Chris Rock/Prince November 1, 2014

Last week, there was a weirdly funny Halloween episode hosted by Jim Carrey with musical guest Iggy Azalea. To get in the Halloween spirit, as well as to celebrate the fortieth season of SNL, the anchors of Today dressed up as some iconic SNL characters. Willie Geist and Tamron Hall were the Spartan Cheerleaders, Natalie Morales was Mary Katherine Gallagher, Lester Holt and Al Roker were the Blues Brothers, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb were Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World; Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager, and former anchor Meredith Vieira parodied the “Mom Jeans” commercial, and Matt Lauer was Pat along with a special guest appearance from Julia Sweeney dressed as her iconic character. The costumes were complete with a cold open featuring Kenan Thompson as Al Roker, a full SNL intro featuring the anchors, and the anchors acting out the iconic sketches dressed as their respective characters.

Some highlights from last week’s SNL episode include:

            -Jim Carrey dressed as a devil and Elvis hybrid called “Helvis”

            -Cast members did their best impressions of past Jim Carrey characters

            -A predictable yet fun cameo from Jeff Daniels

            -Kate and Jim dancing around the studio to Sia’s “Chandelier” both dressed as the dancer from the music video

For this week’s episode, I wasn’t expecting a lot from Chris Rock. I’m familiar with his style of comedy but not enough to know what he would do while hosting. That being said, I did expect for countless articles about specific sketches and Rock’s monologue causing a little bit of controversy.

Sketch Rundown:

Kelly File Cold Open:

Out of all the cold opens that have aired so far, this had to be one of the stronger cold opens. Cecily’s impression of Megyn Kelly was a great impression. One of the opening lines about how “Blacula was in fact white” was a great opener. Bobby’s Chris Christie was also a great impression with great jokes and one liners. Kate’s impression of Kaci Hickox was also really funny with a lot of great jokes and one liners.

Chris Rock Monologue:

Overall, I thought the monologue was funny, even though at first I felt a little uneasy about some of the jokes. Knowing that it was Chris Rock hosting, I knew some things he said would cause some controversy. That being said, I wasn’t surprised he pushed the envelope a little during his monologue. Rock did have a lot of great jokes in his monologue. Some of the memorable quotes included “no sacred days because we commercialize everything”, “these Toyotas are practically free at last, free at last”, “Madea’s Got a Dream”, and “no bling on Jesus”.

Vlog:

I thought this sketch was good but it wasn’t necessarily my favorite sketch. Chris Rock, though, was great in this sketch. Jay and Kyle were great in this sketch, too, along with Sasheer. This sketch was pretty relatable along the lines of trying to show one of my parents how to use something like YouTube.

GoProbe:

I thought this short was hilarious. The old-time footage of “your grandpa’s colonoscopy” was a great comedic touch. A parody like this does beg the question, is there anything a GoPro can’t do?

How’s He Doing?:

Out of all the times they’ve done this sketch, this one had to be my favorite. Since there are more African American cast members this season, this is a great way to use them in a sketch and to show off their talent. This sketch always has some great jokes and I can always get a laugh out of them.

Prince Performance:

I thought it was really cool to witness history with Prince’s uninterrupted, eight-minute-long performance. When Prince was transitioning from his first song to his second song, I didn’t notice at first that his guitar was unplugged. Overall, I’m not a huge fan of Prince but his set was good.

Weekend Update:

This week’s Weekend Update started off strong but some jokes fell flat on both parts. One of my favorite parts of Update was seeing Pete Davidson again. I’m really starting to like his segments on Update. One of my favorite jokes of the night was the last joke that was said by Colin Jost. The joke was about some kind of a dance ban in St. George, Utah and the joke was that Kevin Bacon was on it, in regards to the popular movie, Footloose. I wasn’t a fan of the very end of the Katt Williams and Suge Knight segment at the end. Overall, Weekend Update was good but it wasn’t my favorite.

Shark Tank:

I thought this sketch was a great sketch to show after Update. SNL took a really big risk with joking about ISIS but they really made the joke work. I thought this Shark Tank sketch was better than the Shark Tank sketch when Kevin Hart hosted back in season 38. I thought Homeland Security coming out at the end was funny. I watch Shark Tank a lot and the impressions of the investors were very on point. This was definitely one of my favorite sketches of the night.

Swiftamine:

As a huge fan of Taylor Swift, I absolutely loved this ad parody. This was definitely one of the best parodies I’ve seen in a long time. Leslie Jones was absolutely hilarious, as usual, especially at the end when she was dressed in a tutu. This ad parody shows that it is impossible to not love Taylor Swift.

The Couple:

Normally, I don’t like saying that I absolutely hate a sketch. This sketch, however, was so painful to watch. This is a sketch that was probably executed better during rehearsals. I don’t think anything could have saved this sketch. I did feel really bad for Leslie with the blocking flub. Even though the dress rehearsal version was released online instead of the live version, this sketch was still the weakest sketch of the night.

Bank Robbery:

If you read the blog regularly, then you would notice that I always say that the Good Neighbor shorts are not my favorite sketches. This one, however, I actually liked. This short made me wonder if all bank robberies would end this way. This sketch was funny and definitely took the comedic turn I wasn’t expecting. The little musical number at the end was a great touch. This sketch was one of the better sketches after Weekend Update as well as one of the better sketches during the entire show.

Women in the Workplace:

Honestly, I didn’t think this sketch would be a reoccurring sketch. This was the typical sketch to save for the end of the show. Although I love Kate and Cecily, this sketch was just okay. The only memorable line from this sketch was when Kate said to “put this diversity truck in reversity”.

Overall, this episode started out strong but fell flat halfway through the show. To me, it seemed like everyone was having an off week. Whether or not it had anything to do with all the controversy surrounding Michael Che and his comments about the catcalling video, I have no idea. Luckily, they have a week off before the next episode with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Kendrick Lamar.

This has been my take on SNL hosted by Chris Rock and musical guest Prince. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Woody Harrelson and musical guest Kendrick Lamar. Please spread the word about the blog and subscribe to the blog. Also, follow the blog on Twitter @SNLblogger and on Instagram @snlblogger. I live tweet new episodes on the blog’s Twitter so feel free to join in on the conversation. Feel free to start your own conversations about episodes in the comments section but keep them clean. Also, please feel free to give me constructive criticism about the blog so I can improve the blog in any way.

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Jim Carrey/Iggy Azalea October 25, 2014

Another week and another anticipated episode of Saturday Night Live. This most recent episode, with host Jim Carrey and musical guest Iggy Azalea, was anticipated episode due to the fact that this was Carrey’s third time hosting. After several appearances on Weekend Update and in sketches, writer Leslie Jones was also upgraded to a featured player the Monday before the episode. Two weeks ago, SNL alum Bill Hader made his hosting debut along with first time musical guest, Hozier. Some highlights from this episode include:

-         - The return of several of Hader’s beloved characters, such as Herb Welch and, of course, Stefon.

-          -A beautiful tribute to deceased former cast member, Jan Hooks.

-          -Former cast member Kristen Wiig made several appearances throughout the episode

-          -Hozier’s great musical debut on the show.

I didn’t have many expectations for this episode. I knew this would be a funny episode even though I’m not the biggest fan of Jim Carrey. This was definitely one of the stronger episodes of the season both in sketches and in the ratings.

                                                                                                                         

Show Rundown:

Ebola Czar Cold Open:

With Ebola constantly in the news, I wasn’t surprised this was the topic for the cold open. One thing I loved about the monologue was the jokes about past scandals during Obama’s presidency. Some of the quotes said during the monologue, both said by Taran Killam as the Ebola czar, included that “everything will be 100% cool as hell” and “Latinos in red states have immunity”. A few other memorable quotes came from Kenan Thompson as the Reverend Al Sharpton which were “Ebola Caesar” and “all of New York is contaminated all the time”. I thought this was a good cold open but it wasn’t a strong cold open.

Jim Carrey Monologue:

When Carrey first stepped onto the stage in his costume, I definitely thought it was strange despite this being the Halloween episode and that it’s Jim Carrey. Carrey states in his monologue that he likes Halloween because it’s “the one day a year I actually blend in”. His hybrid costume “Helvis” was a bit strange and I figured a musical number would be coming up. I loved the involvement of the band with their howling and the addition of the devil choir, as well as the “Helvis” marquis. Bobby and his facial expressions were also a great comedic touch to the number. My favorite line would have to be the last line of the monologue, “Helvis has left the building”. The musical number was very catchy and I still can’t get the song out of my head.

Lincoln Commercial 1:

When I first saw this ad parody, I thought it was an actual commercial due to the production quality and that Jim Carrey does a very convincing Matthew McConaughey. Out of the three commercial parodies, I thought this wasn’t the strongest one although it was pretty funny.

Carrey Family Reunion:

This sketch was one of the best sketches of the night. I loved how the cast poked fun at a lot of Jim Carrey’s past characters. Even though I haven’t seen a lot of Jim Carrey’s movies, the impressions were still hilarious. The Jeff Daniels cameo was expected because of the sequel to Dumb and Dumber but it was still a fun cameo. Pete Davidson jumping in at the end of the sketch as The Riddler was also very funny. This sketch was weird but a funny kind of weird.

Lincoln Commercial 2:

I thought this was better than the first commercial. The kids in the back seat were a great touch, especially with the line, “Whose kids are these?”

Graveyard Song:

This sketch was also a really strong sketch. Taran Killam and Jim Carrey as Paul and Phil was great, even though the joke might have dragged on a little too long. Bobby and Kenan definitely made the sketch when yelling at Paul and Phil. One of my favorite lines of the sketch was toward the end when Pete handed Phil a beer and Phil said that the “beer went right through me”. This sketch was one of my favorite sketches of the night.

Lincoln Commercial 3:

Out of all the commercials, this had to be my favorite one. I loved how it started out as an Allstate parody. Kenan getting hit and dragged by the car was a good transition into the Lincoln ad.

Iggy Azalea “Fancy/Black Widow” Performance:

I was pretty excited that Iggy Azalea was the musical guest since I like her music. I wasn’t surprised she would perform “Fancy” but I wasn’t expecting the medley of “Fancy” and “Black Widow”. Also seeing Rita Ora perform “Black Widow” along with Iggy wasn’t much of a surprise since her vocals are featured heavily in the song. I thought this was a good performance overall.

Weekend Update:

I thought this week’s Update was good but not as strong as the previous episode. I felt like some of the jokes on both parts fell flat. Jost seemed to do better this week even though he had a little bit of a flyaway hair problem that drove me a little crazy. I loved Vanessa Bayer’s romantic comedy character. The character was funny and Vanessa looked really pretty as this character, as she is beautiful without the costume, too. I loved the bit between Michael Che and Vanessa turning Update into a rom-com for a couple minutes. I loved getting to see Drunk Uncle again as he is one of my favorite Weekend Update characters. To see Drunk Uncle roll from Che to Jost was expected because of the character’s personality. I also love how this character is full of a ton of one-liners, like other Weekend Update characters.

Secret Billionaire:

This sketch seemed to be the typical sketch to show after Weekend Update. It was pretty weak and a little weird but with a few good jokes here and there. The best part about this sketch was the puppy in a suit.

Ghost Chasers:

I thought this sketch was awesome. It was so funny and perfect for the Halloween episode. No kidding, if this were real life I know I would be Leslie Jones’ character. This short was so funny with the right amount of creepy, especially with the dolls.

Zombie Apocalypse:

I thought this sketch was also weak with a few good jokes here and there. I felt like this was a mediocre parody of “The Walking Dead”. I did feel bad for Pete Davidson’s zombie character for being hit with a bat all the time, even if it was a prop and he wore a ton of padding.

Halloween Party:

First of all, it was good to see Kate and Aidy in a sketch again. Second of all, this was hands-down one of the best sketches of the night. Seeing Kate and Jim dance to Sia’s “Chandelier” dressed as the dancer in the music video was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I loved seeing the entire studio being used and the fourth wall being broken. It was great to see cameos by both Iggy Azalea and Lorne. I was praying that Jim didn’t drop Kate while swinging her around. Aidy’s character in this sketch with her one-liners were a great comedic touch to this sketch.

Iggy Azalea “Beg For It” Performance:

I didn’t expect this song to be performed and I thought this performance was just okay. The other singer in this performance, Mø, was good but had the unfortunate downside of performing with technical difficulties.

Geoff’s Halloween Emporium:

I thought this sketch was funny but also a little weird, especially Jim Carrey’s character. Seeing both Cecily and Vanessa in this sketch looked like their former porn star characters moved to Wisconsin, donned the accent, and got jobs at a Halloween store. This sketch did seem like the kind of sketch that would be shown at the end of the show.

Overall, this episode was one of the strongest of the season both in content and in the ratings. There were several strong sketches throughout the episode and also a lot of good comedy. Since I’m not a big Jim Carrey fan I wasn’t expecting a lot from this episode. Luckily, Carrey was able to prove me wrong. I definitely enjoyed this episode more than I thought I would. In other SNL news, Taran Killam and his wife, actress Cobie Smulders, are expecting their second child! Congratulations to the couple on this wonderful news!

This has been my take on SNL hosted by Jim Carrey and musical guest Iggy Azalea. I’ll be back next week with a review of SNL hosted by former cast member Chris Rock and musical guest Prince. Please spread the word about the blog and subscribe to the blog. Also, follow the blog on Twitter @SNLblogger and on Instagram @snlblogger. I live tweet new episodes on the blog’s Twitter so feel free to join in on the conversation Feel free to start your own conversations about episodes in the comments section but keep them clean. Also, please feel free to give me constructive criticism about the blog so I can improve the blog in any way.

Thanks for reading!

Lauren