It has been two weeks since the epic
Fortieth Anniversary Special and the show is still trying to come off the huge
adrenaline rush from what became NBC’s highest rated non-sports telecast since Friends ended in 2004. SNL tried to do it with first time host
Dakota Johnson and returning musical guest Alabama Shakes. In all fairness, it
would have been difficult for anyone to host that episode after the highly
anticipated special. In my opinion, I thought Johnson did a good job for her
first time hosting but I don’t think she’ll be back to host anytime soon. Some
highlights from the last episode include:
-A
controversial ad parody of a popular Toyota Camry commercial where the daughter
goes off to join ISIS.
-Several
jokes throughout the night about the new Fifty
Shades of Grey movie, including a very awkward sketch.
-The
return of Cecily Strong’s character Kathy Ann.
-A
short featuring the Sara Bareilles song “Brave”.
-Several
jokes regarding the colors of “The Dress”.
-Tributes
to Leonard Nimoy, Spock from Star Trek.
-Special
appearances from Johnson’s parents, Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.
This week’s host is Thor himself, Chris
Hemsworth, hosting for the first time and first time musical guests Zac Brown
Band. Hemsworth brought his humor and his Aussie charm to Studio 8H making for
a great night. Here’s my review of Hemsworth’s first attempt at hosting SNL.
Sketch
Rundown:
Hillary
Clinton Cold Open:
I usually like political sketches and cold
opens but it has to be really good for me to even love it. This cold open did
just that. I loved this cold open and Kate’s Hillary Clinton impression, which
hasn’t been seen since early season 39 during a Clinton sketch (The last time a
Hillary Clinton impression made an appearance on the show was late season 39
from Vanessa Bayer). This was a great way to parody Clinton’s inevitable run
for President and her most recent e-mail scandal. Kate’s impression was amazing and she sounded
like Clinton herself. Of course, there have been many great impressions of
Hillary, everyone from the first, Jan Hooks, to Ana Gasteyer, and more recently
Amy Poehler. All of those impressions were so good that it’s hard for me to
pick my favorite. Back to the cold open, there were so many great quotes,
including “You won’t find Jack Rodham Squat!” and “Every day I watch House of Cards from start to finish.” I
also loved how whenever she talked about running for President she would finish
by saying “If I run, who knows?” I loved near the end she was calling out
camera directions to address her fellow Americans, i.e. “Camera Two, zoom in,”
and “Music in”. Overall, I loved this cold open and it had to be one of my
favorites all season.
Chris
Hemsworth Monologue:
I really liked Hemsworth’s monologue and
thought it was really funny. I loved how the fourth movie where he play Thor
was Gone Girl. I loved how Kenan was
the fourth Hemsworth brother and Kate played their mom. I thought it was great
how his brothers, Luke and Liam, made an appearance in the monologue as well. I
usually don’t like the Q&A monologues but I felt that this one worked
really well. The answers to the questions were great segways to the guests that
appeared during the monologue. Overall, I thought it was a good monologue and I
really enjoyed it.
American
Express Commercial:
I thought this was a really funny
commercial parody of the American Express commercials. I loved the line “If a
jacked Australian with a perfect face can make it, anyone can”. I also loved
how the actual commercial featuring Mindy Kaling aired after the parody in the
US. Overall, this was a great commercial parody.
Brother
2 Brother:
I liked this sketch, especially since it
reminded me of the Disney Channel show The
Suite Life of Zack and Cody which I used to watch when I was younger. I
loved the promo for the other show, Cody
Pepperoni, and I really hope they turn it into a sketch. I think Cody Pepperoni has the potential to be a
funny sketch. This sketch was the typical format of a Disney Channel show which
made this sketch hilarious. I really loved Aidy’s character and thought the
character was funny. I loved how Taran and Chris’s characters would always say
“Oh brothers!” I thought this was a great sketch.
Empire Promo:
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting an Empire sketch since nobody from the show
was hosting. Regardless, I thought the sketch was funny even though I’ve never
watched a single episode of Empire. I
loved Chris’s character, Chip. I thought he was so funny and awkward. I loved
Sasheer’s line, “Take a dip, Chip!” I also didn’t realize Che was in the sketch
until I watched this again to take my notes for this post. I thought this
sketch was funny and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.
Spaceship:
I thought this sketch was a little weird
at first but then I really liked it after watching it again a few times. The
fact that they used a live chicken in this sketch was hilarious. I loved
Cecily’s interactions with the chicken, including her line “What did you call
me?” I loved that the chicken wouldn’t look at Chris when he was trying to talk
to the chicken, which shows anything can happen when working with animals on a
live show. I thought the microwave bit was hilarious, especially with Kenan’s
line “She’s done.” I also loved Kenan’s line earlier in the sketch, “I knew he
was dating that chicken.” Near the end of the sketch when Chris’s character
wanted a moment alone with their captain, the chicken, I loved Cecily’s line
“Then we’re gonna eat her, okay? Because she smells so good and she was such a
bitch.” I also loved Kenan’s line at the end of the sketch about the chicken
being “cooked to perfection”. I loved this sketch and I loved the use of an
actual chicken.
Iggy
Azalea Talk Show:
Since there have been so many talk show
sketches over the years at SNL, I was
a little skeptical of this sketch at first. It’s safe to say that I loved this
sketch and I think it had a lot to do with Kate’s spot on Iggy Azalea
impression. I loved Kate’s Iggy interacting with Sasheer’s Azealia Banks
parodying the feud between the two rappers. I loved the hat bit and Sasheer’s
line “I am no one’s twinsie.” I also loved Chris’s character and thought it was
funny. I loved this sketch and I really hope they bring back this sketch either
during this season or next season.
Zac
Brown Band “Homegrown” Performance:
I like Zac Brown Band and a few of their
songs even though I’m not a huge fan of them. I loved this song and thought it
was very catchy. Let’s just say this song was stuck in my head for about a
week. I thought this was a good song and a good performance.
Weekend
Update:
I thought this week’s Weekend Update was a good one. It had a good start with pretty
strong jokes on both parts. I loved seeing Leslie again but out of all of her
appearances this one wasn’t my favorite. I felt like this one was a little all
over the place but Leslie was still hilarious, as always. I loved Che at the
end of the segment going into his next joke, “She still scares the hell out of
me!” I thought Jost’s Bieber joke about Bieber’s 21st birthday was
hysterical, especially the punch line about Bieber’s mustache thinking he was
thirteen. I also really loved the back-and-forth between Jost and Che about Dr.
Ben Carson, a Republican presidential candidate, and his thoughts about
homosexuality being a choice. That had to be one of my favorite interactions
between the two anchors so far during this season. Moving on to Jost wanting to
read one of Che’s jokes, I thought it was kind of awkward but I think that’s
what made it funny, especially when Jost misread the cue card (36 inches
instead of 3.6 inches). This week’s Weekend
Update brought back one of my all-time favorite Weekend Update characters, The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a
Conversation with at a Party (to be honest, I screamed out of joy when she came
on). I love this character and everything that comes out of her mouth, starting
with “Thank me for having you back.” Cecily was great with her delivery, as she
always is with this character and with all of her other characters. Some of my
favorite lines were “It’s a Kardastrophy!” “Measles, Ebola, charter schools.
Sometimes, I’m like, Salami Hussein was right,” “And in healthcare, everyone’s
talking about HMOs, um, how about just calling them gay people?” “Can I draw a
picture of Mohammed real quick?” “It’s like, it’s Mapquest directions but,
like, no one knows where it leads,” “I’m bringing democracy to Syria via
Instagram,” and “’Cause some of us are actually solving progress,” I’m so glad
they had this character come back on again this season because she is such a
great character. Even though I miss Cecily as an anchor I love getting to see
this character again (I’ll probably be saying this every time this character
comes back for another appearance). Overall, I thought this was a pretty solid Update and I can’t wait to see how the
rest of Update unfolds this season.
Avengers
News Report:
I’m usually not a fan of sketches that appear
directly after Update because they’re
usually pretty weak but this sketch was definitely an exception. I thought this
sketch was very funny and I loved how this sketch was an Avengers themed sketch. Every time Cecily has played a news anchor
this season, it makes me miss her as a Weekend
Update anchor. I wouldn’t even be the least bit surprised if she wore her
old Update blazer for this sketch. I
loved the impressions in this sketch and thought they were great. This sketch
reminded me of the last time they did an Avengers
sketch when Jeremy Renner hosted a few seasons ago. I loved the Gatorade jug
bit and Thor making faces behind Captain America as well as the lines “I think
I ate a guy,” and “Check out my podcast on Soundcloud.” I also thought the fist
bump at the end between Thor and the anchor was hilarious. Overall, I loved
this sketch and it was definitely one of my favorite sketches of the night.
Movie
Set:
This sketch wasn’t one of my favorites
even though Kenan and Kate were hilarious in this sketch. I felt like this was
a sketch where they were basically playing the same joke over and over again
and the sketch kind of dragged on. This sketch probably had to be my least
favorite of the night.
Reality
House:
I thought this short was really funny and
I love how it combined all the elements of popular reality competition shows. I
especially loved the American Idol
bit near the end. I admit that when the sketch first started, I thought it was
just a regular sketch but then I realized it was a parody of reality
competition shows with the cut-away interview. I actually liked this short a
lot more than I thought I would as the short went on.
Zac
Brown Band “Heavy Is the Head” ft. Chris Cornell Performance:
I thought this was an okay performance.
When the song first started, I didn’t expect it to sound like a rock song. It
caught me off guard and I thought I was a different band. This was something I
expected from Mumford & Sons, especially since they changed their sound. I
thought this performance was okay but I liked the first performance better.
Former
Porn Stars:
I love these sketches and I’m so glad they
brought it back. These sketches always have great one-liners, including “Dole-ky
& Gabbaba,” “And I’m supposed to be dead,” “I guess I can save 15% or more
by switching to Geico. Thanks, lizard!” “I thought I banged Julius Caesar but
it was actually Little Caesar’s. Pizza-Pizza!” “I was like, ‘Hey you’re not Ben
Franklin!’ Okay,” “He speaks hablo español,” “Y Tu Mama, Y Tu Papa, Y Tu Circus
Clown Amigo Tambien,” “Douche and Go Bye-Bye,” “Douche and Go Bananas,” and “Something
died in me.” These sketches have always been great as the last sketch of the
night and this sketch was the perfect way to end a great show.
Overall, I thought this was a great
episode. There were a few weak sketches but there wasn’t really a bad sketch in
the show. There’s always going to be some weaker sketches no matter who’s
hosting since it’s the nature of the show. Chris Hemsworth did a great job
hosting, especially for his first time, and I would love to see him come back
and host in the future.
Some SNL
news is that former cast member Will Forte’s new show The Last Man on Earth premiered on March 1 on Fox to great reviews
and great ratings. I’ve been watching the show and I fall more in love with the
cast and the show each time I watch it. The show is that good.
This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Chris Hemsworth with
musical guest Zac Brown Band. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Dwayne Johnson with
musical guest George Ezra. Please spread the word about the blog and subscribe
to the blog. Also, follow the blog on Twitter @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
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