Saturday September 27, 2008
3403
Live from New York, it's... Tina Fey!
Sketches include "Sarah Palin Interview," "New Friends," "The First Presidential Debate," "Rowboat Date," "Scores," "Deep House Dish," "Googie Rene's Slightly Stained Wedding Dress Basement," and "Superior Ex-Boyfriend."
Duffy performed "Mercy" and "Stepping Stone."
This episode started off strong and peaked with WU. After that, it was all downhill. Outside of the two political sketches and WU, there wasn't a lot to love here. hide show
Palin Interview - A funny and fairly accurate parody of the Palin/Couric interviews. As crazy as the response about job creation sounded, Palin's own response was just as bad. Both Tina and Amy did a great job and I especially loved Amy's belabored blinking through all of that pancake makeup. Grade: A
Monologue - OK, I guess. I have no idea who this person is and she is not particularly funny. Grade: C
New Friends - I kept thinking of Will Ferrell when Sudeikis was talking. This is the kind of sketch that he could have really sold. The twist here is that we think this couple is fairly normal to begin with, but it turns out that they are incredibly offensive. Once the premise is out, it's one-liner after one-liner. Not sure I understood the reverse crash/explosion. Grade: B-
McCain/Obama Debate - Welcome back Parnell! Tina has done so much since departing SNL and Parnell has been living under a rock or something. I thought the writers did a good job of making fun of both candidates. The best part was when Obama said he would play the race card with North Korea. Too funny. A good start to the debate season. Grade: A-
Murder Date - This is where the show takes a turn for the worse. A musical sketch featuring Kenan? Puhlease! The premise wasn't particularly good, the songs were horrible and the performances were leaden. A typical Kenan outing. Grade: D
Weekend Update - A particularly good WU tonight. Several good jokes, especially "Nothing Accomplished". The two guests were great and I have to tip my hat to Hammond. The old man brought his A-game tonight with great performances as McCain and Clinton. Wiig was funny again as Judy Grimes, just kidding, no really. I can't believe how fast she can talk! I noticed that Seth is finally trying to tell his jokes using deadpan. It works so much better than cackling after every joke you tell! Keep working on this Seth. Grade: A+
"Scores" Bailout - Kind of cute I guess. The strippers feel the need to do their part to help out the struggling investment bankers. Ironic, but not overtly funny. Made me smirk once or twice. Grade: C
Deep House Dish - Why, oh why is this POS sketch back? Grade: F
Bridal Store - Another Kenan vehicle, this time peddling stained wedding dresses. Not particularly good. In the old days Aykroyd would have killed during this sketch. As it went down, only Kristen was amusing. Grade: D
Ex-Boyfriend - Man, Hader was virtually absent tonight and the show suffered because of it. Nothing particularly inventive or grabbing about this sketch. The ending was so predictable, I had to groan. Grade: D
OK, but hope it gets better soon! hide show
Anna Faris may be a popular actress, but I don't find her funny at all. The whole time I was watching the show, I thought she sounded like Drew Barrymore and looked like Britney Spears. The sketches were ok. The better ones were the Palin-Couric interview, the first presidential debate, the used wedding dress commercial, and the MTV show. The stupid ones were the first one after the monologue, the strip club bailout, and the beer garden sketch. The rowboat sketch was ok, but it wasn't funny, just dorky. Also, I didn't find the monologue to be funny. So she's a "dumb blonde". So what?
Overall, I liked the presidential debate the best. It was cool to see Chris Parnell again. I wish SNL would bring back some of the past cast members, like Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz.
Well above average episode featuring an instantly classic Sarah Palin sketch and an exceptionally strong Weekend Update. hide show
9-27-2008 Season 34 Episode 3
Host - Anna Faris
Musical Guest - Duffy
"Cold Opening - Katie Couric Interviews Sarah Palin" - Finally, SNL digs it's claws in! I'm writing my review late, so it's funny to see how much this has already been played on pretty much every news program in the country. This is certainly one of SNL's highest profile single sketches in recent memory. Guest appearance by former cast member TIna Fey, she looks and sounds so much like current Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin that it's truly amazing. With Amy Pohler as CBS anchor Katie Couric. Needless to say, it was a brilliant skewering, especially when Fey recounted Palin's words nearly verbatim. - 4
"Monologue - Anna Faris" - While I'm always tempted to award even the worst monologues with an extra point if they avoid the tired "questions from the audience" angle, I still feel like I'm giving this one too much credit by scoring anything other than the bare minimum. Faris does some dumb blonde shtick, with asides that are even dumber. Yawn. - 2
"The Drive Home" - Faris and Jason Sudekis are a couple driving home after dropping off some friends after a night out. Faris worries about her various inappropriate behavior during the dinner,while Sudekis reassures her repeatedly. Kind of flat sketch, and nothing really exceptional about it. - 2
"McCain/Obama Debate" - Good to see former cast member Chris Parnell return as the moderator in the first debate between John McCain (Daryl Hammond) and Barack Obama (Fred Armisen.) Some more sharp political humor equally jabbing both candidates. Let's face it, as weak as we can sometimes (most times?) accuse SNL of being, their track record of political debate sketches over the years is very strong, and this one was no exception. - 4
"Blind Date" - A semi musical sketch featuring Faris and her blind date (Keenan Thompson) canoeing in the middle of an isolated lake late at night. Faris suspects Thompson is not all that he seems. I really thought this sketch was great, another example of SNL going farther and being more original than the standard talk shows/game shows type sketches that they do too often. A funny concept, funny lines in the songs, and funny performances by Faris and Thompson. I love it when SNL does the unusual, and they totally hit the mark with this one. - 4
"Musical Guest - Duffy" - The song had a nice, old school grove. I guess the success of Amy Winehouse has re-ignited interest in this type of music. While Duffy's pinched voice and limited range annoy me a little, I still dug the song and her retro vibe. "Weekend Update" - Hammond's guest spot as former president Bill Clinton was a grand slam home run,brilliantly lampooning Clinton's tepid enthusiasm for current Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Hammond got one of the longest extended laughs from the studio audience that we've heard on "Update"in a very long time. Kristen Wiig returns as the very nervous Judy Grimes. While this character seems to be just one joke (she instantly retracts everything she says with "just kidding") the absurd extent her retractions go border on surreal, and Wiig's rapid fire delivery is very funny. She got a lot of laughs from the audience. With these two strong guest commentaries and a mostly strong set of news jokes bordering them, this was clearly an above average "Update" - 4
"The Strippers At Scores" - Strippers and club owners at Scores discuss the economic bailout and how to handle the Champaign Room in difficult economic times. This was another fresh, original sketch. I love the smart, funny writing and good performances by Faris, Wigg, Casey Wilson, Thompson, and Bill Hader. Great stuff. - 4
"Deep House Dish" - Thompson hosts a dance/talk show in this recurring sketch. Wigg and Andy Samberg were funny as well. Overall, there's not too much to dislike about it. - 3
"Slightly Stained Wedding Dresses" - This sketch contained the third Facebook reference of the night! While it probably shouldn't have been back to back with the previous sketch featuring Thompson as a similar central character, I still thought it was a pretty funny concept and fairly funny sketch. - 3
"Musical Guest - Duffy" - I'm not crazy about her vocal quiver, but once again the song was a winner, oozing coolness.
"The Ex-Boyfriend" - Bill Hader joins two friends at a pub, and introduce them to his new girlfriend (Faris) who can't stop talking about her previous boyfriend. While I thought Sudekis' spit take into his beer was funny, this sketch didn't have a lot of anything else going for it. - 2
It should also be noted that this episode contained no parody commercials or filmed segments of any kind (other than brief clips of Fey as Palin reluctantly shaking hands with world leaders at the United Nations.)
Final thoughts: Well above average episode featuring an instantly classic Sarah Palin sketch and an exceptionally strong Weekend Update.
Final score: 32 out of 40: 80% funny
This was the worst, most unfunny SNL I have seen in a very long time. hide show
I usually look forward to SNL because it makes me laugh at least a few times, and especially during the past couple seasons it has really improved and I have enjoyed most of the shows. While I like Anna Faris, I thought this episode had literally 1 funny joke in the entire show, and the rest was eye-rollingly terrible. I kept watching because I thought I might miss something funny and I was optimistic that of course they must have something better later on. Even though I kept feeling the urge to turn it off I didn't. There was one funny joke during Weekend Update, which is usually good for at least few laughs, but even in the good mood I was in while watching I found the rest of the show hard to watch. Particularly the nervous character Kristen Wiig played during Weekend update...it was just hard to watch it was so unfunny. I hated this episode. Better luck next time SNL...I'll keep watching but if any more episodes are like this one, not for long.
Live From New York It's Saturday Night, with host Anna Faris! This week saw the big, blonde star of House Bunny take to the stage as host of SNL. She has been hailed as one of the best comic actresses of her generation, so how would she measure up on SNL? hide show
Cold Open: This was a parody of the Sarah Palin/Katie Couric interview. Tina Fey returned to reprise her highly publicised impression of Ms. Palin, and she didn't disappoint. This sketch was once again poking fun at Ms. Palin's lack of experience on foreign policy and general lack of knowledge. My favourite quote? :
"Every mornings, Alaskans get up and you know, they look around for Russians. And if they see any hanging around, they say, you know, you have to get out of here. We keep an eye on them."
While Poehler's impression of Katie Couric was really nothing like Katie Couric, her facial expressions were hilarious.
Monologue: Pretty short monologue this week in comparison to the previous two weeks. It involved Anna (who pronounces her name like Onna) Faris poking fun at the blonde bimbo stereotype. It was actually quite funny. Faris was already better than Franco/Phelps here.
New Friends: This sketch had an interesting premise. It involved a couple dropping off their friends and then wondering why they didn't like them. They explore questions like "Do you think I said the 'n' word too much?" and "What was up with that when I asked to take a picture of his penis Quite funny, and had a good ending.
Presidential Debate: As you can imagine, this was a sketch pardoying the presidential debate with Armisen reprising his role as Obama, and Hammond doing McCain. And who is that? Is it.. it can't be.. it's Chris Parnell impersonating Jim Lehrer! This sketch was a little half-hearted and again, wasn't as hard-hitting as it could have been. Fred's impression of Obama started off as usual, but by the end Obama sounded as though he were in the Sopranos.
Rowboat Date: This involved a girl going on a date with a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a drug dealer who intends on murdering her. There's singing, and I have to say Kenan has quite a nice voice. This was one of my favourite sketches of the night. It was a little offbeat, but consistent with the laughs. Duffy : Not the best performance I've seen of her. And is it just me, or did she look really old? Considering she's only twenty-four.
Weekend Update : Best of the season so far, with Bill Clinton and Judy Grimes serving as the guest commentators. My god, that Bill Clinton part was probably the funniest bit of the season so far. Once again Hammond got it dead-on. Favourite quote:
"Thank you Amy, thank you Seth. Most importantly, thank you Duffy."
Scores: Weakest sketch of the show. Puzzled as to how it made it past dress rehearsal in the first place. It featured strippers who decide to adjust their prices to keep their high-end clientelle (affected by the financial market collapse) and thus, keep their club open. Pretty lame.
Deep House Dish: Poorest edition of these so far. It featured Kaylee Moore, Bear Supply, and Natasha Slovanya. Bear Supply was the only thing good for a laugh here. Once again, T-Shane recounted DJ Dynasty Handbag's embarassing moments at various fast-food outlets. Slightly Stained Wedding Dresses: Another of the weaker sketches. A commercial featuring a shop that sells wedding dresses worn "once, twice,36 times". Only thing mildly amusing here was Anna Faris' bridesmaid and even that was pretty bad. Duffy : Skipped through this.
Beer Garden: Fine. Anna Faris was decent in this. It featured a girl bragging about her ex-boyfriend while on a date. Usual standard for the final sketch.
Everything before Weekend Update was good, and probably what you would call above average. However, after Update, everything was pretty lame. What was with the lack of cast members featured this week! Kenan was in most of the sketches, as was Faris. But where was Will Forte, or Andy Samberg or Jason Sudeikis? I do have to give props to Kenan this week. He varied it up a little, and was less OTT than usual. Anna Faris was the best host of the season so far, and certainly proved her comic chops. She wasn't bad in one sketch and kept her energy up for the whole show. Not an easy feat for the poor material she was given in the second half.
7/10 (it would be six, but gets 7 for the brilliant WU).
Next week : Anne Hathaway/The Killers
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