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Saturday Night Live Season 33 Episode 11

Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley

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7.9

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 4/12/08

Live from New York, it's... Will Forte! Sketches include "General Petraeus Hearings," "The Cougar Den," "Outside the Nightclub," "Daiquiri Girl" (Digital Short), "Activia Commercial Shoot," "Amie," "Death by Chocolate" (three parts), "The Mellow Show," and "Paraplegic Exotic Dancer." Gnarls Barkley performed "Run" and "Who's Gonna Save My Soul."moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (8)

Boniva Break!

6.0

By whoaitsconner, Feb 18, 2009

This week, Ashton Kutcher hostsSNL with musical guest, Gnarls Barkley. Ashton returns for his 3rd time, while this is Gnarls Barkley's 1st time. Let's go.

Senate Meeting on Iraq War: General Patraeus takes questions from the senate, on an update on the Iraq war. We also see all of the presidential hopefuls. This was actually a really funny cold opening. Especially Hader's Byrd impression.

Monologue: This was a pretty good monologue. I loved when Andy asked Kenan for weed and the timing of him handing it over was perfect!

The Cougars Show: An indirect joke on Ashton's marriage. I thought this was a pretty good sketch, and I guess having Cameron on is always nice.

Waiting Line: Ashton can't get in because a guard doesn't now who he is. He has to hang out with some wierd guy, while he watches millions of other people coming in. What made this sketch? Lyle Cane!!!

Digital Short: A Drunk Song: Andy, who is supposedly drunk, sings about his girl. Scrolling words apologize for the quality of this digital short. I don't know... this seemed a little bit on the weaker side.. oh wait, this was terrible.

Activia Commercial Shoot: Jaime Lee Curtis poops her pants. I thought Kristen was hilarious in this. The idea was kind of predictable, but, what could they do?

Musical Performance: Gnarls Barkley performs "Run". Awesome song. Not as good as Crazy, but Gnarls Barkley knows how to bring it to the stage.

Weekend Update: Jokes were pretty flaccid at times. I loved Kristen in this. Nicholas Fehn, once again, totally died, and I wanted to puke while watching him. But, Kristen's Judy Grimes was actually pretty funny.

"Amy": Another one of these 4 guys at a bar sketches. The punchlines were so dull, that this sketch was bawged down. Only good one was Will's story.

Death By Chocolate: Random bit. But, funny.

The Mellow Show: I have to say, this was the worst sketch of the night.

Death By Chocolate (II): This was the best of the 3 bits. Jason's dramatic dying was great.

Musical Performance: Gnarls Barkley performs "Who's Gonna Save My Soul Now". Great, great song, once again.

Paralized Stripper: Casey's first character. I thought this shouldn't have been the last sketch of the night, but anyways, it was great. Casey has told us how good she'll be at physical humor in the future.

Death By Chocolate (III): A very short clip of Andy getting killed by chocolate. Decent, I guess.

This episode was a slight improvement over last week's, but Chris was a lot of a better host than Ashton. The writing didn't seem to go over the top tonight, so it would fall on it's face. Ashton was an adequate host, while Gnarls Barkley was one of the better musical guests of the stage.

In 4 weeks: Shia LaBeouf returns with musical guest, My Morning Jacket. I'll have to do research on them.

Repeats

Next week: Amy Adams with musical guest Vampire Weekend repeat. I have to get this on DVD. It glitched last time .

April 26: Chris Walken episode again.

May 3: The delightful Jonah Hill with musical guest Mariah Carey.moreless
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This first half of this episode was a real letdown, but the second half was better.

5.0

By FarleyRules, Nov 09, 2008

Petraeus Testimony cold open – The cast shows some impression chops, but sadly it is wasted on an unfunny sketch. As Forte said of Hillary's book it was "badly written, long and boring." At over nine minutes, it was one of the longest and most boring cold opens in recent memory. Grade: D-

Monologue – Another "backstage" monologue. We've seen many before and some have been good. This was OK, but not great. The best part was Ashton breaking Will's vase. Grade: B-

The Cougar Den – A new Bronx Beat? This time instead of bored Bronx housewives, it's older horny women who prey on young guys. Bad accents (sounds like Charro) and a cameo by Cameron Diaz are not enough to make this a memorable sketch. Obviously, Ashton's part was a play on his own relationship with Demi, but so what? Grade: D

Fat City – If this club lets in all of these losers, why would Ashton even care about still getting in? Armisen's Jersey disco boy was easily the best part. Forte's Lyle was pretty random Grade: C

Daiquiri Girl digital short – The worst digital short ever. Intentionally bad to draw attention to the fact that Gnarls Barkley reneged on a deal to appear in the digital short. Still, not funny. Grade: D-

Dannon Activia – Kristen did a good job as the perky Jamie Lee Curtis. She was especially convincing during her unanticipated bowel movements. Not great, but the best so far tonight. Grade: B-

Weekend Update – The jokes were decent. Kristen's new character, Judy Grimes, was similar to Penelope, but a much quicker talker. She is really good at doing these types of characters and was the second best part of WU tonight. The best joke easily goes to the Miller diss. The Polish joke was also pretty funny. It's a bit surprising that they brought back Nick Fehn yet again without adding anything different. I love Armisen, but this is getting old. Grade: B

Friends at the Bar – This marks the third time now for this sketch. The one with Rainn Wilson was the first and best. This one was still pretty good. I love the second punch lines best of all. They build nicely on the first punch line and lead right into the chorus of the song. Forte easily had the best story and punch line: "A pedophile? Pretty big word for a ten year old." The YMCA ending was a nice touch and provides a way to end a sketch that won't easily end. Grade: A

Death by Chocolate 1 – Strangely dark humor. The stabbing was so realistic that it was actually too painful for me to laugh at. I understand the humor, but the execution left me cold. Grade: C

The Mellow Show – Andy finally gets a sketch bringing back his Jack Johnson impression. Bill Hader was particularly good as Dave Matthews and Ashton did a great job portraying the always facially expressive John Mayer. Could have used something more though. Grade: C

Death by Chocolate 2 – Better than the first one, but still pretty out there. Grade: B-

Rusty Pony – A crazy concept that was played very well for all of the non-PC laughs they could possibly wring out of it. This is the first sketch where Casey really delivered the goods. Personally, I love physical humor and Casey can do this very well. Grade: B+

Death by Chocolate 3 – Too short to review. Grade: N/Amoreless
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Are you ready to get Punked again by Ashton Kutcher hosting SNL again?

6.5

By SNLfan4life, May 26, 2008

Cold Open: Surprisingly well done. Forte was good enough as General Petraeus, a great nod to the weird protesters, and the writing allowed all three presidential candidates to play off each other really well. Bill's Senator Byrd was a hoot, and Fred's Obama is better than it used to be. The canned cheering for the opening montage starts a good second before the live audience.

Monologue: Ehhhh, they shoulda gone farther. For somebody who loves overacting so much, Ashton could've amped up the peskiness. The drug jokes were too obvious. Oh, and I suppose American Idol singlehandedly brought back indoor scarfs.

Cougar Den: A good sketch, all things considered. The three lady castmembers treated this like pros, and Cameron Diaz fortunately knew to have fun with her 300% Latina character.

Bouncer sketch: Did the writers care at all about the central joke? If Ashton's supposed to be set aside in favor of five freaks, which he was, then why DIDN'T they let Oliver inside? Meanwhile, Fred seems to be low on inspiration lately.

Digital Short: Good premise-- no, no, Andy, this doesn't mean you can bring it back a second time. The trio is right to mention how some Digital Shorts can be lazier than others. And it helped having the right musical guest-- with Wilco or Vampire Weekend or whatever, this would not have been as funny.

Activia ad: Kristen, you can try a little harder at getting Jamie Lee Curtis right. It was good, but far from great. And to throw this in a poop yogurt sketch? This topic is appropriate for a throwaway Weekend Update joke, say from Tina Fey, but not a whole sketch.

"Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)": Awesome performance

Update: Absolutely loved Kristen's character. This was pure gold, definitely one she must've rehearsed over a million times. Hope it comes back. As for Nicholas Fehn, well, you know. Kill it already. By the way, Amy: please come clean and admit you blatantly reworded an old joke with the "flu shot" one.

Amie: Flashback to last year, where they brought back every single recurring bit in their arsenal during the season's final three shows. This hasn't been as bad, yet still the occasional jukebox sketch appears.

Death by Chocolate (all three): Their heart was in the right place. IMO if they took Ashton's smirk off his face and gave him a blank stare, he'd appear more like a serial killer-- which would make the chocolate bar suit that much funnier. Then again, nobody understands dark humor.

The Mellow Show: Oh please, this is like the NBC McCain Is Old sketch. Real newsflash here, Jack Johnson is crazy mellow. At least Bill Hader had a dynamite Dave Matthews impression, much more precise than Jimmy Fallon's ever was. The 92nd John Mayer impression was totally the worst one.

"Who's Gonna Save My Soul": A captivating performance. Paraplegic Stripper: Apparently they hired Casey because she can commit to doing anything in front of a crowd of strangers. That's all well and good, but it doesn't equal talent, honey. I fear she may not have any decent impressions inside her. Kristen had a prime opportunity to just use her Cougar character in this sketch, since the voice was the same.

The shows with young mainstream hosts always tend to have a real consistency to them. This means nothing will fall flat in front of the 18-49 crowd, and SNL will rely on what kinds of jokes have worked before, but you have to look elsewhere for any real brilliance. That's just what happened tonight, in 90 minutes of predictability with flashes of talent (The Cold Open was funny. So was Kristen on Update). Like on his last two shows, Ashton turned out OK.moreless
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... I HAVE TO TELL YOU. I THINK THE WRITERS STRIKE WAS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO THIS SHOW IN A FEW YEARS. THE SHOW WAS HORRIBLE LAST YEAR AND NEAR HORRIBLE AT THE START OF THE SEASON... BUT SINCE THE BREAK IT HAS BEEN NEAR PERFECT.moreless

10

By tifer1974, Apr 15, 2008

At the end of last year I had pretty much reserved myself to the fact that SNL had long since jumped the shark, as far as quality was concerned. And a few episodes into this year it looked like my guess was correct.But something strange happened in the middle of the season... They went on strike and got their MOJO back. Since the break this show has been POINT ON. For the first time in years I actually catch myself laughing out loud. That hasnt happened since the early 90's. So I say, "Writers go on strike once a year." I will be waiting at my tv when you get back from strike!moreless
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Sketch by Sketch Review

6.9

By FloridaGator115, Apr 14, 2008

Pre-Show: Ashton's been good the last two times we've had him, so tonight should be alright. I don't expect it to even compare to last weekend, but at least Kutcher has got some experience at SNL. Gnarls Barkley is also pretty good. I liked their first album and I've heard a couple of their new stuff and it's pretty catchy.

Cold Opening: Seems like the folks at SNL are slowly getting better with their political sketches. The whole Hillary concept was really funny, especially the sniper fire line from Amy. I also really liked Hader's Byrd impression & the comments made about McCain & Clinton's books. I heard people were ragging on Hammond's McCain impression when it appeared in the Jonah Hill episode, but I think he's doing fine, and I liked his facial expression toward the end of the sketch.

Monologue: A short monologue for tonight. It didn't really go anywhere, and I wasn't into the producing bits from Ashton. I did enjoy the jab at Kenan though, with the obvious reference to his pot incident last week.

The Cougar Den: This is sort of a strange sketch, but I really loved it. It was great to see Cameron Diaz guest, and her accent cracked me up. A lot of the lines by Wiig, Poeler, and Wilson were great too, like Kristen's "blow-joy" line. Kenan's character also had me cracking up, especially his "mountain goat" bit. Ashton's reasons for dating older women were pretty funny too. All in all, this was a great sketch to set the tone for the rest of the episode.

Outside The Nightclub: I didn't find this very funny. It felt like it was a one-joke sketch but the joke just didn't click. It was mildly humorous seeing the odd character's let into the club, as was Andy's but coming into the club, but this just did not cut it. The only thing I did like was seeing Lyle Kane again.

Daiquiri Girl: I usually like these digital shorts, but this is the second week in a row that I was not impressed. This was a different approach to the shorts, and it defiantly failed as far as I'm concerned. I expect much, much more out of the digital shorts since they were so good at the beginning of the season. This didn't provide any laughs for me, and I hope they start pulling through and bringing back the great material we saw in the shorts before the writer's strike.

Activia Commercial Shoot: This was an interesting sketch. I thought it was pretty funny, for the most part, though. I liked Kristen's Jamie Lee impression, and most of her lines were great. She's really shining tonight with this & Cougar Den. I loved her pauses & expressions during the shoot, and her lines about being proud about herself. Jamie's confession of pooping her pants put the final touches on the sketch, and I really enjoyed it.

"Run"-Musical Performance

Weekend Update: Update was pretty funny tonight. Wiig's character made me laugh, and it was impressive how she didn't mess up during her rant. I hope they bring her back in later Update's. Nicolas Fehn is now officially bordering on annoying though. I liked him his first two times he appeared but now I'm getting tired of his whole one-joke character. As for the jokes, they were top-notch tonight. I probably enjoyed the Google Search, List of Horribles, High School Musical & Lip Synch jokes the most.

Amie: This is also a peculiar sketch. It started off pretty good with all the guy's sharing their memories of the song, and I was laughing pretty hard at the "pedophile" lines from Forte & the doctor line from Sudekis. The unexpected dance at the end was cool too. I didn't think the Kutcher bit was needed though.

Death By Chocolate: These were short and sweet. It was pretty silly, but I still enjoyed it. I liked the second one the best, because of the unexpected twist. I also thought it was funny seeing Ashton in the chocolate costume.

The Mellow Show: I was excited when I saw that they were doing another sketch with Samberg's Jack Johnson. I liked the whole concept of the sketch, and all the impressions were great. Hader's Dave Matthew's voice made me laugh, as did his and Ashton's performance. The facial expressions from Ashton's John Mayer were just as funny as when saw Hader do them last year. The JJ Casual's bit had me laughing as well.

"Who's Gonna Save My Soul"-Musical Performance

Paraplegic Exotic Dancer: Casey finally gets some camera time as we see her star in a sketch of her own. The premise was amusing at first, and I've liked Wilson so far, but as the sketch went on, it became more and more dull and uninteresting. It was a good try from Wilson and Kutcher though, but in the end it was just a good idea that was played out wrong.

_______________________________________________________________________

Host: Ashton did pretty well as host. He of course, does not measure up to Walken from last week, but he made for a good follow-up. He did a great John Mayer impression in the Mellow Show sketch, and he did good in the Cougar Den also. I didn't mind seeing him for a third time tonight.

Musical Guest: I like Gnarls Barkley. I think they have a unique and interesting voice. I had never seen them perform live before, but they did good. I thought they were really entertaining to watch live. I really like their new singles too, and I'll probably get the album after tonight. I wish they would have performed "Crazy" though.

Best Sketch of the Night: The Cougar Den

Worst Sketch of the Night: Exotic Dancermoreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Seth Meyers	Himself
Fred Armisen	Himself
Darrell Hammond	Himself
Kristen Wiig	Herself
Casey Wilson	Herself
Jason Sudeikis	Himself

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Gnarls Barkley	Themselves	Guest Star
Demi Moore	Herself	Guest Star
Ashton Kutcher	Himself	Recurring Role
Cameron Diaz	Kiki Deamore	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- The "Death by Chocolate" shorts were created by Thank You For Smoking and Juno director Jason Reitman.
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QUOTES (3)
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- Kiki: Hit the bars at closing time, or what I like to call "Open Season."
  Toni: I met my current boyfriend at 1:50 AM at a Bennigan's. I drove him to his dorm and we've been together ever since.
  Kiki: See, somebody has read the book. Last -and this is muy importante- Be direct.
  Dierdre: That's what I do. I just walk up and say "Look, it's not going to be as gross as you think."
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- Toni: Then later I gave him a blow joy on my wicker fan chair.
  Jacqueline: Joy?
  Toni: Well, it's certainly not a job!
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- General Patraeus: You opposed this war from the beginning?
  Hillary Clinton: Of course. What do you mean?
  General Patraeus: I thought you voted for the war, and supported it until you ran for President.
  Hillary Clinton: Who told you that? That's crazy. Everyone knows I have been against this war my entire life. The whole reason I got into public service way back in 1974 in Arkansas was to prevent our going to war with Iraq, in case anyone might one day suggest it. So when you imply that I was ever for this war that's incorrect and a lie and don't say it. Now, could I ask you a question about sniper fire?
  General Petraeus: Okay...
  Hillary Clinton: Would you say that sniper fire can often be very quiet and hard to detect? Especially on video tape?
  General Petraeus: I suppose.
  Hillary Clinton: I have no further questions.
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NOTES (2)
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- Sketches not shown in the 60 minute version: the Nicholas Fehn segment on Weekend Update, "The Mellow Show," "Four Buddies sing 'Amie,'" "Daiquiri Girl" (Digital Short), "Cougar Den," "Death By Chocolate" (parts 2 and 3), and Gnarls Barkley's performance of "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"
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- Sketches cut after dress rehearsal: two policeman (Bill Hader, Will Forte) try to help a man (Ashton) avoid jumping from a ledge; a man (Ashton) wants to end his relationship with his girlfriend (Casey Wilson) only to find she's unwilling to let it go; a commercial spoof profiling the ever-terrible New York Knicks; a backstage bit where Ashton meets Charles Barkley and asks about his band; and the awkward office duo Jean and Neal (Kristin Wiig and Will Forte) are bottomless on a boat with yet another fellow co-worker (Ashton).
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