Jmunney's Blog

SNL: Reese Witherspoon, Florence Welch, Taran Killam (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in May 2015.

Reese Witherspoon’s first “SNL” hosting stint was also the first show to air after 9/11. While she did have a few memorable performances then, that appearance was mostly marked by nerves. Freed from any overwhelming existential uncertainty about the place of comedy, Reese was able to demonstrate that she is a natural next to the “SNL” cast, happy to play along in roles that took advantage of her sunny personality. This episode also continued the tradition of dedicating the Mother’s Day weekend show to the holiday, taking that trend about as far as it could possibly go.

Southern Republican Leadership Conference – The conventional wisdom says that Jeb Bush is going to be the next Republican presidential nomination, even though he has not even announced his candidacy. But the conventional wisdom does not always work out. 24 years ago, “SNL” built an entire sketch around the received intelligence that all the Democrats were just fighting to be the one to lose to George Bush. So good call making the joke that all these Republicans are going to lose to the latest Bush the punchline instead of the premise. As for the actual meat of this opening, it was more fun than funny, but still a nice change of pace. It effectively hid the fact that this cast does not really have any impressions of these candidates ready and did it all in a Jock Jams-style scene that was randomly stuck in the 90’s. Perhaps that was the joke, insofar as the GOP is the party of being stuck in the past. B-

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