SNL Review

[bob_barron 0]

SNL Review- Jason Lee/ Foo Fighters

 

Sports Report-

 

Leafs- Not the best week for the Leafs (That game against the Sabres was hard to watch), but tonight’s game against the Habs was great. Not only did they ruin a “special” night for the Canadiens, but they won in overtime. They’re still not a great time, but they’re treading water in a very tough division.

 

Canucks- They were off to that great start, but Miika Kiprusoff seemed to make sure that good start got derailed pretty quickly. I think people realised that Auld really isn’t that good, and the Canucks need Cloutier to be successful. Hopefully Bertuzzi can start producing and Cloots can come back strong.

 

Nets- Been an interesting start for the Nets. Vince has been good for the most part but their defence hasn’t been strong as it’s been in recent seasons. And that game against the Heat was bullshit. I do wish Coach Frank would play Antoine Wright. Guy’s got promise, and making him ride the bench is pointless.

 

Saints- So much for inspiring a city, I guess. The 2001 Yankees they are not.

 

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

 

Chad Ruffner writes-

 

Raw this past Monday was the least enjoyable program The Company has put on since they moved back to USA, IMO. This show reminded me of the type of programming that was offered In the last few months of their tenure with Spike T.V. I.E. slow, boring, and with huge gaps of internal logic. Speaking of which, Bischoff "censoring" the live crowd so Angle would wrestle In The Main Event ranks right up there with the "best" of them. Did the writers really think that by having Bischoff edit out the "you suck" chants by the live crowd on T.V. that Angle somehow couldn't hear them In the arena? Worse yet, It made Angle look like a complete moron to come down to the ring for The M.E. and sell that he couldn't hear their chants. Whatever. Then they had Daivari come back from exile for whatever reason and be the special guest referee for The M.E. Last time I checked, Daivari was on Smackdown! Shouldn't they have announced that he was traded for someone on the Raw roster? After all, they bothered to announce that 2 for 2 Divas trade after this past year's Summer- Slam, so why wouldn't they do It here? Then again Daivari hasn't been seen since July, so I guess were supposed to forget all about his S.D. tenure. Finally, we had Raw G.M. Bischoff announce that Edge will be facing Batista In a "Street Fight" on Smackdown! this Friday. Um, how does the opposing General Manager for one show make matches for the other? They could have at least had Bischoff say he consulted with Smackdown G.M. Teddy Long before making the match. I realize that I maybe am thinking to hard here, but It wouldn't be half as frustrating If It was actually a hard problem to fix. It would take all of 5-10 minutes to correct during the booking meetings. Then again Vince and Co. haven't thought these things haven't been Important for the last few years, so the chances of It becoming relevant anytime soon are slim. The only things positive I can say about The Show was the debut of Joey Styles as play by play man, (hopefully he'll be full time at the position If Ross doesn't come back), and the absence of The McMahon family. One of The Company's 4 biggest PPV's of the year is in less than 3 weeks, so I hope they do a hell of a better job In the next 2 weeks promoting It then they did Monday. Thumbs Down. What Did You Think? Chad **P.S. Sorry I was so long winded. I was just In the bitching mood!**

 

I’m sure the people at S-N-L.com will be loving this one. RAW was an okay show this week. Daivari going to RAW can be explained. After Hassan got injured, Teddy Long said he didn’t care what happened to them and they could go to hell for all he cared. So he probably told Daivari he was persona non grata and he went back to RAW. The Edge-Batista thing was probably okayed by Teddy Long, since he probably assumed Big Dave would kick his ass. I thought RAW was okay, but to be honest, I was flipping back and forth between that and Colts v. Pats.

 

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

 

And of course, with my birthday 4 days away, I’d be remiss in not plugging my Amazon Wish List:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry...d=3KQ1O3J0CCIYY

 

And now the review…

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Darrell Hammond, Amy Poehler, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis

Thoughts- Generally, being sober is a good way to make sure that you read the cue cards correctly and don’t trip over your words. I’m not implying anything, just making a public service announcement. Compared to other Hardballs, this came off pretty flat. The opening bit with Scott McClellan was pretty lame and didn’t do anything for me. I thought the Nancy Pelosi bit was funny, and I loved Amy zipping up her mouth at the end. As usual, the highlight was Forte as Zell Miller. I loved him talking about needing a door knob and some pliers (WTF?) and while he didn’t go full on psycho, maybe it’s good for Forte’s health that he doesn’t. The first half of this Hardball was pretty blah, but the second half did a good job of saving it. ***1/4

 

Monologue

Cast- Lorne Michaels, Jason Lee, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Finesse Mitchell, Horatio Sanz, Andy Samberg

Thoughts- I actually thought Jason Lee’s moustache was just a prop for My Name Is Earl. I didn’t know he actually had to walk around with that damn thing on. Seeing people falling while skateboarding is always funny. In fact, on campus, they used to have this place where people would skateboard. But they were all really horrible, so I could spend all day watching people attempt to do crazy tricks and fall flat on their ass. Watching Jason Lee pull of those skateboarding moves was impressive though. Kenan crashing through the wall and Lorne’s awesome skateboarding were the two highlights of an otherwise lame monologue. **1/4

 

Jack Johnson’s Barefoot Thingies Whatever

Cast- Forte, Poehler, Mitchell, Rachel Dratch, Poehler, Bill Hader, Samberg

Thoughts- Here’s my problem with this skit. Well besides the fact that it wasn’t funny and ripping on Jack Johnson is quite an out there person to be ripping on.

 

People who go barefoot, obviously like the feeling of being barefoot or else they would wear shoes like everyone else. So why would anyone wear barefoot shoes? I mean you’re not barefoot, as you would have padding underneath your feet, thus deleting the whole point of wanting to go barefoot in the first place. Plus, people who go barefoot all the time, generally do it to be different and not conform to society. So wearing a barefoot like shoe is conforming and giving into the man, something I’m sure is a no-no in the barefoot community.

 

I mean seriously, this is almost as bad as the time SNL did a skit about a talking movie….in 1923. Surely there’s someone out there that knows their continuity! DUD

 

Good Morning Meth!

Cast- Lee, Poehler, Thompson, Forte, Hader, Sudeikis

Thoughts- An interesting idea for a skit, but they didn’t make it interesting enough to keep me from wondering whether I should switch to the Flames v. Avalanche game. It just wasn’t as funny as it could’ve or should’ve been. I thought the cooking segment was pretty bad. Forte was awesome as Keith the vacuumer (which is not a word according to MS Word) and I thought Kenan was his usual funny self. Other then that, this was just some flat attempts at drug humour with an inspired attempt by Forte to save it. **3/4

 

Falconer

Cast- Lee, Forte

Thoughts- I’ll say it: I thought this edition of the Falconer was very funny, and both Forte and Lee did an excellent job. They did a great job of playing beat the censor and it had some very funny moments. I thought Lee and Donald going down on each other was funny if nothing else, and like I said, I’m surprised some of it got on TV. I think the highlight for me was Lee giving Forte the briefcase, then taking it back and calling him a dickweed for questioning it all. I’m not up and going to become a Falconer fan or anything since I still don’t like it, but this was really good stuff. ***3/4

 

Thomas and Dobbs

Cast- Poehler, Mitchell

Thoughts- This was a MUCH better commercial then the Jack Johnson one. I loved the chart of Amy’s investments in various lottery funds, as well Amy talking about the Beanie Baby bust of years ago and the random comment of her showing up her mother. They really should’ve aired this earlier, and saved Jack Johnson for the death slot or just not aired it at all. ***

 

Soaking Wet Killer

Cast- Lee, Sudeikis, Kristen Wiig

Thoughts- Welcome to the show Kristen Wiig. A skit like this isn’t really a good way to gauge how good she is. It seemed like they were trying to go for easy laughs to get the crowd into it, so the payoff would be worth it, and it just didn’t work, since the easy laughs didn’t work. I think a skit like this could work, but this just had bad timing and you could see everything coming a mile away. I didn’t really like the payoff, since we never got to see what happened to Lee’s character anyway. So not off to a good start for Wiig. *

 

Refurbishments

Cast- Lee, Armisen, Dratch, Parnell

Thoughts- You all know I had to love this one. As I explained in the Cork Soakers skit, cock is one of my favourite words in the English language, and thus any skit based around it, I will love. Again, I don’t know how they got this past the censors but God bless them for it. This was hilarious, and probably my favourite skit of the young season. Tons of great double entendres, and Parnell did his usual great Chris Parnell performance that he does in these skits. His pronunciation of cock sold this skit for me. Jason Lee was awesome as well, and I was laughing almost the whole time. It never lost steam and even had a good ending too. ****1/2

 

Foo Fighters ‘DOA’

Thoughts- I really like the Foo Fighters and they are really good live. The crowd was really into it and Dave Grohl and the rest of the band seemed to be having a lot of fun up there, which always adds to the performances. Not much to say about this one, it was just the Foo Fighters going out there and kicking ass for a few minutes. ***3/4

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Tina Fey, Poehler, Armisen, Mitchell, Thompson, Hader, Samberg

Thoughts- I’m not going to go off on the playing with Barbies thing because I had a simple solution to fixing it, that didn’t exist last year: I flipped to Flames v. Avalanche and watched the end of the game. I’m just going to freely admit that even if it was not horrible, I probably wouldn’t have laughed anyway. The positive is that there were some good jokes amidst the array of clunkers, although as usual, Tina’s constant laughing bothered me. Andy Samberg’s commentary wasn’t very good except for the beginning where he talked about the death penalty. The bit with the French guys was okay. I thought Hader was really funny, and Fred surrending was cute, but the kids weren’t needed. I always enjoy seeing Donovan and Mama McNabb at the Update desk, and this was no different. I especially liked Mama McNabb scolding Donovan on the Campbell’s catchphrase and her telling Tina to eat her Chunky soup. The usual iffy Update, but it did have some nice highlights. My new rule is: As long as there is a good hockey game on, Tina and Amy playing with Barbies isn’t that horrible. **1/4

 

I Like Big Butts And I Cannot Lie

Cast- Lee, Parnell, Fey, Poehler, Forte, Wiig

Thoughts- Now my idea when I saw the setup for the skit was that there’d be a surprise baby shower for a couple, but the twist would be that the couple just came back from having an abortion. Can you say awkward? Okay maybe it’s not the greatest, but it’s certainly better then what this was. I thought Parnell was funny, but really, there’s only so much you can do with a lame premise like this. The ending with Will Forte was quite random and pretty out of place. *1/2

 

Stachin’

Cast- Lee, Seth Meyers, Parnell, Armisen, Dratch, Sanz, Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis

Thoughts- I admittedly missed the beginning of this because I accidentally had it on CBC. I did like Seth’s moustache in this skit, and thought he was funny, as was Lee. The concept of a moustache rider is funny, but of course Horatio had to ruin it. The best part was the exchange between Seth and Parnell, and it really saved the skit. (“How did the fire start?” Oh well burning down a synagogue.”) Gold. Parnell really had a good night tonight, maybe Thick and Thin reinvigorated him or something. **1/4

 

Foo Fighters ‘Best Of You’

Thoughts- I thought this was good, but overlong. The hook was kind of annoying, and the song seemed a bit pretentious and self-indulgent. I mean, I get the message Dave, no need to hammer it home like he did. Anyway, despite my complaints this was fine. ***

 

American Tazer

Cast- Lee, Parnell, Hammond, Meyers, Poehler, Dratch, Fortem Thompson, Mitchell, Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis

Thoughts- Too many names to type. There were about 12 mini-segments here and I only thought two of them were funny. Seth was good and I loved Forte tazing his wife and talking about the domestic tazer. Nothing else in this skit really worked for me. And seriously, Seth should be in more then two skits, supervising writing or not. *1/2

 

The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.5 making this just barely a thumbs up. I actually had it at thumbs in the middle, but felt the Falconer should get an upgrade and that’s what pushed it over the top. Given how great Lee is on My Name Is Earl this could be considered a mild disappointment, but given the last three SNLs, I feel I should accept a good show and not get greedy. There was one great skit, a good musical guest and some good stuff scattered throughout. My one complaint is that too many skits have lame premises and set-ups that give them no chance at succeeding, and you essentially have dead air. They need to find a way to fix this, because it’s getting tiring watching skits with no chance of survival continue to skit. I don’t watch Desperate Housewives so I really have no expectations for next week’s show, but hopefully they can cut down on some of the crap and produce a good show.

 

Thumbs Up

[Mik 0]

Horatio's mustache rider was a trainwreck.

 

Didn't really love anything, and I didn't really hate anything except the Horatio skit - so It was just there.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I rarely yell at the TV like a crotchety old man, but my bitterness at having to watch SNL combined with Horatio just led me down that road last night. Honestly, he's been rehearsing that ALL WEEK. What, did he just get the joke? Whatta hack.

[razazteca 0]

Why was Finesse Mitchell in almost every skit and did all of the good writers quit?

[ZGangsta 0]

So why is Seth Meyers barely on this show anymore?

[starvenger 0]

Why was Finesse Mitchell in almost every skit and did all of the good writers quit?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What's wrong with Finesse being in more skits? He was barely on the radar at times last year.

 

I have to admit that when I first saw "Good Morning, Meth" I thought we were getting a "wha' happened?" 'Wake Up, Wakefield' sketch. Thankfully, it didn't happen.

 

Falconer - good lord, that was just wrong. Disgustingly funny though.

 

Refurbishments - This is the kind of stuff Dean Blundell (the guy on Edge102 in Toronto) should be playing when he does the "Ho Improvement" contest. He should go back to the "Pike or Porn" contets that he did in Windsor. Anyways, you can't go wrong with juvenile humour.

Edited November 14, 2005 by starvenger

[bob_barron 0]

I think Seth is barely in skits because of his new role of writing supervisor.

[razazteca 0]

Why was Finesse Mitchell in almost every skit and did all of the good writers quit?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What's wrong with Finesse being in more skits? He was barely on the radar at times last year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just surprised that Finesse was still on the show. I thought the only characters he did were Kobe or McNabb or that ghetto chick.

[St. Gabe 0]

cock is one of my favourite words in the English language

 

 

We Know.

[bob_barron 0]

Your hatred for me makes me laugh.

[Ted the Poster 0]

Does other people's?

[bob_barron 0]

Yes

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

I missed about the first hour of this episode, but I don't really care since I'm only watching now because of Ardy, and I thought he was decent on Weekend Update, and looked fairly sleazy for the Mustache Rides commercial that Sanz had to fuck up.

 

This brings me to a question: What is Lorne Michaels doing in the photographs that Horatio has that allows him to keep a job on the show?