After my admittedly lacking review 2 weeks ago, I promised to do better with my approach to my thoughts on the sketches, musical performances and Update edition. So what better show do I start with than this one hosted by James Franco with musical guest...Nicki Minaj. (Oh God, I need a drink just typing that. And that was on Monday the 1st.)
We start with the Cold Open, which is….another one about politics. (sigh) This time spoofing MSNBC's PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton’s coverage of the Grand Jury decisions after the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
Kenan Thompson (with the voice working in his favor this time, sounding close to him) was great as Sharpton, mocking his voice, speech mannerisms that make words sound different when old people say them, the fact that he is bigger than Sarpton today & made an aside about gaining weight, his indifference with everyone and interruptions of guests. Bobby Moynihan and Jay Pharaoh were also good as Sharpton's guests Civil Right Lawyer Lawrence Tatum and Peter DiNello of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, although Jay's jokes were from Tatum's interruption by Sharpton. All in all, pretty good start to what happened to be a really middling show.
After "LFNYIST!" and the title sequence, James walks to the stage for his monologue, presenting himself as actor, poet, and dude, and mentions his new film "The Interview" from Sony, which was hacked last week, with some of its films leaked on the Internet by said hackers. He of course mocked this incident by pointing out that personal information about him wasn't leaked, so he decided to leak them himself before other could do so.
(Just so you know, the email address is fake)
And of course, his "Interview" Seth Rogen makes the obligatory co-star cameo to mention some...questionable photos they took together has been leaked from their phones. All of them either half-naked or full-frontal. He also mentions the incident involving photos he took of a young girl on his Instagram account earlier this year. Seems like a good sport to mock his troubles.
(After the mono, a promo for The Interview aired, featuring [guess who] Nicki Minaj as a guest on the show-within-a-a-film . Which explains why she’s the musical guest.)
The Sketch After the monolouge just had to mock the network’s telecast of Peter Pan Live (no exclamation point; I hate that) with Cecily Strong playing Alison Williams in her portrayal as The Boy Who Never Grew Up (mentioning how boyish his female-like self is and some show called Girls), and just as perfectly coincidental, while Tinkerbell is out of town (?), popular recurring character Tonkerbell (Tink's half-sister) returns. Her (played by Aidy Bryant) appearance (mentioning she jacks children's money for her own teeth and likes a guy who drowns kids) just made it 30% better. And James Franco mocking Christopher Walken’s performance as Captain Hook (basically how dull it was and his boring mannerisms) made it another 33% better. Also, Kate McKinnon, Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney as the Darling children, the weak-ass fight and Moyni as the Bat from some movie made it all come together in a nicely-wrapped package of odd, delicious and way better than the real thing.
This was just fucking GENIUS! I applaud the writes and producers for working such a sketch in so quickly.
Just like I found this spoof on the new Star Wars Episode VII trailer genius. The spoof features a mock of the first Black Storm-trooper, how old the characters look and act (because the three human cast members from the original films are older and have their own grandchildren) and question the droid that looks ready for the FIFA World Cup. Even though this seems like any parody video on YouTube mocking all this, it's still funny. (I will point out the font for The Force Awakens looks old too). Although I saw an obvious screw-up with graphic, as I saw a green screen behind Kenan's character spoof (X tape spot and all).
Next sketch, MTV is “airing” a special program as part of its Jingle Ballerz special, Hip-Hop Nativity, a modern-day reenactment the birth of Jesus Christ, hosted by "Drunk or High" host KaTyler Smith (Pete Davidson) and including some of today’s hottest musical acts.
The casting was just perfect: Kate Mc as Justin Bieber (always a crowd pleaser), Taran Killam as Eminem, Franco as Riff Raff (who?), Kenan as Rick Ross, The Pharaoh as Kanye West playing Yeezus Christ (I will not refer to him as Jesus), Nicki Minaj as Beyonce and Sasheer Zamata as Rihanna. She sounds like Riri if she had a head cold and looks close to her if she had severe sunburn). All in all, while execution was really good, the idea was great, and would’ve been better if the network airing this wasn’t MTV, since it barely airs anything music-based anymore, but enough about that.
Grow-A-Guy
Straight after, a strange pre-taped sketch by writer-turned-featured-player-turned-writer-again Mike O’Brien about friends at a lake house bonfire joking around. Then a guy named Flint (Beck Benn) tells Trevor (O’Brien) something personal about him (Flint) and the group being his only friends, with Trevor replying that he does have others. And sets to prove him wrong...artificially creating and growing a human being (played by Franco) to be his "other friend".
This one was pretty corny...and very gross. The human-making process was really disgusting, the end where everyone but Trevor explodes gave me a small heart attack, and things they say weren’t very funny (sure, it’s the point, but still). Flint is a fucking jerk (and hypocrite when he explodes). Also, the shout-Outs to Guardians of the Galaxy were kinda dated, especially after the ones made back in the first episode hosted by Chris Pratt. This was one of the strange-but-funny bits we’ve been seeing this and last season, and I usually enjoy them, but this one is one of the ones I can definitely do without. For sure.
#TheHastagCuriousityJokeWasKindaFunnyThough
Magic Bridge/Troll
Soon after, a young couple (Baby Aidy & KyMoo) try to cross a bridge in the woods but are stopped by a troll who lives under it (Franco)
and his...chain-smoking, low-rent buddy (CecStrong).
This involves a lot of kissing (but not from the female) and cheering from the audience. I laughed more from the Dora the Explorer joke I made than from this sketch, and I won't explain more because it was questionably bad.
Here's the version that was taped during Dress Rehearsal. I don't know why this was chosen for the Live Show in the first place.
Sketch after Update takes place inside Pete’s Brain: because he has so many memories in there, he tries to remove them to make room for another via a specialist (Franco). My favorite parts were some of the memories themselves: including TKill as a song, Baby Aidy as the word Rhombus and Jay as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air era Will Smith and Moyni as Judge Lance Ito from the OJ Simpson Trial. This sketch was mixed (more good than bad), and would gotten worse had Nicki Minaj’s involvement in this one got longer. But I learned to move past it.
(Unfortunately, no clip available. Blame YT and Yahoo)No offence to a certain follower on Twitter who really likes Nicki Minaj (who would probably unfollow me soon after posting), but Nicki’s involvement in sketches really annoyed me. She only appeared in two, and already they were enough to make me grind my teeth in anger.
Like that.
Kid Mayor is about a kid named Tommy, who is the mayor of the small town of Aldridge, Minnesota. Everyone is ecstatic and pleased with this result thanks to Tommy's cute face, cheerful dispostion and the fact that he's still barely an infant, Yet, someone else isn't pleased or ecstatic about it--his competition Tad Rankin, a grown man (obviously) who faced against Tommy in the election, and made a political ad whining about losing to a 4-year-old.
Franco's enthusiasm and wide-eyed manic behavior made this sketch work. His anger toward a four-year-old boy doing certain things (like watching Frozen, sleeping early and soiling a pair of pants) that are cute when Tommy does them and weird when he does them was hilarious. I think this was my second favorite after "Peter Pan Live spoof".
Former Porn Stars
In the Ten-to-One Sketch (Technically, Five-to-One, since it aired five minutes to 1AM...or maybe Dive-to-One, heh-heh...pun), the Former Porn Stars make their return to horn--I mean form. This time, Brecky and (idiot with unknown name) are spokes-sluts of of a yacht company called Sunseeker Yachts. They explain the enjoyment of being on a yacht but wind up mentioning getting past banged or squirted in different ways
Sure, this sketch is really formulaic, but like Phineas and Ferb, the jokes are different and land almost every time. They’ll all sick sex jokes, but that’s the point of these two cum-brained knob-slobs. They’re just genius. Seth Rogen (aka James Franco) comes back to help out and make this sketch even more cringeworthy (aka funnier).
And speaking of funnier, here is a sketch that didn't make it to the Live Show, but was gracefully released on its YT channel. Called "Morning News", it's a report on the news like it's done on any TV station in America. Two anchors (here played by CesStrong & Kenan) act breezy and calm while reading the news, like nothing bad happens. Then came the Ferguson Grand Jury decision and riots...and everything's screwed.
(LesJo appears as traffic reporter Trisha Darby and Franco appears as a guest chef with an...unfortunate name)
This is commentary of race and tension in America based on the riots...and is funny too. Why was this cut while the damn troll skit was added? I don't know if Lorne was afraid people would get offended by this (coming from a guy that created a show that started off offensive) or might find it unfunny, or both, but had this sketch been added, I'd take being offended over being bored. This sketch toes the line between funny and controversial (with a touch of awkward), and ends up both bold as hell and funny as fuck. This was a bold thing to do and paid off on the Internet. People LIKE this, and would've been one of the best sketches of the week, had it been chosen for the show, and not the FUCKING STUPID TROLL SKIT!!!
Instead, Nicki performed a new song called “Bed of Lies“ featuring Skyler Grey. It’s...actually good. I actually like the sound and rhymes from this set. It’s very nice, at least.
As for her second performance, it was what I feared. It was “Only”. Now, it was boring, mostly because of the beat. And her lines were corny, especially those about duct tape. I swear I heard some boos in the audience...okay, they were in my head. But still, corny. Thank Goodness, it was short, as this turned into a medley, which got better for me. The song is “All Things Go”, a very serious and powerful song detailing Minaj's life before becoming a rapper, including having an abortion when she was 16, and being proposed marriage at a young age. This one sounded better beat-wise, and her vocals and raps were really good. This song is pretty much my fave from her lastest album. And I’ll take mid-tempo hip-hop over dull pings and bass any day.
Also the set background is really nice. Looks like a New York subway like previously (more the walls of Grand Central Station).
She did have a lot going for her. She is smoking hot, fake ass or no. And she was on point with her spitting, so I won’t fault her technically. 2/3rds of the songs she performed were really good, and I praise her for not doing the ones I hated. So all in all, mixed. Loved "BoL", could care less for "Only", and really loved "ATG". She exceeded my expectations and that made me happy. Well done, Nicki. Well dome.
Update time:
Jost and Che were...actually enjoyable. Even though some of the jokes weren’t. In fact, the parts were more serious and biting than funny. And somehow, I like it. It’s very different, very positive and just what this duo needs to make their Update era to move forward. If they can do it more in a baby steps fashion, they can last a few more seasons in a more positive direction.
Moyni returned as Second-hand News Correspondent Anthony Crispino. Although he wasn’t as very popular as Kate Mc’s Angela Merkel, CesStrong’s Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party and Moyni’s own Drunk Uncle, I like Crispino as an alternative who can hold his own in a bit and still make me laugh. His jokes and timing were really good and has become a favorite of mine (yes, more than Druncle Stan for sure, whom I see as funny, but also a little overrated).
Leslie Jones just can’t stop being funny. This time talking about marijuana legalization and how this accounts to users visiting dating sites and not to African Americans. Seriously, I know her humor isn’t for everyone, but it is a lot of everyone, which was why she was promoted to featured so quickly. I just love her so much and want her to appear again soon. (But not too soon, I don't wanna be annoyed).
And this line "Have you ever been called a bitch...by Harriet Tubman?" just kills me every time.
Although she could tone down her creepy flirty passes at Jost a bit. It's a little unsettling.
Kim Kardashian showed up to talk about her ass in an issue (no, THE issue, he says sarcastic as fuck) of Paper magazine. She shows those photos of her in some places for comparison. Who gives a fuck? This shit needs to stop. Taking about Kim Kardashian and her ass in that God-awful photo shoot needs to stop. I'd rather hear about anything else other than this crap. Fuck, I'd rather listen about the life of Adoph Hitler set to the music of Insane Clown Posse rather than this! And the fact that she's played by Nicki Minaj (who herself has an ass that men also gawk and cream about) just makes this more bad (not to mention her annoying-as-shit voice making it worse). And I won't get into anymore crap about how they don't look or sound alike, because I wanna remove the memories like Pete did earlier.
Favorite Update Bits:
Eric Garner
Snapple Cap
Detroit Power Outage
Girl Scout Prison Cookies
Leslie Jones
Black Peter
Top Three Sketches:
Peter Pan Live Spoof
Kid Mayor Rebuttal Ad
MTV's Jingle Ballerz/Hip-Hop Nativity
Worst Sketches:
Magic Bridge/Troll
Grow-A-Guy (*shiver*)
And that is it for the review this week. I think James Franco was a really good host. A few of the sketches were really weak, but the ones I liked really shined for me, and Franco was great in them all. And Nicki Minaj surprised the hell out of me by being better than I thought. Not that I hoped she'd be bad or that I hate her personally, but she was better than I thought. Well done to both, and the cast for making a better episode this week. The guys did really good, but Girl power was in force with all the better stuff coming from the ladies, especially Baby Aidy, CesStrong and Nessa B. Great job, ladies!!
And congrats to Mike O'Brien for coming out of the hole that is the writers' room to appear in a sketch this week. Just...don't creep us out next time.
Next week, The Hobbit and Sherlock star Martin Freeman hosts SNL for the first time, with music from another first-timer, Charli XCX. You know, (I Don't Care) I love It, Fancy and Boom Clap? No?? Good. See you then! Goodnight!
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