Kevin Hart/Sia January 17, 2015

We have reached the first episode of 2015! The first half of the season was strong and I’m sure fans of SNL can expect for a strong second half as well. The first half of the season was concluded with host Amy Adams and musical guest One Direction. I was very impressed with this episode and thought it was a great way to close out the first half of the season.

Some highlights from the last episode include:

            -Mike Myers making a cameo in the cold open, reprising his character Dr. Evil in regards to the Sony hacks.

            -A musical monologue to get people in the Christmas spirit (with an appearance from Kristen Wiig).

            -A holiday parody of the popular podcast Serial.

            -One Direction appearing in “Girlfriends Talk Show”.

            -The return of Garth and Kat.

            -The return of “Whiskers-R-We”.

To kick off the second half of the fortieth season is Kevin Hart returning to host for the second time, and first time musical guest Sia. Kevin Hart hosted back in season 38 so it has been a while since he was on the SNL stage. He was great the first time he hosted and he was great the second time. To be honest, I was a little surprised that Sia was scheduled to be the musical guest since she rarely does performances. Nevertheless, her performances were beautiful and this episode was a great start to the second half of the season. Kevin Hart is one of those hosts that I would love to see on the show again.

Sketch Rundown:

MLK Cold Open:

I thought this was a great cold open and better than a lot of the political cold opens from the season. I thought it was a great use of Pete. I loved Kenan’s Martin Luther King, Jr. and I loved Pete’s character; both were great. I loved how Kenan’s MLK would say how “we are still climbing that mountain” as that statement is so true. I loved how they poked fun at the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations. As I mentioned before, I really liked this cold open and it was a great way to kick off the start of the second half of the season.

Kevin Hart Monologue:

I really liked this monologue and found it very funny. I especially loved the story about his raccoon problem. I loved how Hart acted out a lot of the story during his monologue. I also really loved the story about having his son take out the trash, especially when he said “I know I never told him”. This had to be one of my favorite monologues of the season.

My Calvin’s Ad 1:

I had a feeling that Bieber’s Calvin Klein ads would be parodied and I’m not surprised they were parodied. The ads were very funny and it was great to see Kate’s Bieber impression again. This parody had so many great lines, including “This tattoo made me say owie.” I don’t know if I could’ve been in this parody as an extra because I’m pretty sure I would be cracking up the entire time. I absolutely loved this ad parody and I’m glad there were two more ads during the episode.

Why’d You Post That?:

I thought this sketch was good and that it was funny. I thought they played off the technical glitch at the beginning very well during the live show (the dress rehearsal version is online). I thought some of the pictures were cute, some were funny, and some just flat out scarred me for life. I loved how the couch went into “the dungeon,” I thought it was a great comedic touch. I loved Aidy’s character, especially when she said “I was told I was gonna be on The Price is Right”. I liked this sketch a lot more than I thought I would like it.

Bushwick, Brooklyn 2015:

I thought this was a good sketch but it wasn’t my favorite. I think the reason was because I didn’t really understand the concept of the sketch. However, I did like the dogs and the matching sweaters on Kevin and the dogs.

Get On Up:

I really liked this sketch and thought it was funny. I thought it was a great James Brown tribute and I loved Kevin Hart’s James Brown impression. I especially loved the line “Who puts mustard on chicken parm?” I thought the ending of the sketch was hilarious. I thought this sketch was great and it was one of my favorite sketches of the night.

Soap Opera Reunion:

I thought this sketch was okay and it seemed like it was a parody of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I thought the sketch was kind of weird but I thought Kevin Hart’s character was great. The sketch was alright but it wasn’t one of my favorites.

My Calvin’s Ad 2:

I thought this parody was just as funny as the first one. I loved the beginning of the sketch where Kate scares Cecily by jumping out from behind her. I loved when Kate as Bieber asked “Are my muscles cute?” and Cecily as the model just shakes her head “no”. I also loved the line “Yo, all this underwear is making me tired.” I absolutely loved this parody.

Sia “Elastic Heart” Performance:

I liked this performance more than I thought I would. I figured that Maddie Ziegler would appear as a dancer during one of the performances. Even though I knew the music video had come out, I wasn’t as familiar with this song. The song was catchy and it was a very good performance.

Weekend Update:

I thought Weekend Update went off to a good start with both anchors off to a good start for the second half of the season. I loved Che’s punchline “The Al Sharpton Diversity Task Force sounds like a kick ass Saturday morning cartoon.” I also loved the John Travolta joke which was also said by Che. I loved Kate’s new character. I thought the character was very funny and had some great quotes. Overall, this was one of the shorter Weekend Updates but it was still very good.

The Journey:

I liked this sketch and felt that it was a parody of the ABC show Galavant. I loved the musical bits especially since I’m a sucker for a musical sketch. I loved Kevin Hart’s character and thought he was funny. I loved the dragon’s eye in the window and the tiny pants. I thought those were great comedic touches. I also loved the Scooby Doo moment between Taran and Kevin. I also thought it was great that they had Leslie play Kevin’s wife. Of course, as always, Leslie was hysterical. I thought this sketch was great and it was a great choice to follow Update.

My Calvin’s Ad 3:

I loved this parody. I thought the stroller bit at the beginning. This bit had me laughing so hard. I loved at the end how Kate kept saying “My Kevin’s” with the director correcting her saying that it was “My Calvin’s”. These parody ads are some of the best and funniest parodies I’ve seen on the show in a long time.

Kevin Hart Son:

I thought this sketch was okay. I did, however, like Jay’s Kevin Hart impression. I don’t want to say that the sketch wasn’t funny because it was definitely funny during some parts. I did love Leslie and thought she was great. I thought the sketch was good but it wasn’t my favorite.

Sia “Chandelier” Performance:

I really liked this performance even though I was very certain she would perform a different song. Regardless, I thought this was a beautiful performance and I loved how it was performed acoustically and stripped down. I also ended up liking the mime a lot more than I thought I would. I loved this performance and how it showed off Sia’s vocal ability.

Listening Party:

I thought this sketch was good and it felt like the typical sketch saved for the end of the show. I loved how Kevin’s character would say “gunshot sounds” during the hook of the rap. I thought the lipstick on Beck was a great comedic touch. I loved the quote “It’s a Weekend at Bernie’s situation.” I loved that line even though I’ve never seen the movie. I did love the ending of the sketch and thought it was very humorous to the joke of the sketch. I did think this sketch was good but it wasn’t one of my favorite sketches.

Overall, I thought this episode was a very strong start to the second half of the season. This episode was great and the rest of the fortieth season looks to be very promising.

This has been my take on the first SNL of 2015 hosted by Kevin Hart with musical guest Sia. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL with host and musical guest Blake Shelton. 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 during 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

Amy Adams/One Direction December 20, 2014

We have reached the Christmas episode of SNL, which is also the midpoint of the season and the last SNL of 2014! This season had a bit of an okay start but it has proved to be a pretty strong start to the season. Last week, it was first time host Martin Freeman with first time musical guest Charli XCX. I was impressed with the episode and Martin Freeman would be someone I would like to see host again in the future.

Some highlights from the last episode include:

            -A new version of Santa Claus named “Sump’n Claus”.

            -A hybrid parody of the UK version of The Office and The Hobbit movies.

            -A new Weekend Update character for Cecily Strong, which also has a ridiculously long name.

            -The return of “Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy”.

The Christmas episode this season is returning host Amy Adams with returning musical guests One Direction. I remember seeing Adams host before and thought that she did a pretty good job. I also like a lot of her work so I knew she was going to be a good host. As for One Direction, they’ve always had good performances and have been known to show up in a sketch so that was something I pretty much expected. I like One Direction but I wish they went with a different musical guest, only because they were here last season when Paul Rudd was the host. It’s nothing against One Direction, I just think they could’ve had a different musical guest. One Direction did have great performances as well as Amy Adams so I was impressed with this episode.

Sketch Rundown:

Dr. Evil Cold Open:

I loved how the cold open started with “A Very Somber Christmas with Sam Smith”. It was a great way to see Taran’s Sam Smith impression. I didn’t expect Mike Myers to appear as Dr. Evil but it fits in with spoofing the Sony hacks. Some of my favorite quotes from the cold open include “Sony, North Korea, it’s time to get a Trapper Keeper and some loose leaf ‘cause I’m about to take you to school!”, “There’s already a GOP and they’re already an evil organization.” and “They haven’t had a hit since the Walkman.” I really loved this cold open and this was one of my favorite cold opens of the season.

Amy Adams Monologue:

Even though I’m not a huge fan of Amy Adams I thought her monologue was entertaining. I didn’t expect to see Kristen Wiig make another appearance this season but she was still great. I thought the song during the monologue was fitting due to this being the Christmas episode and with Adams’ background in singing. I genuinely thought Kristen was going to hurt herself while doing the splits. I thought this was a very strong monologue and the final number really got me into the Christmas spirit.  

Asian American Doll:

I liked this ad parody and thought it was very funny. I thought this was an interesting take on a doll. I liked the pull string, the empty dream house, and the two harmless accessories. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch include “We had to have a lot of sensitivity meetings about this doll,” “It’s Asian American doll, we made her from a place of fear!” and “I specifically said no gong!” I thought this was a very funny ad parody.

Viral Family:

I thought this was a funny take on families making viral music videos. I thought the matching Christmas sweatpants were funny. I loved the idea of Kyle’s character Dave thinking he was a dog as well as Kate’s facial expressions. I don’t know how I feel about Kenan’s character. I thought his character was funny but I thought the character was awkwardly placed in the sketch. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch were “I got nervous and the room started to spin. Matt Lauer asked a question and I puked on him.” and “She wants to hurt her daddy. In my Christmas sweatpants.” I thought this sketch was funny but it wasn’t my favorite sketch.

Christmas Serial:

I figured they were going to do a parody of this podcast because of its popularity. I started listening to Serial the day after this episode since many people have said that Cecily’s impression of Serial host Sarah Koenig was a spot on impression. After listening to Serial, I’m inclined to agree. I loved Cecily’s impression and all of the other impressions in this sketch. This sketch parodied the podcast so well and got everything down to the Mail Chimp sponsor. I loved how they tried to recreate Kris Kringle flying around the world in a sleigh. I thought this was a great parody and thanks to this sketch I’m officially obsessed with Serial.

Girlfriends Talk Show:

I really like “Girlfriends Talk Show” and this had to be my favorite one out of all of them. I could relate to Morgan during this “Girlfriends Talk Show” now more than ever. I expected One Direction to make an appearance in a sketch and this seemed like the perfect sketch for them to make an appearance. I loved the quotes “This is a girl trap, I can feel it,” and “They’re all my ex-boyfriends.” I thought making One Direction all of Kyra’s ex-boyfriends was hilarious. As I mentioned before, this is my favorite “Girlfriends Talk Show” out of all of the “Girlfriends Talk Show” sketches.

Office Christmas Party:

I thought this was a funny sketch. It definitely had a “Lonely Island” feel to it. I loved the quotes “The boss is making it rain gift cards!” and “Why is there a goat in here?” I loved this sketch. The song was very catchy and it was fun to see Pete rap.

One Direction “Night Changes” Performance:

Even though I’m not as big of a One Direction fan as I was when songs like “What Makes You Beautiful” came out, I liked the song and I liked the performance. The only complaint I had was that I didn’t like Harry’s hat and I thought it was kind of funny how Harry didn’t get the memo to wear all black. I loved the song and thought the performance was great.

Weekend Update:

I thought this Weekend Update had a strong start. I figured there would be a bunch of North Korea jokes because of the Sony hacks. I thought Bobby as Kim Jong-Un was funny. I also thought the laser pointers were great as well as Bobby saying to Colin to call him Seth Rogen was also funny. I loved Michael Che’s joke which resulted in the punch line, “Now That’s was Jost Calls Music!” I did like Kenan’s character Willie and thought it was funny. I loved getting to see Garth and Kat again, as they were a great surprise. I thought Fred and Kristen constantly breaking was hilarious. I thought this Weekend Update was one of the stronger ones of the season, so far.

A Very Cuban Christmas:

I thought this sketch was good. I loved Cecily’s Gloria Estefan impression as well as Taran’s Pitbull impression. I thought Bobby as Hurley from Lost was great and seemed random. Pete was cute and funny as his character. Kate as Diana Nyad was awesome. Kenan as Cuba Gooding, Jr. was a great comedic touch in a sketch about celebrities of Cuban descent. I also thought Fred as Raul Castro and Beck as Fidel Castro were great. I loved the quote “Jews, Jew driving me crazy!” I liked this sketch and thought this was a good sketch to show after Update.

One Direction “Ready to Run” Performance:

I thought this was another good song and another great performance by One Direction. My only complaint is about Harry’s hat and how I’m disappointed that he either didn’t get rid of the hat or wear a different hat.

Singing Sisters:

I liked this sketch but I felt like it had a weird start. It was one of those sketches that had to be watched a second time to fully understand the joke. I thought the short musical numbers were funny. I also thought the raccoon puppets at the end of the sketch were cute. I loved the quotes “If I guess wrong, I get to yum-yum garbage.” It was a good sketch but it wasn’t one of my favorites.

Whiskers-R-We:

I’m so glad this became a reoccurring sketch. I loved this sketch the first time when Charlize Theron hosted last season. This sketch always has great quotes and cat puns, also the cats are always cute. I loved the quotes “She uses the luo-ter box,” “She has a wicked sense of humor and she’s fifty-five years old. She’s going through menopaws,” “We call this cat Cat Stevens because he has a beautiful voice and because he recently converted to hard core Islam,” “Bobo’s out of this world,” “I am not a cat, I am a man!” and “Cat prices start as low as we give you twenty dollars.” I loved this sketch and thought it was a great way to end the show.

Overall, I thought this was a strong episode. It was a great way to end the first half of the season. Even though this episode was no Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake from last Christmas I was still very impressed by both Amy Adams and One Direction. I know I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the second half of the fortieth season of SNL.

This has been my take on the Christmas episode of SNL hosted by Amy Adams with musical guest One Direction. I’ll be back next year with a review of the first episode of SNL of 2015 hosted by Kevin Hart with musical guest Sia. 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 during 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

Martin Freeman/Charli XCX December 13, 2014

We have reached the second to last show of December and the second to last show of 2014. Last week was host James Franco and musical guest Nicki Minaj. This episode was a good episode, both in content and in ratings. I didn’t have high expectations for this episode since I’m not a huge fan of either Franco or Minaj. I’ll admit that I actually did like this episode.

Some highlights from the last episode include:

            -Many jokes and sketches about the events in Ferguson and New York.

            -A sketch parodying the live event Peter Pan: Live.

            -Another great video short from Mike O’Brien.

            -A cut for time sketch parodying a St. Louis news station after the events in Ferguson which should have been aired.

This week’s host is Martin Freeman and the musical guest is Charli XCX. I didn’t know what to expect from Freeman since I wasn’t familiar with him and I haven’t seen any of The Hobbit movies or the British version of The Office. After watching this episode, I was pleasantly surprised with his performance on the show and thought he did a great job. I was more familiar with Charli XCX because of her song “Boom Clap” and because she is featured on the Iggy Azalea song “Fancy”. I also ended up liking both of her performances as well.

Sketch Rundown:

Charlie Rose Cold Open:

I was surprised they used “Charlie Rose” as the cold open since many viewers may not be familiar with the show but Taran’s impression was very good. I thought Bobby and Kyle were great as the psychologists and had some great quotes. Some of my favorite quotes from the cold open were “There’s no ‘I’ in torture,” “We invented one man shows,” and “It sure ducking was!” Overall, I really liked this cold open and felt it was a pretty strong cold open.

Martin Freeman Monologue:

As I mentioned before, I didn’t know what to expect with Martin Freeman’s monologue since I wasn’t familiar with him before this episode. I loved how he started his monologue by saying “I’m sort of like a funny George Clooney.” I thought that was a good way to start off his monologue for people who aren’t familiar with him. I loved how he joked about all British people knowing each other and this brought out Kate’s impression of Maggie Smith and Taran’s impression of Alan Rickman, both of which were good impressions. I loved how Martin Freeman closed out his monologue by saying “My name is Martin Freeman, unless I embarrass myself, in which my name is Colin Firth.” I was very impressed with Freeman’s monologue and would consider his monologue one of my favorites this season.

Sump’n Claus:

I thought this sketch was great. The song was catchy and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I thought it was funny how people like Justin Bieber, Paula Deen, Donald Sterling, and Suge Knight were “getting’ sump’n.” I loved the inclusion of the back story of Sump’n Claus. At the end of the sketch, I loved at the end how Sump’n Claus said that Kevin Bacon was “gettin’ sump’n” leading Sasheer to ask “What’s wrong with Kevin Bacon?” I loved the response “Nothing. He’s just my homie.” I loved this sketch and this was one of my favorite sketches of the night.

Wedding Objections:

I thought this sketch was great and was perfectly placed in the first half of the show. I thought the pairing of Leslie and Freeman was hilarious. The line of people with objections forming was also a great comedic touch as was Freeman’s character’s wife in the congregation. This sketch was hilarious and full of great quotes, including “You met him five days ago at a combination Taco Bell/Pizza Hut,” “He just adopted the Wu Tang Clan,” “The best analogy would be a late stage Jenga tower,” “Jenga!,” “$5000 split among us,” “Daddy needs his chocolate,” “I don’t know these people,” and “Get in there and SHUT. IT. DOWN.” Leslie breaking after the latter quote was understandable because Kate was so funny in this sketch. This was one of my favorite sketches of the night.

The Office: Middle Earth:

Even though I’ve never seen any of The Hobbit movies or the UK version of The Office, I still found this sketch hilarious. Everybody was hilarious in this sketch. I especially loved Taran in this sketch, specifically his movement and his voice. For some reason, the voice for Taran’s character reminded me of an old behind the scenes video SNL did last season with John Milhiser* (Remember him? No joke, I’m probably the only person who misses him on the show. He didn’t get much of a chance to break out since last season’s cast was huge!). Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch were “That was nasty tricksies,” “Everybody! They’ve breeched the wall!” and “Thou shall not pass…gas!” After watching this sketch, I actually want to start watching the UK version of The Office and The Hobbit movies.

Right Side of the Bed:

This sketch wasn’t one of my favorites. One thing I noticed in this sketch was the great chemistry between Taran and Cecily. I mean, the sketch started off good but the joke was becoming redundant despite putting Aidy in the middle of the sketch. However, I did love Kate impression of Keith Urban and thought it was one of the best parts of the sketch. Overall, I thought this sketch was just okay though it did have some high points.

Church:

I thought this sketch was great and it was completely relatable. I really wish that churches would advertise their Christmas masses and services like this. I’m pretty sure the attendance would increase. I loved the part where it went “Hear all forty-four verses of ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’! We’re not skipping the Latin verses this mass!” I loved Leslie’s line “Hey, is this song still about Jesus?” This sketch was really funny and I absolutely loved it.

Charli XCX “Boom Clap” Performance:

This is the only Charli XCX song that I know and like and I figured she would perform this song. I thought this performance was good despite not being able to understand her during parts of the song.

Weekend Update:

For this week’s Weekend Update, I thought it had a strong and decent start. I thought it was cool to see Sasheer do a bit on Weekend Update. I think it’s safe to say everyone knows Sasheer needs some more screen time and she’s a little bit underused. I loved her line “They do have a KKK member that got punched in the face.” This bit proves that Sasheer should be on Update more often. I loved Colin’s punch line “I’m going 200 feet from Disney World!” I thought it was great that Cecily has another Update character, especially since I miss her at the desk. When I saw the character’s name, I thought it was funny how both of Cecily’s Update characters have really long names. There’s “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation with at a Party” and now there’s “The One-Dimensional Female Character from a Male-Driven Comedy.” Playing this type of character really shows Cecily’s impressive range on the show. I loved the joke Colin had that showed his yearbook photo during the punch line. I actually laughed really hard when his yearbook photo came up on the screen and I do feel really bad about it though. I know I have some yearbook photos I’m not especially proud of. I thought it was great they brought back “Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy” since I love that character. As much as I love the character, I didn’t necessarily like the interaction between Jacob and Michael Che. I think it would’ve been better if Colin would’ve interviewed Jacob and they would’ve given one of the other guests to Che. Overall, I really enjoyed this Update and I think the chemistry between Jost and Che is getting better and better from the first episode.

Assembly Line:

I thought this was the typical sketch saved for after Update. This is the kind of sketch, I feel, was funnier during the table read. I didn’t really get the sketch until the end when the blue light came on, which was the joke of the sketch. It felt like the sketch was trying to be like a more modern version of “Who’s on First?” This sketch was okay as it wasn’t really my favorite sketch.

Christmas Concert:

This was another sketch where I felt it was just okay. Kenan’s character in the sketch kind of reminded me of “What’s Up With That?” Also, the way Kenan said “red boots” reminded me of Maya Rudolph and how it sounded like the way she would say the phrase. To me, the best part of the sketch was Taran’s character. I loved the facial expressions he made and how he was doing high kicks in the red boots. I thought Taran’s dancing was the highlight of the night. This sketch was another sketch that wasn’t a favorite of mine.

Charli XCX “Break the Rules” Performance:

I thought this was a good performance even though I wasn’t as familiar with this song. I think I might have heard it once on an award show as a medley with “Boom Clap”. Again, I liked the performance and the song was very catchy.

Waterbed Warehouse:

I usually don’t like the sketches at the end of the night but it depends on the sketch. I really did end up liking this sketch. Aidy’s character was the best part of the sketch. I loved the huge cut out of Aidy’s face as well as her face on the bed sheets. I thought her character as the mascot of the store was great. I liked this sketch so much that it made me think about wanting to buy a waterbed. I thought this sketch was really funny and a great way to close out the show.

Overall, I thought this was a strong episode. Like I said before, I was really impressed with Martin Freeman’s performance for this episode. Freeman is one of the hosts from this season that I wouldn’t mind seeing host again in the future.

This has been my take on SNL hosted by Martin Freeman with musical guest Charli XCX. I’ll be back soon with a review of the Christmas episode of SNL hosted by Amy Adams with musical guest One Direction. 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

*This is the video I was referring to when talking about “The Office: Middle Earth”. Skip to 7:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbPvAKHyGVM

James Franco/Nicki Minaj December 6, 2014

After a week off for Thanksgiving, and a much needed break, everyone at SNL starts to prepare for the last three shows of 2014. The Thanksgiving show was hosted by Cameron Diaz with musical guests Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, who were also the first dual musical guest of the season. This episode was okay but it was definitely one of the weaker episodes of the season.

Some highlights from the last episode include:

-A cold open that brought back School House Rock.

-A monologue that could have been better.

-An amazing sequel to “(Do It On My) Twin Bed”.

-Leslie Jones being her amazing self in a sketch parodying the new Annie movie.

-An amazing performance of the hit song “Uptown Funk” from Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.

For this episode, I didn’t know what to expect from James Franco. I know he’s hosted before but I’ve never seen anything from when Franco last hosted. I’m not a big James Franco fan and I’m not a big fan of Nicki Minaj either so I didn’t have many high expectations for this show.

Sketch Rundown:

Politics Nation Cold Open:

With the tragedies in Ferguson and in New York, I wasn’t surprised they used this as the cold open. I figured Kenan would be able to do his Sharpton impression as Sharpton had been in the news a lot to show support for the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. I thought this cold open was good and the kind of humor that we as a nation needed. I thought it was funny how Kenan’s Sharpton would mispronounce different words as well as mispronounce St. Louis. I found the rules for submitting a video to police and the rules for an indictment were funny. Some of my favorite quotes from the cold open include “This is what it must feel like to be Beyoncé.” and “75% of police on Staten Island are brothers. The rest are just cousins.” Overall, I thought this was one of the stronger politically driven cold opens.

James Franco Monologue:

I thought Franco’s monologue was good but it wasn’t my favorite. I expected Seth Rogen would show up since Franco was on SNL to promote the movie The Interview. I loved the joke about Franco releasing his e-mail and password before the hackers did, which were cuterthandavefranco@aol.com and littlejamesiecutiepie, respectively. I thought the photos of James Franco and Seth Rogen were funny although some of them scarred me for life. However, I did think Franco was being a little redundant with the references to his Instagram messages with young teenage girls at the end of the monologue. It was funny but so much time had passed since news of that broke out. It was more topical when Franco made a cameo in Rogen’s monologue when the latter hosted last season. Overall, this monologue was just okay.

Peter Pan Live:

I expected that this would either be a sketch or the cold open. I also expected Cecily to play Allison Williams playing Peter Pan. Regardless, I absolutely loved this sketch. I loved getting to see Tonkerbell again and her appearance seemed perfect for this sketch. I loved Franco’s exaggerated impression of Christopher Walken. I also loved Kenan and Taran’s facial expressions throughout the sketch. I thought the oversized popcorn bit was great. One of my favorite quotes from this sketch was “Captain Hook, even though you only got one hand you should be able to carry a tune.” I loved this sketch and thought it was one of the best of the night.

Star Wars Teaser:

I figured they would do something regarding the trailer for the new Star Wars movie coming out. Regardless, I found this short to be quite humorous. I loved Bobby as Princess Leia trying to figure out how to work R2D2. I also thought Leslie was hilarious, as always. I did notice some technical issues like the green screen being left in for a scene, the lightsaber walker not lighting up, and the music being a little loud when Taran as Han Solo was speaking. The audio for the latter reason was a little soft. I think they accidently showed a rough cut during the live show but made up for it by releasing the finished cut online. I loved this parody and it was one of the better sketches of the night.

Jingle Ballerz Special:

I thought this sketch was a good use of Pete, especially with his history with MTV. I thought the idea for “Hip Hop Nativity” was a good idea. I loved the impressions, especially Sasheer’s Rihanna. I loved that Kate’s Justin Bieber impression returned and it was funny because Bieber does not usually fit in with the hip hop scene. I figured Jay’s Kanye West impression would make an appearance. I thought Nicki Minaj had a good Beyoncé impression but the outfit could have been better. Overall, I thought this was a really good sketch.

Grow-A-Guy:

I really liked this sketch and it was good to see Mike O’Brien again. I thought the concept of this sketch was pretty funny and I could really feel for O’Brien’s character. I liked Franco as the “Grow-A-Guy” and his character did have a point about hashtags. Overall, I liked this sketch and I love Mike O’Brien’s work.

Magic Bridge:

I thought the sketch was okay and it had a decent start to it. I thought Cecily’s Kathy-Ann character was funny and I kind of hope this character becomes a reoccurring character. I did find it distracting with her trying to light the cigarette but I think that was just part of the character. I thought that James and Kyle really got into that kiss and I’m surprised they did the kiss more than once. Overall, this sketch was just okay but it was very weird.

Nicki Minaj “Bed of Lies” Performance feat. Skylar Grey:

I’m not a big fan of Nicki Minaj but I thought this song was really good. I could tell this song was really personal and this is one of the few songs by her I can actually tolerate. I think if more of her songs were like this, I would actually listen to her music more often.

Weekend Update:

I ended up really liking this Weekend Update. I felt that the jokes and guest segments were pretty strong. I loved the back-and-forth between Jost and Che regarding the Eric Garner case. I loved Che’s joke “Now being racist seems to be a requirement.” I loved Che’s Oprah joke, as well. I thought it was great that they brought back Anthony Crispino. I always love seeing Bobby’s characters on Update. Some of my favorite parts of that segment were Moynihan and Che playing off of Che’s line flub and the ode to Alvin and the Chipmunks towards the end of the segment. I also loved seeing Leslie Jones and thought her segment was hilarious. The mushroom bit was great as well as the quote at the end, “Can a bitch get a weed bowl?” I always enjoy Leslie’s segments on Update. On the other hand, I didn’t really like Nicki Minaj as Kim Kardashian. I suppose they still had more jokes about those pictures, which I am okay with never seeing those pictures again. When Jost introduced the segment, I really thought they were going to bring back Nasim. The segment was good but I could have done without it. Overall, I did like this Weekend Update, though it ended up being one of the longer ones of the season.

Brain Space:

I really liked this sketch. I thought the impressions and the characters were great and very funny. I know Cecily’s character was supposed to fall and I really hope she was okay because it looked so real. I loved Taran’s line of “He used my lyrics against me!” I know I show my age and taste in music since I forgot the name of the musician he was parodying. I loved Kyle as one of the members of N’SNYC dancing the “Bye Bye Bye” dance. In all honesty, nobody should ever forget that dance (I’m a child of the 90s, I had to say that). I thought the 90s movie quotes were funny, especially the random line from Titanic. I also thought the dog from the 90s production company was cute. I thought Beck as one of the members from O Town was funny, even though I’m not sure if anyone even remembers O Town. Also, thanks to Nicki Minaj, I can’t get the first line of “Anaconda” out of my head. Overall, I thought this sketch was great and I wish it was available online.

Kid Mayor:   

I thought this sketch was funny but it wasn’t my favorite. The kid from the sketch was just adorable. I also loved the references to Frozen and how Franco’s character thought only the parts with Olaf were funny. When mentioning that Franco’s character had met the president, I thought it was pretty funny when they showed him with Cee Lo Green instead of President Obama. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch were “I thought Elsa was a bitch!” and “I’m Tad Rankin and I paid all my money to make this ad.” While watching this sketch, I was surprised they only used Franco and not any of the other cast members. I know Cecily had a voiceover but no cast members were physically shown during this sketch. Overall, this sketch was just okay.

Nicki Minaj “Only/All Things Go” Performance:

I thought this performance was okay though I preferred the first performance to this performance. I also thought the second half of this performance was better than the first part of the performance.

Former Porn Stars Sunseeker Yachts:

I absolutely love these sketches! These sketches are always full of great one-liners. I also thought this sketch was a good use of James Franco and Seth Rogen. I loved how Seth used James Franco as his character’s name. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch include “Hey! You just knocked over a lighthouse, you idiot!” “You’ll feel like a Real Housewife of Atlantis.” and “Seersucker Yaks. They’re yaks in seersucker suits. Because, why not? Yaks can be fancy, too.” I thought this sketch was the perfect way to end the show.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good episode. It wasn’t one of the strongest episodes but it wasn’t a weak episode either. I was pretty impressed with Franco’s performance since I didn’t have many expectations going in to this episode. I was also impressed with Minaj’s performance, both in sketches and in her performances. Similar to Franco, I didn’t have many expectations for Minaj. I knew she was in a sketch or two the last time she was on as a musical guest and her sketch performance was met with mostly positive reviews.

Some SNL news from the past week include SNL alum and host of The Tonight Show Jimmy Fallon and his wife Nancy welcomed their second daughter via surrogate. Frances Cole “Franny” Fallon was born on December 3, 2014 and joins big sister Winnie Rose. Congratulations to the Fallons on this wonderful addition!

Before I end this post, I wanted to take the time to talk about a sketch that was cut for time. I normally don’t review sketches that were cut for time but I felt like I had to talk about this sketch. The sketch is called “Morning News” and it is about a St. Louis news team trying to do a morning show after covering the events in Ferguson. In previous posts, I have mentioned that I’m from the St. Louis area. With everything that has happened in Ferguson, and even across the country, I felt that this is the kind of humor that we need. Since the sketch was released online the day after the episode aired, there has been a debate on whether the sketch was really cut for time or if the sketch was too controversial to air. Personally, I thought the sketch was fantastic and I’ve lost count at how many times I’ve watched this sketch. I’ve read comments about the video and the comments have been met with positive reviews and no one thinking the sketch was controversial. I’ve included a link to the sketch so you can watch it for the first time or watch it for the millionth time.

https://screen.yahoo.com/snl/morning-news-195237597.html

This has been my take on SNL hosted by James Franco and musical guest Nicki Minaj. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Martin Freeman and musical guest Charli XCX. 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