SNL Review

[bob_barron 0]

I used to have trouble telling the difference between Jeff Richards and Seth Meyers. Now I know. Seth is the one who is gainfully employed. Jeff is the one who got his ass fired.

 

Sports Report-

 

Leafs- Eddie Belfour needs to come back now. Trevor Kidd is awful and the Leafs are suffering with him in the net. That game against Buffalo was disgusting. Nothing makes me madder then blow 3 goal leads at home. But Eddie come back!

 

Canucks- The division is slipping further and further away and I am not happy about it. They need to catch Colorado so they can home ice throughout the playoffs. The fact that they’ve lost to such poor teams and the fact that they have played like they don’t care really pisses me off. Things better improve soon. The Canucks cannot afford to play like this.

 

The 2003 Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils- Not a good week for the Stanley Cup Champs. A rare loss to the Rangers and a costly loss against the Flyers do not a happy hockey fan make. At least they fell to the 6th seed which is the seed you want in the Eastern Conference due to the overall suckiness of the Southeast Division.

 

Nets- The Nets have won 10 games in a row. Every game they have won has been by 10+ points. Byron Who?

 

Mailbag!!!!!!!!!!!!-

 

Hey Bob-

Big Fan. Sundays aren't the same without reading a Bob Barron review, anyways, I have a simple question for you: In your opinion, what is the best SNL duo, there ever was? And out of the current Cast who would you say? Personally, I'm a Seth/Amy fan, but Fred/Will also have potential.

Thanks a lot!

Dan Fuitt

 

 

Why thank you Dan. I think it sucks that I can’t get my reviews up on Sunday anymore as writing them on Monday in between class is a pain in the ass. But I do try to get them ASAP. Best SNL Duo is a good question. I’m gonna go OLD SCHOOL and say Aykroyd and Belushi. They worked so well together and I love the Blues Brothers. I’m a big Seth and Amy fan as well. With skits like Home Pregnancy, Lil’ Sleuths, Spy Glass and the Peter Pan Complex Skit they always seem to bring out the best in each other.

 

 

Wanna be in the mailbag???? Email me at [email protected]

 

The Sex and the City finale airs February 22nd and I suggest you all watch it. It’s a show I love almost as much as SNL. I’ll probably do some sort of retrospective in one of my March reviews. (Guys- you can skip that one)

 

And now the review…

 

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers

Thoughts- I’m so happy John Kerry is kicking ass because this will mean lots of airtime for Seth which I whole-heartedly approve of. It’s always nice to see Darrell bring back his Gore impression. Poor Al. He ditched his boy for Howard Dean and then watched as Howard Dean fell flat on his face. This was really funny as we got to see two good impressions and a lot of the lines here worked. Amy as Tipper Gore seemed a tad out of place and I didn’t like it. I also enjoyed Darrell’s enthusiastic LFNYISN. Good to see Seth given the ball with Kerry. Should make the election interesting. ***1/2

 

Monologue

Cast- Drew Barrymore, Rachel Dratch

Thoughts- I don’t know who played C3PO, Darth Vader or ET and it’s going to bother me. I figured that Darth Vader would be Adam Sandler making a cameo but it was not to be. This was not very funny. I didn’t really find the humour in people insinuating Drew was in various 70s and 80s movies. The stuff with ET and the Atkins diet was pretty funny but the rest was junk. The third bad monologue in a row. *1/2

 

Versace

Cast- Barrymore, Maya Rudolph, Horatio Sanz, Poehler

Thoughts- THEY JUST DID A VERSACE! God I hate this character. It just is not funny and never has been. The only times there were ever Versaces that I tolerated were because of other people doing funny impressions. Amy’s Madonna was good but the interplay between Versace and Elton was painful. Drew’s Courtney Love had potential but they ruined it by having her have that stupid argument with Versace. Versace is awful and the impressions just couldn’t save it. *

 

Jarrett’s Room

Cast- Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, Sanz, Meyers

Thoughts- I can’t believe they still do this skit. It’s dead. Seth as usual was the highlight of Jarrett’s Room- I love DJ Jonathan Fienstein. And yes- I’m still waiting for Jeff Jarrett to come out and El Kabong Jarrett. The skit was doing just fine until they did the dream sequence with Jimmy and Barrymore. Then it completely fell apart and never was able to recover. I actually like the interplay between Gobe and Jarrett- it’s funny and cute but once Drew came in this just fell apart fast. Not even Seth singing Hey Ya could save this. **

 

Access Hollywood

Cast- Barrymore, Fallon

Thoughts- Whoa- Captain Lou Albano came out of nowhere. You know I marked out. Jimmy’s Pat O’Brien is good but I don’t like that he constantly points out what’s supposed to be funny about the impression. I mean he has a nasal voice- you don’t have to mention that fact every few seconds. Drew as Charlize Theron was okay but got old real fast. The one thing that really picked this up for me was the 80s WWF footage. The rest was nothing special. On the Classic SNL Darrell played Captain Lou Albano. Odd. **1/2

 

Octane

Cast- Meyers, Rudolph, Finesse Mitchell, Kenan Thompson

Thoughts- What the hell was this? Seriously- what the hell was this? Kenan was funny but I did not get this at all. This show needs an enema. *

 

Kelis

Thoughts- Three problems here-

 

1) This sucked

2) They still haven’t changed the train sign

3) What’s a milkshake?

 

That about covers my problems with Kelis. Hopefully next week these Maroon people will end the bad musical guest streak. It currently sits at 3. ¾*

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Fallon, Tina Fey, Rudolph, Mitchell

Thoughts- Tina and Jimmy- this show needs help. Help us out. This was a excellent Weekend Update but was way too short. Seriously- did we really need the skit with that Scott Waino guy? No. That could’ve been devoted to a funny commentary (Seth!) or more jokes. The jokes were really top-notch and excellent. There wasn’t one joke that I didn’t laugh at and Tina rebounded from her off week which is good to see. The bit with Tina and Maya wasn’t great but there were a couple laughs and I enjoyed Finesse Mitchell. This was awesome but needed to be much longer to truly be a classic. ****

 

W meets Kerry

Cast- Barrymore, Parnell, Will Forte, Meyers, Hammond

Thoughts- Hmmmmmmmm. I wonder if Will is the new Bush or they just needed Darrell free to do Bill Clinton. If you need a new Bush you can’t do worse then Forte. He was pretty funny as Bush and well ‘pretty funny’ destroys Darrell’s attempts at the president. Nice to see Seth getting airtime to establish his John Kerry impression. It’s always good to see Darrell’s Clinton since it’s probably the best impression he ever did. The interplay been all three was pretty funny with lots of retorts back and forth. Drew as Hillary didn’t work for me at all even though ***1/4

 

Larry King

Cast- Barrymore, Fallon

Thoughts- Damn SNL- don’t tease me like that! While Jimmy’s impression was nowhere Norm’s greatness it was still very good and quite funny. Drew did a very good impression of Anna Nicole Smith and the skit was very well written with lots of funny lines from both sides. Anna Nicole Smith is a very easy target so you might as well get her when she’s in the news. I actually saw her on Larry King Live (there was nothing else on) and this was pretty accurate. A very funny skit. Could this show be making a comeback? ***1/2

 

Spy Glass

Cast- Barrymore, Meyers, Fallon, Poehler

Thoughts- SPY GLASS!!! I love Seth. I love Amy. And I love Seth and Amy skits so of course I would love Spy Glass. The jokes were very funny and the British accents were top notch. I also enjoy Jimmy’s Pat O’Brien when he is in an English setting moreso then when he is on Access Hollywood. I don’t know why but he’s funnier in England. I didn’t much care for Drew Barrymore here as she brought it down a bit. Seth and Amy were the highlights and it was good seeing them get more airtime in a funny skit. ***3/4

 

The World of Scott Wanio

Thoughts- Ummmmmmm what? I now do not care for Scott Wanio’s world at all. I’m kind of pissed since Tina was in two skits that got cut and in its place we get an unfunny skit about a dude and a microphone. The fact that no one noticed that he didn’t have a microphone was not that funny. Who knew? I will admit to laughing really hard when he had a shirt that said: I don’t have a microphone (or something like that) The rest of this was pretty bad. *

 

The White Stripes

Cast- Barrymore, Fallon, Parnell, Thompson

Thoughts- Ahhh they blew it! I LOVE the White Stripes and I was hoping that this would be an awesome parody of one of my favourite bands. This was way too short and despite the fact that Jimmy and Drew got the impressions down pretty good they didn’t let the skit develop. I would’ve liked to have seen the White Stripes in action fighting crime or singing songs or doing something. Having them screw up bank robberies is kind of lame. Good impressions, good set up but incredibly lame execution. **

 

Kelis

Thoughts- This song was much better then that horrible Milkshake song. It really doesn’t take me a lot to like the second performance. I’ll ask for is lots of energy and the attempt to somehow make me interested. This was also a pretty good song which is always a plus. So kudos to Kelis for almost redeeming herself for Milkshake. **1/2

 

Prince

Cast- Barrymore, Rudolph, Armisen, Thompson

Thoughts- As last skits go this was pretty good. Fred was funny as Prince and Kenan just walking in as George Clinton cracked me up. Maya as Beyonce didn’t work for me since Beyonce is remotely attractive and Maya is not. Drew was okay as Pink. Could’ve done without it but it didn’t bring down the skit or anything. **1/4

 

The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.3 making this a thumbs in the middle show. The first half of the show was terrible and it was headed towards the territory of Drew Barrymore’s last appearance on SNL and this time they wouldn’t have anthrax to blame. Weekend Update lit a fire under their asses as the show had a pretty strong finish and a bunch of good skits. The political skits were very well done and I love seeing Seth, Kenan and Amy continue to get a good amount of airtime. The show may not have been very good but it did have a lot of positives. I’m not too hopeful about Christina Agulera next week as she has never given me any indication that she’s funny. The writers will have to work really hard for her.

 

Thumbs in the Middle

[Guest JMA]

The Seth Meyers love is deserved. His facial expressions rule. Kenan continues to do a good job, IMO (although he's been doing this since he was a teen).

 

My favorite skit of the night would have to be "W Meets Kerry." I thought this worked especially well. They really need to continue it (maybe with Amy as Hillary).

[MDH257 0]

I thought the show was decent. I agree that they blew it with the White Stripes.

 

In the monologue I assumed it was:

Will Forte as E.T.

Seth Meyers as C3PO and

Darrell Hammond as Darth Vader

BTW, Drew really did audition for Polterguist

[Youth N Asia 0]

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers

-Very funny opening...but Seth needs work on his Kerry. Hammond was great as Al as usual. ****

 

Monologue

Cast- Drew Barrymore, Rachel Dratch

-errr...one laugh or so. *

 

Versace

Cast- Barrymore, Maya Rudolph, Horatio Sanz, Poehler

-GRRRRRRRRRR!!! They Keep Doing It! Stop the pain! Altough this one had one laugh for me, which is one more then all the other ones. *

 

Jarrett’s Room

Cast- Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, Sanz, Meyers

-bleh, I'm way past sick of this. The pot humor is way past old and the little daydream went on too long and wasn't funny. DUD!

 

Access Hollywood

Cast- Barrymore, Fallon

- I agree that Fallon's impression is good, but there are no jokes here. You can't just keep saying "listen to my voice" every time you do it. DUD!

 

Octane

Cast- Meyers, Rudolph, Finesse Mitchell, Kenan Thompson

-...well...DUD!

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Fallon, Tina Fey, Rudolph, Mitchell

-The jokes were good, but by the time they got going it was over...they could really cut some of this other crap and give them a few more minutes. The Ross segment wasn't funny and I've never understood SNL's deal about having people walk in the background with a look on their face (Mitchell) and somehow that's a joke. ***1/2

 

W meets Kerry

Cast- Barrymore, Parnell, Will Forte, Meyers, Hammond

-Still not loving Seth's Kerry. And Forte's Bush is starting to grow on me. Hammond was great for the 2nd time tonight. Couple of the jokes missed with me, but one of the better parts of the show. ***

 

Larry King

Cast- Barrymore, Fallon

-The Anna was good but could have been cut shorter, not bad though. **1/2

 

Spy Glass

Cast- Barrymore, Meyers, Fallon, Poehler

-Awful skit, I know Bob likes Seth and Amy together, but bad pun after bad pun after bad pun isn't funny. Some of the sex jokes were alright, but mostly I was just waiting for it to end. *

 

The World of Scott Wanio

-just not funny. I though the Huggie Thong bit went when they had nothing better to put on. DUD!

 

The White Stripes

Cast- Barrymore, Fallon, Parnell, Thompson

-Damn...this had serious promise. It starts like a Batman and Robin skit and then you get...THE WHITE STRIPES. And I actually really liked Fallon in the part, the voice was funny. And Drew's Meg was pretty good, since she doesn't talk or anything. But I'm not for Jimmy taking more time to sing, Would have worked better had they ran to action...and maybe then broke into song while the bad guy's were getting away. I'm giving it points cause it's one of the better original ideas they've had in a while and if done better should come back. ***

 

Prince

Cast- Barrymore, Rudolph, Armisen, Thompson

-I liked the George Clinton bit...but other then that I just didn't see any good jokes to be had. *

 

While it got 4 DUDS! from me I thought the rest was mostly pretty good.

[treble 0]

Octane was awesome, I don't know what you guys were smoking.

[starvenger 0]

That about covers my problems with Kelis. Hopefully next week these Maroon people will end the bad musical guest streak. It currently sits at 3. ¾*

I'm assuming that's Maroon 5. They had a single called "Harder To Breathe" that's pretty good, some nice hooks. The second single from the album is called "This Love", which oddly enough I find I can sing "Your Woman" by White Town (remember that guy?) to...

[bob_barron 0]

It's Maroon 5. I heard one of their songs on the radio and I thought it was a good listen so hopefully they will break the bad mg streak.

 

With Octane-

 

I've never seen Fast and the Furious and it's various knockoffs so all of the jokes were lost on me I guess.

 

::marks out for exclamation DUD::

[Youth N Asia 0]

::marks out for exclamation DUD::

Yeah, it's been a while

[Guest OctoberBlood]

Damn, anyone got the skit online of the White Stripes? I want to see that!

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Shit, I'm the only person who loved Octane? That's like a PERFECT spoof of those stupid-ass XTREME STUNTZ movies, right down to the bad acting and dumb plotline. Kenan's one line was pretty much awesome in its delivery too.

 

Also, the White Stripes had a lot of potential at the beginning, Drew's Meg White impression cracked me up, but it lost steam quick.

 

Also, Kelis is the most talentless musical "artist" I have ever seen in my life. I'm totally ashamed to admit that I enjoyed "Caught Out There" way back when.

[Guest Crazy Dan]

I didn't feel it this week, even though I did enjoy Weekend Update (albeit too short).

 

I also liked The young Kerry(Seth is da man), Clinton, and Bush young. I still think they need to get Will Ferrell back for at least one debate... he does Bush the best, but Forte has earned another chance to see what he can do with the older Bush.

 

Overall, a decent show, but I think that there definately need some new characters, and they need to get a new impression man, since Jeff Richards is no longer with the show (any word what was up with that, I mean Drunk Girl was annoying, but I felt he was good at impressions).

 

But, I will keep watching, because I am nerd who stays in Saturday nights.

[bob_barron 0]

Shit, I'm the only person who loved Octane? That's like a PERFECT spoof of those stupid-ass XTREME STUNTZ movies, right down to the bad acting and dumb plotline. Kenan's one line was pretty much awesome in its delivery too.

 

treble charged seemed to like it. The skit just didn't do it for me at all. I muttered: What the hell was that and moved on.

 

 

Also, the White Stripes had a lot of potential at the beginning, Drew's Meg White impression cracked me up, but it lost steam quick.

 

I was very excited to see SNL spoof one of my favourite bands...and then they screwed it up.

 

 

Also, Kelis is the most talentless musical "artist" I have ever seen in my life. I'm totally ashamed to admit that I enjoyed "Caught Out There" way back when.

 

I had never heard of her until SNL but I just remember people telling me how awful 'Milkshake' was.

 

 

I also liked The young Kerry(Seth is da man), Clinton, and Bush young. I still think they need to get Will Ferrell back for at least one debate... he does Bush the best, but Forte has earned another chance to see what he can do with the older Bush.

 

Bringing Ferrell back for a debate would be cool but then you're just setting up the guy who has to do Bush after the election (Assuming he wins) for failure.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing Forte as Bush. He really couldn't be much worse then Darrell or Parnell.

 

 

Overall, a decent show, but I think that there definately need some new characters, and they need to get a new impression man, since Jeff Richards is no longer with the show (any word what was up with that, I mean Drunk Girl was annoying, but I felt he was good at impressions).

 

Still don't know why Jeff was fired. I'm probably seeing the cast on Saturday so I may ask. He hasn't updated his site at all which is kinda weird.

 

I heard he did a Bush impression as well which makes his firing all the more strange.

[Downhome 0]

Damn, anyone got the skit online of the White Stripes? I want to see that!

I'll post it tomorrow if anyone still wants it.

[Downhome 0]

Well I just watched the show in full, and it was my first SNL in months. Would someone please take the time to tell me that this show wasn't in ANY way a good representation of what SNL is in this day and age?

 

I'm begging you, please tell me RIGHT NOW that this episode of SNL isn't a good show to go on.

 

It was just about 100% Grade A bullshit from top to bottom, one of the worst SNL shows that I have ever seen. There might have been a chuckle here and there (best skit being Larry King) but overall, just about every single skit just fell flat and was simply either boring, irritating, or just flat out not funny at all.

 

The guy doing Bush was pretty good, Hammond is just about always great from what I've seen, but that's just about all. It isn't even that I think the guys on the show aren't that good, they are fine for the most part that I've seen.

 

It's just, the writing on this show just flat out sucked, and sucked hard. Do they have the same writers now that they had a few years ago? What is the story on that?

 

Also, why in the hell bring back an old bit from Waynes World for a Jarrett?s Room skit, only almost TOTALLY void of anything even close to funny at all?

[Guest thebigjig]

SNL was surprisingly good two weeks ago... hosted by megan mullalley, but I agree this weeks was horrible, and I've noticed that SNL more often than not in the past two years has been steadily declining in quality, and thats normal. It probably wont get good again for another year or so

[starvenger 0]

Losing Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer has really hurt the show. Gasteyer more than Ferrell, I think, she was probably the most versatile female performer they've had in a long while, and that's difficult to replace.

 

Also it means seeing more of Maya Rudolph, which isn't a good thing since she needs to be carried to a half-decent skit.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Losing Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer has really hurt the show. Gasteyer more than Ferrell

Well...except that Will could by hysterical and Ana was really hit and miss

[bob_barron 0]

Well I just watched the show in full, and it was my first SNL in months. Would someone please take the time to tell me that this show wasn't in ANY way a good representation of what SNL is in this day and age?

 

Well the show wasn't very good.

 

By my count SNL has had:

 

6 thumbs up episodes

2 thumbs down episodes

4 thumbs in the middle

 

SNL hasn't been very good this year so I guess this show is a good representation of SNL sadly.

 

 

It was just about 100% Grade A bullshit from top to bottom, one of the worst SNL shows that I have ever seen.

 

I wouldn't go thar far. The show really picked up once Weekend Update started and they finally busted out some funny skits.

 

I will not deny the show was awful up until then.

 

The guy doing Bush was pretty good

 

Yea- Forte was good as Bush. If this was his audition then he passed with flying colours.

 

Hammond is just about always great from what I've seen, but that's just about all.

 

Hammond has been awful this year. He had a career resurgance in 2002-2003 but is flushing his legacy down the toilet this year.

 

It isn't even that I think the guys on the show aren't that good, they are fine for the most part that I've seen.

 

It's just, the writing on this show just flat out sucked, and sucked hard. Do they have the same writers now that they had a few years ago? What is the story on that?

 

I don't keep on the writer situation because it's pretty hard. I do know that Hugh Fink left the show and he was a really funny guy. Adam McKay left a few years ago which hurt Will Ferrell a lot.

 

The writing isn't that great and they do deserve some of the blame. But there's a lot of dead weight on the show that needs to go.

 

Also, why in the hell bring back an old bit from Waynes World for a Jarrett?s Room skit, only almost TOTALLY void of anything even close to funny at all?

 

Yea that bothered me too. Jarrett's Room wasn't even that bad this week but once they did that it all went to hell.

[bob_barron 0]

SNL was surprisingly good two weeks ago... hosted by megan mullalley, but I agree this weeks was horrible, and I've noticed that SNL more often than not in the past two years has been steadily declining in quality, and thats normal. It probably wont get good again for another year or so

 

Last year SNL was treading water for the first half of the year but once the Walken show aired every episode after that was good.

 

Losing Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer has really hurt the show. Gasteyer more than Ferrell, I think, she was probably the most versatile female performer they've had in a long while, and that's difficult to replace.

 

Losing Will did hurt- I'm not going to deny that. Having no more Bush really has hurt the cold openings. But in his last year he wasn't that great and seemed to fall back on his recurring characters too much.

 

I never thought about Ana. They really only have one talented woman in the cast (Not counting Tina) I heard they hired some woman from Second City Chicago.

 

Also it means seeing more of Maya Rudolph, which isn't a good thing since she needs to be carried to a half-decent skit.

 

None of the decent Versaces have been b/c of her. That's sad.

[Downhome 0]

I wouldn't go thar far. The show really picked up once Weekend Update started and they finally busted out some funny skits.

What exactly was "good" on this episode? Certainly the only skit that even came close to being overall good was the Larry King bit (I can't believe that Jimmy did such a job with that). Everything else was either 100% flat, or there was a chuckle here and there.

 

Aside from Tina/Jimmy in the Weekend Update, everything else in THAT segment was crap as well.

 

I just got such an immature vibe from just about the entire show, like something I would see on a show where a few guys got together and just said whatever stupd stuff they thought of right on the spot. Like something a bunch of immature kids in high school would do or something.

 

It was the most unfunny SNL that I've ever seen personally, and in no way gives me hope for the show.

 

I'm going to download one from a few weeks ago, and see if it's any better.

[bob_barron 0]

What exactly was "good" on this episode? Certainly the only skit that even came close to being overall good was the Larry King bit (I can't believe that Jimmy did such a job with that). Everything else was either 100% flat, or there was a chuckle here and there.

 

The cold opening with Darrell doing his funny Al Gore and Seth rocking the Kerry impression.

 

Weekend Update although it was too short.

 

Kerry meets Bush meets Clinton was the usual good political humour.

 

Spy Glass rocked the kasbah with the greatness of Seth and Amy.

 

Aside from Tina/Jimmy in the Weekend Update, everything else in THAT segment was crap as well.

 

Well there was only one other segment (The Diana Ross thing) For the most part the jokes were great and Tina rebounded from a subpar outing.

 

 

I just got such an immature vibe from just about the entire show, like something I would see on a show where a few guys got together and just said whatever stupd stuff they thought of right on the spot. Like something a bunch of immature kids in high school would do or something.

 

The political humour skits I'd disagree with that. But that's SNL. It is a bunch of immature guys getting together and writing a comedy show. It's been that way for a while.

 

It was the most unfunny SNL that I've ever seen personally, and in no way gives me hope for the show.

 

If that's the most unfunny SNL you've seen then your lucky man. It was a piss poor SNL but they did try to pull it together in the end.

 

This SNL actually did give me hope-

 

1) They have a potential new Bush in Forte (and so far it looks good)

2) Seth is getting a lot more airtime

 

That's two things that are something to definetley look forward to.

 

I'm going to download one from a few weeks ago, and see if it's any better.

 

Hmmmm- dl Elijah Wood/Jet or Megan Mullally/Clay Aiken.