The second-to-last episode of season 40 is
here which means the season is about to come to a close. It also means it’s the
Mother’s Day show! Last week, returning host Scarlett Johansson was here with
musical guest Wiz Khalifa. Johansson’s performance in last week’s episode was
great and I hope she comes back to host again in the future. Some highlights
from the last episode include:
-A
cold open about the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
-Scarlett
Johansson’s “lullaby” monologue.
-The
return of “Right Side of the Bed.”
-More
sketches about police brutality and civil unrest.
-A
trailer for a Black Widow rom-com.
-The
return of Kate’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg
This week, Reese Witherspoon returns for
the first time since the first episode after 9/11 with musical guest Florence +
the Machine. I’ve seen bits and pieces of Reese’s past appearance on the show
and liked it and I had a good feeling she would do a great job. Here’s my take
on the episode.
Sketch
Rundown:
2016
Republicans Cold Open:
I loved this cold open and it was a great
way to parody the millions of Republican Presidential candidates. I loved the
impressions and Cecily was hilarious as the emcee. I loved the lines “He don’t
give a Huck,” and “He went to Yale, so Yale ready for this?” This had to be one
of my favorite cold opens of the season.
Reese
Witherspoon Monologue:
This was the SWEETEST monologue I’ve ever
seen since I’ve been watching the show. I loved seeing the cast members
bringing out their moms and apologize for something they did in their
childhood. The stories the cast members brought up ranged from cute and
innocent to utterly disturbing. One thing I loved is Kate’s mom saying to her “It’s
good that you’re weird because weird got you here.” I loved the moms getting
their revenge by showing clips of home movies. I loved Cecily’s home movie clip
with her line, “Where’s my cocaine?” I also thought it was funny that Kenan’s
home movie clip was from Mighty Ducks.
I loved Pete’s home movie and I cried when hearing his dad’s voice from behind
the camera. This monologue, hands down, is my favorite monologue ever!
The
L.A. Scene:
I thought this was a good sketch and the
theme song was catchy. I loved Kenan and Jay’s characters and Cecily and Reese
were funny. I loved the mic bits and the dog with the Poise pad. Even though
this sketch wasn’t my favorite, I did think it was funny.
Picture
Perfect:
I thought this sketch was funny and I
liked how it mocked the “Draw the Prophet Muhammad” contests. I loved the part
of the sketch where Kenan’s character “dropped” his pen. One thing about this
sketch that was talked about following the episode was that it looks similar to
a sketch from a Canadian sketch comedy show. I watched both of the sketches and
even though the sketches look very similar I don’t think anyone from SNL would be watching a Canadian comedy
show and anybody could’ve done this sketch idea. Overall, I thought this sketch
was great.
Mr.
Westberg:
I thought this sketch was more awkward
than funny, even though I got the joke. If anything, I figured this sketch
would draw some controversy. This sketch wasn’t one of my favorite sketches.
Florence
+ the Machine “Ship to Wreck” Performance:
Florence + the Machine is no stranger to SNL as they have performed several times
on the show in the past. I like a few of their songs and this was one of them.
I loved the song and the performance that I had it stuck in my head for weeks.
Weekend
Update:
I thought this week’s Weekend Update had a good start. I loved seeing Leslie again and
she was hilarious. I thought the love letters were funny. I also loved the line
“SportsCenter doesn’t have a halftime.” I loved the joke about the Hamburglar.
I also loved, in the spirit of Mother’s Day, which Colin and Michael’s mothers
each sent in jokes for Update. Both
of the jokes were funny. I especially loved Colin’s mom’s joke about measles
and Disneyland. I loved Che’s line at the end “And I can’t wait to take you to
dinner Colin’s mom!” I loved seeing Two Girls you wish you hadn’t started a
conversation with at a party. I thought it was a great addition to one of the
funniest Update characters. I loved
the line “We couldn’t find her earlier so we put out an Amber Alert.” These two
had so many great lines. At the end of Update,
I expected to see Drunk Uncle since they were talking about graduation but it
was okay to see Willie. Overall, I thought this was a really great Update.
High
School Theatre Show:
I honestly didn’t think they would bring
this sketch back but I ended up liking this sketch better than I did the first
time with Cameron Diaz. I felt that Reese was a better fit than Cameron in this
sketch. I liked how they shuffled around the cast members for audience members
instead of using the same cast members from the first time. I loved Beck as the
“regular guy in the audience” as well as Cecily’s “Trust me, I made cuts.” I
also loved the other lines “Every single day for a year,” and “dedicated to
John Lennon and Shonda Rhimes.” I thought Leslie was hilarious in this sketch,
especially with her line at the end, “Screw this, I’m going home to watch Judge Judy.” I loved this sketch and
thought it was very funny.
Southern
Ladies:
I thought this sketch was okay and
somewhat funny. I did like the joke at the end of the ladies really being there
to rob the house. This sketch was okay and not my favorite sketch.
Waterslide:
When I saw this sketch, I didn’t
understand why this wasn’t cut at dress. I didn’t think the sketch was that
funny and it was short. It’s possible they had to cut some of the sketch
because the show might have run a little bit longer than they thought. This
sketch had to be my least favorite sketch of the night.
Florence
+ the Machine “What Kind of Man” Performance:
I thought this was another good performance
of a good song. I like Florence + the Machine and a few of their songs and I
would love to see them on the show again.
Whiskers
R We:
I’m so glad that they brought this sketch
back. I thought Reese was adorable in this sketch with Kate. I loved the line
“cat-testants” and the cat, Skittles, being a cult leader. I also loved Mufasa
and the fact he had a mane on him. I loved the line about Sapphire “going
through mid-lives crisis”. I loved “Cat Middleton” and how she was good at
producing heirs (pronounced “hairs”).” I also loved the lines at the end of the
sketch, “Our policy is: look it in the eye, you bought it,” and “Plus, with
every cat purchase you’ll get a free all the cats.” I love this sketch,
especially all the cat puns, and it was a great way to end the show.
Overall, I thought this was a great
episode with a great performance from Witherspoon. I really hope she comes back
and hosts again, hopefully it won’t be fourteen years before she hosts again.
At the end of the show, I loved seeing all the moms up on stage with the cast.
It’s hard to believe that next week is the season finale!
Some SNL
news is that Balls Out, formerly
titled Intramural, starring Kate
McKinnon, Beck Bennett, and Jay Pharoah landed a distribution deal and will be
released on June 19th in select theatres and on demand. I’ve seen
this movie and thought it was hilarious, even though I don’t like sports
movies. Trust me, this is not your typical sports movie. If you haven’t seen,
go download it. You will not regret it.
This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Reese Witherspoon
with musical guest Florence + the Machine. I’ll be back soon with a review of
the SNL season finale hosted by Louis
C.K. with musical guest Rihanna. 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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