SNL 40 Review: Chris Hemsworth & Zac Brown Band

Well, folks, it’s happened again. SNL 40 has found another host from a big movie. This time, it’s Chris Hemsworth...and the movie (Avengers: Age of Ultron) hasn’t even been released yet. It’s fine that SNL can have a guest host to promote a film or TV show, but the thing about that that annoys me is that they have a sketch that parodies said film or TV show. That aggravates me. But let’s get this started before I hold up half a page about me rambling on about why I hate this (aka, like usual).

The Cold Open is a televised message from Hillary Clinton, talking to the American people about a group of alleged emails that were traced to her earlier last week involving political issues like Benghazi. She denies them and decided to mention her running to become President. She later showed her emails proving she has nothing to hide...except her huge interest in becoming President….if she chooses to run.

This is the first sketch involving Kate Mc taking over the role of the former First Lady and Secretary of State from former cast member Amy Poehler. She does a fantastic job doing so and can really make a perfect secretive, awkward and pseudo-normal politician. I believe McKinnon can be the best Hillary Clinton impersonator and can certainly hold her own against Poehler and other former cast members who have played her in past decades.
McKinnon is seriously holding onto a hot streak this season. She knocks every other character (one-shot, recurring or impersonation) out of the park and continues to be one of the most consistently good SNL cast members. It’s like the writers and producers start to have a favorite in her and shuns the rest of the cast for her (I don’t blame them, though). Even if her appearing in half the sketches in every show can annoy me, I can say that I can take her over the norm.

After the open, Chris comes to the stage for the Monologue. And I didn’t like it.

So here is a list of things he was expected to slip up (aka written by the writers):
-Mentioning he was on Dancing with the Stars Australia (Who cares?)
-Mentioning Thor as his biggest role? (No shit.) (Although I chuckled when he mentioned Gone Girl)
-Mentioning he has brothers? We know he has one of them. (Sorry, Luke.)
The Mono was questionably short, but I’ll take that as it wasn’t really funny and really boring. Plus, Chris uttered "Uhh" more than once; chalk that up to nerves. Another thing is the Q&A part wasn't that good. Just like last time.
Also, apparently the wardrobe department has never seen the Hemsworth brothers to get the point that they’re not blonde, as Kenan is shown to be when he comes on stage as "fourth brother" Callum. Also, Kate Mc shows up as the brothers' (and "Callum"'s) mother. Seriously, she's their favorite.

The Sketch After time, and first things first: Why does Disney Channel look like Disney Junior?

The sketch feels more like something that would fit more on NBC during its’ Saturday Morning block in the 90s, and the acting really feels like Saved by the Bell or California Dreams on caffeine pills. TKill was really annoying as one of the twins, thanks to his usual voice sounding a child character. At least it works spoofing what characters on Disney Channel show sound like. And another thing:

Does anyone remember Splitting Image?? One twin is skinny, the other fat?? Yeah, Brother 2 Brother is just like that, but w/ guys. #SNL

— Andrew Pollard (@APollard36) March 8, 2015

My apologies. The correct title is "Mirror Image", when I thought it was "Splitting..."

Yep, this sketch is just like Mirror Image from season 33.

Just change the gender, height, and Disney network and you’ve got a match in laziness. At least they got the part where Disney Channel characters are either stupid or nerdy down pat. And the catchphrases. “Oh, brothers!” Genius.
It does get better when Marky goes to Matty’s class, pretending to be him, with the teacher and students seeing through the ruse and making creepily-detailed comparisons between them. The best of such came from Baby Aidy when her character compares the sizes, shapes and textures of their asses. It comes to a head when Marky blurts out “My dick is bigger!”. Seriously, how does he know who has the bigger penis?

Next up a pre-tape spoofing Fox’s white-hot (or should I say black-hot? ...Yeah, I shouldn’t.) drama Empire.

Unlike the many many name drops of Thor and the very-anticipated sketch featuring the Marvel character, it was a good thing that this happened. But I found the angle of throwing in a white character for the sake of pulling in white viewers to be annoying and stupid. There already is a white character in the cast, and the show already has a big white audience, so the concept here was moot. But the execution was pretty good.
Kenan returned to form as Terrence Howard/Lucious Lyon (again nailing the voice and mannerisms), SaZam played a really good Cookie, Pharoah was a fine Jamal, LesJones was a hilarious Porsha and Michael Che (in what could be his second ever sketch, to my surprise) was a fine (and more masculine) Hakeem. Chris was kinda dull as the straight-laced white Chip, but if you know how urban shows with predominantly African American cast, you will know how this turns out.
Also, I can’t help but realize that Andre was not in this sketch. I mean, I know SNL has a limited number of Black cast members, but it’s not that hard to ask a guest star to portray him. Why not Keegan Michael Key or Jordan Peele or Finesse Mitchell? Remember him? He was a cast member for a few years. Any of these guys or some others I haven't mentioned would’ve been perfect to play him. Oh yeah, except (SPOILERS)
he’s in a psychiatric hold in the next episode.
So yeah, that kinda makes sense. So overall, a very solid spoof on Empire.

Spaceship Chicken
In the distant year of 3041, the crew of the SS Orion must make a decision to save their lives, involving their captain...which happens to be a chicken.

This was an odd, but really funny sketch. The chemistry between Hemsworth and the chicken was strangely compelling. And the reveal with the “Captain” in a microwave was hilarious. The crew about to eat their commanding officer was also funny.

The Iggy Azalea Show
Honestly, this skit can go fuck itself.

The only thing this sketch had going for it: The Usuals (CecStrong, Moyni, Kenan or TKill) weren’t in this one. And Kate Mc has a wonderful fake Australian accent, and can use it amazingly, and can switch between it and Azalea’s rapping voice. And that small part where the Aussie guy twerked on Azealia Banks. Other than that, fuck this sketch.


Of course, we were going to get a sketch involving the Marvel super heroes. It just had to happen. So I should feel disgusted in myself for finding this one of the best sketches.
All of the males playing the heroes:
(-TKill as Tony Stark/Iron Man
-Pete Dave as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, and
-Pharaoh as Nick Fury)
were amazing, alongside Hemsworth as Thor. Hems certainly had the energy here, and it was amazing to see. I even like Moyni and Cecily in this.
A great sketch here.

“Soap Opera/Movie Set/Who Cares/It Sucks”
A scene takes place in a soundstage where a scene is taking place. After the director yells cut, things got weird.

The sketch (whether a soap opera or a drama film) just fell flat. And got flatter as it continues. I just didn’t like this. And not much was known about this before hand; I thought this taping was for a soap opera, not a movie.It was flat, boring, didn’t have enough laughs out of me to sustain half the run time, and I nearly fell asleep towards the end.
Which is ironic, as the director used to work on “Family Matters”, a very funny sitcom.
The only good thing came when Hemsie’s character said “Dying?!” in a funny way.

Beck an’ Kyle: Reality House
Beck an’ Kyle wasn’t funny this week. Seriously…

I was really confused when I watched it live, and usually, I get the concept and plots of the clips, and they’re odd as hell. But this was different for my brain for my absorb. And my brain absorbs a lot. Fortunately, I got less confused after rewatching it. It did get funnier, and Hemsie was pretty good here.

The Former Porn Stars are back!!...again!!!
This time they’re endorsing Dolce & Gabbana fragrance.

Still funny after all these years. And Idiot with No Name is still an idiot...but hilarious.
Chris was as funny as Dong Juan De Black Hole. And I’m a guy, and this is super obvious, but he has some nice abs. Yeah, really ripped there.



Zac Brown Band was the musical guest this week, and for their first time, the did better than Hemsworth. Sorry, fangirls. He’s not ready for not being ready for primetime yet. They were just amazing. I’m not a fan of this band, but I was amazed by their music. A perfect mix of folk, rock and country that makes happy that pop is my favorite genre anymore. For proof...
Here is “Homegrown”, a poppy, happy song about the family, friends and hometown you love so much, that it’s all you need in life to be happy.

and here is “Heavy is the Head”, a damn good darker, rockier riff featuring Chris Cornell.

Really, this sounds like it could be the theme song for Sons of Anarchy or Justified or Breaking Bad. Everybody rocked out hard and it was freakin’ awesome.
Well done to the Band for a fantastic performance, and helping me prove that this season, SNL has excelled in music when it can’t the same for the sketches sometimes.

Time For an Update
Part 1:

Part 2:


Surprisingly, Update was great this, and it had me wondering: are the writers actually listening to us? Are they actually fixing their mistakes of making a really terrible WU team in Colin Jost and Michael Che? It is actually funnier now? I guess this leads to a resounding...Maybe.
The repeated shots at Republican Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson was hilarious. Piling on the guy was just painfully delicious.
Also, the thing where Jost whin--I mean, talks with Che about the latter getting funnier jokes was weird, I mean Colin does have some good one-liners under his belt every now and then, but this was odd. The joke he was given was creepy, and does prove the point that the dull, droll Colin Jost can’t do a joke like Michael Che to save his life. I do feel this is a satire of Jost’s boring-ass delivery in previous edition, but, in my opinion, it fell a little limp. (Pun intended)
--

Relationship Expert Leslie Jones returned for more talk about dating in New York. This wasn’t as funny as her other appearances. She just yells every other sentence and the jokes make no sense. At least she has the “kind words” with Colin to fall back on. And his “Nice Transition” was really funny.
--

Legendary CecStrong character The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation with at a Party returned to discuss horrible terrorist groups Boko Haram and ISIS joining forces...and of course she butchers the shit out of everything she’s saying.
Cecily still knocks it out of the park every time she shows up on Update, and continuously makes me laugh.

Favorite Bits:
All the Dr. Ben Carson jokes


Best Sketches:
Spaceship Chicken
Former Porn Stars: Dolki & Gabbana
Hillary Clinton CO
Honorable Mention:
Brother 2 Brother (started out really bad, but got better as time went on)
The Avengers sketch

Best Pre-Tapes:
AmEx Spot
Empire Promo

Worst Sketches:
Soap Opera (definitely)
The Iggy Azalea Show

Again, Kate Mc is pretty much the star of the episode, and that is a damn good thing. She can portray any character, be great at it, and steal any sketch she's in. And she doesn't disappoint or annoy me.
And some other thing to mention, everyone else appeared in a few sketches at best. I barely noticed any of them so much that I thought it was just Kate McKinnon Being Funny & Chris Hemsworth Being Hot. It was kinda sad, but at least everyone did get a few lines individually, so that's a good thing.

Well...this just tied with the last episode as worst episode of the season. You know, I been on a roll lately. Every time a bad episode comes up, I call it the worst episode, but then, the next episode comes and tops that one, and I end up calling that the worst. It just seems to continue.
The first three were a mixed-yet-pretty-good group of episodes, but then after the 40th Anniversary special, the humor quality plunged gradually. Say what you want about the last episode hosted by Dakota Johnson, but at least it has a few really solid sketches. This one on the other hand was just a mess. There were barely any good laughs from me outside of little “butt joke” in the Brother 2 Brother sketch, the Avengers sketch and the FPS sketch. It was all just boring, corny and a waste of time. The writers did not do their best and you can clearly feel it through the cast’s mouths. Hemsworth was mediocre and near lifeless, and no look at his face or his chest isn't going to save him or the episode. He did his best, and I'll give him credit for it (he did well in some of the sketches), but it wasn't enough,

I would’ve skipped this entirely after Update and make it back for the second performance, before turning off the TV, but I had to do this for the Review. This was embarrassingly bad and I dread for the next episode. Hopefully they learn a lesson to never waste time on writing host-pandering sketches involving whatever TV show or movie he/she is promoting at the moment, and just write sketches.

Tune in--well, I don’t know. For whatever reason, Darrell Hammond didn't announce the host and musical guest for next week, having me thinking that I missed the bumper before commercial break. But I didn’t. Its' social media pages didn’t show the lineup, and the Wikipedia article didn’t have it posted either. And usually, if it’s not airing the following week, then Hammond would reveal the line-up for the ep that would air in the next two weeks. What the hell, Lorne? I know you guys have breaks every now and then, but this is strange. I need to know! What is up with SNL weird arrangement?? Unfortunately, we won’t know, and I’m too lazy to get to the bottom of this...so, umm...join me...whenever...for the next
Saturday Night Live 40 Review. I’m Andrew, and...uhh...see you later, I guess.

UPDATE:
Or maybe on the 28th. It was announced on the social media pages that Dwayne Johnson will host Episode 16, with musical guest, George Ezra (who?). Finally, the Mystery that not many cared about is solved. It's just going the Disney Channel route of stretching episode airings very apart. Strange, huh? See you then!!