Amy Schumer/The Weeknd October 10, 2015

Season 41 is surprisingly off to a good start, despite the choice for the host and musical guest. Last week, Miley Cyrus pulled double duty as host and musical guest. I was surprised she didn’t do anything too crazy but this was her third time hosting so I think she had a sense of what not to do on the show that would get her banned. Don’t get me wrong, Cyrus is very talented but she wouldn’t have been my first choice to host the premiere. Some highlights from the season 41 premiere are:

            -A cold open debuting Taran Killam’s Donald Trump impression and Cecily Strong’s Melania Trump impression.

            -A monologue about the many news events that happened over the summer.

            - A sketch about a school dance in the 50’s with a subtle Hannah Montana joke and Miley’s character being up, close, and personal with Jon Rudnitsky’s character (That’s one way to welcome a new cast member).

            -Hillary Clinton making a cameo as a bartender alongside Kate Hillary impression.

            -The return of Pete and Leslie to the Update desk.

            -A sketch about millennials that could probably become the next “The Californians”.

            -A sketch about the deli in When Harry Met Sally.

            -A short about everyone in the world joining Taylor Swift’s squad.

This week, first time host Amy Schumer comes to the 8H stage fresh off her Emmy win for her show Inside Amy Schumer and her hot new movie Trainwreck. The musical guest is The Weeknd with his first appearance as the musical guest (he was on last season’s premiere as a featured singer during Ariana Grande’s performance last season of “Love Me Harder”). I had been looking forward to this episode since it was announced because I love Amy Schumer and she was due to host. I though Schumer did a great job hosting and The Weeknd also had some great performances. Here’s my take on the episode.

Sketch Rundown:

Fox & Friends: Speaker of the House Cold Open:

I love the Fox & Friends sketches and I’m so glad they brought it back. I thought this one especially was hilarious, Bobby’s lines especially. I love Bobby Taran, and Vanessa together in sketches since they have great chemistry together. I thought it was funny that Pete was playing a politician since he doesn’t do that many impressions. I also loved Kate’s character and loved her line “My name sounds like a law firm.” One of my favorite parts of these sketches is the corrections at the end. I love reading them and they’re always so ridiculous that they’re funny. This had to be one of my favorite cold opens of the season.

Amy Schumer Monologue:

I loved Amy’s monologue and I thought she was hilarious. I loved the joke about the little girl who play Schumer as a little girl in Trainwreck and how the camera zoomed into her face when she said “Well what does that mean Devin?” I loved the Kardashian joke as well as the line “She lost a Kendall.” I also loved the Miranda joke about being named after rights. I also loved her Hillary Clinton joke and the line “Who’s hazing Hillary Clinton?” I loved her Bradley Cooper “engagement” joke and thought it was funny. I also loved a lot of the jokes she had about herself and her little niece. Overall, I thought Amy’s monologue was hilarious and thought she did a great job.

Delta Flight:

I really liked this sketch and the parody of “Wannabe.” I thought Taran and Kenan were hilarious in this sketch. I thought the falling out of the plane bit was funny as well as Vanessa shutting the door on Amy and Amy clinging to the window. I loved the lines “And because of this inconvenience, you can all watch San Andreas for free,” and “Was I out there for a full year?” This had to be one of my favorite sketches of the episode.

Porn Teacher:

I thought this was a weird sketch and it took me a little bit to figure out that this was supposed to be a porno. I did, however, like how they used different effects to make it look like a video. I also liked Aidy’s character interrupting and bringing in Vanessa as her mom was funny. Even though this sketch had some funny moments, it wasn’t my favorite sketch.

Guns:

I thought this short was funny. I also loved how there was a gun for every occasion and how it poked fun at gun enthusiasts. This was a little awkward timing with the school shooting in Oregon but I still found it very comical. I loved the baby’s first gun bit and thought it was funny. I also loved the tagline “Guns. We’re here to stay.” I understand why there would be some controversy surrounding this sketch but it’s something that needs to be talked about.

The Weeknd “The Hills” Performance:

I liked this performance even though I’m not that familiar with this song. I was surprised to see Nicki Minaj appear during the performance. I thought this was a good performance with a catchy song.

Weekend Update:

I thought this week’s Weekend Update had a strong start on both parts. I loved Colin’s opening joke about the race for the new Speaker of the House and Che’s line about Ben Carson, “Dr. Carson, be honest. Was your medical degree given to you sarcastically?” I loved the bit on gun control as well as the lists and the camera bit (I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or accidental but they played it off well if it was the latter). I liked Jay’s new character, Solomon, and a part of me wants to see this be a recurring character. I loved the American Apparel and the Bieber jokes from Jost as well as the joke about National Breast Cancer Awareness Month celebrations and the joke about retirees. I loved “The Weeknd Update” and thought it was funny. I loved seeing Mrs. Santini again and thought it was funny. I loved the lines “I’m so sorry your baby is a car alarm,” “I teach my monkey how to steal in the street,” and “I’m so sorry your apartment is Bonaroo.” Overall, I thought this was another solid Update.

Ford’s Theatre:

I thought this was an okay sketch but I thought Amy was hilarious in this sketch. Although they were using the same joke over and over again, I thought it worked for this sketch in particular. I loved the camera bit and Amy taking off Kyle’s mustache and then stuffing it down her dress when it fell off her face. One thing I wondered about in this sketch is why they didn’t use more cast members as extras in this sketch. I was thinking “Who the hell are these people?” when I saw so many extras that weren’t cast members. I was surprised I ended up liking this sketch a lot more than I thought I would.

Hands-Free Selfie Stick:

I thought this was a funny short and a great way to make fun of the selfie stick. I thought it was funny that Amy appeared in this short as herself. I loved this short but I don’t think I would buy a hands-free selfie stick for myself.

City Council Meeting:

I thought this sketch was very funny and I thought it was great that Amy brought one of her characters from her show to this show. I thought it worked for this sketch even though I’m not too familiar with Inside Amy Schumer. I also loved Aidy and Kenan in this sketch and I loved Kenan’s “monster hands.” I liked this sketch a lot and thought it was funny.

The Weeknd “Can’t Feel My Face” Performance:

I love this song and this was my favorite performance out of the two. The song is so catchy and it just makes you want to dance. I loved this performance and I love this song.

Baby Shower:

I thought this sketch was funny. I loved Cecily in this sketch and thought her crying was so believable. Her crying through the majority of the sketch reminded me of the “Blue River Dog Food” sketch from season 39. I loved the chemistry between Amy and Cecily in this sketch as well as the line “First name is ‘Did you take my purse?’” I loved this sketch and thought it was a great way to end the show.

Overall, I thought this was another solid episode. Amy Schumer did a great job as host and I hope she comes back to host sometime again in the future. In my opinion, season 41 is off to a great start. I wasn’t surprised that Jon didn’t appear in the episode at all since he had such a big show last week and he probably had a bunch of stuff cut before the live show (hope this isn’t a trend since this happened to Pete at the same time last season).

In the last post, I did forget to mention that SNL hired six new writers before the season started. The new writers are former Upright Citizens Brigade performers Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, and Will Stephen, former Late Show with David Letterman writers Paul Masella and Chris Belair, and stand-up comedian David Sirus. Welcome to the show and hope we see you guys around for a while.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Amy Schumer with musical guest The Weeknd. I’ll be back soon with a review of a very special episode of SNL with host Tracy Morgan and musical guest Demi Lovato. 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