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
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Thanks for reading!
Lauren
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