SNL Review

[bob_barron 0]

SNL Review- Jon Heder/Ashlee Simpson

 

Sorry this is a week late. At 11:30 when the episode started, U2 was finishing with ‘40’ and at 1, I was on a train home. Luckily, TSM poster Downhome provided me with a torrent. So yay, Downhome.

 

Tribute-

 

Charles Rocket- I haven’t really seen much of his work or anything, so I’m not going to pretend to like the guy or anything but he’s the first member of the non-Lorne years to pass on, and he’s the first WU anchor to die. Him saying “I want to know who the fuck did it” was pretty fucking cool. RIP Charles Rocket.

 

Sports Report-

 

Saints- I’m not going to comment on the Packers game or Deuce’s injury, lest I start spewing obscenities. Even though the Saints beat themselves, the ending of today’s game was total bull and the refs handed the Falcons the victory at the end.

 

Leafs- After a bit of a slow start (I hate shootouts), they’ve played very well the past week, winning three straight. Lindros has played above my expectations, and Jeff O’Neill is coming through as well. Hopefully this team can hang on until Mats came back. If so, I’m confident they can make a playoff run.

 

Canucks- Except for that drubbing against the Wild, the Canucks have been great this year. Naslund has been excellent, and everyone has been doing their part in keeping this team a championship contender.

 

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

 

Ken Hayashi writes-

 

Hi Bob, This is Ken Hayashi from Voy. I have a couple of WWE-related questions for you. I was wondering if you could go back in time, and give me list of WWF/WWE workers who got their own Desire video dedicated to them during the 2001-2003 era. If possible, I was hoping if you could also name the song that was contained in each superstar's video. I know that Creed's 'My Sacrifice' was used in many of these tribute packages. I didn't watch much wrestling during that time because my roommates always hogged the one TV in our townhouse.

 

Plus, which Desire videos were your most personal favourites, and why? One of my favourite Desire videos was HHH's, which was set to U2's 'Beautiful Day' and showed his recovery from quad surgery. I also liked Angle's tribute package, which was set to Coldplay's 'Clocks' and showed his recovery from neck surgery. Talk to you later! Ken

 

Off the top of my head-

 

Taker got a few, Austin had one, they did two general Desire ones, Angle got one, HHH got one, and they did the History of the WWF one to Kid Rock. Rock and Brock also got hype videos, as did HBK. But they weren’t desire videos. Benoit got one too, as did Eddy.

 

The best one is easily The History of the WWF video set to Lonely Road of Faith. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to sum up the history of the WWF in 4 minutes and did an excellent job. The Austin one is good as well.

 

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

 

And now the review…

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Will Forte, Rachel Dratch, Darrell Hammond, Horatio Sanz

Thoughts- While I do enjoy seeing Forte continuing to do Bush, this skit fell pretty flat. It built too slowly and the payoff laughs weren’t big enough to put this skit in the good category. The LFNYISN was also pretty lame. I did enjoy some of Forte’s lines as Bush, even though Darrell’s Cheney’s shtick is starting to get a bit tired. This was okay, but not at the level of the usual cold openings. **1/2

 

Monologue

Cast- Jon Heder, Fred Armisen, Forte, Jason Sudeikis

Thoughts- Well you knew the Napoleon Dynamite spoof was coming, and they did a pretty good job, especially with Sudeikis as Napoleon. Heder was a bit stiff and nervous, but the rest of the cast came through and Forte was funny as Kip. I was really enjoying this until the horrible ending. The dancing may have been funny in Napoleon Dynamite, but it was just bad here and really killed what was looking to be a great monologue. ***1/4

 

Commercial

Cast- Jason Sudeikis, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader

Thoughts- When featured players attack! I think I now am able to tell Samberg and Hader apart, so bully for skits like this. This commercial reminded me of Colon Blow, but unlike Colon Blow, I didn’t really find it to be that funny. This is one of those things where once you get the joke, and you don’t like it, you’re kind of screwed. *

 

Rick! Rick! Rick!

Cast- Heder, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Sanz, Samberg, Sudeikis

Thoughts- No! No! No! I think you all know my feelings on Rick! Rick! Rick! in that it was funny once, but now is just incredibly annoying and not worthy of constantly being brought back. I mean yea, Amy being able to be a spastic 7-year-old is impressive but it’s not funny. Sudeikis was the highlight here as he had some funny lines, but since he wasn’t the centrepiece, there wasn’t much he could do to save this one. Rick! Rick! Rick! needs to be put out to pasture. *

 

The Not Werewolf

Cast- Heder, Poehler, Sudeikis, Hader, Samberg

Thoughts- I initially thought this was going to be the skit where Fred is the animal but instead….we got this. This also took way too long to way to be funny, and once the punchlines hit, it really wasn’t very funny. I liked Amy’s Jeff Foxworthy line but Heder’s overacting was more annoying then anything. None of the featured players did anything for me either. *1/2

 

The Misadventures of Tom Delay and Bill Frist

Cast- Forte, Hammond, Sudeikis

Thoughts- I really liked the premise, Sudeikis’ facials and the fact that the newbie is getting some airtime, but this just fell flat. Even though I like seeing it, and I laughed, Darrell’s Clinton was just not needed and it felt painfully tacked on. I usually like SNL’s political humour, but for the most part, this one just always seemed to be lacking something. **1/4

 

Ferecito

Cast- Heder, Armisen, Sanz, Hader

Thoughts- Yay! Ferecito is back! I’m disappointed that Fred didn’t use my idea of doing Ferecito in the season finale and having Lindsay Lohan play Hilary Duff. I don’t know, as happy as I was to see Ferecito, this one wasn’t nearly as good as the other ones. I didn’t think Heder was a good guest at all, and Fred would’ve been better saving Ferecito for a funnier host. I also thought they overused I JUST KEEEEEEEEEEDING. It’s still Ferecito, so I loved the interplay between Ferecito and Manuel as usual, I just thought this seemed to uninspired. ***1/2

 

Now for Ferecito’s Spanish audience, I present my review of Ferecito en Espanol-

 

Ferecito ¡Heder Del Molde, Armisen, Sanz, Pensamientos Yay De Hader! ¡Ferecito está detrás! Estoy decepcionado que Fred no utilizó mi idea de hacer Ferecito en el finale de la estación y del tener juego Hilary de Lindsay Lohan duff. No sé, tan feliz como debía ver Ferecito, éste no era casi tan bueno como los otros. No pensé que el heder era una buena huésped en todos, y would've de Fred sido un ahorro mejor Ferecito para un anfitrión más divertido. También los pensé I usado en exceso KEEEEEEEEEEDING JUSTO. Es Ferecito inmóvil, así que amé la interacción entre Ferecito y Manuel como de costumbre, acabo de pensar que éste se parecía a sin inspiración. *** el 1/2

 

 

Ashlee Simpson ‘Catch Me If I Fall’

Thoughts- I will give SNL credit for not making any jokes about last year’s incident, since well, that would suck. Of course SNL shouldn’t have booked Ashlee anyway but that’s another rant for another day. Ashlee also looked hideous here, as I don’t get why chose to look like she was pregnant. The song was dreadfully dull too. Yea, I really don’t like Ashlee too much. ¾*

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Lorne Michaels, Sanz, Poehler, Forte

Thoughts- Horatio Sanz needs to go far far away. While I like that we don’t have the giggling girls, Horatio is really terrible. The chemotherapy joke was funny, but Norm’s been doing the same thing for years, so I instantly thought “Joke theft!” instead of “Good one by the Sanzster.” This reminded me of the Fey-Poehler Updates of last year, in which the jokes were horrible, but the other stuff made up for it. Forte’s Tim Calhoun was awesome as always, it had been way too long since he’d done it. The bit with Lorne and Amy about her bra was hilarious, and easily the highlight of Update. Of course the horrible jokes, the rap bit??? and Amy giggling after every joke kind of killed the good will of that one bit. **1/4

 

Wilson Bros. Funeral Home

Cast- Heder, Poehler, Finesse Mitchell, Armisen, Sanz, Forte, Kenan Thompson, Sudeikis, Samberg, Hader

Thoughts- This was a pretty clever little skit, and I have to say I liked it. I hated the twist ending, since SNL has done that ending approximately 5,000 times. I like how each funeral had nice payoffs to the other funerals, continuity rocks! The blooper with Rachel was pretty stupid, but I thought Kenan was funny here. Until the done to death ending, this was really good, but the ending had to bring it down a bit. ***

 

Retreat

Cast- Heder, Seth Meyers, Armisen, Poehler, Dratch, Sudeikis

Thoughts- I don’t mind Sudeikis being in all these skits, but boy is spelling his name quite annoying. A light night for Seth tonight, but I don’t mind it if it gives the other guys a chance for the same exposure to possibly breakout like he did in 2001. Seth was really funny here, and there were some good lines here. I mean come on, office yankstick! I didn’t like Rachel’s bit, but Amy was also great here as Irene. The “I’m Watching You” bit is always comedy gold. ***1/2

 

Ashlee Simpson ‘I Didn’t Steal Your Boyfriend’

Thoughts- Don’t know why Ashlee was wearing a tie here. Women wearing ties went out in 1995 when Suzanne Somers was wearing them on Step by Step. They were beaten into the ground when Avril wore them in 2002. Hey, I love Avril to death, and even I thought they looked horrible. And Ashlee just looked stupid here. The keyboardist singing backup was really distracting as their voices didn’t mix well at all. Ashlee trying to be sexy also didn’t work, because well, she’s not. That’s about it. *

 

Customer Service Lady

Cast- Heder, Dratch, Sudeikis, Hader

Thoughts- This had a cute premise, but like a lot of stuff on the show, fell flat and was more annoying then funny. I admire Rachel for being able to keep the voice up the whole skit, but this just wasn’t very funny. Heder’s timing also seemed to be off as well. *3/4

 

Black Eyed Peas

Cast- Heder, Poehler, Hader

Thoughts- I think that was Heder as the white Black Eyed Pea. I didn’t even realise there was a white Black Eyed Pea guy. I do remember Will.I.Am’s random cameo on Joan of Arcadia and the cameo in Be Cool, in the scene where John Travolta and Uma Thurman had to remind us that they danced in a much superior movie 10 years ago. If that was Heder as the white Black Eyed Pea, then that was another skit where the guy had to dance. This was alright, I only really laughed at the Wendy’s one. **

 

The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.2 making this a thumbs down show. I liked that Sudeikis and Hader were featured a lot but too many of the skits fell flat, and Heder was not a good host. Ferecito and the cold disappointed and there was no reason to bring back Rick. They were also hampered by Ashlee’s horrific singing and Heder’s messed up timing on his lines. I think the Catherine Zeta Jones show could be okay, I’ve never really seen her do any comedy before, so we’ll see. Hopefully Seth will do a better job of supervising writing for that show.

 

Thumbs Down

[Matt Young 0]

Fuck, I missed Ashlee and Napoleon Dynamite. Damn.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

There isn't a white guy in Black Eyed Peas. One of them, Taboo, is half black/half Native American

[bob_barron 0]

Fuck, I missed Ashlee and Napoleon Dynamite.  Damn.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If it makes you feel better, Ashlee was really awful and looked pregnant during song #1, and wore a tie in song #2.

[Precious Roy 0]

Charles Rocket died?!

[bob_barron 0]

Yes, there's a thread about it below, and an article at Variety.

[Guest Greg Valentine]

Hmmm, I liked the show better than you did but whatever. I thought Tim Calhoun saved update and would give it *** on him alone. My favorite recurring character right now, no doubt. And I'll be honest, Horatio and Amy does not work but I really hated Amy and Tina so it's nice to have a break from that. I think the thing that I prefer is the guy-girl dynamic, things just work a lot better that way instead of having Amy play Jimmy Fallon to Tina Fey's, um, Tina Fey. I like the new guys, they all seem to have potential, it will be interesting to see if any of them are able to break out. Maybe give one of them Update since its obivouse Seth is never gonna get to have a chance?

[Ted the Poster 0]

Heder couldn't have been a great host, IMO. His style is smart/dry humor, which SNL is usually not. He could've been great as Tim Calhoun's new running mate though.

[SuperJerk 0]

Ashlee Simpson ‘Catch Me If I Fall’

Thoughts- I will give SNL credit for not making any jokes about last year’s incident, since well, that would suck. Of course SNL shouldn’t have booked Ashlee anyway but that’s another rant for another day. Ashlee also looked hideous here, as I don’t get why chose to look like she was pregnant. The song was dreadfully dull too. Yea, I really don’t like Ashlee too much. ¾*

 

Owned.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Ashlee also looked hideous here

 

She looked like Marv from Sin City

[bob_barron 0]

I thought Tim Calhoun saved update and would give it *** on him alone. My favorite recurring character right now, no doubt. And I'll be honest, Horatio and Amy does not work but I really hated Amy and Tina so it's nice to have a break from that. I think the thing that I prefer is the guy-girl dynamic, things just work a lot better that way instead of having Amy play Jimmy Fallon to Tina Fey's, um, Tina Fey. I like the new guys, they all seem to have potential, it will be interesting to see if any of them are able to break out.

 

Calhoun was awesome, but when most of the jokes in WU misfire, I have to give it the rating it deserves.

 

I like having a break from Tina, but Horatio is not the answer. And Amy is still awful.

 

Bill Hader looks like he might work at WU, I wouldn't mind seeing him get a shot.

 

Heder couldn't have been a great host, IMO. His style is smart/dry humor, which SNL is usually not. He could've been great as Tim Calhoun's new running mate though.

 

Yea, I thought him and Forte could've worked well together. I had hope for Heder since I viewed Napoleon Dynamite to be like an SNL episode, but I guess he was nervous.

 

She looked like Marv from Sin City

 

Owned part 2.

[Mole 0]

Why did Fey leave Weekend Update?

[bob_barron 0]

She didn't, she just took some time off.

 

She had a baby.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Did they have a new episode this week or not? I was at a wedding so I wasn't around.

[Black Lushus 0]

no it was a "Best Of" featuring David Spade...not sure he had many Best Of moments, but whatever...

[Mecha Mummy 0]

I actually liked the Wolfman sketch. "IDIOTS! I will drink your BLOOD!" cracked me up, but that was partially because Heder's delivery was so weird on it. Plus when he audibly fucked up his line on "These things... these CHAINS!" I laughed.

 

But everything else I saw disappointed me and I turned the TV off when Horatio Sanz showed up as the Update co-anchor again. Had I known there was giong to be a Tim Calhoun bit I would have changed my mind.

[Black Lushus 0]

my problem with Heder is that he still talks like Napoleon Dynamite even when he's not playing said character...I just couldn't shake that annoyance out of my head the entire episode...