Cecily Strong Host the White House Correspondents' Dinner April 25, 2015

SaturdayNightBlogger Post 21

Cecily Strong Hosts the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

The last three episodes of season 40 are coming up fast that it’s hard to believe the season’s almost over. The most recent episode was hosted by Taraji P. Henson with musical guest Mumford & Sons. Taraji did a great job hosting the show and Mumford & Sons had two great performances. Some highlights from the last episode include:

            -Another funny Hillary Clinton cold open.

            -Darrell Hammond reprising his Bill Clinton impression.

            -A monologue from Taraji about how she felt she made it.

            -A controversial sketch about a teacher trial.

            -The return of Cecilia Gimenez and Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy.

            -A surprise cameo from Billy Crystal.

            -A Sesame Street sketch featuring Taraji’s character from Empire, Cookie.

I know that SNL isn’t back with new episode until May but I felt that I should write about my take on Cecily’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Cecily was announced as the host for the even back in November and like many fans of Cecily’s, I was so excited. I knew she was the perfect choice for the gig since she’s had some experience with political jokes during her one season as Weekend Update co-anchor. In interviews, Strong mentioned that that she was nervous about the gig and almost didn’t accept the offer, which is understandable because the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is known for being a notoriously tough room especially in front of President Obama who is considered one of our funniest presidents. Strong is also the fourth woman to host the dinner and the first woman to host since Wanda Sykes hosted the dinner back in 2009. Here’s my take on Cecily’s performance with some of my favorite jokes from the performance.

Cecily Strong hit the ground running with a great opening joke, “Feels right to have a woman follow President Obama, doesn’t it?” She then continued with some self-deprecating jokes as well as this joke, “Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you people. I’m gonna go easy on you people because my brain is smaller.” Her joke about last year’s host, Joel McHale, and his show Community moving to Yahoo after being cancelled by NBC. I loved her joke about Indiana and her reasoning behind telling this joke, “I can make that joke about Indiana because I’m from Illinois.” One of my absolute favorite jokes from the dinner was “I promise, since I’m only a comedienne, I’m not gonna try to tell you politicians how to do politics, or whatever. That’d be like you guys telling me what to do with my body, I mean, can you imagine?” I also loved her jokes about C-SPAN, the primary channel that carries the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The jokes included “To some viewers watching at home on C-SPAN, hello. But to most viewers watching at home on C-SPAN, meow,” “If you don’t know how to find C-SPAN, you just press the guide button on your remote and then hit ‘page up’ until your thumb cramps up,” as well as a joke about doing a camera check. I watched the C-SPAN coverage the night of the dinner and it was some of the most boring coverage I’ve ever watched. It was like placing one camera in the room and then having commentary every ninety minutes. Moving on, I loved her joke about the show Blackish and her joke about Aaron Schock and the pictures of their “trip” to Hawaii. Her Secret Service joke was very edgy, which led to this, “Are you saying ‘boo’ or are you saying ‘true?’” The Fox News jokes were hilarious, as well as the jokes about The Huffington Post and NPR. I especially loved her joke about Buzzfeed, “Buzzfeed is here but I can show you a listicle of seventeen reasons why they shouldn’t be.” I loved her joke about NBC, especially “And what can I say about Brian Williams? Nothing because I work for NBC.” Her jokes about Senator Tom Cotton and Hobby Lobby were hilarious as well as her jokes about Hillary Clinton. One of my favorite parts was the repeat-after-me, “I solemnly swear not to talk about Hillary’s appearance because that is not journalism. Also, Cecily Strong looks great tonight.” I loved a lot of her jokes about politics, like this joke: “I would never blindly endorse a candidate I don’t play on SNL.” I also loved her definition of a Libertarian, “A Libertarian is just a Republican that you have to block on Twitter.” I loved her jokes about Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, and especially her joke about Rand Paul, “He didn’t get elected but at least he Rand.” Her joke about Michelle Obama was hilarious, “It’s a dream to sit next to you but it’s a nightmare to eat next to you.” I loved the bit about how she was in the bathroom for twenty minutes eating a pizza she hid behind the toilet. Her jokes about President Obama were funny. Her joke, “After six years in office, you’re approval rating is at 45%. Not only that, your gray hair is at 85%. Your hair is so white now it could talk back to the police,” was so edgy that I loved it. Strong and her writers showed tonight that they were not afraid to be edgy and get some reaction from the crowd. Her closing jokes about the White House Correspondents’ Association, “And thank you to the White House Correspondents’ Association, whatever that is,” and exterminators having to come in because of the “bathroom pizza” were hilarious. Cecily Strong was able to deliver a great performance, despite doubts from critics and even some from Strong herself.

Overall, I thought Cecily Strong did a fantastic job with her performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Her jokes were edgy but not so edgy that they came off as mean and offensive. It was so good that I didn’t want it to end. Cecily definitely deserved the standing ovation at the end. Great job to Cecily and her team of writers. Here’s the link to the full performance if you haven’t seen it or, if you’re like me, if you want to watch it again. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH5XAeKdrjM)

Some SNL news is that on April 16^th, Lorne Michaels was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Congrats to Lorne for such an incredible honor.

This has been my take on Cecily Strong’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Scarlett Johansson with musical guest Wiz Khalifa. 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

Taraji P. Henson/Mumford & Sons April 11, 2015

It’s the fourth-to-last episode of season forty and the finale is coming up sooner than we know it. On the last episode, Michael Keaton came back to host the show with first-time musical guest Carly Rae Jepsen. Keaton’s performance on the show was amazing, especially since it had been a very long time since he last hosted. Jepsen brought two new, catchy songs to perform and she did a great job. Some highlights from the last episode include:

            -A monologue that paid homage to Michael Keaton as Batman and Beetlejuice.

            -A CNN sketch that poked fun at CNN recreations and animations of news stories.

            -A new short from Mike O’Brien.

            -A parody of Scientology appropriately titled “Neurotology”.

            -Norman Reedus appearing as his character from The Walking Dead.

            -The return of Jebidiah Atkinson.

            -Several Easter-themed sketches.

This week, it’s first-time host Taraji P. Henson and second-time musical guest Mumford & Sons. The last time Mumford & Sons appeared on the show was on September 22, 2012 which was the second episode of season 38 with host Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Taraji did a great job hosting this episode and I can’t wait until the next time she hosts the show.

Sketch Rundown:

Hillary Clinton Election Video Cold Open:

This had to be one of my favorite cold opens of the season. I loved Kate as Hillary Clinton and thought she was hilarious. The vocal warmups were funny and a great addition to the sketch. I was a bit surprised that Darrell Hammond reprised his impression of Bill Clinton since I figured they would have someone from the current cast impersonate former President Clinton. Nevertheless, Hammond’s Clinton is a great, classic impression and that impression played well against McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch include “Aren’t we such a fun, approachable dynasty?” and “He sounds like a Simpsons character.” Since Darrell said “Live from New York” with Kate, the intros were most likely pre-recorded. That’s at least my theory. Overall, I loved this cold open and can’t wait for more political sketches for the rest of this season and for next season.

Taraji P. Henson Monologue:

I thought Taraji had a good monologue. I didn’t know what to expect from her since I’m not that familiar with her work and I’ve never seen Empire. In regards to her role of Cookie on Empire, I kind of expected a musical monologue from her. Even though there have been so many musical monologues this season, I did like the song and especially that cast members other than Sasheer and Cecily were backup singers. I loved Kenan’s line “I could’ve been the oldest cast member on Good Burger 7,” and Vanessa’s line “I could’ve been the most famous Jewish person from Cleveland. JK, I am!” I ended up enjoying Taraji’s monologue a lot more than I thought I would.

Depend Legends:

I loved this ad parody so much! I felt like this was supposed to be the modern “Oops! I Crapped My Pants!”  I loved how they put different actors and historical events on the diapers. My favorite one had to be the “All the Female D.A.’s from Law & Order” one. I recognized Stephanie March as A.D.A Alexandra Cabot immediately since I’m a huge fan of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I loved the tagline of “Depend Legends: Make History. In Your Pants.” This had to be one of my favorite ad parodies of the season.

Teacher Trial:

I liked this sketch and I understand why it was such a controversial sketch. I get why people would say if it was a male teacher and a female student then this sketch wouldn’t have been written. The fact that it pokes fun at the double standard of men being treated like heroes after having sexual relationships is what makes the sketch work. I wish Cecily’s lines were more than two words but I guess her character wasn’t supposed to appear to be that bright. I loved the list of names and thought a lot of them were hilarious. Bobby mouthing “I love you” to Pete was very funny. Again, I liked this sketch and thought it was a funny sketch.

Home 2:

I thought this was a funny sketch. I loved a lot of the impressions, especially Taran’s Jim Parsons, Sasheer’s Rihanna, Taraji’s Nicki Minaj, and Cecily’s Sofia Vergara. I loved Pete and Kate as Die Antwoord as they scared Taran and thought it was hilarious. I loved this sketch and I hope they make Home 2 (well, I should probably see the first one).

QVC:

I thought this sketch was okay and it wasn’t necessarily my favorite sketch. I did love the first line, “You’re watching QVC, which means you’re a cat whose owner’s at work. Hi little guy!” I thought Aidy was great as the model and Kate’s character reminded me a little bit of Liza Minelli. I loved the 3-way poncho and the 10-way necklace. I also loved the line near the end of the sketch, “He’s the inventor of the world’s cheapest ladder.” As I said before, I thought this sketch was okay and it wasn’t my favorite sketch.

Game of Thrones: South Centros:

In my opinion, I thought this was a funny sketch even though I’ve never seen a single episode of Game of Thrones and didn’t get many of the other references in the sketch. I didn’t even know that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was from Game of Thrones and appeared as his character from the show. I was also surprised to see Che in a sketch tonight. My favorite line from this sketch would have to be “If this was a book, it would be seven long ass books.” Overall, I thought this was a good sketch.

Mumford & Sons “The Wolf” Performance:

I thought this was a good performance and a good song. I’ve only heard a couple songs by the band so I wouldn’t call myself a fan but I did like their new sound. Even though I like their new sound, I still miss the country feel like “I Will Wait”.

Weekend Update:

I felt that this week’s Weekend Update was strong with the jokes strong on both parts. I didn’t expect to see Cecilia Gimenez again but it made sense with the story about the Lucille Ball Statue. I loved the pictures of her sculptures of some of the many American comedy legends and the one of Colin. I also loved her description of Colin. Cecilia Gimenez is such a funny character and I hope we see more of her in future seasons. I really liked Che’s joke about the Maya Angelou stamp and Jost saying “Hey” after Che’s joke about white people being able to protest without consequences. I loved getting to see Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy again. I love this character so much because he’s so adorable, just like Vanessa. I loved how he kept saying “But don’t quote me on that!” after just about everything. Seeing Billy Crystal come out as Jacob’s dad was a fun surprise. I loved how he pulled out a prepared speech and said “You do the math!” after just about everything. Like father, like son, am I right? Overall, I thought this was a great Update.

Hollywood Game Night:

I love this sketch so much and I’m so glad they brought it back. It was also great to see Kate’s Jane Lynch impression. I loved Beck’s Nick Offerman and the joke with the mustache. Taraji’s Wanda Sykes was so funny. One of my favorite things about this sketch is how they play actual games from the show (I know this from being a fan of Hollywood Game Night). I loved how they started playing “Glory” and showed the footage from the Oscars. Some of my favorite lines included “This is the same brush they use on horses,” “I cry in French,” and “Luke, I am your…worst nightmare.” I thought this was an awesome sketch.

Vlog:

I didn’t think this sketch would be a recurring sketch but they picked a great night to bring it back. I did like the sketch the first time with Chris Rock and I also really liked it this time with Taraji. Some of my favorite lines from this sketch include “We’re going together as a joke,” and “Go rake the garbage!” I really liked this sketch and thought it was funny.

Sesame Street Promo:

I had a feeling they would do something like this, mainly because of Taraji’s character on Empire being named “Cookie”. I loved the lines “Cookie’s being a real monster,” and “The ‘P’ is for ‘Puppet’”. Overall, I thought this was a funny sketch and I loved the use of the Muppets from Sesame Street.

Their Own League:

I loved how this sketch was a parody of A League of Their Own. I also loved seeing Reese De’What again. I loved how this sketch utilized a lot of the female cast members and seeing Bobby dressed as a girl was hilarious. This sketch had a lot of great line, including “There’s no sobbing in baseball!” “Then all women are allowed to play underhand with a big softball like a child,” “This blows because we could really use her on the team,” and “While our husbands are away, we’re the racists.” I loved this sketch and thought it was hilarious.

Mumford & Sons “Believe” Performance:

I thought this was another good performance from Mumford & Sons. I also really liked this song. Like I stated earlier, I’m not a huge fan of Mumford & Sons but I thought they did a great job performing on the show.

Connectatron:

I thought this was a good sketch but I felt like the sketch was over too quickly. I had a feeling that the show probably ran longer than expected so they had to cut a lot out of this sketch to make sure they didn’t go over more in time. Thankfully, they included the full sketch from dress rehearsal online (https://screen.yahoo.com/snl/connectatron-203208929.html). The arm and leg puns were hilarious and the people dressed up as the villain and the connectatron were hilarious. To me, the shark kind of looked like the sharks from Katy Perry’s SuperBowl Halftime Show. While I was watching this sketch, it felt like I was watching the modern day “Power Rangers”. I liked this sketch a lot and thought it was a great way to end the show.

Overall, I thought this was a good show. Taraji did a great job hosting and I would love to see her host again in the future.

Some SNL news is that the song “Neurotology” from last week’s Michael Keaton episode was made available for download on iTunes on April 10^th. I’m so glad this song’s on iTunes and it made a great addition to my SNL playlist.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Taraji P. Henson with musical guest Mumford & Sons. I’ll be back soon with a review of Cecily Strong’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. 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

Michael Keaton/Carly Rae Jepsen April 4, 2015

It’s the Easter episode which means there are only a few more episodes left of season 40. Last week, Dwayne Johnson returned to host with first-time musical guest, George Ezra. Johnson delivered a great performance and Ezra gave us two great performances with songs that won’t leave our heads for weeks. Some highlights from the last episode include:

            -The return of “The Rock” Obama (and the introduction of “She Rock” Obama).

            -An unexpected musical monologue where Johnson gave himself the nickname of “Franchise Viagra”.

            -A parody of #genderflect.

            -A live-action parody of Bambi.

            -The introduction of Jemma, a new character from Cecily Strong.

            -The return of Olya Pavlotsky and Willie.

            -A sketch involving the recent news events involving Robert Durst.

            -A short from Kyle Mooney doing man-on-the-street-like interviews.

This week, Michael Keaton returns to host the show for a third time with first-time musical guest, “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly Rae Jepsen. It’s been a while since Keaton last hosted. The last time Keaton hosted was November 14, 1992 back in season 18. Regardless, Keaton had a great performance this week with this episode most likely being one of my favorite episodes this season. Jepsen also brought two great performances and begs the question, why wasn’t she on the show when “Call Me Maybe” was one of the most popular songs of that year? Better late than never, right? Anyway, here’s the rundown of the Michael Keaton/Carly Rae Jepsen episode.

Sketch Rundown:

NCAA Cold Open:

I thought this was an okay cold open and I figured they would do something regarding the NCAA Basketball Championship. I was glad that there wasn’t a political cold open even though I’m a fan of SNL political sketches. I did think this cold open was funny and it had some great lines, such as “College is the most important year of your life,” “Jaleel is in the Buffalo Wild Wings Study Tent quietly working on that paper,” “I majored in volcanoes,” and “I’ll be damned if I was gonna be the only one in the NBA who did not know poetry of Emily Dickinson.” I enjoyed this cold open but it wasn’t necessarily my favorite.

Michael Keaton Monologue:

I thought this was a funny monologue. Taran, Bobby, and Jay were great in this even though I didn’t expect a musical monologue for this episode. I loved how Bobby and Taran were like “Will you play Batman with us, Michael Keaton?” and “Will you play Beetlejuice with us, Michael Keaton?” along with showing the pre-recorded bits of scenes from Batman and from Beetlejuice. I thought Bobby’s line about only having six weeks to live was a little cryptic and it had me and a lot of others wondering if this was going to be his last season because there were only six weeks left of season 40. I loved how a lot of the cast came out at the end with half of them wearing Batman shirts and the other half wearing Beetlejuice shirts. Overall, I really enjoyed this monologue and thought it was very funny.

CNN Newsroom:

I thought this was a very funny sketch. I loved how they parodied the way that CNN reports the news. I understand why this sketch would bring about some controversy due to the plane crash that occurred in Germany. The joke was about how CNN reported the news about the plane crash and not about the crash itself. I loved the animations, the puppets, and the cat. I also loved the story about Indiana and Arkansas, especially how it turned into a dance party with commentary from Jay’s Don Lemmon. I thought this sketch was hilarious and a strong sketch to start the show.

Prom Queen:

I was so excited to see another Mike O’Brien short. The plot of the sketch was weird but it was still a good sketch. I later found out that this sketch was supposed to be a parody of the movie She’s All That (which is one of the many movies that I haven’t seen). I was surprised that people didn’t make a big deal about the plot line of a student trying to make his teacher the prom queen, even though I understand that this was the joke of the sketch. I was certain this would’ve drawn just a little bit of controversy. I loved Vanessa’s character, even though this is the kind of character that Vanessa has played on the show several times before. Overall, I thought this was very funny and I hope we see more Mike O’Brien shorts later this season and during the next season.

Easter Hotline:

I thought this was a funny sketch and I loved seeing Sasheer be the lead in a sketch. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch are “The geese are back!” and “You know the number because it hasn’t changed your entire life.” It reminded me a little bit of the “Night Murmurs” sketch from the Cameron Diaz episode but the complete opposite. It was a hilarious way to say that we should call our grandparents on Easter. Overall, I really liked this sketch and thought it was hilarious.

Ad Meeting:

This sketch probably had to be my least favorite sketch of the night. I felt like they kept running the same joke into the ground, which made the sketch pretty boring and redundant. The only thing I liked about this sketch was the quote “Call me Sirsly”. Overall, I didn’t think this sketch was that great.

Neurotology Music Video:

I thought this was a hilarious parody of the Scientology documentary and music video. It was funny seeing Colin Jost in the video, especially dressed in nineties clothes. I also loved how the video told where these people are years after the video was first made. The song was so catchy and I hope they release this song on iTunes ASAP!

Carly Rae Jepsen “I Really Like You” Performance:

I thought this song and the performance were great. This song is so incredibly catchy, I swear I had it stuck in my head for weeks. This is one song I would’ve loved to have been in the studio to see performed live. Before the show came on tonight, SNL recorded Cecily, Jay, and Pete lip synching about ten seconds of the song on the popular lip synching app Dubsmash and then posted them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you haven’t seen them yet, you should check them out. Overall, I really really really really really really loved this song! (See what I did there?)

Weekend Update:

I thought this week’s Weekend Update was strong on both parts with great opening jokes. I loved getting to see Pete again. At first, I didn’t understand why Pete wasn’t using his arms but that was clarified when Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead came out and there was a fake arrow in Pete’s chest, especially since Pete was out to talk about the season finale of The Walking Dead. Some of my favorite things said were “I don’t know if you know this but sometimes I smoke a little weed. Oh yeah, we know, ‘cause we have noses,” “When I’m high, it’s really easy to mistake me for a zombie,” and “Did you smoke a little before you came out here, is that what happened? Maybe. Are you wearing three different kinds of hair product? Maybe.” I loved getting to see Jebidiah Atkinson again. I love this character so much! I loved how he gave the reviews of all the different TV shows. For example, Jebidiah’s line about Seinfeld- “Hey Kraemer, I can say an n-word, too: Next!” Although, one of my favorites had to be the one about SNL itself- “Saturday Night Live. The same tired characters repeating the same tired catch phrases: Next!” I loved how the show was able to make fun of itself. Overall, I thought this was an awesome Update.

Smart House:

This was another sketch that wasn’t my favorite. It felt like the typical sketch saved for after Update. The characters, along with the line delivery and accents, seemed a little dull. It also seemed as if they were running the same joke into the ground. Even though I didn’t necessarily like this sketch, I did like the line “Oh sweet Reese’s Pieces.”

Carly Rae Jepsen “All That” Performance:

I liked this song and thought it was a good performance. It was great that Carly Rae Jepsen finally got a chance to perform on the show, even though it took about three years since “Call Me Maybe”. In all honesty, I think some people were hoping she would perform “Call Me Maybe”. Overall, I thought Carly Rae Jepsen had some great performances and I would love to see her perform on the show again.

Easter Candy:

I liked this sketch and it reminded me of the Halloween candy sketch from when Edward Norton hosted back in season 39. As much as I liked the sketch, I thought Keaton’s character was a little creepy, although I think that’s part of why I liked the sketch so much. I also loved Kate’s character, Portia, and thought it was the perfect mix of cute and creepy. I loved the bit with the chick and how Kate was trying to feed the chick a Chicken McNugget. I also loved how Kate called the chick a “child chicken”. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch include “This is an Easter egg I dyed. I think it’s egg-celent,” “For our Jewish friends, this is unleavened bread which means, unlike Jesus, it doesn’t rise. Jesus one, bread nothing,” “Know what I gave up this year? Cocaine. Almost,” and “This is my friend Jordan. He’s not an almond but he’s a nut.” Overall, I thought this was a funny sketch and a great way to end the episode.

Overall, I thought this was an amazing episode and probably the best episode yet. I thought Keaton did a great job hosting and I would love to see him host again in the near future. I also thought Carly Rae Jepsen did a great job with her performances and I hope she gets the chance to perform on the show again. It’s hard to believe that there are only about four more episodes left of season 40. It won’t be long until we’re talking about the upcoming 41^st season!

Some SNL news is that the highly anticipated SNL documentary, Live From New York, had a limited release and opened in US theatres on June 12. The film opened at Tribeca Film Festival on April 15. I had the chance to see the film and it was such a great film that I wish I could’ve seen it more than once since it was only in theatres for about a week. This is one of those documentaries that I would watch over and over again if it was released on DVD, on iTunes, or on any other platform.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Michael Keaton with musical guest Carly Rae Jepsen. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Taraji P. Henson with musical guest Mumford & Sons. 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

Dwayne Johnson/George Ezra March 28, 2015

After a two week spring break, it’s back to work for everyone at SNL. Last week, Chris Hemsworth came to Studio 8H to try his hand at hosting along with first time musical guest, Zac Brown Band. This was a great show and Hemsworth did a great job hosting which means this probably won’t be the last time we see “The Sexiest Man Alive” host the show. Some highlights from the last episode include:

            -The introduction of Kate’s Hillary Clinton impression, which will come in handy during the 2016 Presidential Election.

            -Chris’s brothers, Luke and Liam, making an appearance during the monologue.

            -A sketch taking place in space that involved a live chicken.

            -A possible new recurring sketch and character for Kate involving her Iggy Azalea impression.

            -The return of Leslie Jones and “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation with at a Party” to the Weekend Update desk.

            -An Avengers sketch.

            -The return of the “Former Porn Stars” sketches.

This week, we welcome back returning host Dwayne Johnson with first time musical guest, George Ezra. I was very impressed with both Johnson and Ezra with their performances on the show. Here’s my review of this week’s episode.

Sketch Rundown:

The Rock Obama Cold Open:

I had a good feeling they would bring this character back, mainly since Dwayne Johnson was the host, and I loved how they used it as the cold open. I loved the added joke of “She Rock” Obama and it was a great way to use both Leslie and Sasheer, especially since the last time they did “The Rock” Obama there were no African American cast members since Maya Rudolph had left the previous season. I loved how Johnson threw a fake hand like a basketball and saying “Obama from downtown. Brick” I loved this political cold open and this is probably one of my favorite cold opens of the season.

Dwayne Johnson Monologue:

I liked Johnson’s monologue and thought it was very funny. I didn’t expect a musical monologue from him but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I thought it was funny how Johnson called himself “Franchise Viagra”. I liked the song but I couldn’t hear the girls that well during their solos. My favorite line from the monologue was “Another Smurf movie? No.” One thing I noticed, and I’m not sure if anyone else noticed this, is that Cecily was bumped square in the forehead by Johnson’s elbow and didn’t miss a beat during the monologue. That moment really emphasizes the fact that anything can happen during a live show. I thought this was a very funny monologue from Dwayne Johnson.

Pep Boys:

I liked this commercial parody and loved how it parodied Starbucks’ “Race Together” campaign. I loved how it was called #genderflect and that it showed how these conversations are very awkward to have. One of my favorite quotes from this was “Anyway…you’re car’s totaled.” I thought this sketch was hilarious and loved it more than I thought I would.

WWE Promo Shoot:

I had a feeling they would do a sketch like this, especially with Johnson’s history with the WWE. The promos were hilarious and Johnson’s character bringing in personal information about Bobby’s character in the promos was great. I loved the lines “And that’s what Coco’s cookin’!” and “Too far Coco!” I liked this sketch but not enough to consider it one of my favorites.

Bambi:

I absolutely loved this sketch! I thought it was a great way to parody the classic Disney cartoons and movies being turned into live-action movies. The impressions were great and I loved the animal puns, including “Now it’s time for them to pay…deer-ly”. I also loved how they made Bambi in the style of a Fast and Furious movie. There were so many great lines, including “What’s the matter? Never seen a deer in the headlights?” I loved how the tagline was “Get Bucked. June 2016.” I loved this sketch so much that I wish this movie was going to happen.

Dinner Date:

I thought this was a funny sketch and I loved Cecily’s new character, Jemma. I thought Cecily’s accent was hilarious and I loved how she said “Nibbles”. The “Bananas” song was hilarious and so catchy and the song was stuck in my head for about a month. When Beck was smashed into the table by Johnson, it really looked like it hurt. I loved the 200 onion rings bit and it really made me want onion rings (I’m even craving onion rings while writing this post). This sketch had to be one of my favorite sketches of the night.

Jungle:

This had to be my least favorite sketch of the night. I felt like this sketch was Indiana Jones meets “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”. I felt like the same joke was being run into the ground and it was overdone. I thought Kate was funny, along with Beck and Kyle. Even after watching this sketch a few more times, I really couldn’t get myself to like this sketch.

Brogain:

I thought this was a funny short. I loved the whole idea of this and I loved the wig they used on Johnson. I loved the lines “Think you’re frat dog may be an alcoholic,” and “You chanted the n-word in a viral video”. I thought this was a great way to parody the fraternity in trouble for their racist chant. I liked this sketch more than I thought I would.

George Ezra “Budapest” Performance:

I hadn’t heard of George Ezra before his performance on the show but I wish I did. I loved this performance and this song. The song was very catchy and I had it stuck in my head for a while. I also loved his voice and thought it was very soulful. I thought this was a great performance and I absolutely loved it.

Weekend Update:

I thought this week’s Weekend Update went off to a good start, especially with Jost’s joke about Indiana. The first Update guest was the popular Kate McKinnon character Olya Pavlotsky. I’m so glad this character came back. She has so many great quotes and one-liners, like “I have been planning my funeral since I was a little girl,” “As I am buried, I will have them play the most popular funeral song in Russia: At Last!” “In your screams, Russia!” “What are dreams?” and “This is why my toes are like One Direction, only four left. Also, mostly hairy.” I always laugh so much during Olya and every other Kate McKinnon character. I loved Jost’s joke about The Jinx and thought it was hilarious. I love how they used “This is How We Do It” and “Oops! I Did it Again!” for intro music. This had to be one of my favorite jokes of the night. The last guest on Update was Kenan’s newer character, Willie. I didn’t think Willie would be on again. I think it’s a good character but it’s not my favorite character. Overall, I thought this was another strong Weekend Update.

Cooking with Paul:

I didn’t really like this sketch as much and felt that it was the typical sketch saved for after Update. It was a really weird sketch that was pretty much using the same joke over and over and running that joke into the ground. This sketch was by far one of my least favorite sketches of the night.

Improv Show:

I liked this sketch a lot and I liked how they tied in the events involving Robert Durst into this sketch. Kate was hilarious in this sketch as Durst. I also had to wonder if she was wearing dark contact lenses. I also liked Cecily’s character and thought she was funny. Some of my favorite lines included “I don’t know, I’m a psycho,” and “She’s gonna die.” As much as I liked this sketch, I felt like the ending was very abrupt and the sketch could’ve gone on a little longer. I was also surprised to notice that the host wasn’t in this sketch. It’s not uncommon for hosts not to be in sketches but it doesn’t always happen where hosts are not in live sketches. As I said before, I really liked this sketch and thought it was funny but I felt that the ending was a bit abrupt.

George Ezra “Blame It on Me” Performance:

I thought this was another great performance from first time musical guest, George Ezra. This song was also very catchy, even though it wasn’t stuck in my head as was the song during his first performance, “Budapest”. George Ezra brought two great performances to tonight’s SNL and I hope this isn’t the last time we see him on the show.

Interrogation:

I thought this was a good sketch and I got a few laughs out while watching this sketch. When I was watching this sketch, being the complete SVU nut that I am, I thought that this was trying to parody Law & Order: SVU with Vanessa’s character being a parody of Olivia Benson and Dwayne’s character being a parody of Chris Meloni’s character Elliot Stabler (I got the idea while looking at the wigs and costumes). A lot of my favorite lines from this sketch came from Johnson’s character, which included “One time, I held it through an entire production of Rent with the original cast!” “Do you really expect us to stand here and follow the yellow brick lies?” and “Does this look like a gorgeous Cheesecake Factory to you?” Even as I write this post, I still don’t know how I feel about Johnson butchering the theme to Friends (only because I’m such a huge fan of that show) [and yes, I know it was a joke]. Overall, I enjoyed this sketch and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

Circus:

I thought this was a great short, partly because I love Kyle Mooney so much. The animations were funny and pretty cheesy, the interviews with the kids were adorable, and the conga line with the clowns was hilarious. There was a short similar to this for the Fortieth Anniversary Special but it was cut for time and released as a web exclusive online (Here’s the link to the unaired short: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXVxDo2iM-I). This was a cute man-on-the-street-type short that I enjoyed very much.

Overall, I thought this was another great episode. I’ve enjoyed the past episodes that Johnson has hosted in the past but I think this is my favorite out of all of them. Dwayne Johnson is one of those hosts that I would love to see come back and host again.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Dwayne Johnson with musical guest George Ezra. I’ll be back soon with a review of SNL hosted by Michael Keaton with musical guest Carly Rae Jepsen. 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

Chris Hemsworth/Zac Brown Band March 7, 2015

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 21^st 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