SNL: Week 8

[yendi]

Another mixed show, but when it was on, it was hitting home runs. Blake Lively made for a fine host; she didn't bring the versatility that Gordon-Levitt did, but she stretched her talents a lot more than January Jones, and even showed some comic talent here and there (although she was best used to play as the straight woman off of other characters).

Sketch by sketch:

White House Gate Crashers: Damned funny. This was pretty much a showcase for the physical talents of Moynahan and Wiig, and they carried the sketch well. Hader, Pedrad, and Forte all did well as Secret Service agents here, and the Sudeikis/Biden bit damned near made me do a spit-take. Good job by Armisen just keeping a straight face here.

Muppets Monologue: Cute bit, but not as funny as it should have been. Hader's Animal, though, is hysterical.

Carter N' Sons BBQ: A rerun (most SNL commercials get shown multiple times; I'm assuming they keep them on hand as filler in case a sketch gets cut), but a damned funny one.

ESPN Classic: Vagisil Superstars of Bowling Tournament 1989 : Forte and Sudeikis really are a great comic team. Between Forte's cluelessness and Sudeikis's attempts to work Vagisil ads into the commentary, this was great (although not as good as the Tampax Pool Tournament one from earlier this year).

The Situation Room : Tiger Woods: Meh. Kenen's Tiger looked good, and Lively and Sudeikis delivered their comic bits well, but in the end this was a skit playing domestic violence for laughs. I don't need those. And as shadesong noted, having a domestic violence skit segue into a digital short featuring Rihanna is just a mistake. Period.

Digital Short: Shy Ronnie : That said, the actual digital short was funny. Working Rihanna's dialogue into the song was surprisingly effective, and they had great chemistry.

Gossip Girl: Staten Island: Solid, if a bit overlong. Good use of the cast here, with Lively holding her own.

Kickspit Underground Rock Festival : This, folks, was the sketch of the night. Just Sudeikis and Pedrad, and great dialogue. And don't forget Mrs. Potato Dick! This is also, incidentally, why I hate music festivals.

Weekend Update: Funny, as always. Abby Elliott actually appears for the first time in ages, doing a solid Brittany Murphy. And Kenan's Bill Cosby was uncanny at times. Seth, as always, was spot-on.

Mrs. Hastings: A bit overlong, but some good stuff between Kenan and Blake here.

UPS Commercials: Having watched football earlier that day and seen a zillion of the UPS commercials, these were timely for me.

Late Night With Chris Hansen: A cute bit, if a bit overlong. But pretty much sums up why I hate Chris Hanson. Andy Samberg did a very solid Keanu Reeves here.

Potato Chip Thief: Elayna called this early: "It's like a Monty Python sketch." And it was. It was zany and illogical and fucking brilliant. Forte and Sudeikis teamed up yet again, but played against each other this time. Lively was every bit as funny as Forte, and the sheer absurdity just carried this bit.

Next week: Bon Jovi is the musical guest, which I can only hope means a showdown with Jon Bovi. And Taylor Lautner will be the host, which means even more shots at Twilight, I hope.

Comments

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

I didn't like this episode much at all. I thought it was as weak as the January Jones one.

Agreed on the White House Gate Crashers; this was so good, I think the rest of the episode was a let-down from it.

I didn't like anything at all about the next bits up to the Shy Ronnie short, and wished that Samberg had actually addressed the shyness in front of women in his one lucid outburst. But at least that sketch was funny.

I hated the "Gossip Girl: Staten Island" sketch; it was playing cultural superiority for laughs and just dragging its own self thru the mud.

Contrasting this was the Kickspit Underground Rock Festival, which played on the more ludicrous elements of an alternate culture and succeeded.

Seth Meyers did a better job with the whole Tiger Woods situation in one line.

The rest of it just failed until we got to Potato Chip Thief, where I agree with you and Elayna completely.

Next week, I will probably go to the bathroom for the inevitable Jon Bovi skit.