Well, everyone, we’ve reached the home stretch. Saturday Night Live 40 has reached the end, and all we can do is either be sad we can’t watch any more of this hilarious, amazing show OR be ever so happy that this piece of dreck is over. Either way, at least these reviews will tide us over until Season 41 begins in the fall.
So Let’s prepare for either the ingenious comedy coming our way soon” OR the unfunny dreck that will befall us as another reason this show has never been funny since (insert year or decade you actually believe SNL stopped being funny here).
Today, I’m reviewing Episode 19, hosted by Scarlett Johansson, who has obviously been having a huge year this year. She’s now a mother with a beautiful baby daughter. And she’s starring in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The Cold Open is a scroll with an announcer telling us about NBC airing a day of sports for snooty-ass white people. And the desperate reason for them dedicating more to a single day than to possibly the rest of the television season: by sneaking in a raw, unauthorized broadcast of the “The Fight of the Century” between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao (which, between you and me, was just a boring-ass fight with a terrible outcome and a grace from God that meant I’m glad that I watched Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero and the Roast of Justin Bieber, among others, over that)
I love how self-aware this CO is: it’s clear that Money is shorter than Jay Pharoah, that Pac-Man is played by a large white woman (Aidy Bryant) who really doesn't know the language of the Philippines, and that Kenan and Phaoah later go in musical guest Wiz Kalifah’s dressing room to watch it live (and legally). If that element of the sketch wasn't added, this sketch wouldn't have been funny. Or would've been as boring as the match itself.
After the open, Scarlett comes to stage for her Monologue. She mentions that she is a proud first-time mother to a baby daughter. Then Kenan and Taran Killam come in...for some reason.
This was a creepy Mono. Who in the hell sings a Donna Summer song guaranteed to make a baby to a baby?!? It’s clear that Johansson doesn't, so. I did find Taran and Kenan’s reactions hilarious, and that photoshopped pic of her head on a baby’s body was also chuckle worthy, so not all is lost for me.
But what should be lost to me, yet came back to haunt me (along with many of you guys) is The Sketch After, Right Side of the Bed. The first time I watched this sadly-now-recurring sketch (back in Episode 13 hosted by Martin Freeman), I didn't find anything in this to be funny and found the hosts annoying and everything they said pretentious. But this time…
it’s slightly different. I found some of the jokes funny, and didn't lose my patience with these two Southern dorks this time around. The shining spot of this segment was Scarlett as guest Daniela. One of the funniest parts was during a phone call she made with her man (who’s in jail) and remarks that she’s on a show with ”some gay man and his mom”. That had me cracking up! Another bright spot was Kate McKinnon as Hozier. Just like her turn as Keith Urban the last time, she somehow nails it (mostly in looks) as the dreary indie folk artist.
I guess I do have less hatred for this sketch and wouldn't mind seeing it again next season. It’s not a sketch I would love or truly enjoy, but it’s somewhere in the middle.
As the Uprising in Baltimore has continued, the MLB has made the most unusual decision ever in letting a planned game between the city’s Orioles baseball team and the Chicago White Sox go as scheduled. Without any fans in the stands. So SNL made sure to mock this any way it can, by making fun of the Riots on the surface and the game itself. And they did a good job (not as in home run, but more like a close to third base).
It did feel sorta predictable to me, what with the obvious jokes about the Riots and safety from the game, but they still will funny.
I’d also like to point out that this is the third sketch (non-consecutively of course; and second it you don’t count the Monologue) in which TKill and Kenan appear in a sketch. And the fourth time Taran appeared my screen so far. I didn’t mind this at all.
After this is one pre-tape for a film I actually wouldn’t mind seeing, had Marvel actually made this. After many questions has surrounding the film company about not making a film based around Black Widow (Scarlett), they tell us to “Chill” and get ready for the movie that everyone will be seeing...which looks like a chick flick. It's "Black Widow: Age of Me".
This was..,genius. Instead of some action film with a bunch of fight scenes, sexual tension and some stuff blowing up, we get: new girl in the city, new job at fashion company, new boyfriend (in Ultron), the Avengers talking shop...and stuff blowing up. It’s all of these that make this spoof unexpected and hilarious.
Plus we still have some Avengers cameos...even if they weren’t played their actors themselves. This was a really funny pre-tape, and definitely put this as one of the best moments of the episode.
Girlfriends Talk Show has returned...again.
Hot, naive Kyra and lovely, neurotic and ever so paranoid Morgan return to dish about everything girls would talk about (that I’m not gonna list here). This time around, it’s prom week, and their guest , a former prom queen, stops by to discuss all the goings-on and happenings at prom. It’s weird.
I never have much about this one, so I’ll just say that Johansson did great as the Prom Queen/Potential Alpha Bitch, and that Aidy is ever so funny as Morgan (although watching her always coming close to self-destruction is pretty sad, but Aidy’s humor and timing does make things a little better).
“Dino Bones”/”Okay, Random”
At the American Museum of Natural History, a tour is being held for a collection of dinosaur bones. When the tourists ask questions about them, they are flabbergasted by two of their own, who might as well be the most annoying set of Valley Women you’ll ever meet.
This is a simple plot taken way underdone. Just two women asking weird questions about the dinosaurs and commenting like hipsters watching Teletubbies. It’s annoying. I did find their voices sometimes funny and the other tourists’ reactions pretty funny, and I did feel like the guide swooping his hair like Justin Bieber circa 2010 was supposed to be a gag, but I didn’t find it humorous. Plus, I was pretty bored. I found this the weakest sketch of the episode, and that’s not random.
Mm-kay?(Also, the reference to “FourFiveSeconds” was pretty corny.)
In this pre-tape, TKill stars as Detective Blazer, a New York cop busting down the bad guys and checking out with the ladies...at least it seems that way...until he was fired for being a huge bigot.
Okay. This was awesome, Not only for being funny, but also for how visually pleasing it looks. The clip looks like something on TV back in the late 80s or early 90s, and feels like it too. Wiz Khalifah also makes a good cameo appearance. This was one hell of a Pre-Tape, and I’d call it one of the highlights of the episode.
Up next, Virgin Airlines has introduced a new line of stewardesses destined to service fliers with their needs. Only one problem: they’re new. And they're robots.
And need an update. A huge one.
This sketch reminds me of the Merryville Brothers sketches--robotic characters doing shit jobs and creeping people out. Here, though, they talk and they walk freely, yet still cause trouble. I liked their voices and mannerisms here, which are so close to robotic, it’s scary. Especially ScarJo’s, as her portrayal just sends me chills.
I found the passengers’ reactions hilarious (especially Aidy’s and Leslie Jones’, which had me cracking up), and the captain’s sexist remarks were also hilarious. As for the captains, it’s clear they would’ve gotten any male cast member (especially because the teenager is one of them), but they settled on Taran...for some reason.
I did like and enjoy this sketch enough to make it one of my favorites.
In the final sketch of the night, “Jingle Writers”, two women writers who look ready for bit roles in “Hocus Pocus” are trying to bag an account for Pampers diapers. But crap...this is corny.
The songs were terrible as were the women, and I can't take this sketch anymore. A shit ending to a really lackluster episode.
This week’s musical guest, Wiz Khalifa, had a reason to be here.
He’s performing “See You Again”, the song from the soundtrack of the final ride in NBC sister company Universal's The Fast and The Furious series, Furious 7, along with featured artist Charlie Booth...
"Now eat your cake...
...and I'll see you again."
oh, I’m sorry, I mean Charlie Puth. (No wonder I had some interest in him right there)
And...he did great. He was as energetic as any one who smokes weed like God told him it was his reason on Earth, and had my attention the entire performance. Puth also did a great job in his role as guest artist, clearly feeling like he'll have a limited stay in the music world while looking like a mix of Nick Jonas and Sam Smith.
Okay, the next performance is of his hit single “We Dem Boyz”, a song I put at #10 on my Worst Hip-Hop Songs list last year. Although I hate the song, the performance was really good. Although I did feel the musicians tried too hard, making a sound I didn’t like to hear, I thought this was a well-done performance that could raise my contempt in this song. COULD--I still hate it.
I don’t find Khalifa as one of the best rappers in Hip-Hop nor do I find his topics in his songs endearing. But his performances here were alright and I did enjoy them a bit. I won’t
Time for an Update:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Jost went back to being slower this week, and Che flubbed a line. But fortunately, they had enough force to keep me awake during his jokes. Speaking of the jokes, I don't know what to say about them. Some were funny, and some were edgy, but the edgy jokes weren’t as funny as I’d like for them to be. And the funny ones didn’t feel hilarious. Just funny. The closest thing to both was one about Bruce Jenner’s interview about now becoming a woman. Colin trying his best to make a crack was funny, but him trying to pull Michael in and Mike ducking out is hilarious.
Kate McK returns as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg…and really just hits it out of the park. She really knows what she’s doing (like that’s a surprise), and her dancing was hilariously great. I hope she returns again next season.
Also joining in at the desk were Samwell Tarly and Gilly, two characters from “Game of Thrones”. I...I know, right?
This was just weird. I know Update has had characters whom are weird and off-the-wall before, but this was strange. They’re here to discuss how they’re the only characters that are a true couple. Okay? I didn’t find this part that funny, except for the remark about Cersei and Jaime, who are infamous for committing Incest (which doesn’t count). And it was pretty boring. Also, what blew my mind is the fact that writers believed that two American actors repeatedly saying “thank you” in an English accent would be funny.
I didn’t think so.
Rounding out the group this week were Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal from Inside the NBA. They came to discuss the outcome of the Playoffs so far.
Kenan and Jay return to form in these roles. While Kenan did hold his own very well and got some good laughs, of course, the star of the final part was Pharoah as Shaq, who continues to be hilariously stupid with each passing day. This definitely beat KcKinnon as Ginsburg, but only by a hair.
All in all this was a pretty middle of the road Update. There were good jokes, but they weren’t hilarious. Jost & Che still held their own well, and kept my attention, but I didn’t stay interested all the way. At this point I’m inclined to call this one of the best parts of the episode, but that’s because everything else was so weak, I could have a hard time finding the gems from the crap covering them..
This was a very mediocre episode. The writers have picked up on humor only by a little. The jokes were there; they just weren’t more than what I wanted. I have given up on my hope that SNL would pick up the edginess and hilarious-ness just in time to end this season on a high note. Fortunately, had that not happened, I would’ve been so angry, I would’ve ripped off all my hair, to the point of reaching my scalp and ripping off skin. Because after a bright spot in a season, you shouldn’t expect so much from a show to drop this low in quality.
Johansson did a job well done as host. She held her own, and was, I think, a highlight of all the sketches, at least on top of some sketches over the cast. And speaking of the cast…
I can barely remember any of them in a sketch except TKill and Kenan, whom, as I’ve mentioned earlier has appeared together in a some of them (including the first three and the Mono), with TKill taking a slot in the first four sketches alone. What’s surprising of it is, I’m not annoyed of this as much as I usually am. When he appears in more than three sketches, I get so annoyed that I’d write a mini-rant about this happening. But now, I’m not; I don’t mind it anymore, mostly because this will keep happening for another few seasons until he leaves.
Many cast members barely appeared here with each of them getting a couple sketches at most, some of them where any member could’ve got a role as a character that isn’t recurring.:
--Pete Davidson and Beck Bennett only appeared in two sketches, with Davidson talking in one (the “Virgin” sketch), along with Bennett appearing in the Black Widow pre-tape.
--I felt like Aidy Bryant was lucky to appear this week at all (even if it was three), with the CO and Girlfriends Talk Show sketch.
--Cecily Strong got RSOTB, Girlfriends, and the “Okay, Random” sketch,
--Jay Pharoah got some good leeway, and
--Kyle Mooney and Leslie Jones only appeared once, with Jones in the “Virgin” sketch and Mooney in the “Jingle Writers” sketch.
It’s really clear that the producers simply adored Killam well enough to make him appear in almost. every. sketch. of this episode. It’s like this is his last season, and wanted to make this his best year ever as a cast member, so Lorne and everyone else did their best to make him feel special by appearing in 65% of each episode, as characters he could do (recurring, new and one-shot), even if he didn’t have to, because again, they could’ve gotten anyone for characters. Because the times I’ve seen him here is staggering. Again, I don’t hate him at all, and I find him really funny, but him being stuffed down our throats this season is deathly annoying. (Oooh, there it is) After this episode, I hope the producers have less of him in the final two. Not because he’s terrible, but because his appearing in every other sketch is annoying.
How Was the CO?:
It was like Mayweather’s performance--all hug and no bite. But had some punch thanks the meta aspect.
Best Sketches:
Virgin Airliner/Stewardesses from Hell
Right Side of Bed (I know, I can’t believe it either)
Orioles
Best Pre-Tape:
Both Black Widow: Age of Me (stupid, dated title) and Blazer
Worst Sketches:
THE REST OF THEM
This episode is mediocre in every sense of the word. and that’s all I have to say this week.
Next week, Reese Witherspoon returns to Studio 8H to host Episode 20, with music by the ever-so-amazing Florence + the Machine. I’m not going to have any expectations.
See you then!!
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