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SNL: Gabourey Sidibe and MGMT
ZOË RICE Gabourey Sidibe has been darling and funny in interviews…but how would she do at scripted comedy? The monologue really started for me with “I’m famous now. Suck it college.” And then came the cute little back up dancer outfits. Sometimes it just takes some early 60s spectacle and a big happy woman to put a smile on my face. I had to rewind a couple times to hear the the lyrics, and Gaby needs a better wig, but overall the monologue was very enjoyable, in large part because of Sidibe’s likability.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Wow. As Obama and the Democrats actually get tough on financial reform, SNL portrays him as acquiescing. Happy to see Obama humor-hell, this skit would have worked a month ago! But to do it as Democrats actually hold firm and Obama took Wall Street to task? It was as strange as having a sympathetic priest on the show two weeks ago.
SNL: Jude Law/Pearl Jam
C O L D O P E N :
ZOË RICE: Even just the intro to this week’s open was amusing, but the Eric Massa story easily lends itself to disbelieving humor. The part of this open that…
SNL Recap: Zach Galifianakis / Vampire Weekend
STEVE MURPHY: I think most actual Obama speeches are funnier than this sketch. Maybe they should stop calling this a “Cold Open” and start calling it the “Dead Open?”
ZOË RICE: Eh, the opening was just not that funny. They could have done something much more clever about healthcare.
HOWARD MEGDAL: This drags, and is utterly aimless. How hard would it have been to make fun of Democrats, Republicans or even the general public here? The target was nobody.
SNL Recap: Jennifer Lopez/Jennifer Lopez
HOWARD MEGDAL: A good idea, but I wonder if this dragged for me because I don’t care about these musical acts.
ZOË RICE: Solid open–SNL has history of spoofing We Are the World, and here I chuckled more than once at how they called out the participants. Farnsworth Bentley? Yeah, you gotta call that out.
STEVE MURPHY: I’ll one up Howard here and say that this was a great idea, done terribly. I do like though that even Jennifer Lopez seemed to acknowledge that she’s not famous enough to play herself in this sketch. The only saving grace was, as Zoe said, calling out the funny participants (Vince Vaughan?)… but couldn’t Update have done that in like 8 seconds and without all those terrible impressions?
SNL: Ashton Kutcher/Them Crooked Vultures
HOWARD MEGDAL: This one leaves me unimpressed. Pretty scattershot, and Gibbs wouldn’t appear on that panel, plus that isn’t remotely like Robert Gibbs. This one is overdone. Look, they show that Fox News is unbalanced. I already knew that. Even the Glenn Beck, by virtue of being material-free, wastes a good effort from Jason Sudeikis.
STEVE MURPHY: Not their worst… but not funny, either. Although I did enjoy looking at Abby Elliot.
ZOË RICE: The best thing about this open was Attractive Blonde Lady, which made me chuckle. Unfortunately the overall affect was slow, with a couple decent moments but not enough.
SNL: Jon Hamm/Michael Bublé
ZOË RICE: I had been looking forward to what SNL would do with the State of the Union! Every time I see Biden and Pelosi behind the President, I immediately think of Sudeikis and Wiig, and here yet again they’re just funny there in the background, gesticulating. I thought it was a solid open, with good use of senator reaction shots to enhance the laughs. Of course the healthcare bit at the end was kind of depressing, but the Martha Coakley jokes and the gags about how the Bushes left the White House were chucklers.
STEVE MURPHY: I agree with Zoe, this was a “chuckler.” A couple little jokes, a couple funny reaction shots… but nothing got knocked out of the park in this sketch. I was ready for it to end long before it did.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Awfully scattershot. When Al Franken wrote SNL political sketches, they had clear targets and an underlying understanding of political realities. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to shake my fist at some children on my front lawn.
SNL: Sigourney Weaver/The Ting Tings
HOWARD MEGDAL: A bit meandering, but just fantastic Larry King and Jay Leno impressions by Fred Armisen and Darrell Hammond, respectively. Surprised Letterman was so one-dimensional.
ZOË RICE: Sigourney Weaver looked gorgeous and elegant, unlike her hilarious 1986 self. Who knew her father was president of NBC? The monologue was rather an odd mish-mash, but Weaver is likeable enough that it doesn’t much matter.
STEVE MURPHY: It always amazes me when solid actors can’t do their thing live. Weaver looked nervous, awkward and unsettled, and her lack of jokes really didn’t help very much. It was essentially two pictures of her and a memo. Plus a joke about peeing.
SNL: Charles Barkley/Alicia Keys
ZOË RICE: I expected little from Charles Barkley’s monologue, and so it surpassed my slim expectations. I give him a B; it picked up with “Pretty, in a kinda Jewish way” but of course then took a dip again with Kenan Thompson (although I like “Well, some of it’s great. And some of it we’re gonna do anyway.”) And it’s true, SNL, where are the black hosts? And also more talented black sketch comics?
STEVE MURPHY: I also loved the “pretty, in a kinda Jewish way” joke, but the rest of this suffered from Barkley’s signature speech impediment. It’s like he’s trying to talk with a mouthful of marbles. But agreed, they need some more diversity in this cast. Let’s get rid of Kenan and replace him with someone funny. Wait, did that make sense? Regardless, let’s replace Kenan.
HOWARD MEGDAL: It was really amusing at the end when Kenan Thompson did that voice that sounds like Kenan Thompson.
SNL: James Franco/Muse
ZOË RICE: SNL rarely opens with this type of recurring sketch–the Lawrence Welk show, with those 4 singing sisters–and the host, James Franco appeared in it, another rarity. I get the sense this skit might not have been the original opener, but I don’t care. I loved it. I laughed heartily. Eunice is so friggin’ funny. With those little mutant hands and all their hilarious antics! James Franco held his own and made me psyched for the rest of the show.
HOWARD MEGDAL: I have to say, I do enjoy this skit. Obviously, skewering Lawrence Welk isn’t particularly timely, and it does play oddly as the opener- but I’m glad for it, and James Franco announced his presence with authority.
STEVE MURPHY: I think the only reason this was so jarring is because the cold open is usually political and usually sucks. Overall this one was a success for me. I don’t understand why this needs sketch even needs a Lawrence Welk reference, really. I’m with Howard, the Lawrence Welk Show isn’t topical enough to lampoon. Luckily James Franco was fantastic, and Kristen Wiig was intensely creepy as usual as the mutant fourth sister (even if her lines weren’t as funny as usual). Franco’s gonna be a great host, I can feel it!
SNL: Taylor Lautner/Bon Jovi
ZOË RICE: A trio of cheating senators bemoan–where’s our outrage? Where’s our media blitz? Why just Tiger Woods? Not a bad open to the program, but not a great one either. There’s something mediocre this week in the SNL Kool-Aid for me, and it starts with this sketch. I give it an “Eh.”
STEVE MURPHY: The disagreement about Tiger’s ethnicity was the best part of this one. “Is it because we’re white men and Tiger Woods is… well, I guess… black-Asian-Polynesian-Cherokee?” A generally good idea, not too badly done. I’m lukewarm so far. Fingers crossed.
HOWARD MEGDAL: I don’t know, guys- has there really been a scarcity of coverage of Sanford/Edwards/Ensign?!?