Well, it seems I'm not a fan of Ronda Rousey and if you frequent my Facebook (and it's clear most of you don't), you'll see why. I never wasn't much of a fan; I usually don't watch any of the UFC events, and I didn't care much about her matches or achievements, the big one being beating Bethe Correia at UFC 190 in August 2015 via knockout just 34 seconds into the match. As cool as it was, she was never more than a blip in my radar.
Then came UFC 193, when she attracted attention for her cruel disrespect toward challenger Holly Holm. That's what gotten me to dislike her, and cheer for her loss to Holm during the event. Which is why I called her a hotheaded twat, and wasn't looking forward to this episode. And boy was I glad for that to end, because it was mediocre as hell. Partly because of her.
The CO features another one-two punch featuring Donald Trump (who at this point makes me forget that’s not the real person in those sketches.) introducing the biggest endorser to his campaign: the biggest embarrassment to modern-day American politics (and a top contender for all-time), Sarah Palin.
As much as it was a no-brainer to
-make a sketch of this
-invite Tina Fey once again as Palin, and
-poke fun at how scatterbrained and inescapable she still is
This still surprised me. Mostly because she actually got to get there despite Winter Storm Jonas blasting the East Coast, especially New York. (Yeah, that’s it)
This obviously was truly hilarious, not only because of Fey’s always absurd mocking of the already absurd Palin, and the (assumedly) fourth-wall breaking reactions from Trump, finally realizing at the end that this was a bad idea (finally, something we all can agree with him on). TFey has always been a revelation as Palin and brings laughs a minute like the biggest and most memorable characters this show has ever had. But now, she fully morphed into her: Not only matching the outfit she wore (shoutout to the wardrobe department for making a ripoff of the sold-out jacket Palin wore in real life by scratch. That is dedication), looking like her in face and hair, but also matching voice and mannerisms. It’s like the real thing is on stage. It’s baffling.
Favorite Lines: pretty much all of them from Trump and Palin. Here are a few.
Trump:
“She’s a firecracker. She's a real pistol. ...She’s crazy, isn’t she?”
"I hope nobody's allergic to nuts, 'cause we have a big one here."
"Dear God, she's still talking."
Palin:
“I’m here for all you teachers”
"...or a rock-n-roller, holy roller, pushin' stroller, pro-bowler with an abscessed molar..."
"...quote The Lorax."
"Thank you Iowa and God bless some of the United States of America."
"I don't think this guy should be President. I'm just here because he promised me a spot in his cabinet. And I belong in a cabinet...'cause I'm full of spice and I got a great rack."
This entire sketch was much more sensical and much less bizarre than the actual endorsement announcement. Which is strange.
--
The cast knows that Ronda isn’t great at comedy, but they know she’s a kickboxer. So, after her showing congratulations to ger former rival Holly Holm (which was very sweet), they made this hodge podge Monologue of different elements that could make the producers of Head proud.
First two commentators straight from a real UFC match (the SNL logo on the mics even look like the UFC logo), then a then throw in Justin Bieber (Kate Mc in a way they’re saying that they know her impression will make us laugh), and a song-and-dance number involving (most of?) the rest of the cast, with RondRous throwing it to Musical Guest Selena Gomez.
Ehh...points for creativity?? This was a pretty funny start.
It’s clear that they were going to do anything this week not to let Rousey do so much live (you know...like an actual guest host), so they give her a couple lines (but not in each sketch), and leave it up to the cast. Good idea, guys.
--
The Screen Guild Awards is underway, and the Award for Best Actor is revealed.
The Sketch After is a clear riff on the controversy surrounding this year’s Academy Awards nominations, known as #OscarsSoWhite. And it’s hilarious.
This was hilarious, seeing the nominees being white “actors” being in random, very obscure roles in films parallel to some of the films that barely got nominated (like Creed and Straight Outta Compton), some of which either never spoke or were never seen at all, and getting more and more obscure as the sketch progressed.
Also, I thought the “scenes” were even deeper slams toward the Academy members, which was also brilliant. (Listen closely to the dialogue of the “characters” to see what I mean) Plus, while it was an obvious part of the sketch, the black cast members gave great performances as “the black actors giving better, more noticeable performances“ than the “white actors”, sealing in such powerful satire towards award shows nominating mostly or only white actors.
You could say that the black actors didn’t do as well as the white actors in the categories. But even that is unfair.
Fave Lines...or Fave ”Reactions from the Black Actors who Didn’t Get Nominated for Reasons that are Somehow Racially-Related”
This secret silent jeer toward Drew MacKenzie
This side eye to Barry Peele
A rejected high-five for Alan Smickel
And Jacob Schultz getting a “what the hell?” look from afar.
This was a genius Take That on this year's Oscars nominations, in which--for the second year in a row--all nominees in the acting categories were white, causing controversy with the Black community.
I loved this one, so for me, it’s the Best Sketch of the Week.
Congrats, honkies. I’m proud of all of you.
--
It seems this episode is recycling a couple sketches; has anyone else noticed that?
One such sketch is the parody of The Bachelor--last utilized in the episode hosted by Blake Shelton last season, this time called “Bland Man”.
Hearing “Hmm...I like this” repeatedly was the red flag.
I’ll start off saying that this a very good poke on Bachelor, as the guys featured (almost all white) are dull, uninteresting guys who also happen to be smokin’ hot eye candy, with the long-haired, harried, questionable contestants vying for his heart being weird/ratchet.
I’ll also say that Taran is a better use of the main focus than Shelton, being a better mock on the show than the country superstar ever was.
Despite this and a couple good lines from the weird women (one of which is Rousey) fighting each other for his attention you’ll see below, this was a very boring sketch (at least when I watched it live), but a better, more meta and accurate reuse of a sketch that was barely funny the first time.
Also, Selena Gomez was in this too, but who cares?
Fave Lines:
“Hi, I’m Dan. I’m from Chicago or Denver--or something.” Dan, Bland Man
...
“I want a guy like my dad[...]...and with the same body and penis as my dad.”
-Contestant #1 (Nessa B)
…
“Can I wear jeans tomorrow?” -Contestant #3 (RonRous)
“Hmmm...no.” -Dan, Bland Man
…
“I’m sorry I got mad. That’snotme. Well,itisme--butI’mdoingabadjobofhidingit.”
-Contestant #4 (CecStrong)
…
“I wore a damp bikini all week. Now it hurts when I pee.” AND
“I have a son. And 5 daughters, and they’re right here.” -Contestant #5 (Baby Aidy)
...
“Well, I’m the black one.” -Contestant #6 (SaZam)
“Lemme walk you out.” Dan, Bland Man
“Oh, you have a sad past. Then you can stay one more week.”
…
“You’re the funniest person I’ve ever met, and I know 2 Jews” -Contestant #2 (Kate Mc)
…
“Okay, then I’ll stay and just be so insane” -Contestant #4
(even her face tells it all)
--
Another sketch reused from Season 40 (although it may be a true recurrence) is the “teacher rape trial” sketch, featuring Pete Dave as a young male student committing statutory rape with his teacher, played by CecStrong. Here, they’re joined by Rousey as another teacher he got it in with. The jokes here are that while everyone sees it as a horrible crime, Daly sees it as the best night of sweet monkey lovin’ every teen boy could dream of. BULLSHIT!!!
The fact that they tried it again didn’t sit well with me, and the jokes only improved slightly. Also, the pacing was crap. Watch the first few seconds after the ”trial” has begun; it’s cringing. I liked the “My Man” part and the GIF text with the quick cartoon bird.
Other than that, this was dreck.
--
Metro City is under attack! As giant metal roach robots are destroy town with the laser powers! It's only up to the Super Crew to destroy the monsters and save the day! But first, they gotta introduce themselves.
It's sad this skit about cast member wearing costumes, with wires, fake metal bending and a ceiling exhaust fan is crappy as hell. No jokes that land, and the pacing and acting was tedious. CecStrong had the humor with the snark to the two citizens about interrupting, but it didn't help. Also not helping, SaZam appearing; she got a line and it was good; too bad it didn't help much. Oh, and Rousey and Rudnitsky appeared...not that it matters.
--
Last but not least the Five-to-One Sketch, the third (or fourth; I wasn't paying attention) live sketch in which Rousey says a sentence. But here it's more than that. Too bad it was godawful.
The jokes were face-to-pavement weak, the timing was really off, none of the characters said anything memorable, and the plot was stupid. This was the Worst Sketch of the Week.
Such an extremely horrible end to pretty mediocre episode.
--
Now time for the more memorable part of any episode: The Pre-Tapes.
Both certainly featured Ronda's robotic acting and fiery kickboxing chops very well.
First one, "Love Struck", utilizes the latter in a super hilarious way.
A new girl is invited by the most popular guy on campus to lunch in the gymnasium. But it's a prank by the popular girl and her posse. Big mistake.
This...
...is the face of a badass.
While the great humor came those punches to the popular girl, the humor also came from the girl--Kendra--getting back up and trying to get deeper under new girl's skin. And failing. The comparisons to Carrie are also deserved.
Also, Rudnitsky didn't deserve to be here.
The last one features almost none of Rousey, but some great laughs from guys ()
Their rhymes are dope. Perfect raps to get into a woman's pants. Beck's, meanwhile are hilariously pathetic. He's not even trying.
I like this one a lot, but the edge goes to "Love Struck".
Also, ending the show this week was a re-air of a previous Pre-Tape: Settl.
Now I never mentioned it when I reviewed the episode it came with. So I'll give it the go-around here.
It's about a new app finding a new guy that isn't a smokin' hot gift from God.
It's a kinda funny app riffing on the apps we all know already: Tinder, Zoosk, OKCupid and Match. I enjoy the satire here, and had some good lines. It's not my favorite, though.
--
This week’s musical guest is one of the biggest pop superstars on Earth.
Such a shame that she’s not that really exciting or interesting to me. It’s Selena Gomez.
For years, listening to her music has been a constant state of question-ability for me. It’s not just her music-- which is cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers pop at best. it’s her. Her voice is good, but it’s also bland, too. It doesn’t give much emotion, substance or excitement. Just the same registers and vocal tones every time. Plus, her cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers pop music is mediocre pop nonsense that exists to either be played by anyone or despised by anyone. She's that divisive.
Her performances of “Good for You”, “Same Old Love” and “Hands to Myself” are proof.
Good”/”Same
“Hands”
The set-ups shows distracting sights to take away from SelGo’s mediocre-ness; a group of turtleneck-wearing guys snapping around her like it’s poetry night in the former two’s medley, and a nice circular-shaped bed she rolls around and sexes up on in “Hands to Myself”, with a male and female dancer joining in in the most creepy excuse for slipping in softcore porn on TV.
Speaking of the bed, I had one thought in my mind: it wasn’t on Selena, or the dancers, or even the fact that they’re touching all over each other. It’s this: “does that bed spin around? if so, that’s so cool.” So I was disappointed when that doesn’t happen.
Seriously, those two side attractions held my interest more than Selena herself. Hell, Selena herself (and her leg) would have boiled my blood too, had she not have the face of a 10-year-old child! I swear, looking at it make me feel like I deserve to get busted by Chris Hansen and get sent to maximum security for life!
Let’s get to the songs themselves.
All of them are pretty in-the middle. ("Good" is about a girl being sickeningly sweet and submissive to her lover while keeping the ego in check, "Same" is an uninspired heartbreak after breakup song, and “Hands” meanwhile has her trying way too hard to be sexual but coming off as stalkery.) Her vocals are dull as all hell, and the lyrics are nothing special.
But the best parts are the beats. Despite the slow nature, the near-minimalistic productions are perfect. vulnerable in “Good”; Soft synths, smooth sensual piano licks, and finger snaps throughout “Same”; and clicking percussion claps and nice dark guitar riffs from “Hands” make the songs tolerable.
All in all, this was a really forgettable performance. And I was on Twitter during the broadcast. I’ve never seen this show kiss up to an artist so much like they did to her, but that was obnoxious.
Clearly they know what they’re doing.
--
Time for an Update:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Jost and Che certainly nailed the jokes this week.
The best were the one about the travel ban across New York City thanks to Winter Storm Jonas, which says a lot about this episode being filmed during the middle of it; Sarah Palin's endorsement of Donald Trump, and Trump discussing his supporters' growing loyalty by saying he'd commit murder, which says a lot about him and the state of humanity during this election season; and the Oscars, which says...not much--I could care less about the Oscars now.
Plus, Che messed up a couple times, and Jost was a little slow. Only minor here.
Leslie Jones returned to desk to discuss getting Leonardo DiCaprio to sleep with her, and this is where I say "I think I'm getting tired of this". Her shtick of "loud, crazy, scary, sex-charged black woman" has already worn thin, and is reaching its death. And I'm tired of it. It's always the same pattern--She comes in, she verbally molests Colin, she says some crazy shit about something, she mentions sex, and she ends it with a another yell of something that's drowned out by the Audience. Every time I see her on Update, it gets less and less exciting for me.
This was a good edition this week, but not exactly memorable. The jokes were really funny and the edge just nice.
(Side note - Bobby Moynihan appearing as the “it’s not that bad” guy was good, actually going outside 30 Rock to try to prove his point in a live throw and ends up freezing to death (poor guy); and also making the quick B-line back to 8H later on in time for the “Teacher rape Trial 2” sketch. That was awesome of him there.)
Best Bits:
Travel Ban
Palin Endorses Trump
Oscars
(Pretty Much Everything But Leslie Jones)
Wraparound:
Ronda Rousey didn’t do much in this episode.
She wasn’t in the Sketch After, and she didn’t say any lines that get reactions from the studio audience in the sketches she did appear in. She wasn't as bad as I thought she would be, not messing up, and actually keeping the show going. Her performance was robotic though, and sounded that way too. Yet, it feels like the cast and writers knew of this, and just like the network’s slogan in the 80s, they let her be there. And actually, that’s kinda a good thing.
Because the jokes were actually hilarious--at least at the start. Whether with or without her in the sketch or saying something, the writers were able to churn out laughs then--and I mean laughs I can laugh to. While last week’s show had some great jokes, this week’s offering didn’t make me feel unsure of them, whether or not they were funny.
But I was damn sure it got less funny come after Update. The quality in jokes and sketches drained significantly and the performances varied. While Rousey got to talk a bit more in these sketch, that never helped (not that it ever would). Rousey obviously wasn't great a host, but good enough to reach over dislike.
Sports stars never do very well on this show, and there are a few major exceptions like OJ Simpson, Derek Jeter and the Manning brothers. It seems Ronda Rousey is not one of those.
--The cast did more than they usually did to be hilarious, to protect Rousey from the crap she would’ve received as host. And they did a damn great job in the process. Here are a few highlights:
-Beck Bennett as “Barry Peele/Dave” in “Screen Guild Awards”, the guy who can’t rap or get a girl in the “In the Club” Pre-Tape.
-Cecily Strong sure had my attention for better in "Screen Guild Awards", "Bland Man", and "Super Crew". Her acting is pretty much a Godsend for this show at this point.
-Kate Mc and Baby had some quirky characters to love here, especially in "Bland Man", . Also Aidy had a nice showing herself in the T area. Fuck Sarah Palin, she should be in a cabinet; she has spice and a great rack!
-Also, Michael Che got to be in a sketch--"Screen Guild Awards", which was really great. Such a shame he's still a featured cast member.
Looking at you, not-Seth Meyers.
Jon Rudnitsky was there. Not good enough.
--As for Selena Gomez...eh, got me talking; good enough.
--I don’t need to say much about Tina Fey as Sarah Pain-lin. Let’s just say “She’s still got it.”
Going on a bit about Winter Storm Jonas, it's amazing that this episode still went on as planned, let alone aired. I was shocked that everyone went ahead and got to 30 Rock, being the only entertainment in New York for that weekend. But I read a comment on AV Club that explained so much. Only half of the MTA rail system still went as scheduled, and one of the routes must have had a stop at 30 Rock, even founding a way to get to the offices without going outside. That's amazing. So thumbs up to everyone at the show, Rousey, Gomes and her crew, and even the audience (who must've been just staffers at NBC HQ, I guess) for braving the storm and making the episode as planned. You're all crazy--especially Lorne, but hopefully with Ronda there, Jonas didn't stand a chance.
How Was the CO?:
Like CBS on Monday night in the 80s--Oh yes! Or the lam--mainstream media, heads are spinning from the whip-smart humor, or "Jill" on Chill Pill, or...Danger Mouse--Oh eck. I'm sorry, I'm trying to think of something clever tied to the Open to write saying it was great, but Palin's stream of unconsciousness here is so screwed, it's impossible. And it's a parody. So yeah, it was great.
Best Sketches:
Screen Actors Awards (duh)
Bland Man (it’s really more funny and grown on me in rewatches)
honorable mention:
Best Pre-Tape:
"Love Struck"
Worst Sketches:
Super Crew
Break-Room Party Invite
dishonorable mention:
Teacher Rape Trial 2
ConcluSLoN:
I admit. I was right...and wrong. This episode was better than last week’s. The jokes were better feels to my eyes, ears and brain than the ones in the Adam Driver episode, since I can remember them. Such a shame that episode ended with a better taste in my mouth. I guess both has whiffs of unevenness. Let’s just stop with that.
Because come February 6, probably a better episode will air.
One where Larry David returns once again to Studio 8H, this time for much longer than the CO, as he'll be the host. And you better expect either a cameo from his impression of Bernie Sanders, or one from the man himself. Or both; I'm leaning toward the latter two. With music from British rock band The 1975. I'm just excited for them appearing because of the name. Apparently I have a sort of eagerness of bands named after numbers, one being this one. Weird, right?
I'm Andrew and I'll see you in a couple weeks.
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