Let me just start this fine Monday by saying that I now have
a full-blown “talented guy” crush on Justin Timberlake, after watching Saturday
Night Live.Seriously—is there anything
that boy can’t do?He sings, he dances,
he acts like a total dork, and he knows exactly how to play along with the SNL
cast so that everyone achieves maximum funny. I think it also helped that everyone was off for two weeks, so they could really grow their funny back. Too many weeks in a row, and they tend to fall back on easy stuff, which I think makes the overall episodes weak (see my notes on the Zac Efron episode).
Here are a few notes on the show, but overall, I think this
episode was the best one since—well, Alec Baldwin was good, but really since
the last time Timberlake hosted the show.Is that wrong to say?
Cold open:Note to writers—please,
please cut down the “Tim Geithner” sketches.Yes, there is a lot of humor to be mined from
making fun of failing financial institutions, but….really about a whole minute
less than what you thought.I totally
sped through the last part of this.
Opening monolog:Just, oh my God, so good.Can we
just alternate between Alec Baldwin and Justin Timberlake hosting this
show?Usually I am covering my eyes,
hoping that the guest makes it through, but Timberlake really grabs this
monolog by the balls and goes with it.Loved the show tune about how he’s got it
down, and I appreciated the fact that he got to sing and dance, since I knew
Ciara was going to be the musical guest and that I was probably going to have
to speed through her performances (I turned out to be right about that, and I
decided that actually, there is one thing Justin Timberlake can’t do—I don’t
think he’s very good at choosing and developing new talent.Sorry.).
I was wondering how Timberlake and Samburg were going to
follow up the viral extravaganza that was “Dick in a Box,” and was pleasantly
surprised to see “Mother Lover,” which I thought was equally funny.Patricia Clarkson and Susan Sarandon—such good
sports!
Funny. I'm putting up this clip because Fred Armisen's Paterson impression kills me, and because I'm just so happy when they have him do something other than Obama. High five! Also, it is super funny how mad the New Jersey people in the audience keep getting about the New Jersey jokes.
Last but not least we have the "Barry Gibb Talk Show," where Jimmy Fallon is back and seems determined to get Justin Timberlake to break character, even if it means singing into his face. Mission accomplished! I love this because both of them are just so total commitment.
I finally winced my way through a DVR-d version of last week's Saturday Night Live last night, and frankly, didn't even make it through the whole show before I just switched over to something else. I had a bad feeling about Zac Efron from the start; my theory about "teen idol" types doing promotion for movies is that they are usually very bad when you take them out of the genre or venue for which they are famous and make them stretch beyond their comfort zones, and I was not wrong about this in the case of Zac Efron. This category of host makes me nervous because you know they're hosting because they bring in a huge built-in crossover audience, which is going to make the writers dumb down the material and/ or not try as hard because they have the "Zac Efron can do no wrong" factor on their side. Plus, this was the last week before their weekend off, so you know they were tired and didn't have the energy for the kind of coaching Zac Efron would have needed to be really good. Finally, I had the general feeling from the promos that Zac Efron was going to try his best to be "funny" rather than going the smart route of playing it straight and letting the cast make you more funny. Zac Efron is apparently really good in those High School Musical movies and he is very handsome, but I just don't think he's had enough variety in his career to know to go on that show and not try to be funny.
I'm not even trying to snark on SNL-- I still tune in, wanting it to be funny, and sometimes it really is. But most of this episode at least, it really wasn't. Here are some reasons why (all my opinion, of course-- take it or leave it).
--Cold open: I'm sorry, but they need to hire someone else to do that Barack Obama impersonation. Fred Armison is good at alot of things, but this is not one of them. Seriously, is The Rock available? I don't believe this Barach Obama stuff is Peabody-award worthy satire.
--Monolog: As I suspected, Zac Efron tries to make a couple of jokes, instead falling back on the softball "Q & A" or "SNL cast does all the heavy lifting" format. The "tween" stuff was funny, but I started to really get the feeling that Zac Efron is just a sweet kid who is talented at singing and dancing, and doesn't really have the funny. And this conclusion, during the monolog, is definitely not a good one.
--Only good commercial: the "identity theft" satire about the junk mail and the selling of your address and personal information. So true it was funny, so funny it was true, etc.
--Weekend Update: Funny material by Seth Myers, and then.....wow, ALL of the skits I don't like-- that "Bitch Please" blogger character-- is she supposed to be mentally retarded? Gay New Jersey couple-- "Ooohhh, Aaaahh, Oohhhh, we only have one joke! Ohhhh!" Backward cover band Jon Bovi, just makes me wish they would find something good for those two to do, because they're actually pretty good singers.
--High School Musical Sketch: Funny material, delivered unfunnily by Zac Efron. At least they let him sing a little bit though.
--Today Show Fourth Hour: Kristen Wiig's Kathie Lee impression is amusing and biting, if a little one-note and drawn out. However, when Zac Efron came on and tried to do the same character (in the form of Cody Gifford), I died a little inside and had to fast-forward. Not.....funny! Funny roadkill!
--Gilly Sketch: Can't watch it. Won't watch it. Complete waste of Kristen Wiig's talent in a character completely dedicated to mugging. Lowbrow. Silly. Lazy. Look for this sketch only on the episode right before the break.
--Finally, some funny. See, here's what they should have had Zac Efron do the whole time, and what Jon Hamm and Michael Phelps did so well: straight man. It is so much funnier when the guest just plays it super-straight and lets the cast do their thing. This makes everyone look good.
This post is probably going to make you think I'm in a bad mood, which I'm totally not. I got TWO deadlines out the door last week and we're going away to Carmel for a few days this week, so that's awesome. But, since I've been doing the run-down of new Saturday Night Live episodes, just to excerpt the funny for you, I think I should say that I didn't like this episode that much, but I've pulled out what I thought was good about it.
I actually quit before the end of Saturday Night Live this week, which I think is the best indicator that the show is not going well, since I'll hang in there through thick and thin for the funny. Seth Rogen's appearance just added fuel to my theory of "Funny Guest, Unfunny Show." It's like when you throw someone who's already funny into the mix, it somehow dilutes the funny of the regular cast. Maybe I'm just imagining it, but the cold opening was SUPER not funny (like, seriously-- they need to hire The Rock back to do that Barack Obama impression, because I'm not sure I can take another four years of Fred Armison as the President. Yikes!). The opening monolog was a little funny, but only because of the "Paul Blart, Mall Cop" references.
Here was the first time I actually laughed during the show, due largely to the complete commitment of both Seth Rogen and Andy Samberg:
Also, what was up with that band, Phoenix? Both of those songs were a mess, and I'm not even going to address the complete lack of charisma of the lead singer. I am therefore not putting up a clip. No no no!
I actually thought this was the funniest part of the show, so I'm putting up this "Weekend Update" bit. I have to admit, even though she's totally on the show because of nepotism, I love Abby Elliott.
I'm back from Seattle and digging out, my iPod is totally dead (warranting a trip to the GENIUS BAR), and it seems like every electronic device I have has a dead battery. So-- more video! This one is an awesome parody of a Billy Mays infomercial. In case you're watching it at work or are sensitive to this sort of thing, it does have some swear words. I'm just saying.
Yep, I'm in Seattle on a business trip, and you know what that means. I've been laughing about these for awhile anyway, so I thought now would be a good time to share.
I read an interview with Tina Fey recently where she basically said that she and Tracy Morgan couldn't be more different--like, she is from Earth, and he is from a whole 'nother galaxy. For this reason I sometimes try to resist laughing at him, because I think I might actually be laughing AT him, know what I mean? But then, he says something so funny, and proves himself to be a true absurdist genius without even knowing it again, and I give over and laugh.
Here are a few examples of his (I thought) totally brilliant job hosting Saturday Night Live last weekend.
The setup to the monolog, which needed so little hand-holding from the cast and was so funny all the way through:
Then, a return of "Brian Fellows, Safari Planet," more absurd than ever.
Finally, the other sketch I thought was the funniest, a "Dateline NBC" parody with Bill Heder as Keith Morrison enjoying the bad news a little too much:
I liked this episode so much, it's the first one in a long time I saved in the DVR so I could watch it again.
Sorry, I was working on another project and didn't have time to finish the post I was working on over the weekend, so I am doing the "distraction" method of blogging. Fortunately I've been saving this totally hilarious fake Trader Joe's commercial that someone sent to Stephan. This is only funny if you're a Trader Joe's person, which I can only assume that some of you are. Enjoy!
I have a post all ready to go about my surly Irish temper, but I couldn't resist posting these. Usually I find the formula for Saturday Night Live these days is that if the host is remotely funny, then for some reason it makes the whole show not that funny as a result. I'm not sure why this is, but it was kind of the case with Bradley Cooper, who is funny but who did a number of sketches that I thought missed the mark. Weekend Update, though-- just keeps getting better and better. Here are my two favorites:
OMG, someone should give Kristen Wiig an Emmy for this Bjork impression:
