SNL Review

[bob_barron 0]

SNL Review- Jude Law/Ashlee Simpson

 

SNL Moment #18-

 

18. Tina and Jimmy give Rudy Guiliani an interesting send off

 

After September 11th, Rudy Guiliani had become America’s mayor for the way he helped many people recover after 9/11 and how he helped lead the charge to get back to normal. Guiliani was also a big help to SNL. He showed up on the September 29th season premiere and gave Lorne Michaels the go-ahead to be funny. He also once hosted in 1997 and did an admirable job. On December 31st he was leaving as New York mayor and SNL decided they had to pay tribute to him somehow. Leave it to Jimmy and Tina to find a way to do it.

 

THE MOMENT:

 

Tina introduces Rudy Guiliani and he gets a familiar Rudy chant. Tina and Jimmy try to latch onto the mayor and follow him where he goes. Rudy goes on a long winded monologue which prompts Jimmy to go:

 

Aren’t you going to be a consultant?

 

Rudy goes: Yea whatever and they move on.

 

Tina and Jimmy then decide to put on a play for Rudy. Tina is New York City (the Statue of Liberty hat and torch is a dead give-away) while Jimmy is Rudy. (with of course- a combover)

 

Jimmy starts singing and then breaks out laughing as Rudy shoots him a ‘WTF’ look. Jimmy keeps singing as Rudy tries not to laugh and keep his composure as Jimmy butchers ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’.

 

Tina gets the mic and starts to sing. She may be hot and she may be funny but we quickly learn that the girl cannot sing worth a damn. After Tina is done butchering the song it’s time for Rudy’s moment to say goodbye to his fellow New Yorkers.

 

He grabs the mic and looks nervous but Tina encourages him to sing and give us one last Rudy moment. The trio all start to sing together and Tina even mouths ‘I love him’ as they head towards the big finish.

 

The crowd loves it and gives them a big ovation despite their terrible singing. They do some light banter and then it’s time to get serious for a second since Rudy did mean a lot to people. Tina gets a chance to say what was all on our mind:

 

Tina Fey: And we, as New Yorkers, want to thank you for holding us together in the hardest time we've ever known.

 

Tina and Jimmy then say farewell but since this is Rudy’s time to say goodbye he gets to say the signature line.

 

Mayor Rudolph Guiliani: And I'm Rudy Guiliani. Good night, New York, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

 

Tina’s singing may not have been the best way to say goodbye to a New York icon but you could feel the love in the room- and in the end that’s all that mattered.

 

Sports Report-

 

New Orleans Saints- They’re now 2-4 and they really need to turn their season around after those inexcusable losses to the Cards and Bucs. They have a winnable game today against the Raiders and it’s a must win. Falling behind 2-5 pretty much kills your playoff chances right away and I want them to make the playoffs for the first time in my SNL reviewing career.

 

Mailbag!!!!!

 

Chase Sambori writes-

 

Hi Bob, My name is Chase Sambori and we used to talk a lot, I had AOL and my screen name was JRUSTY. Anyways, I love reading your reviews and I had a question- In your opinion, do you think Tina should do skits as well as update, or stick to update. Also, is there any other cast member you'd rather have at update instead of Amy and Seth(I know Seth was #1 on your list, as he was #1 on mine)

Keep up the great reviews, Bob

Chase Sambori

 

Hey Chase- it’s nice to hear from you. I’d like to see Tina do skits as well as Update but it’s too time consuming for her. Being head writer as well as putting together WU takes up a lot of her time and she just doesn’t have the free time to rehearse and learn her lines for a skit. Regarding other castmembers on WU- I think Fred or Will would’ve been pretty good although I think their bizarre personalities may not have worked. Jason Sudaekis (a writer) auditioned. He’s really funny and I think he would’ve done a pretty good job. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[email protected] writes-

 

You don't have to read it, but you also don't have to wipe your ass after you take a shit. :-)

 

Confessions of an American Idiot: Ryan DiBiase (http://ryanpatrickdibiase.blogspot.com/)

 

Once I was desperate to get back to the TV so I wouldn’t miss SNL so I didn’t wipe all the way. That was gross I apologise.

 

[email protected] writes-

 

Hi Bob, This is Ken Hayashi from Voy. Sorry to bother you again. I just have one quick question for you. You mentioned in your last SNL review that you have seen Hilary Duff’s new movie, Raise Your Voice. I was wondering if you know what songs Hilary sings in the movie. I don’t think there’s an actual soundtrack to Raise Your Voice, so I’d imagine that many of the songs used in the movie were lifted off Hilary’s new album. I haven’t had time to go see the movie yet. So I was hoping if you could help me out in any way. Thanks again, Ken

 

Hilary sings Jericho and Someone’s Watching Over Me in the movie. Both songs are on her newest CD.

 

The movie includes ‘Fly’ but it is not sung by Hilary in the movie.

 

Emma B writes-

 

Hi, You may be interested in this new message board. It features chat about celebrities, books, films, music and TV (with special SNL and Dan Aykroyd boards). Please pay a visit! http://xsorbit26.com/users5/theboardboard/index.php Thanks.

 

A Dan Aykroyd board? How bad is the traffic there?

 

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

 

 

And now the review....

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Will Forte, Amy Poehler

Thoughts- It’s great seeing Hardball back. I think Darrell is old and washed up and should’ve left years ago but man- they always can pull off a great Hardball. Seth was ON as Ed Gillepsie and I loved Amy as Kerry’s campaign manager and SNL as usual was hilarious when they decided to play beat the censor with the Mary Cheney gay innuendoes. I especially loved ‘carpet cleaner.’ Darrell botched his lines but instead of laughing like an idiot he made a nice save. Good on ya’ Darrell. Will’s Zell Miller kicked ass! I thought it was pretty dead on and very very funny. Especially when he brought out the pistols and challenged Matthews to a duel. Hardball is the perfect way to get a show starting off on the good foot and this was no exception. Great stuff here. ****1/2

 

Monologue

Cast- Ashlee Simpson, Jude Law, Tina Fey, Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph

Thoughts- I guess the tradition is that when you have a sexy female host, the guys hit on her, and when you have a male host who the girls swoon over, then you bring out the ladies to sing. Tina look really hot here and I have to commend her on that. I mean- damn. Jude’s song was funny but went on for way for too long and I started to lose interest in it fast. When Boston and St. Louis are playing a tight game- this is not what you want. But damn- Jude doing his best Paul McCartney and singing Hey Jude was freaking awesome and I loved it. It definitely saved what was going to be a lacklustre monologue. And kudos to Jude for referencing Norm’s British gay joke. Cheers mate. **1/2

 

Green Screen Movie

Cast- Law, Meyers, Poehler, Dratch, Forte

Thoughts- At first I thought they were going to be directly spoofing Sky Captain (to show you how serious I am I even wrote ‘Sky Captain’ as the skits title) but I guess they decided to take a different route. This was really funny and Jude’s various facial expressions were hilarious. Amy was pretty funny as the other actress dodging things using Wonder Woman stuff. Will Forte was awesome dressed in that green screen suit and doing his bizarro Forte stuff. I wonder why they put Seth in this. Maybe to taunt him so he couldn’t watch Boston. This was really funny and it was nice to have the first skit be funny for a change. ***1/2

 

Dyson Toilet

Cast- Fred Armisen

Thoughts- This was cut from the Queen Latifah show. This got a much better reaction in the dress rehearsal and then it did in the live show. Still I found Fred’s odd character to be quite funny and they made jokes about poop. I mean I’m not that hard to please. ***

 

Presidential Debate

Cast- Parnell, Meyers, Forte

Thoughts- They just won’t give up. It seems like they’re trying to create a ***** memorable classic each time they do one and it just doesn’t work. Forte’s Bush isn’t good enough to do it, and the material they write out just isn’t funny enough. I mean come on. Seth’s Kerry is still awesome even though it wasn’t as good as last week’s. While I enjoyed the joking about Cheney’s gay daughter, I felt they had already had milked that in the cold opening. This was funny but not as good as the first two debates. They really had nothing to work with and shouldn’t have tried to do another one. If you must- save it for the Presidential Bash. Seth’s Kerry continues to carry these skits and it was nice that they kept it relatively short for a change. **3/4

 

Paris Hilton Apologises

Cast- Law, Rudolph, Dratch

Thoughts- I didn’t even hear about this story which shows you how out of the loop I’ve been. Jude walking out as Nicky Hilton was pretty funny and as Maya did her usual good job of being tremendously unfunny, I thought Jude constantly saying ‘Hot. That’s hot’ was pretty funny even though it got old towards the end. By the time she was listing all the black guys she’d do it was like ‘Enough already!’. This had good intentions but dragged way too much. *1/2

 

Ashlee Simpon: Pieces of Me Part 1

Thoughts- God Ashlee is terrible. She has no vocal talent, a huge nose, and an odd looking body. She also kept making weird movements with her arms that were distracting me and meant I couldn’t concentrate on hating her. And while I was hating her- I missed the end of the game. Damn you Ashlee Simpson! This song is bollocks- it has a horrible flow and just sounds awkward. Plus the guitars were way too loud and they overshadowed Ashlee’s vocals. And at the end it seemed like Ashlee was acting out the song which just made her look like a jackass. Little did we know what was to come. Anyway this sucked. *

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Fey, Poehler, Sanz, Dratch

Thoughts- All-girls Weekend Update is turning into a game of limbo. How low can it go? People can say give her a chance but it’s been three episodes. I see no improvement. It’s getting worse. Amy is terrible. There’s no nice way of saying it. She’s awful. Her jokes are not funny. Her delivery is still lacking and causes jokes to fall flat. She is unprofessional. She is becoming a liability at the desk. If Lorne had any sense he would fire her. Now for the crowd who said OMG JIMMY COMPARISONS regarding Seth:

 

Does it really matter now? Does it really matter if people would’ve compared the two? I mean honestly. Who cares if people compare Seth to Jimmy when we could be getting him instead of the crap Amy is spewing out each week. The bit with the banana? What the hell was that? IT’S NOT FUNNY. We get that Amy is a cute blonde woman. But cuteness doesn’t get you laughs and it’s becoming irritating and annoying. I don’t want a ‘Fun’ Weekend Update. I don’t WANT Weekend Update where people have fun and giggle and tee-hee after every lacklustre joke. That’s NOT the Update I fell in love with. That’s not the Update that made me obsessed with this show. Tina and Jimmy had fun hilarious bits that played off their sexual tension. They also had funny jokes to back it up with. And say what you will about Jimmy but he never used a banana as a telephone. Tina is being dragged down with this mess and you know what the sad thing is about this Amy debacle? I don’t like Tina that much anymore. There I said it. I spent four years obsessed with this woman, I waited 7 hrs while having to pee so bad just to give her a CD. Now I don’t like her. She put friendship over funniness and now we get this trainwreck of a WU each week. WU is the reason I got into the show and I now I dread watching it. That sucks. Amy really needs to be fired now and Tina needs to STOP laughing at the jokes. Have fun all you want but not at the expense of Update. Norm had fun too but guess what girls- he was funny.

 

Has Tina been on drugs since saying: Yes- I think Amy should be my co-anchor? Let’s recap:

 

The Boston Red Sox just had the greatest comeback in baseball history and played one of the most memorable series in baseball history against their hated rivals the New York Yankees.

 

So does Tina get: Seth Meyers, the Boston Red Sox fanatic who is always funny on Weekend Update?

 

No.

 

We get Horatio Sanz doing his tired, unfunny and unprofessional shtick on WU. It’s never funny. It never has been funny, it never will be funny. At least in the FF days you could blame it on Jimmy. But this is all Tina’s fault. She’s completely ruining Weekend Update. It’s sad watching something you love die before your very eyes.

 

Now it could still get better- I know that. But after three Weekend Updates it has just not been good.

 

I know Seth being compared to Jimmy is like the worst thing that could ever happen to the human race but he would’ve have put on a Weekend Update that got a rating this low: **1/4

 

Congratulations Amy. Your suckiness has caused me to give WU it’s lowest rating since I started reviewing!

 

Blair and Bush

Cast- Law, Forte, Poehler, Riggle

Thoughts- They made Jude look scary like Tony Blair. I don’t really think we needed the debate AND this but whatever- both were fine skits. Jude’s Tony Blair was really funny and I thought the interplay between Bush and Blair was cute. I loved the thing where Bush kept coughing to get Blair to endorse lower income taxes. It went on a tad too long and there weren’t enough laughs (spoofing C-SPAN is so well not 2004) but I enjoyed the concept and thought Jude did a great job. But don’t push Forte’s Bush down our throats. Let the viewer get into it. Putting it two times a show just alienates people. ***

 

Trump

Cast- Hammond

Thoughts- I was surprised they had Trump exaggerate so much when Trump said on the Apprentice that he hates people who exaggerate. I like Darrell’s Donald and this was pretty funny. Especially his attempts at trying to do the evil laugh and him saying they can splice it all in. I would’ve shaved off a minute or two from this since it started to really drag at the end but it was still pretty funny. ***1/4

 

Jane Eyre

Cast- Law, Dratch, Rudolph

Thoughts- I’ve never read Jane Eyre so some of this was lost on me. I think had I read Jane Eyre I still wouldn’t have found this to be that funny. Rachel talking about her plainness was funny but the rest of this skit was pretty dead. *

 

Ashlee Simpson: Pieces of… Oh wait

Thoughts- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

I’m not going to rate this but it was hilarious to see that no talented, unprofessional, ugly, hypocritical bitch get completely humiliated on live TV. I mean, I know she has a horrible voice, but even Britney busted ass and sang live on SNL. Did it suck? Yes. Was it funny? Hell yes.

 

This was awesome and it was funny seeing that big nosed piece of shit get what she deserves. And hey- it saved us from another song!

 

If you want to see Jessica’s sister embarrass herself go here-

 

https://home.comcast.net/~mr.mojo/Oops.wmv

 

or….

 

http://thedvdguy.modblog.com/core.mod?show...&blog_id=327149

 

Yes Ashlee. We’re all sorry you’re band couldn’t play the right song.

 

Bear City

Thoughts- I thought it was really funny when they swapped insurance info so this gets the Tom Green rating. **1/2

 

Adventures of O’Toole and Caine

Cast- Law, Meyers, Dratch, Riggle, Kenan Thompson

Thoughts- Good to see Kenan getting on the air. He needs to help promote Fat Albert. This was really weird and it seemed like everyone was a tad off. Seth had a very funny Michael Caine impression. I’m not really familiar with Peter O’Toole’s work so I can’t say whether the impression was funny or not. The jokes here were very hit and miss and the bits with Rachel and Riggle didn’t really work so as a result it got draggy at times. The stuff with Kenan at the end was kinda funny. Just a weird skit- I wonder if they had to drag it out cause Ashlee can’t sing. **

 

Bear City

Thoughts- This had no bits of bears handing out insurance information. DUD

 

The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was **.5 making this barely a thumbs up show. The ironic thing is that had Ashlee not had the blooper of the year this probably would’ve been a thumbs in the middle show. The show started off great with Hardball and picked up a bit after Update but it was just a very hit and miss show with some stuff not working at all and other stuff being really funny. It was a really odd show. Update was all over the place, the bears stuff, Ashlee and Peter O’Toole and Caine was a weird skit as well. That’s live TV for you. Even though the show was good Update’s plunge is really starting to worry me and I hope to God they can start fixing it. Jude was a good host- he had funny facials and great comedic timing. I’d like to see him back. A good show but they have a lot of work to do.

 

Thumbs Up

[Jobber of the Week 0]

My thoughts. Keep in mind I haven't watched any of the episodes this season and basically tuned in for Simpson's fuckup. But I did stay awake this whole time.

 

The Skit I Miss: Well, since Barron can bring up old SNL's, so can I. The skit I miss for this entry was Chris Kattan as Antonio Banderas in "The.... How you say... Ah, yes... 'Cho." I never cared much for Kattan and pretending that he's attractive is a stretch, but the accent was so fake and the men in the background constantly screaming "NO NO NO YOU CANT NO ITS-A TOO SEXY NO TOO SEXY NO COME ON" at his spastic striptease made it work.

 

Anyway...

 

Hardball: Good but not as good as it used to be, it needed more Chris Matthews stepping on people's toes and humiliating them before asking them for their opinion. Bonus points for Zell Miller's duel stuff, which is something that probably would have only been seen by politics hawks like myself until the Daily Show or someone else went and made it funny. Because really, who watches MSNBC?

 

Movie Filming: Eh, Sky Captain made one blip on the radar and disappeared, and I certainly didn't bother to see it. It was decent humor, but considering they had a British actor I would have gone with an Episode III filming as it's more popular and filming the same way (and besides, if there's one thing we know from Star Wars, it's that at least a quarter of humanity is British.)

 

Commercial: No no no. If you're going to make a toilet joke, you have to go over the line of good taste. The pasta thing wasn't very funny, and since I have never seen these vacuums or any commercials like them before (assuming they're parody of a real product/ad.)

 

Debate: I wasn't feelin' it. All this did was make me miss Will Farrel's impression of Bush.

 

Paris Hilton: Keep in mind that I don't like Paris because the only goddamn reason anyone (including myself) knows her name is because she took her clothes off, and I refuse to get on the lovetrain or even care about anyone who's popular for doing what a bazillion other women do. I would have never recognized her if it weren't for the sex tape, and no, I haven't ever watched it. That much said, I thought the impression of Paris was pretty good, she seems to have some sort of problem with looking directly into a camera as 90% of the pictures and poses I see of her could best be described as Picasso shots, where you see an eyeball and a fraction of her nose and mouth. The "Oh, that's hot" thing could have been funny, but wasn't.

 

Ashlee, Part I: NO. And I had this damn song stuck in my head for a whole day once. Between this one, her sister, and her Mom hitting the Jackpot, I'm going to make like George Bush Sr and declare that The Simpsons are what's wrong with America.

 

Weekend Update: Nobody (no, not even Norm MacDonald) has ever done as good a job and at this point they aren't even trying to do anything new. They seem to actually be trying to channel Chevy Chase's charisma with this and slather it with a layer of OMG HOT CHIX but it's. Not. Working.

 

Way too much time spent on Horatio and Yankees/BoSox. Although like any warm-blooded creature I hate the NYY, I live on the West Coast and don't find the feud very entertaining beyond watching the Yanks lose. The past several years I think they've done this a lot (spent too much time catering to locals and east coasters in general) and while this skit wasn't excessive in it, add it all up and it lessens my enjoyment of the show overall.

 

I'm going to actually think the unthinkable and suggest they actually just scrap the news bit entirely. At this point, it's just pissing on the grave.

 

Tony Blair: Political Skit #3? I think they should have kept this and gotten rid of the debate. The guy playing Bush here doesn't have Bush's "help me, I'm lost and don't know what to say" bit down as good as Farrell could, but this segment did play to one of his strengths, which is doing the whiny voice and Bush's cackles anytime he says something he's impressed with.

 

Count Trumpula: Memo to Barron: If Trump really didn't like people who exaggerate, and wasn't just trying to rake that woman over the coals, he wouldn't have bought Stacy's stupid Enron line.

 

I'm currently big into The Apprentice right now so even though it wasn't very funny I still smiled anyway. Could have done without the chyron promoting the day and time as it made it felt like the skit was shoehorned in to cross-promote the show, which it may have been. The guy doing Trump looks and sounds right, but is imitating the wrong mannerism. I heard the "First I'm gonna ___, then I'm gonna..." list way too many times.

 

I suggest if they keep doing this skit, the comic and the writer watch more Apprentice and copy some of the common phrases he uses (Here, I'll give you one: "The ____ industry makes ___ billion dollars a year. That's hooge.")

 

Jane Eyre: Was taking my dinner out of the oven, but I got the gist. It felt like a really long skit to simply get across the message that the Count likes some hanky panky.

 

Ashley II: Can't actually give it a rating, but it couldn't be beat for comedy value.

 

Bear City: Eating dinner.

 

O'Toole: Well, they save the crap for last when most everyone's asleep.

 

Bear City II: Going by Barron's report. Did they actually do this? Both my and my Dad missed it.

[Ted the Poster 0]

I really hope Eminem does some sketches next week. He's a very funny guy.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

I have a really sexual attraction to Rudolph when she is the blonde girl doing the middle/high school audio show with Dratch as the boy.

 

It is her, right...I've only caught replays lately...

[Dangerous A 0]

Actually Bob, I'll tell let you now, straight up, that Jimmy Fallon was a better SNL performer than Horatio Sanz. Much better. Fallon is still pure shit IMO, but he was better than Sanz which makes me wonder, what does that make Sanz?

 

And yes, Amy Poehler has NO business doing WU and they most definitely dropped the ball going away from Seth Meyers and going with Sanz in regards to any Sox/Yanks bits. Just horrible.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

They're two different character types/role players...

[MDH257 0]

The show was just okay, as as been usal this year. I don't think Amy is as horrible on Update as Bob does, but Seth would have been better.

 

Hardball and Tony Blair were funny.

 

I don't know if evnough people have seen that vaccume commercial for a parody of it to get a big responce.

 

I think basing a skit on Jane Eyre is just asking for it to go over the audiences head.

 

When Ashleig's lipsink came on I think her band took that as a que to play 'Pieces of Me' instead of whatever they were supposed to play.

 

It'll be interesting to see if shows like ET go after the lipsink story or just go with the spin Ashliegh's people and (since they altered the West Coast feed) SNL will try to put on it.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

It's hilarious how they never even considered the option of turning the mic on and having her actually sing the song.

[jimmy no nose 0]

What was that little dance Ashlee tried to do after the wrong song started playing? That was part of the few minutes I saw of the show, so did they try to explain anything on TV or did they just leave it?

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

the best part was when the band tried not to bust out laughing when she left. Still playing, of course.

[starvenger 0]

I was surprised they had Trump exaggerate so much when Trump said on the Apprentice that he hates people who exaggerate.

You may have to add an addendum for your other postings that this was sarcasm...

 

When Ashleig's lipsink came on I think her band took that as a que to play 'Pieces of Me' instead of whatever they were supposed to play.

It does seem like it. They were kinda not playing anything, and then they just went with it, I guess. Somewhat unprofessional, I gotta say.

 

3 shows in and we can say that NELLY sang live and Ashlee Simpson didn't. That's fricking bizarre...

 

Actually Bob, I'll tell let you now, straight up, that Jimmy Fallon was a better SNL performer than Horatio Sanz. Much better. Fallon is still pure shit IMO, but he was better than Sanz which makes me wonder, what does that make Sanz?

Maybe fiber, because when he's on, there's a lot of crap on my screen...

[bob_barron 0]

I have a really sexual attraction to Rudolph when she is the blonde girl doing the middle/high school audio show with Dratch as the boy.

 

It is her, right...I've only caught replays lately...

 

Yea- That's Wake Up Wakefield. They haven't done that in a while. I don't really find it funny.

 

Actually Bob, I'll tell let you now, straight up, that Jimmy Fallon was a better SNL performer than Horatio Sanz. Much better. Fallon is still pure shit IMO, but he was better than Sanz which makes me wonder, what does that make Sanz?

 

I don't know. Horatio really should've left with Jimmy. He looks lost without his buddy to clown around with and he really adds nothing to the show. Horatio should stick to doing improv.

 

And yes, Amy Poehler has NO business doing WU and they most definitely dropped the ball going away from Seth Meyers and going with Sanz in regards to any Sox/Yanks bits. Just horrible.

 

Someone said maybe their hinting at Seth doing something for the World Series if Boston wins but the problem with that is that it doesn't lineup with the schedule. Unless Boston wins in 5.

 

I don't know if evnough people have seen that vaccume commercial for a parody of it to get a big responce.

 

In the dress people really liked it- in fact I missed some of the jokes from people laughing so hard.

 

I think basing a skit on Jane Eyre is just asking for it to go over the audiences head.

 

Skits like that usually get cut in dress. Having not read Jane Eyre I'm sure a lot of it went over my head.

 

When Ashleig's lipsink came on I think her band took that as a que to play 'Pieces of Me' instead of whatever they were supposed to play.

 

I think the band didn't know what to do and just panicked waiting for them to go to commercial. I still don't get why Ashlee didn't just start singing Shadow or Autobiography or SOMETHING.

[bob_barron 0]

The Skit I Miss: Well, since Barron can bring up old SNL's, so can I. The skit I miss for this entry was Chris Kattan as Antonio Banderas in "The.... How you say... Ah, yes... 'Cho." I never cared much for Kattan and pretending that he's attractive is a stretch, but the accent was so fake and the men in the background constantly screaming "NO NO NO YOU CANT NO ITS-A TOO SEXY NO TOO SEXY NO COME ON" at his spastic striptease made it work.

 

My hatred for Kattan meant I never got into the How Do You Say...Ah Yes...Show. I admit that part was funny but it seems the skits would just revolve Kattan taking off his shirt. And no one wants that.

 

Anyway...

 

Hardball: Good but not as good as it used to be, it needed more Chris Matthews stepping on people's toes and humiliating them before asking them for their opinion. Bonus points for Zell Miller's duel stuff, which is something that probably would have only been seen by politics hawks like myself until the Daily Show or someone else went and made it funny. Because really, who watches MSNBC?

 

I was waiting for them to bring up Zell Miller and I thought Forte did a great job. The graphic Zell Miller: A Crazy Person was hilarious.

 

Isn't MSNBC the network that's to the left?

 

Movie Filming: Eh, Sky Captain made one blip on the radar and disappeared, and I certainly didn't bother to see it. It was decent humor, but considering they had a British actor I would have gone with an Episode III filming as it's more popular and filming the same way (and besides, if there's one thing we know from Star Wars, it's that at least a quarter of humanity is British.)

 

Sky Captain got great reviews so I thought it would've done a lot better then it did. I didn't see it either though. Jude spoofing Ewan would've been funny since my friend considers Ewan the poor man's Jude.

 

Debate: I wasn't feelin' it. All this did was make me miss Will Farrel's impression of Bush.

 

It's weird- It seems like Forte's Bush was a lot better last year. I don't know what happened. But I think they're never gonna be able to find the perfect Bush to replace Ferrell.

 

Paris Hilton: Keep in mind that I don't like Paris because the only goddamn reason anyone (including myself) knows her name is because she took her clothes off, and I refuse to get on the lovetrain or even care about anyone who's popular for doing what a bazillion other women do.

 

I like how Tina used to do jokes and skits about her and no one knew who they were so no one laughed. Now they're huge names. I wonder if Tina feels vindicated?

 

Ashlee, Part I: NO. And I had this damn song stuck in my head for a whole day once. Between this one, her sister, and her Mom hitting the Jackpot, I'm going to make like George Bush Sr and declare that The Simpsons are what's wrong with America.

 

One of my friends compared Ashlee to Avril and tried to get me into her. She's horrible. It was good seeing that bitch get exposed.

 

 

Weekend Update: Nobody (no, not even Norm MacDonald) has ever done as good a job and at this point they aren't even trying to do anything new. They seem to actually be trying to channel Chevy Chase's charisma with this and slather it with a layer of OMG HOT CHIX but it's. Not. Working.

 

It seems like they're trying to do the Weekend Update Fun Happy Smile Hour. It's not working.

 

Way too much time spent on Horatio and Yankees/BoSox. Although like any warm-blooded creature I hate the NYY, I live on the West Coast and don't find the feud very entertaining beyond watching the Yanks lose. The past several years I think they've done this a lot (spent too much time catering to locals and east coasters in general) and while this skit wasn't excessive in it, add it all up and it lessens my enjoyment of the show overall.

 

They cater to the East Coast all the time. They always did impressions of Dinkins and Guiliani before anyone knew who he was. They had Rudy host when probably only NYers really knew of him.

 

I'm going to actually think the unthinkable and suggest they actually just scrap the news bit entirely. At this point, it's just pissing on the grave.

 

If this keeps up- I wouldn't be totally against doing away with WU. I don't want it to become unwatchable.

 

Count Trumpula: Memo to Barron: If Trump really didn't like people who exaggerate, and wasn't just trying to rake that woman over the coals, he wouldn't have bought Stacy's stupid Enron line.

 

As starvenger pointed out- that line was a jab at the Donald.

 

I'm currently big into The Apprentice right now so even though it wasn't very funny I still smiled anyway. Could have done without the chyron promoting the day and time as it made it felt like the skit was shoehorned in to cross-promote the show, which it may have been. The guy doing Trump looks and sounds right, but is imitating the wrong mannerism. I heard the "First I'm gonna ___, then I'm gonna..." list way too many times.

 

I love the Apprentice and hate Donald Trump so I love it whenever they make fun of the Donald. I think the Apprentice was created just to suck his dick.

 

 

Bear City II: Going by Barron's report. Did they actually do this? Both my and my Dad missed it.

 

Yea- it had the Bears at the office. It didn't work as well as the first one.

[bob_barron 0]

I knew it!

 

Jane Eyre was also cut from the Colin Firth show.

[Ted the Poster 0]

Isn't MSNBC the network that's to the left?

Nah. CNN is left, Fox is right, and MSNBC stays usually in the middle(which is why I watch it).

 

Bob, could you say something to Tina the next time you see her? Something simple like "You know, Seth wouldn't have bombed on Update three weeks in a row."

[bob_barron 0]

I always thought CNN was centre-left, FOX was far right and MSNBC was far left.

 

I don't get MSNBC and never watch it when I'm in NY so I really don't know.

 

I'd like to say something to her but a) That's mean and b) I won't see her till December at the earliest and I don't know if I'm gonna wait to see her.

 

I was going to say to something to Seth at the Latifah show but he came out at the same time Amy did so I couldn't.

 

Last December I expressed my displeasure over Horatio being on WU and sucking and him not. He understood and seemed to agree with me.

[SuperJerk 0]

I thought the banana joke during Update was funny. The point was that the guy was trying to make bananas easier to eat when they aren't hard to eat at all.

 

Amy's hilarious, damn it.

 

As far as the Aslee Simpson thing goes, I liked the way she tried to play it off at the end, as if it was the band's fault she was lip-syncing.

[bob_barron 0]

I got the joke. But the bit wasn't funny and Amy using the bananna as a telephone was so stupid.

 

Amy and Tina are slowly killing Update.

 

Amy is hilarious in skits- she just doesn't belong at the desk.

[SuperJerk 0]

Agree to disagree.

 

I especially liked the "you're welcome" at the very end of the skit.

[bob_barron 0]

I liked it until Tina had to give a shoutout to Jimmy. What was the fucking point?

 

God- WU just infuriates me right now.

[razazteca 0]

Weekend Update needs to stop focusing on the 2 Woman Power lameness and bring in some secondary characters to make the segment entertaining. In the past there has been great characters featured in the WU such as Operah Man, Grumpy Old Man, hell even Colin Quin's "Hey Norm let's get a beer" character was ok.

[bob_barron 0]

Yea.

 

Out with cuteness, in with humour.

 

That should be a campaign slogan

[JST 0]

Some of you are criticizing this show as if it were a ball game. This show is meant to make you laugh (as bad as it seems to be lately). Just go the old fashionned route of "if you don't like it, don't watch it". I was a huge fan of the show, but stopped watching when Ferrell left.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

Gee Bob, I get this idea from your review that you, were you there, wouldn't be getting your picture taken with Ashlee Simpson.

[bob_barron 0]

No- I do not want to meet Ashlee Simpson.

 

Meeting the musical guest is impossible anyway. They rehearse during the week and not on Fridays.

[Guest Quik]

"Ashlee Simpon: Pieces of Me Part 1

Thoughts- God Ashlee is terrible. She has no vocal talent, a huge nose, and an odd looking body. She also kept making weird movements with her arms that were distracting me and meant I couldn’t concentrate on hating her. And while I was hating her- I missed the end of the game. Damn you Ashlee Simpson! This song is bollocks- it has a horrible flow and just sounds awkward. Plus the guitars were way too loud and they overshadowed Ashlee’s vocals. And at the end it seemed like Ashlee was acting out the song which just made her look like a jackass. Little did we know what was to come. Anyway this sucked. *"

 

Bobby, don't you listen to Hillary Duff? Spare us the music reviews. If you can't understand the fact that Ashlee Simpson sucks, but the actual songwriting on her album is better than other shitty popstars in her genre, then you have no concept of music. Her lyrics still blow, but at least her band, or whoever the hell writes the music, at least attempts to add build and musical hooks to the songs. Not to mention the effective use of loud/soft, slow/fast dynamics in "Peices of Me". Yeah, the song blows, but it's better than most of the pop shit that's out today.

[Renegade 0]

The Ashlee Simpson bit was hillarious, but what the fuck was she trying do to afterwards with all the dancing?

[bob_barron 0]

Bobby, don't you listen to Hilary Duff?

 

Yes. I listened to Metamorphosis while typing the first half of the review.

 

Spare us the music reviews. If you can't understand the fact that Ashlee Simpson sucks, but the actual songwriting on her album is better than other shitty popstars in her genre, then you have no concept of music. Her lyrics still blow, but at least her band, or whoever the hell writes the music, at least attempts to add build and musical hooks to the songs. Not to mention the effective use of loud/soft, slow/fast dynamics in "Peices of Me". Yeah, the song blows, but it's better than most of the pop shit that's out today.

 

I disagree. I gave Ashlee a chance as my friend compared her to Avril and sent 4-5 of her songs. They all sucked badly. Her voice is terrible and makes a lot of the songs hard to listen to. Her music at times comes across as dirty and grungy and it doesn't suit her voice or the type of song at all. She also sang about having sex but called it La-La.

 

 

The Ashlee Simpson bit was hillarious, but what the fuck was she trying do to afterwards with all the dancing? 

 

I think she was trying to kill time hoping someone would change the song.

[Guest Quik]

Yeah, lyrically she sucks, and her vocals are hit or miss based on what day it is. But the actual music behind it isn't as bad as other music in her genre.

 

AND HILLARY DUFF SUCKS ASS. I really can't fathom how anyone can enjoy Hillary Duff, have a Y chromosome, and say someone else's music sucks at the same time.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Isn't MSNBC the network that's to the left?

That question's hard to answer because it varies on who you talk to, what side they're on, and how strongly biased they are to that side, and in an election year everyone's bias goes through the roof.

 

Suffice it to say, you could put on a public access show ala Wayne's World and get more viewers than MSNBC.

 

 

Also, if anyone ever compared an artist to Avril, that would be a tremendous negative in my book, not a positive. Go away, whiny pseudo-punk girl.