SNL Review

[bob_barron 0]

SNL Review- Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys

 

Sports Report-

 

Leafs- Their playoff hopes are very slim, but they’ve done well in their last three games and kicked Tampa’s ass tonight. They have some rough games coming up that will show whether they deserve to be in the playoffs.

 

Canucks- Even though they lost tonight, I think this team can still win the division or get a high seed in the playoffs. They have the defensive depth and can finally rest Auld.

 

Nets- They’ve also had a rough week. Not much to say, other then that they are playing very uninspiring basketball. Luckily, they can afford to since their division sucks.

 

Mailbag!!!!!!-

 

Hey Bob-

 

I don’t know if there’s going to be another live SNL before

Wrestlemania, so I might as well give you my predictions now. I know the full card

hasn’t been revealed yet, but the lineup is as uninspiring as it

already is. Anyway, here are my predictions-

 

Cena v. HHH- HHH will go over, I guess. I don’t really care since I

don’t like either guy. But it’ll be interesting if they’ll give HHH any

face spots, and if the Chicago crowd will turn on Cena.

 

Angle v. Rey v. Orton- Rey Rey will go over, but I think a virtual

cruiserweight winning the World Title is ridiculous. But I guess there

should be a face world title change at every Mania.

 

Vince v. HBK- HBK gets the win one way or another, but I don’t care too

much about this one either. I’m just interested in seeing what kind of

chicanery they’ll book.

 

Taker v. Henry- Duh! The casket match element only makes this match

sound much worse than it will most likely be.

 

Foley v. Edge- Edge goes over, I hope. Foley has no reason to win.

Should be an fun brutal match. But the angle between these two has been

very forgettable.

 

Money in the Bank 2- Either Shelton or RVD will take this one, since

both guys are obviously being pushed. The SD! participants (whoever they

will be) won’t be a factor, since SD! lacks solid world title contender

talent right now.

 

Benoit v. JBL- Benoit retains. Probably by using the Sharpshooter to

pay homage to Bret.

 

Kane/Show v. Masters/CCC- I predict I’ll be in the john during this

one.

 

So what are your predictions, Bob? Which world title main event do

think will close the show?

 

Later,

 

Ken

 

I think HHH will go over and the match will suck. I have a feeling Angle’s retaining. Rey’s really over now, so I have no problem with him in the main. Vince-HBK will be total smoke and mirrors and be entertaining, Taker will win, Foley v. Edge depends on Foley’s shape. I don’t know enough about MITB 2 even though I think Flair or RVD will in it, Benoit v. JBL should be really good with Benoit winning. I don’t know about the tag title match but I think it won’t be that bad.

 

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

 

And now the review….

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Chris Parnell, Rachel Dratch, Finesse Mitchell, Kristin Wiig,

Thoughts- I can’t even remember the last time the cold opening was a regular skit with nothing political or anything. This wasn’t very good. What was Paula Pell doing back? I have to say that Chris Parnell is a smart guy for not leaving to do Thick and Thin, considering it’s probably going to get Emily Reason’s Why Noted. There were a few laughs here and there but this was a poor choice for a cold opener. I did like the part where Maya talked about her friend who went to a place near Haiti though. **

 

Monologue

Cast- Matt Dillon

Thoughts- While I liked the references to Crash, I thought the monologue would’ve been cool had they had some storylines and tried to interlock them together. It took a little bit for this to get going but once it got going, I enjoyed it. I LOVE that Dillon thanked the Arabs in Crash, which is a great reference to the film, since the people in the movie weren’t Arabs, they were Persians. I don’t think anyone in the audience got that though and it took me a minute too. ***1/2

 

PrisonMate

Cast- Dratch, Mitchell, Poehler, Wiig

Thoughts- For a second I thought they were rerunning the meharmony skit but instead they went this route. This would’ve been better had the people been gay or something and they could’ve made prison rape jokes or something. This was pretty lame, and I hope they don’t repeat it 90 times. *

 

Sportscenter

Cast- Dillon, Seth Meyers, Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, Will Forte, Bill Hader

Thoughts- Stuart Scott Boo-Ya Jokes are so well whenever Stuart Scott started on Sportscenter. This just seemed to fall flat, as Kenan wasn’t that good as Barry Bonds. Dillion was okay as the shady sterioid guy but I think my favourite part was the bit with the Giants mascot getting injected with a needle. The rest just didn’t work. **

 

SNL Digital Short

Cast- Meyers, Forte, Sanz, Andy Samberg

Thoughts- I’m glad they decided to not try and rip-off Lazy Sunday this week. This was going pretty eh until the ending which was awesome. I just love how they randomly pulled out a gun, had to shoot someone and then at the end realised they shot the wrong guy. The SNL Digital Shorts have been a very positive addition to SNL. ***

 

2 A-Holes…

Cast- Dillon, Jason Sudeikis, Wiig

Thoughts- It was good to see these characters brought back. Sudeikis and Wiig do a good job playing off each other and Sudeikis is great in this role. I wasn’t really feeling Dillon as the straight man but Sudeikis is really good, so it’s okay. I liked the part where Wiig wanted to fly on the aeroplane and the bit about Hogwarts was hilarious. Dillon getting angry didn’t work with the rest of the skit, but it didn’t bring down the skit that much. I would definitely love to see these guys back again. ***1/2

 

Sushi Restaurant

Cast- Dillon, Rudolph

Thoughts- I’m still trying to figure this one out. Dillon seemed lost, although I don’t know if he was supposed to be or whatever. SNL was going for something here, but I don’t really know what it was and I don’t think Dillon knew either. The line about fellatio was hilarious and one of the highlights of the night. I also liked Maya calling him a douche. The rest…not so much. *1/2

 

Jack Johnson’s Barefoot Thingies Whatever

Cast- Forte, Poehler, Mitchell, Dratch, Poehler, 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

 

Joplin Live

Cast- Hader, Sudeikis, Wiig, Samberg

Thoughts- Wow, that’s a lot of featured players. I also don’t really get what they were going for in this one as it seemed to end rather abruptly. Andy Samberg seemed to have gone to the “DUR BUUUUUUUURGER”school of French accents. Bill Hader was really funny here but was not used enough. Samberg’s role was okay but too random. I have a feeling this will probably be done again, and I wouldn’t mind that, since I think this does have potential. **

 

Arctic Monkey “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor”

Thoughts- Even though I flipped over a few times to Vancouver v. Dallas, I liked these guys. I usually like British rockers and these guys had cool Limey voices and a good sound. Considering I had never heard of them, they made a good impression. ***

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Tina Fey, Poehler, Forte, Sanz

Thoughts- Thank God for Will Forte, as he saved this Update from the gutter pit. The jokes were really bad. I mean seriously, how do some of these jokes make it past the pitch stage, let alone dress rehearsal, let alone into the live show. Tina is taping her pilot next Friday and hopefully it will get picked up, since that would rid us of Rachel too. It also has Alec Baldwin as the star, so it probably won’t even suck. So bonus. Horatio’s Dubai guy was stupid, as expected, but at least he didn’t crack up. I was very happy to see Will Forte back at the desk and this bit was hilarious. At first I thought he was going to do the singing bit with Fred, but this was great. I didn’t know Avril Lavigne was a Sunni! The jokes were really awful this week, hopefully another month break will help the girls. **1/4

 

Variety Vault

Cast- Dillon, Darrell Hammond, Wiig, Hader

Thoughts- Good to see Bill get to reprise his Vincent Price role. And I also loved SNL paying respect to Don Knotts with the impression. Darrell did a good impression and it was a nice gesture. Wiig also did a very good Katherine Hepburn, although one wonders if she watched the Aviator for inspiration. My favourite part was probably the bagpipers playing when Price was reading his ghoulish poem. Ron Sterling and Price arguing over Burgess Meredith was also really funny. This was really good, and I would like to see Hader used a lot more on the show. ***3/4

 

Inner Harmony

Cast- Dillon, Fred Armisen, Poehler, Wiig, Hader

Thoughts- This was a good idea, with a not so great execution. Fred and Wiig were funny just being relaxer people, while I couldn’t get into Dillon. This skit would’ve been better had they had Dillon swear and just bleep it out. The drawn out ending was funny at first, but got old fast. Why did Fred give in so easily and let him come back? Why not just let Dillon record his bit and then cut it out and not tell him? This would’ve spared the tacked on ending and the unnecessary Amy Poehler cameo. *3/4

 

Appalachian Emergency Room

Cast- Dillon, Meyers, Hammond, Poehler, Rudolph, Thompson, Parnell

Thoughts- Yep, this skit has been officially run into the ground. I think this skit shows that they did not have a lot of ideas for the week. The skit had a minor resurgence with the Jack Black episode, but come on, this was just badly recycled bits and they knew it. *1/2

 

Arctic Monkeys

Thoughts- I really liked the long solo at the beginning. The actual song itself was not great, but the solo was some good stuff. I also liked how the guy smashed the guitar and they just left the stage nonchalantly. ***

 

Unicorns

Cast- Dillon, Hader

Thoughts- I don’t think I realised unicorns weren’t real until a few years ago. I liked the last skit weirdness of it all, even though it really wasn’t that great. The line about not having to feed them because they feed off the dreams of the children was funny though. **1/4

 

The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was **.27 making this a thumbs in the middle show. This was a very mediocre show with a lot of skits falling flat, and a lot of the skits having really stupid ideas. I did like seeing the featured players get a lot of airtime, especially Bill Hader, who was very funny. Even though I’m a fan, Matt Dillon didn’t really impress me and did not make his presence felt on the show. I don’t know whether it was him or the show, but he just didn’t seem to quite fit in. I do hope Hader and Sudeikis continue to get prominent roles.

 

Thumbs in the Middle

[Guest Evolution]

Not made clear in the review: What's the second song that Arctic Monkeys played?

[I like Forums 0]

wow, you actually think Forte's part on Weekend Update was the best part of the segment?

 

It was terrible in every possible way.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The best part about this week's SNL was that Rock's 2000 episode was the classic episode.

[Mik 0]

Second song was "A Certain Romance".

 

I loved the unicorn skit. Hilarious.

 

And the Walmart joke during weekend update was pretty funny.

[EricMM 0]

Did you just complain about continuity or logic in a SNL review?

[Dr. Zaius 0]

The best part about this week's SNL was that Rock's 2000 episode was the classic episode.

Damn it! And I even checked my satelitte menu to see what it would be and it didn't mention it!

[Jericholic82 0]

The best part about this week's SNL was that Rock's 2000 episode was the classic episode.

cool, I didnt see it cuz I fell asleep after Impact. Thankfully I had the foresight to tape it in its original airing in 2000. Big show HHH, and Foley making cameos ruled all.

[bob_barron 0]

Not made clear in the review: What's the second song that Arctic Monkeys played?

 

I didn't know the name of the song, b/c I'm not familiar with the band. Thanks Mik for filling that in.

 

wow, you actually think Forte's part on Weekend Update was the best part of the segment?

 

I love Forte on Update, his bizarre shit always cracks me up.

 

The best part about this week's SNL was that Rock's 2000 episode was the classic episode.

 

Agreed. Last week's was Bruce Willis/Neil Young which was another excellent episode. Rock/AC/DC is one of my favourite episodes.

 

Did you just complain about continuity or logic in a SNL review?

 

Yes, I love doing that too.

[SuperJerk 0]

While I liked the references to Crash, I thought the monologue would’ve been cool had they had some storylines and tried to interlock them together.

Do you think enough people have seen Crash for that gag to work?

[bob_barron 0]

I think enough people know of it, since it won Best Picture.

 

Plus, it's New York. I assume the audience had seen it.