SNL Review

[bob_barron 0]

SNL Review- Michael Phelps/Lil’ Wayne

 

I promise to review the season finale from May sometime. I swear.

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Amy Poehler, Tina Fey

Thoughts- The Weekend Update dream team is back! As much as I’m not into Tina anymore, you really can’t fault SNL for this one. They had to do it, and it was absolutely the right move. I do love that Sarah Palin said she dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween. How do you dress up as Tina Fey? Did she draw a big scar on her face? This was very funny, and lots of great lines here. I thought Tina’s accent was a bit too Fargo heavy, and yes I googled flurge too and am still confused.

 

The Hillary rant at the end was a bit much, but this was a fun way to kick off the show. Assuming Tina can’t always play Palin, they should probably wait a few weeks before they do it again. ***3/4

 

Monologue

Cast- William Shatner, Debbie Phelps, Michael Phelps, Poehler, Forte

Thoughts- Interesting that Phelps said this was the 9th greatest moment of his life. That must be discounting his medals that he won in 2004. While Phelps was obviously awkward and out of place, again, they had to pick him for the season premiere. It was cool seeing Shatner on SNL, though some of the timing seemed off in this one. **3/4

 

Quiz Bowl

Cast- Pheps, Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson, Forte, Kristen Wiig, Casey Wilson, Bobby Moynihan

Thoughts- Is it wrong that Casey barking like a dog turned me on? And congrats to Bobby Moynihan for making his SNL debut. Admittedly I’m not a big fan of his. This was a pretty lame first skit of the season as the big joke of the skit just didn’t work. And of course, Michael Phelps did nothing. **

 

Jars

Cast- Wiig, Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Moynihan, Thompson

Thoughts- I don’t know why but Kristen’s facials were perfect either. As was Kenan’s face when he sentenced her to jail. That was great. ***

 

Swim Meet

Cast- Phelps, Forte, Andy Samberg, Thompson, Armisen, Sudeikis, Hader, Moynihan

Thoughts- See, it’s funny, because he’s playing a swimmer who isn’t good at swimming when in reality he’s won all those gold medals! I didn’t like this during the Peyton show, and I didn’t like it here. A few funny lines by Forte does make up for mindless dancing. *

 

The Cousins

Cast- Phelps, Poehler, Hader, Wiig, Samberg, Thompson, Hader, Wilson

Thoughts- I like this skit a lot for some reason, and I loved that they explained Seth Rogen’s absence. I wanted to like this a lot more, but it just came off as really flat, and the audience didn’t seem to like it and the timing was a bit off. But again, Kristen’s facials were killing it here and I liked “It’s a Nintendo WII!” ***

 

Lil’ Wayne

Thoughts- Not a big fan of this guy, his raps don’t do it for me. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the whole song since I didn’t catch the show live, but I watched enough. **

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Poehler, Seth Meyers, Forte, Armisen, Samberg

Thoughts- I really hope when Amy leaves after Election Day, we get Seth doing it solo. The co-anchor thing is fine, but I’d love to see someone do it alone. We haven’t had that in nine years, isn’t that crazy?

 

The jokes weren’t great, but they were good enough. Forte as Alaska Pete was really funny and I loved the story about getting the girl pregnant. Fred’s Nicholas Faine has got to go. It’s just not funny anymore, and I don’t even remember if it was funny to begin with. And Andy’s Cathy was just disturbing.

 

And wow, I can’t believe someone wanted to name a street after Jose Canseco. I mean really, the 40/40 thing isn’t that cool.

 

Not the way I wanted Update to kick off the season, but hopefully it will get better. And given that she’s pregnant, holy lord, Amy was in a lot of skits tonight. ***1/4

 

Charles Barkley Show

Cast- Phelps, Darrell Hammond, Thompson

Thoughts- I wonder what would happen if Darrell left the show. What would he do with his life? The Bela thing was lame, and wow, Michael Phelps played himself. How about that.

 

Charles Barkley’s story about winning a gold medal in 1992 was hilarious. Also, SNL conveniently ignores the fact that he won a gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta. The Bolt bit was also pretty funny.

 

Kenan’s impression isn’t even that accurate. **1/2

 

T-Mobile 5

Cast- Phelps, Wiig, Sudeikis, Wilson

Thoughts- This was a nice late in the show gem, though Casey shouldn’t swear sweaters. Kristen looked weird though. I liked seeing Jason dig himself into a deeper hole as the skit went on, and the Travelodge line killed me. But why did Jason have to leave the phone? It’s his phone, and he’s divorcing his wife. ***1/2

 

SNL Digital Short

Cast- Phelps, Samberg, Sudeikis, Hader, Wilson

Thoughts- Yes, I still think they do drugs at SNL. The first half of this skit was really bad, but then as the Games fell apart it got funnier. The totally cancelled was montage was awesome. I’ll basically Tom Green this one, since it was just loopy. Kind of weird that they put the Digital Short so late in the show. **1/2

 

Uno

Cast- Phelps, Poehler, Thompson, Moynihan,

Thoughts- When I heard they hired Moynihan I hung my head, since I’ve seen him at UCB before and he’s terrible. And wow, this skit confirmed it. Hopefully he’ll get Riggled and go back to doing ESPN’s Bracketology commercials. DUD

 

Lil’ Wayne

Thoughts- Really, Michael Phelps/Lil Wayne is the worst season premiere combination since…none/The Thompson Twins. *

 

Michael Phelps Diet

Cast- Jared Fogel, Phelps, Wilson, Forte, Poehler

Thoughts- Hey look, Michael Phelps is playing himself again! And he couldn’t even say his lines. This just wasn’t funny, and I can’t believe they even got Jared Fogel to cameo. That’s just embarassing. Casey eating cake frosting though…hot. *

 

The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.23 making this a thumbs down show. As with every show hosted by a non-actor, the cast and writers were forced to write around the hosts’ limitations thus hurting the skits they could do. Phelps was a terrible host, as expected, and all the smoke and mirrors and cameos could not make up for the fact that he can swim a medley, yet can’t read cue cards. Given that it was a season premiere hosted by an athlete, I won’t be too down on the show, but hopefully they can do well with real actors.

 

Thumbs Down

 

[Mik 0]

Hated the digital short when I watched it but the "space luge...totally cancelled" part has been stuck in my head off and on. It was pretty funny.

 

LOVE Kenan's Barkley and the story about the dream team and Michael Jordan was great. Phelps sucked balls... didn't laugh at a single thing he did.

 

Cold opening was the best, obviously, but it was also kind of a slam dunk for them.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

It's funny when I read these, because I usually disagree with everything you have to say about the skits individually, but then at the bottom when you give a conclusion on the show I end up agreeing. Hm.

[Chazz 0]

What did that new cast member, Bobby Moynihan, do before he came to SNL?

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

The word in the Hillary/Palin skit is "Flerg"

 

Which according to the urban dictionary means "penis that is not erect"

 

Took me awhile to find it

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

That Moynahan dude is like a skinnier, shittier Horatio Sanz.