1)
2) Maybe I could skip this episode or even end these reviews entirely.
and 3)
This is because I don't like or get Kevin Hart that much. His comedy may be funny most of the time, but the way he performs his comedy is straight-up goddamn annoying. He yells like a cat screeching, he jumps and bounces around like a fucking child, and his topics are ghetto as hell. And yet people (almost all of them from the African American community) find his shit the best thing they've ever heard. Plus, for the past few years, he's been overexposed in the acting industry so hard it just makes my laugh; being in an 1/8 of all films in the past two years, has been hovering the talk show circuit like you wouldn't believe, has a show on BET called Real Husbands of Hollywood (yes, it's what you think it is; and if you haven't heard of it, don't bother researching it and blaming me later) and is talked about by everyone.
It makes me sick! Which brings me to December. When he was announced as host of the January 17, 2015 episode, I just wanted to avoid the episode like the Black Plague or HIV or Justin Bieber.
But because I enjoy loving you guys, the continued love and respect you all bring of the blog--(looks at pageviews)--yes, continued love, I must continue watching SNL to continue the reviews to continue the pagevie--I mean love. If running this blog with the way I'm living life is wrong...Actually, you really wouldn't want to ask me about my life. So let's get this over with because I have a life outside of this.
So we start off with the Cold Open, in which a young man named Michael (Pete Davidson) is up at night working on a paper on Martin Luther King Jr. Then suddenly, Mr. King himself (Kenan Thompson) appears in his room and helps him learn about his legendary life. King then asks the boy questions about his legacy.
On Twitter during my livestream, I mentioned that David Oyelowo would’ve also been great as King in this sketch; not because Kenan was bad (he was pretty spot-on), but because the jokes would’ve been ten times better because the movie he starred in, the role he portrayed, and especially the because of the Oscar snub joke. I would’ve laughed my ass off from that.
It was really good. The jokes were really funny, especially those about the snub by the Academy and the throwaway about interracial love (which was taboo in the last century, but isn’t now). A great start to a really good episode ahead.
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Kevin comes on stage for his Monologue. As expected, it was some goofy crazy shit we’ve seen from him for the past few years. But this time, it’s hilarious. After getting engaged, he and his soon-to-be wife released that they to get away from the craziness of Hollywood and move into the calm and cozy of the suburbs. But things don’t go as planned. Kevin has a problem with raccoons.
Like I said, this is hilarious.
The Sketch After is a talk show for people who still watch MTV, E!, or the new HLN (which is shit for people who base their lives on Facebook and Twitter) called Why’d You Post That.
The first guest, Kim (Nessa B) discusses her photo of the Empire State Building. Darnell is pissed about it; the photo itself, the content, focus, the effect, etc. (Man, this dude is more psychoanalytical on these photos than I am on everything I’ve talked about on this blog!) So he would throw her into The Wall.
With the second guest (Trisha [Baby Aidy])/photo (a huge, disgusting bruised toe that’d make the writers of SpongeBob blush...and get inspired), things really would pick up, despite the screen not being up to code.
Kevin’s jokes were super funny, making this sketch palpable. “The Wall” was a shocking, yet pleasant surprise. I laughed every time it comes up, even more so now that it’s online. However, during the time poor Kim went through “The Wall”, the couch hit the set wall for a second, seemingly screwing up days of practice and improvement that the producers had with it. Kevin’s vamping made it little better. And another thing, the background music for a show hosted by a black man made it look and sound super white. And speaking of white...
Corner Boys
this next one is a pre-tape about brothas on the streets talking about what they’re doing. Like spin class, shopping and wearing matching sweaters...with dogs.
This is masterfully genius; taking the stories and jokes about black guys doing things like hustlin’, running from the cops or keeping a couple AKs and Nikes on deck, and flips it upside down to get this gem. They say something gangsta, and then after the reveal, say something incredibly white. You don’t have to be Black and/or grow up in the projects during your lifetime to know that’s funny. My faves were Martha’s (Mayonnaise), Jay’s “party” (especially the part where this lady sang “I’m In Luv Wit The Coco”), and Kevin’s bitches (aka dogs from his dog-walking business). Honestly, if they said this in a real projects, they would’ve gotten shot.
“Get On Up”/Fake James Brown
James Brown (Hart) is performing at the iconic Apollo Theater, and before he starts her set, he asks his band if they wanna get funky...among other things.
I laughed hard when Brown asked his band (CecStrong, SaZam, and nearly all of the male members) some good odd questions, and gets back some really odd answers especially what they’d want for lunch I honestly started thinking about Chicken Parm with Mustard. That. sounds. delicious.
Nancy: Soap Opera Reunion
On the “Nancy” Show, host Nancy Chase (Baby Aidy) (which sounds not at all like HLN host Nancy Grace) welcomes members of the cast (Kate Mc, TKill, SaZam and CecStrong) of “soap opera” Fairwood Manor reunite for an interview. But one of the members (Nessa B) is singled out badly when she comes out on set. Just listen to her music.
It’s not great, but I did chuckle when the corny, childish music played when Ms. Bond came on and left the stage. Poor Maggie; seemed really nice. And on a side note, Debbie’s charatcer on the show must have had the life of a cat if she “successfully” killed herself 25 times. And if you know English, you have to understand it to speak it.
The Journey/Musical
A king (Kenan), and his companions (Hart, TKill, CecStrong and SaZam) are facing the wrath of a dragon destroying his kingdom and their beloved land, they try to run away, but they instead start singing a song. Over and over again.
First off, none of them can’t sing to save their lives (literally; I guess that’s why the dragon is on its rampage), but that makes it funny. Hart’s companion is aware of their constant singing, like it’s a musical, like Flynn was aware of everything going around him in Tangled. The writers took the annoying thing where characters spontaneously sing during crucial moments of a story and made it a part of the skit, which I love. Kevin’s reactions to leave also make it hilarious.
Look-a-like/Kevin’s Son
After finishing a show, Kevin goes backstage to finish up and leave for home. But suddenly, an old flame (LesJones), who somehow went past security to go to his dressing room, talks with him about an important matter: Years ago, after they had a one-night stand, she later had a son, who may be Kevin’s. The kicker...they have the same features and character traits down pat.
Jay’s imitation voice, tics and mannerisms are perfect. His voice is so fucking nasally though, it really ticks me off. Leslie was funny, too, thanks to her forcefully making Kevin accept that not-so-mini-Kevin is his son.
Listening Party
In the final sketch of the episode, which I'll call the Five-to-One Sketch (my apologies to The AV Club for the name being very similar), rapper Chocolate Droppa (Kevin's real life alter-ego) has written and recorded his latest single, which is based on his entourage (Leslie Jones, Jay Pharoah, Beck Bennett, Pete Davidson and Bobby Moynihan, Taran Killam, Cecily Strong & Kenan Thompson, which from now on will be known colloquially as The Usual 4, for any time they all appear in a sketch). In that single, however, features lyrics that clearly include embarrassing secrets that he knows about them. Everyone are not pleased.
The physical gags that Kevin did was funny, while everyone else’s reactions were really funny. The things they said, while a little weak, were good enough to make me chuckle. And the secrets themselves are hilarious. The shooting at the end felt cliched, but was still a little funny.
Justin Bieber Calvin Klein Ads
Throughout the ep., a spoof on Justin Bieber’s recent ad campaign for Calvin Klein underwear. When Kate Mc is impersonating Justin Bieber, you KNOW it’s gonna be hilarious.
Lemme just leave a few quotes:
“My tattoo...makes me say owie.”
“My pee-pee’s in there.”
“Elastic Heart” and “Chandelier”.
But these performances weren’t memorable because of her singing.
It’s because of her short veil covering her eyes (she really doesn’t like the concept of “Fame and Fortune”, and I don’t blame her; she cares more about the art are of music) and the people of the set:
“Elastic Heart” features the girl from the "Chandelier" video, Maddie Ziegler, and another woman in the same flesh-colored unitards doing an intimate dance number all across the stage. While you would find this beautiful, I found the choreography hilarious. In fact, from this tweet:
You know; if Kate McKinnon was in this performance, it would STILL be funny as it is now. #SNL #Sia
— Andrew Pollard (@APollard36) January 18, 2015I thought it would get funnier if Kate Mc appeared in this sketch reprising her character from the Halloween sketch in the Jim Carrey Episode #4.
While “Chandelier” features a mime mimicking the lyrics in sign language.
I honestly thought that they were a parody of her videos, because of how absurd some people see them. But nope, they’re legit. I found both performances wonderful; Sia’s voice was perfect, and the street performers were awesome. Maddie Ziegler will have a great dancing career ahead of her.
These performances this season have been no short of amazing. Everyone who has appeared in an episode has really brought the house down with their music. Lorne and the producers have really struck gold this season, and I can’t wait for what they got in store for the rest of the season!
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shit.
Time for an Update
Part 1:
Part 2:
At this point, I’m beginning to liken Jost more. I realized he’ll be here for the season (and probably another), and his sane, boring personality has gotten much more tolerable, so I’m beginning to warm up to him more and more.
As for Che, he’s still the same. Fortunately, he’s improved from flubbing lines (and making me cringe more after the fact), and surprising makes me like Colin more than him.
Also, I noticed that they didn’t do a segment together (which I usually liked), but the producers realized something was wrong, and fixed it. Too bad they realized something was still wrong.
I keed, I keed; I said I warmed up to this guy, and I mean it.I also realized that this edition is shorter than usual. Probably because of Kevin’s Mono. I kinda liked it; if the producers keep it up like this, Update may get better and better in my eyes.
Honestly, ever since I've watched SNL since October 2, 2005, I've only ever saw episodes as ever great, good or average, with no truly bad episodes. (I was a kid with a bedtime of 8:00; please cut me some slack) The one that's truly bad to me so far was the Chris Rock/Prince episode from this season. So I've expected this episode to be really average since Darrell Hammond said his name back in December.
(Basically everyone thought it)
To be honest, though, I thought his last episode was really good; the sketches weren't bad, Kevin was pretty good as host, the Z-Shirt Part 2 gag was a great surprise and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were awesome as the musical guest. Hell, even the new Daft Punk album commercial made this episode really good.
So, what did I think of the episode?
Overall this was a really good ep.
Kevin was a very fine host; his jokes were much better than I expected, and the “Bushwick” pre-tape was genius. I felt this was a lighter version of the Chris Rock episode though; the sketches were very...urban, for lack of a better tone, as if they were built to reach the host’s strengths and needs. But the writers toned down the darkness this time, since Hart was more of a sillier type of comedian. Plus, he wasn’t as loud and hyper as he usually is in his stand-up, so that’s a plus.
Of all the cast members who did great, I got to give it to Kate McKinnon. She was awesome! Her facial expression in the Nancy Show Reunion sketch was funny, her character in Update was a blast, and her Justin Bieber impression in the Calvin Klein Ads spoof especially was fucking hilarious. I mean it’s always hilarious, but this was one of the best of them all. She did a bang-up job this week, and I can’t applaud her enough.
As for Sia, also great during her performance. Her voice was wonderful and letting the street performers do all the work and not showing her face was a smart artistic choice, even though we’ve seen her face before (and therefore makes less sense). In case you’re curious on what it really looks like, here it is:
That's all I gotta say. See ya next week!
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