After last week’s episode of SNL, I think it’s safe to say that everyone was looking forward to see someone other than a controversial presidential candidate host the show. Last week, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hosted the show, which was met with a lot of controversy due to his comments about Mexican immigrants. In my opinion, did Trump have to be the person to follow up the Tracy Morgan episode? Out of all the presidential candidates to have host they picked Trump? Part of it probably had to do with ratings and another part of it probably had to do with the fact that Trump had hosted SNL before. In all honesty, I thought that episode was one of the worst episodes I have ever watched. It wasn’t funny even though Trump was only in the episode for twelve minutes due to Equal Time rules. One thing that barely made up for the fact Trump was hosting was that Sia returned for her second time as the musical guest, performing “Alive” and “Bird Set Free”. Some highlights from the last episode include:
-Larry David appearing as Bernie Sanders in the MSNBC Forum Cold Open.
-Martin Short appearing as Ed Grimley in the Hotline Bling Parody.
-Leslie Jones and Drunk Uncle both make reappearances on Weekend Update.
This week, Elizabeth Banks made her hosting debut along with first-time musical guest Disclosure featuring Lorde and Sam Smith. After the disaster of an episode with Trump as the host, this was a much better episode in more ways than one. I’m not super familiar with Elizabeth Banks since I only know her from Pitch Perfect and The Hunger Games but I thought she did a fantastic job hosting. She seemed game for anything and I would love to see her host again in the future. Here’s my recap for Elizabeth Banks.
Sketch Rundown:
Paris Cold Open:
I thought this was a beautiful and very classy way to open the show in lieu of the cold open. It reminded me a lot of when they had the children’s choir at the beginning of the season 38 Christmas show the day after the Newtown school shooting. I loved the idea of Cecily giving a bilingual message in both English and French. Her French was so beautiful I could listen to it all day. Of course, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Paris and the friends and families of the victims.
Elizabeth Banks Monologue:
Like I mentioned before, I was familiar with Banks but I didn’t know what to expect for her monologue. I loved the musical number and hearing Banks give out directions during the number. I thought it was also cool to hear Don Roy King’s voice during the monologue. I loved the dancers bit with bringing out “more ethnically diverse dancers”. I also loved the lines “Show me Lenny Pickett loving this!,” “Not Bobby, lose Bobby,” and “Sasheer’s got a GoPro!” (Sasheer also got a camera credit). I wish we could see the footage from the GoPro during the live show but at least we’re able to see it during the rebroadcast. Overall, I loved this monologue and thought it was funny and very entertaining.
Aron’s List:
I thought this was a funny yet disturbing parody of Angie’s List. The selfie stick bit was funny but also a little disturbing. I also thought the line “I’m sorry and I’m ready to work.” was funny. I thought this was a good sketch overall.
Black Jeopardy:
I liked this sketch but I didn’t like how they changed the name of Kenan’s character from Alex Treblack to Darnell Hayes. Even though I liked this sketch with Banks, I thought this sketch was funnier with Louis C.K. I loved Banks’ character and I loved the lines “Oh, I’m sorry, you’re white? I don’t see color.” and “That sounds fun. What is that?” in referencing Love and Hip Hop on Ice. I enjoyed this sketch and thought it was funny.
First Got Horny 2 U:
This was probably my favorite sketch of the night. I absolutely loved this sketch! Although I loved this sketch, I don’t think I can ever look at Carson Daly, Hanson, or Charles Shaughnessy the same way ever again without thinking about this sketch. I thought it looked like the girls were like the female version of the Backstreet Boys. I loved the flashbacks. I loved Vanessa and Aidy’s parts and thought they were hilarious. The ending with the guy taking off the dinosaur head and Aidy screaming had me in stitches. I honestly think I found my new favorite song! Thankfully, the song is available on iTunes.
Theatre Showcase:
I personally liked this sketch and thought Banks was a perfect host for this sketch. I thought Leslie getting up after the first bit was funny. I loved the lines “The proceeds from tonight’s show go to Neil Patrick Harris. He doesn’t need that.” and “They have a chair taped off for Caitlyn Jenner. She doesn’t want to come to this.”
Disclosure feat. Lorde “Magnets” Performance:
Before tonight, I had never heard of Disclosure but I thought they put on a good performance. I thought the song was cool and catchy and I liked the drum line. I thought it was great that they brought Lorde with them since she’s apparently the main vocalist of the song.
Weekend Update:
I thought Update had a great start, especially with the Trump joke from Jost. I also liked the Jeb joke from Che. I also thought the Rubio joke was funny. I loved seeing Pete at the desk again and I loved his segment that he did. I loved the dialogue between Pete and Jost:
- “I’ve been using the ladies room here to poop for, like, the last two months.”
- “Yeah, we’ve actually gotten a lot of complaints.
- “Yeah. From me. It’s filthy in there! I thought girls were supposed to be the clean ones! It looks like a man made out of toilet paper was murdered in there!
- “Then why do you keep using it?”
- “Because it’s the only bathroom that has WiFi and Cecily has a beautiful singing voice. That was my favorite line.”
- Pete, that was my favorite line, too.
I loved the bit between Jost and Che, especially Che’s impression of Jost. I loved the lines “That’s why this Halloween I went as White Al Roker. I thought you were Dr. Phil!” I also loved how Jost said his mom made his costume. I loved seeing Bruce Chandling again and loved his lines “I do not get women!” and “am I dating a girl or am I dating a pop quiz?”. I loved Jost’s emoji keyboard joke. I loved getting to see Olya again and her “Oops! I Did It Again!” parody. I loved her line “Run Boris run!” and her talking about the three piece bikini. I loved how she said the hot new American phrase was about seeing the musical Hamilton. Overall, I thought this was an awesome Update.
Young Ben Carson:
I love Jay’s Ben Carson impression and I loved that they came up with this kind of sketch. I loved Black Jesus and the portraits. I also loved how they parodied what Ben Carson actually said. Overall, I thought this was a funny sketch and a great post-Update sketch.
Walk On Role:
I thought this was an okay sketch. The sketch felt like it was a parody of either Law & Order: SVU or Chicago P.D. but it felt like and SVU parody due to the subject matter. The parting gift was funny as well as the ad in Times Square.
Disclosure feat. Sam Smith “Omen” Performance:
I thought this was another good performance from Disclosure. I also thought it was great to see Sam Smith on the show again. I loved how for this performance and the other performance the lights were the colors of the French flag in honor of the victims of the Paris terror attacks.
Uber for Jen:
I loved getting to see Mike again, especially since he left the show. I liked the part where Vanessa gave birth in the back of the car and how they just dropped her off with the baby at the house. Overall, I thought this was a funny sketch.
So Ghetto:
I thought this was an okay sketch and it felt like they were using the same joke over and over again. I did, however, think the Uber cart was funny. I felt like it was the typical 10 to 1 sketch.
Overall, I thought this was an amazing and hilarious episode. Hands down, this has to be one of my favorite episodes of the season so far. I thought Elizabeth Banks did a great job and I would love to see her host again.
This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Elizabeth Banks with musical guest Disclosure. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Matthew McConaughey with musical guest Adele. 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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