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in September 2014.

To kick off its milestone 40th season, “SNL” entrusted the premiere to first-time guests Chris Pratt and Ariana Grande.  Pratt proved to be the perfect utility player host, comfortably slotting into all his roles without overshadowing the cast.  His trademark goofy energy could have been put to greater use, but this was an episode of “SNL” that wanted to try out new material and cover some of the most pressing news stories.  New cast members Michael Che and Pete Davidson looked perfectly comfortable as they made auspicious debuts.  Overall, this was an episode that was not entirely focused but was overall more interesting and more experimental than “SNL” usually allows itself to be.  Let’s take a closer look at each of the sketches:

State of the Union with Candy Crowley – This is one of those typical “SNL” cold openings: a news talk show parody that allows multiple stories to be covered with minimal connective tissue.  At least in this case, the various stories were all under the same umbrella of “NFL in Crisis.”  While Roger Goodell and former Baltimore Ravens Ray Lewis and Shannon Sharpe all had their funny moments, this sketch did not make much of a point beyond “Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson are not the only NFL players who have had legal troubles.” Lewis’s hook of constantly changing the subject to kids going to school made up for the fact that this was yet another non-impression from Kenan Thompson, while Sharpe continued to be one of Jay Pharoah’s best impressions, with a particularly Eddie Murphy-esque laugh. B-

More

SNL Season Finale Recap May 17, 2014: Andy Samberg/St. Vincent

May 18, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

Andy-Samberg-SNL-660x400
A Message From Solange and Jay-Z
I feel like if this whole sketch had been centered around the obviously doctored elevator footage, just making it crazier and crazier, it would have been more unique and memorable. B-

Andy Samberg’s Monologue (BEST OF THE NIGHT)
Apparently the impression rivalry that began with the impression-off on Andy and Bill Hader’s first show still exists to this day.  There were a lot of great transitions in the order of the impressions that operated according to surreal logic (Ryan Reynolds~Jim Carrey, the Dream Team members). A-

More

SNL Recap May 10, 2014: Charlize Theron/The Black Keys

May 11, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

charlize-theron-snl-sketches-nbc

Do you know where Arbalato Street is?

A Mother’s Day Message from Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton
Vanessa has got Hillary’s vibe down, but the voice isn’t really close.  Sasheer’s Michelle was decent.  The back and forth of the tension was solid.  Hillary having not yet decided if she will run for mother of the year was a clever way to do an obvious joke. B-

Charlize Theron’s Monologue
I thought this was aiming to be a meta takedown of how so many SNL monologues are singing bits, and maybe it was, but it didn’t really work that way, instead being just another singing SNL monologue that kind of joked about how it was a bad idea to do that yet again.  Charlize’s line about men still liking her despite her height was worth a laugh, though, with Beck playing that moment well. C+

More

SNL Recap May 3, 2014: Andrew Garfield/Coldplay

May 4, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

AndrewGarfieldSNL
If someone was like, “Hey, come live in this house, there’s only nine of us,” I would say, “You got it dude!”

Donald Sterling Press Conference
A typical run-through-the-people-in-a-current-event cold opening, but with a little more relevance and finesse than usual.  Still, this was mostly filled with obvious gags.  Confusing Roots the miniseries with the Roots that have Questlove did get me to laugh, though. B-

Andrew Garfield’s Monologue
At least this wasn’t a tired monologue format, but on the other hand, I had no idea what it was.  Apparently the joke was, the audience is overly antagonistic to Andrew Garfield.  What up with that?  Aidy got a lot of applause.  She deserves it; she’s been having a great season. B-

More

SNL Recap April 12, 2014: Seth Rogen/Ed Sheeran

April 13, 2014

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

seth
Coachella
If the goal of this sketch was to be as bland as the Republican politicians it was portraying, then it succeeded all too well. C

Seth Rogen’s Monologue
What an absolute mess of a monologue.  There were some funny moments (writing the word “pizza” 400 times, punking James Franco, Jay Pharoah confusing Seth for Joe Rogan) and a whole lot of pointlessness, epitomized by the cameos stopping by to “support” Seth.  Franco’s presence was understandable, Taylor Swift was there for Ed Sheeran, I guess but she didn’t really do anything, and as for Zooey Deschanel – does anyone have any idea on that one? C+

More

Older Entries Newer Entries