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SNL Review

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SNL Review- Ellen Page/Wilco

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Senator Hillary Clinton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Will Forte, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Darrell Hammond

Thoughts- I fail to see the point in doing the exact same cold opening from a week ago. I’m sure Lorne got a boner over the media coverage that Hillary being a whiny bitch got, but there was really nothing to add here. The media likes Obama, we get it. I liked Will’s Brian Williams impression, but I’m still not feeling Fred’s Obama. Hopefully in the offseason, they’ll hire a black guy who can do the impression. No matter how good he is (which he’s not), Fred doing the impression just looks so bad. Hillary’s cameo was okay, but it just reeks of desperation. SNL made fun of the campaign, get over it. I bet Mitt Romney is mad that he never thought to cameo on SNL. That would’ve been something to say. Given that Downey has never been a fan of impersonator meets the person they impersonate, I’m sure he was thrilled with Hillary’s cameo. Time to find another thing to mock, guys. **1/4

 

Monologue

Cast- Ellen Page, Andy Samberg

Thoughts- Ellen Page looks 12. That leather jacket was just sad. She also seemed way too nervous, as she talked too fast. That’s what the drugs are for, Ellen! Andy was very funny as Diablo Cody, I think this might have been the first time I liked him in a monologue. The mocking of Juno got a bit much, but this was still a fun monologue. ***

 

Dakota Fanning Show

Cast- Page, Poehler, Kenan Thompson, Armisen, Jason Sudeikis, Casey Wilson

Thoughts- Dakota Fanning sure fell off the face of the earth. I’m still waiting for the movie where she gets raped to come out. A quick check of imdb reveals that while she has some films in the can, none of them have a release date. I don’t see why a show like the Dakota Fanning Show would really need writers since it’s just her interviewing someone. Then again, given Dakota’s character, she seems like someone who would not want to break a strike. I loved the Dakota Fanning Jaywalking segment and I always enjoy her exchanges with Reggie. Great stuff. Page was terrible here, and really brought the skit down. Her portrayal of Miley was incredibly off. I didn’t know Miley was an overly hyperactive girl from Halifax. Oh wait, she’s not. You can win accolades for playing a pregnant girl, but can’t portray Miley Cyrus? Come on Ellen! Still, this was a fun skit and one of the recurring characters I enjoy. ***3/4

 

TV Funhouse

Thoughts- No idea how Smigel thought this was a good idea. I get what he was going for, but it really just didn’t work. The fact that no one sounded like the people they were impersonating didn’t help. Another Smigel misfire. *

 

College for Excellence

Cast- Page, Armisen, Kristen Wiig, Thompson, Samberg

Thoughts- Was this supposed to be the same character as Fred’s MARBLE CAHLUMS guy? Either way, it was still pretty bad. There were some funny moments here and there, and I liked where Fred tried to explain why his college was above a Korean restaurant and Andy awkwardly walking in and looking at the camera. Fred’s long winded defence of his college killed this one though. *1/2

 

The Other Boleyn Girls

Cast- Page, Sudeikis, Armisen, Hammond Wiig, Thompson, Wilson

Thoughts- Really? The Other Boleyn Girl? I understand spoofing There Will Be Blood given that the Oscars were the next day, but really, another weird movie to decide to spoof. Jason was fun as the king, and I enjoyed Kenan, but the rest was junk. For the record, I’d pick Casey Wilson over Ellen Page. **

 

SNL Digital Short

Cast- Page, Samberg, Sudeikis, Wiig

Thoughts- Apparently Jorma is off in Los Angeles, so I guess that leaves Akiva to carry the load. I wonder if that’s why the last two digital shorts have not been that great. This one was more scary than funny if anything. Come on, a few times you felt like you were in a Japanese horror film. The ending with Dracula and Wiig was actually pretty funny, even though I felt this went a bit too long. **1/2

 

Wilco

Thoughts- I don’t know anything about Wilco, but I do know I went to Letterman when they were on and I met them. I don’t actually know who I met though. Anyway, this was alright, even though I admit I wasn’t paying too much attention to it. **3/4

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Mayor Rudy Guiliani, Meyers, Poehler, Armisen

Thoughts- Weekend Update, the place where flailing Republicans go to vent. I anxiously await a commentary from Mitt Romney next week. Or maybe we’ll get Fred Dalton Thompson! I wonder if Rudy and Thompson had a secret contest to see who could run the worse campaign. I thought Rudy’s commentary was really funny, even though his delivery was terrible. Fred’s commentary was terrible, he has some ratio on Update where for every funny commentary he has about seven terrible times. Amy was okay, but had a few too many clunkers for my liking. Seth’s jokes were really good, and we didn’t have any awful vote for Hillary commentaries! ***1/4

 

Virginiaca

Cast- Page, Thompson, Samberg,

Thoughts- Ugh, I hate this character. While Kenan in drag is usually good for a laugh, Virginiaca is just terrible and Page couldn’t save this one. Andy made me laugh once or twice, but let’s put this character out to pasture. ½*

 

Peter Pan

Cast- Page, Hader, Thompson, Forte, Armisen, Sudeikis, Poehler

Thoughts- What WAS this? Seriously, in the past two weeks some of these skit ideas have been awful. I did laugh at them killing Tinkerbell and her coming back to life, but the rest was terrible. ½*

 

Wilco

Thoughts- Well at least the musical guest came through tonight. I liked this song, it had a good sound to it. ***1/4

 

Aftermath of Melissa Ethridge

Cast- Page, Samberg

Thoughts- This skit was just weird. I’ve never seen a host basically come out of the closet in a skit before. And apparently, this skit was written by Paula Pell, a huge lesbian. My gaydar definitely was beeping a little throughout the show and it was beeping off the charts during this skit. Come on, you know she’s gotta be gay. This was terrible, but the surreal nature of this skit and the sweet ending meant I couldn’t completely write it off. *

 

The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was **.1 making this a thumbs down. Like last week, many of the skits were flat and uninspiring. Ellen Page added nothing, and was generally a bland host. Hopefully they can shake the rust off for next week, since the ever awesome Amy Adams is hosting, and if they can’t get a good show with her, then that’s just sad. At least we learned Ellen Page is a huge lesbo if nothing else.

 

Thumbs Down

 

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I laughed more at Peter Pan then most of the show. Pretty weak through. And I said to my girlfriend right before he popped up "you know Kennan is the next Boleyn girl."

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That lesbian sketch might be the most surreal sketch in the history of the show.

 

The fact that Paula Pell of all people wrote it makes it even more bizarre.

 

There's been a debate about whether Page came out of the closet last night and after re-watching the sketch it's pretty obvious she did

 

And like I said in the other thread Page was not ready to host the show. Her impressions were terrible, she couldn't maintain the accents she was supposed to have and seemed nervous.

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That lesbian sketch might be the most surreal sketch in the history of the show.

 

The fact that Paula Pell of all people wrote it makes it even more bizarre.

 

There's been a debate about whether Page came out of the closet last night and after re-watching the sketch it's pretty obvious she did

 

I don't think that was her coming out. I think it was making light of the talk about her being gay

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That lesbian sketch might be the most surreal sketch in the history of the show.

 

The fact that Paula Pell of all people wrote it makes it even more bizarre.

 

There's been a debate about whether Page came out of the closet last night and after re-watching the sketch it's pretty obvious she did

 

It's just a weird skit. I really don't get it. The minute my friend told me Pell wrote it, I thought: I knew it!

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I will agree that the ending of the sketch, with Page running her hands through Samberg's hair followed by the hug was a great moment. It really was "sweet" (as sweet as an SNL sketch can be). The audience's clapping, not necessarily laughing at the end also made it seem poignant

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