Cameron Diaz/Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars November 22, 2014

It’s the Thanksgiving episode of Saturday Night Live, which means it’s time to give thanks for a strong first half of the fortieth season, so far. Last week, it was the third time hosting for host Woody Harrelson with musical guest, Kendrick Lamar. This episode was a strong episode like many of the episodes before it this season. There was a little dip in the ratings from the previous episode, hosted by Chris Rock with musical guest Prince, but it was still one of the stronger episodes of the season, ratings wise.

Some highlights from the last episode include:

-Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson crashing the monologue of their Hunger Games costar to promote the film.

-A musical short bringing together the “young tarts” and “old farts” of the music world.

-Enough Kim Kardashian jokes to last the rest of the year, courtesy of Colin Jost and Michael Che.

-Several male heavy sketches

For this episode, I had some idea of what to expect from Diaz since I have seen reruns of the past episodes that she has hosted. The past times that she has hosted it’s been decent so I had my expectations that this episode would be decent.

Sketch Rundown:

School House Rock Cold Open:

This had to be one of the funnier political cold opens that I’ve seen this season. I’m surprised they went the “School House Rock” route but I’m thankful for the childhood flashbacks. I did love the idea of the president pushing the bill, played by Kenan, down the stairs three times. Some of my favorite quotes came from the executive order, played by Bobby, which were “I’m an executive order and I pretty much just happen.” and “I didn’t have time to read myself!” I ended up really liking this cold open and this probably was one of my favorite cold opens of the season, so far.

Cameron Diaz Monologue:

I honestly don’t have that much to say about the monologue except that so far, this is probably the weakest monologue of the season. I know the monologue is the last priority but they could’ve put a little more thought into it. I thought the cast members who asked questions were good but there really wasn’t much of a beginning, middle, or an end. Like I said before, this probably has to be one of the weakest monologues of the season and probably my least favorite monologue, so far.

Back Home Ballers:

This was one of my favorite sketches of the night. I thought it was a great sequel to “(Do It On My) Twin Bed” from last season. I thought this was a great way to utilize the ladies of the cast and show that they all have some musical abilities. I expected there would be a sequel to “Twin Bed” but I don’t think I would’ve expected one this soon. That being said, the timing was perfect for the sequel to come during the Thanksgiving episode. Jean from “Twin Bed” also returns, which I didn’t notice at first until I watched this again. I also thought that Leslie’s rap towards the end of the song was awesome. I found this sketch to be very relatable and I now have another song I’ll play endlessly on loop. “Twin Bed” was also nominated for an Emmy in 2014 and unfortunately lost but I’m pretty sure “Back Home Ballers” will take home an Emmy in 2015.

Black Annie:

Along with “Back Home Ballers,” this was one of my other favorite sketches of the night. I expected an Annie sketch this episode since this was the film Diaz was promoting. Vanessa’s version of Annie reminded me a little bit of her character from the “Spotlightz Acting Camp” sketches. I thought Vanessa was just adorable in this sketch. When Jay came out as Jamie Foxx and said the line “My name is Jamie Foxx, I mean, Daddy Warbucks,” I was laughing really hard. When Leslie came out as Annie, she had me laughing so hard that I was in tears. Leslie was also hilarious in this sketch. I loved the reference to the song “Gold Digger” when Jay sang “take my money”. I loved how at the end they started singing “Tomorrow” and then Kenan came out and broke out in a rap. The latter happening after one of my favorite quotes from Leslie “This is not about you orphan bitches. This is about Black Annie!” Again, one of the best sketches of the night and one of my favorite sketches.

Nest-spresso:

I thought this was a weird idea for a commercial parody but I found it somewhat enjoyable. While watching the sketch, Taran’s character reminded me a little bit of Brooks Wheelan (Brooks was a cast member last season best known for his stand-up bits on Weekend Update; I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m the only one that remembers him and misses him on the show). I thought Vanessa’s character’s lack of knowledge of how the product works was pretty funny and a great comedic touch. Overall, I thought this sketch was just okay.

High School Theatre:

To be honest, I thought this was kind of a weird sketch. I did think having Kenan and Vanessa as audience members was a good move, otherwise the sketch probably wouldn’t have been as good. The only thing I learned from this sketch is that Kyle Mooney is a good singer. One of my favorite quotes from this sketch was at the end where it was “the first of seven intermissions”. I thought that the tribute to Mike Nichols at the end of this sketch was sweet, even though this sketch wasn’t one of my favorites.

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk” Performance:

This has to be my favorite musical performance of the season and one of my favorite musical performances on the show ever! I’m so obsessed with this song that I can’t go a day without listening to it. Bruno Mars always puts on a great performance and he and Mark Ronson created this amazing song that will always be played everywhere you go. I was so excited to see this song performed on the show and I would’ve loved to have been in the studio to see this in person. I don’t know why Diaz was wearing a fedora when she introduced the act but despite this, I loved this performance!

Weekend Update:

I thought this Weekend Update was a strong one, even though I thought Che’s Cosby joke was a little too soon. I did like the line he said which was “I know it’s not the same thing but I forgave Kramer.” Of course, I had to look up who he was talking about to understand the joke. I did like and agree with the Ferguson story Che delivered about how calling in the National Guard before the grand jury decision has been made basically tells you what the verdict will be. This story hits close to home for me being from the St. Louis area and seeing all of the violence and riots on the news every day for months. Switching gears, I loved seeing Kate’s Angela Merkel again on Update. I hope Merkel is in the news more often since I love Kate’s impression. This impression always has many great quotes and one-liners. Though at the end of the segment, Jost trying to “German kiss” pretty much scarred me for life. I also thought Taran as Charles Manson and Cecily as Manson’s fiancée was pretty funny. I loved the lines “I just want to kill the world about it!” and “We’re like peanut butter and chaos.” I had a feeling, at the very end of Update, Cecily had to really trust Taran that he wouldn’t hurt her when she ended up on top of the Update desk. I have no doubt in my mind that this was staged and spotted well so nobody would get hurt. Even though I don’t think I can ever get the image of Taran and Cecily, in character, going at it on top of the Update desk out of my mind, I thought this was a strong Update.

Baby Boss:

I’m not a big fan of this sketch or this character, but I liked how they brought this sketch out of an office setting. I feel like this was a great way to give this character more of a back story and make the character a little more rounded. I thought it was funny how they gave Baby Boss a wife and that they were expecting a baby. I thought Kenan and Sasheer were great and had great reactions in this sketch. Even though I thought some parts of this sketch were funny, I thought this sketch was just okay and the character and jokes were becoming a bit redundant.

Dr. Dave and Buggles’ Animal Hour:

I thought this sketch was okay; I didn’t like it as much as the other sketches. I felt like it was trying to be some kind of reboot of “Brian Fellow”. I didn’t like how they pretty much used different variations of the same joke. Although, I was glad they did something with the monkey escaping from the cage. Even though I didn’t really enjoy this sketch, I did think the animals were cute.

Chris Fitzpatrick:

I don’t have a lot to say about this sketch since I’m not a big fan of the “Good Neighbor” sketches, though I did get a couple laughs out of it. I love Kyle Mooney but I’m not a big fan of this character. I also didn’t know what was up with all the car explosions in between shots. I thought this sketch was okay, overall.

Poetry Teacher:

I thought this sketch was okay. I’m not a big fan of this character even though I love Vanessa. I like how Vanessa’s character is now the substitute teacher instead of a poetry teacher visiting students in detention. I feel like that change was made since Mike O’Brien left the cast and went back to being a writer. I did like the poem about Friends, mainly because it’s one of my favorite shows. I don’t necessarily like these sketches and, like I stated earlier, this sketch was just okay.

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars “Feel Right” Performance feat. Mystikal:

I thought this performance was good, despite not knowing who Mystikal is. I thought this song was catchy but I wish Bruno Mars would’ve performed a second song.

Night Murmurs:

I felt this sketch was the typical sketch saved for the end of the night. I thought this sketch was good but almost felt like a little bit of a spinoff of the “Former Porn Stars” sketches. I did notice how they cut from Cameron to Kate a little too early though a different version was released online. I liked that Kate was in this sketch because I felt like she added more humor into a sketch that wasn’t all that great, though Cecily was great as well. I thought this sketch had its funny moments but it was just okay.

Overall, I thought this was a fairly good episode. There wasn’t really a bad sketch in the episode though there were some weak sketches, which is going to happen. I thought that Diaz’s performance as host was good but she wasn’t one of my favorite hosts.

Some SNL-related news from the past week include SNL alum Bill Hader and his wife, Maggie Carey, welcoming their third child, a daughter named Hayley, on November 15^th. Hayley joins her older sisters, Hannah Kathryn and Harper. Congratulations to the Haders on this wonderful addition to their family. It was announced on November 19^th that current SNL cast member and former Weekend Update anchor Cecily Strong will host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, 2015. Strong is also the fourth woman to host the event. Congratulations to Cecily on this honor. I know I’ll be watching and that she’ll be great.

 This has been my take on SNL hosted by Cameron Diaz and musical guests Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by James Franco and musical guest Nicki Minaj. 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

Woody Harrelson/Kendrick Lamar November 15, 2014

SNL is back after having a week off to prepare for this week’s episode hosted by Woody Harrelson with musical guest Kendrick Lamar. On November 1^st, the show was hosted by SNL alum Chris Rock and musical guest Prince. This episode was a good episode and did very well in the ratings, as it is currently the highest rated episode of the season. I would think that one reason for the high ratings would be because of Prince and his eight-minute-long, uninterrupted musical performance which has never been done before in the history of SNL.

Some highlights from the last episode include:

-Chris Rock’s controversial jokes in his monologue that mentioned the Boston Marathon bombings and 9/11

-Prince’s eight-minute-long, uninterrupted performance

-A sketch about the show Shark Tank involving the terror group, ISIS, which was met with a lot of criticism and controversy

-An ad parody called “Swiftamine” which shows that anybody can like Taylor Swift’s music

-A sketch about a married couple, played by Chris Rock and Leslie Jones, fighting on their anniversary that was painful to watch during the live show. The sketch also included a line flub and blocking flub by Jones, which shows that anything can happen on live TV. This sketch was rumored to be written by writers that Rock had brought with him.

For this week’s episode, I didn’t know what to expect since I’m not familiar with Woody Harrelson or a lot of his work. Okay, I know he’s in The Hunger Games movies but I still wouldn’t have recognized him. I also wouldn’t have known that he was the actor who played Haymitch. The last time Harrelson hosted the show was on May 16, 1992, which was the season 17 finale and Victoria Jackson’s last episode. This episode also aired less than three years before I was born, which does show my age. Actually, both time he hosted prior to this episode were before my time. Regardless, I kept an open mind and was pleased with his performance for his third time hosting SNL.

Sketch Rundown:

A Drink at the White House Cold Open:

This had to be one of the funnier political cold opens. The impressions were good and the jokes were on point. One of my favorite parts of the cold open was the prank phone call to Hillary Clinton with the joint scream at the end. Another one of my favorite moments from the cold open was President Obama with a Presidential Medal of Freedom on his head. I thought Sasheer’s brief cameo as Michelle Obama was very well placed towards the end of the cold open. Overall, I liked this cold open.

Woody Harrelson Monologue:

I’m not very familiar with the work of Woody Harrelson so I didn’t know what to expect in regards to the monologue. I did like how Harrelson tied Taylor Swift’s most recent album, “1989”, and the first time he hosted, which was in 1989. Harrelson broke out his guitar and sang a parody of Swift’s song “Blank Space”, with the help of his Hunger Games costars Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, and Jennifer Lawrence. I loved how Jennifer made fun of herself because she can’t sing and how Josh and Liam also made fun of her singing. Jennifer’s line flub was also pretty funny and actually worked well. Overall, this was a pretty strong monologue, despite Harrelson looking like he was stoned during the monologue.

The Dudleys:

I thought this sketch was just okay, though definitely portrayed the typical family sitcom. One of my favorite quotes was regarding pot roast being served for dinner: “I used my favorite recipe: takeout.” The paper mail complaints were a great comedic touch since paper mail is hardly used these days. The comment “These aren’t my Dudleys. PS, repeal Obamacare” was so random yet it was so funny. I didn’t expect to see Uzo Aduba from “Orange is the New Black” to make a cameo but it was a fun surprise. It would have been a great impression for Leslie or Sasheer and it would have given them more screen time. The tagline for the sketch was that they heard us loud and clear but it begs the question, did they really hear us “loud and clear”?

Match’d:

I felt this was a very random game show sketch and this definitely wouldn’t be considered one of my favorite sketches of the night. The opening line of the sketch “You’re watching MTV. You’re DVR must be empty.” was a great way to open the sketch, despite this being kind of a weak sketch. I don’t watch MTV hardly, if ever, and I didn’t think they made these types of game shows anymore, unless it was a throwback to when MTV had these types of shows on the air. Despite thinking it was a weak sketch, there were some high note in the sketch. I liked the plot twist of the host, played by Woody Harrelson, being the father of the contestant, played by Cecily Strong. I loved how it made the contestants, respectively played by Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, and Taran Killam, act nervous about their previous responses to the questions and made them think about how they were going to answer the next questions. Another high note from the sketch was finding out at the end that the moment alone was recorded. Like I said previously, this wasn’t one of my favorite sketches as it was just an okay sketch.

A New Day:

This sketch was just okay and I didn’t get a lot of the material in this sketch, maybe because I don’t smoke marijuana. One of my favorite quotes from this sketch was Woody Harrelson’s character shouting “Free…at last!” This line was funny and very random. I thought it was funny how Pete’s character went from talking about making social change on marijuana laws to his excitement about “Rugrats” coming on TV. This sketch was funny but it wasn’t one of my favorite sketches.

Football Halftime Speech:

I thought this sketch was a very good and very funny sketch. I thought this sketch was the perfect way to satirize concussions and other brain and bodily injuries brought on by contact sports. This was satirized perfectly by Kenan’s character. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch include “Back of the head…put your princess to bed!” and “If the pupils dilate…you did great!” I also loved the heavily padded, oversized football helmets at the end of the sketch. This had to be one of my favorite sketches of the night.

Young Tarts & Old Farts:

This sketch was my absolute favorite sketch of the night and one of my favorite sketches ever! The impressions were great and on point. This sketch was very similar to the “Michael Bublé's Christmas Duets” sketch from season 37. One of my favorite quotes from this sketch includes this one said by Kenan’s Lionel Richie to Cecily’s Ariana Grande: “Let’s try that again. I don’t think they heard you in China.” Another one of my favorite quotes was from Sasheer’s Diana Ross in regards to Kyle’s Macklemore: “I don’t need him to educate me about gay people. I invented gay people.” I loved how they were able to include Kendrick Lamar, this episode’s musical guest, in the sketch. Some of the impressions that I loved included Cecily’s Ariana Grande, Aidy Bryant’s Meghan Trainor, Taran’s Sam Smith, and Woody’s James Taylor, and the little girl who played Blue Ivy Carter. She was so adorable! I also loved how Vanessa’s Miley Cyrus impression was brought back. I loved the joke that she was the “old fart” in this sketch to Kate’s Lorde, who was the “young tart”. I loved this sketch and I would love to see more of these types of sketches.

Kendrick Lamar “I” Performance:

I’m not a big Kendrick Lamar fan but I ended up liking this song more than I thought I would. The song was really upbeat and catchy as I found myself dancing along to this song. I thought this performance was the better of Lamar’s two performances of the night.

Weekend Update:

Going into Weekend Update, I figured there were going to be a lot of Kim Kardashian jokes due to her infamous magazine cover and photos. I loved Colin’s transition to “getting back to real news.” I also loved his “Who wore it best?” joke. I loved Leslie Jones’ segment; it was funny, as always. I loved the quotes “I feel like I have to talk to HR first.” and “crazy chimney bitch”. Woody Harrelson’s segment with Taran’s Matthew McConaughey was good and I really love Taran’s McConaughey impression. I love how Taran’s McConaughey is always calling Jost “CoJo” and I loved the quote “can’t go on and on till the break of dawn”. I thought this week’s Update was strong with only a few jokes falling flat, in my opinion.

Old New York:

I thought this sketch was the typical sketch saved to appear directly after Update. I felt the sketch was dragging, especially with using what felt like the same crack jokes over and over again. I’d have to say my favorite part of the sketch was Woody’s character fake arresting the rest of the guys with a “Vote for Nader” button. This wasn’t my favorite sketch of the night.

Campfire Song:                                                  

I thought this sketch had a good start before they started singing the song about apples. After the song was introduced, I felt the sketch dragged on and that the sketch was going on forever. I thought the joke of the other people really knowing the song was funny but just okay. Overall, I thought this sketch was just okay and it wasn’t one of my favorite sketches. The one thing I hated about this sketch is that I can’t get that song out of my head.

Kendrick Lamar “Pay For It” Performance:

I thought this performance was just okay. The song was good but I still liked the first performance better than this performance.

Last Call:

I usually don’t like this sketch but out of all of the “Last Call” sketches I thought this was the best one out of all of them that have aired. I thought the use of the saran wrap was hilarious and I’m not sure if anybody noticed the sound effect delay but regardless, it was still funny. There were a lot of great quotes from this sketch, which included “I’m meeting a friend here tonight, Mr. Al K. Hall.” and “As long as you don’t mind taking a detour through STDetroit.” I really loved Kenan’s bartender character as he had some great reactions and quotes, such as “Moonlight come and me wanna go home.” and “Well, I gotta kill us all, I guess.” the latter as he doused the place with gasoline. I thought this was a great way to end the show.

Overall, I thought this was a good episode. I did feel that it was a little guy heavy as the female cast members were hardly in a majority of the sketches. I think a lot of that had to do with sketches being cut after the table read and after the dress rehearsal.

This has been my take on SNL hosted by Woody Harrelson and musical guest Kendrick Lamar. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Cameron Diaz and musical guests Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. 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