Ehhh...
I've seen worse. There was some really good stuff here. It was great to see Maya Rudolph back full-time, even if it was
in two recurring roles that I don't really like. Although I think she officially rejoined the cast a few weeks ago,
right?
I've said before that I don't mind if they reuse old commercials, as long as they're good ones. They repeated "Baby Toupees" and "The Totally Rad Smoke Detector 3000" in this episode. Except for Fred Armisen's stereotypical Irish fire-chief impersonation in the smoke detector one (I love that, great moustache), these two aren't good. Why can't they reuse good commercials though? Oh and did anyone scan the closing credits? I had heard rumors about this, but Seth Myers is officially a head writer now along with Tina and Andrew Steele. Perhaps this is more proof that Tina is on her way out to focus solely on her new sitcom next year?
Cold Open - Nothing special here, just a run-of-the-mill Bush address. Forte cracked a few good jokes. I especially enjoyed when he challenged Osama to a duel, "Texas style." There have been no major hurricanes since Katrina and he took credit for that which I thought was amusing. Cheney came on; guess what they joked about? Like I said, nothing special.
Natalie Portman's Monologue - Good Lord, she's gorgeous. I can't imagine her looking bad with any hair style (she had it shaved for her latest film V is for Vendetta). Anywho, she fielded Star Wars questions from nerds (Samberg and Sudeikis) in the audience and ended up having more SW knowledge than the nerds did. Further proving the stereotype that "black people don't watch Star Wars," Finesse stood up and asked "What's Star Wars?" This was good for a few laughs.
Jamba Juice - Anyone ever been to one of these? I've been once and this was eerily accurate. The employees at these places are on crack; they were wired when I went. For those who haven't been, these are just juice bars. But you can get all sorts of health add-ins... protein, soy, vitamins, whatever. I liked this sketch. Oh and is it just me, or does Chris Parnell now play a gay character at least once per episode?
Larry King Live - I don't think I've seen Fred Armisen do Larry King before. He didn't really have the voice down but he nailed the mannerisms. The topic was people who've had sex changes. The guests weren't all that funny (Natalie was a transvestite with a killer uni-brow), but the one-liners Larry King kept dropping were laugh out loud funny. Some samples: "What was it like before you swapped your parts?" "Where is your penis now?" "So you're going to have two penises?" "Kim Cattrall - she's all woman no matter how many penises you stick on her." I lost it on that last one.
The Needlers go to a Fertility Clinic - I think it's the third or fourth time they've done this sketch? Same thing every time so if you've seen any of the previous outings, you've seen this one.
Belated Black History Moment with Dennis Haysbert - This was actually the Robert Smigel installment for the episode. Haysbert (President Palmer!) hosted a documentary-ish look at three cartoons that prominently featured African-Americans. Token Black starred Franklin from Peanuts, Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats, and Winston Zeddmore from The Ghostbusters. The other two shows were The Hoke and Daisy Show, an animated version of Driving Miss Daisy and Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Outer Space. All three shows were canceled because as Haysbert called them, they were "humongous steaming bowls of elephant piss." I really liked this, I thought it was well done.
The Schöner(sp?) Family - I'm pretty sure that's their last name. Maya, Fred, Parnell, and Natalie play a family and everyone's first name is Noonie. Or is it Nunie? Who cares? They've done this sketch before and it's not funny. It's creepy and too Conehead-ish without the coneheads.
Weekend Update - This went on too long. Last episode WU was very short and it seemed like they weeded out the crap because most of the material was pretty funny. Not the case here. As expected, they ragged on Bush and Cheney. Darrell Hammond as Donald Trump as Martha Stewart came on, which I enjoyed. But the highlight was by far "Kenan Thompson's Lady Fat: Plus Size Woman's Clothing for Male Comedians of Color." Finesse saying he'd rather wear a dress designed by Kenan than not be in the show at all was priceless.
The Wakefield AV Club - This was a sketch I had forgotten about because Maya had been on maternity leave. Sheldon (Rachel Dratch) has his Bar Mitzvah and they video tape it. Maya is his best friend. Eh, they should have shelved this idea permanently. I don't think I laughed once, except for watching Andy Samberg dance with Natalie Portman.
SNL Digital Short - I was afraid they weren't going to have one. Chris Parnell is interviewing Natalie Portman and her response is an extremely vulgar rap video. But it was hilarious. She was so angry: "I'll kill your dog." "I'll sh*t on your face." It kept going too, other things I won't type out. I'm sure this will be posted online by the end of the day. Anyone finds it, please post the link in the comments.
Fall Out Boy - I love these guys. I've been listening to them for a few years now, well before they hit it big with their current album From Under the Cork Tree. They performed two singles off it: "Dance, Dance" and the extremely over-played "Sugar, We're Goin' Down." All that being said, I thought they sounded like crap here. I've seen them live once and thought they were much better then.
Next week, the new episode train keeps rolling with Matt Dillon and The Arctic Monkeys.
All the new shows - VIDEOS
The Upfronts: FOX
Carter Bays of How I Met Your Mother: The TV Squad Interview
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-05-2006 @ 11:17AM
bumblebee said...
You neglected to mention the Sasha Cohen parody by Natalie at the end of weekend update. A short joke routine and a long joke routine. Very good. The rap song at the end is in a class by itself. I second the need for a link to a stream of this...
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3-05-2006 @ 11:26AM
TORQ said...
Natalie Portman SNL Digital Short video-http://youtube.com/watch?v=l7qlXQ-EriI
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3-05-2006 @ 11:54AM
Jesse said...
I can't believe you liked the Natalie Portman Digital Short. As with most SNL, let's try that thing worked great once and try to copy it. Granted, I was thinking through it all, "they're just trying to do 'Chronic-les' again," but I don't think I laughed once at the whole thing. It was just trying to shock instead of make you laugh. Sometimes that works, but I didn't think it did here.
Most the rest of the show was pretty boring. The Dennis Haysbert thing wasn't bad. It was funny hearing him speak, but the cartoon material was no where near as good as past Smigel efforts.
Fallout Boy wasn't bad. SNL has been having very good musical guests lately(if you like that kind of music, which I do.)
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3-05-2006 @ 11:57AM
Annie Wu said...
This episode was actually alright. I didn't even mind when they started laughing in the Jamba Juice sketch. See, that kind of giggling is acceptable, I think. Not, like, "Fallon-Sanz onscreen time" giggling.
If they had picked a better musical guest, this would have been an excellent episode. My ears could not stop bleeding during the Fall Out Boy performances. Holy CRAP, that's a terrible band. That's not music... it's noise. And I thought their studio music was bad... Boy, oh boy.
Bad-ass Natalie Portman makes me happy. I liked the final little "WHAT?!".
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3-05-2006 @ 12:05PM
Jim said...
I'm assuming the second commercial was just a time filler, but you're right -- they shouldn't replay them at all.
I thought the second half of the show was better than the first. The Sasha Cohen spoof was well done, and the SNL Digital Short was great. "Wake Up Wakefield" was pretty good too.
The "Nunee" skits have got to go.
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3-05-2006 @ 12:27PM
robert said...
Well, I love "Noonie, Nunie, Noony, etc." sketches. Sure, they're basically always the same, but they crack me up. At least there wasn't a Donatella Versace piece. Those are god awful. I was hoping they might do something on Lucas or the cardboard acting he gets out of people for the newer Star Wars crap. The show needs more Finesse.
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3-05-2006 @ 1:21PM
Brad said...
Fall Out Boy sucked something awful last night. They were out-of-tune, too loud, played their songs too fast, and tried to sell themselves too much.
I remember when they were kids just like me in the local scene. They've changed so much, for better and for worse. I miss the old days when they played the Elk Grove Teen Center rather than the UIC Pavilion.
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3-05-2006 @ 1:34PM
Jason said...
Does anyone know where I can download a copy of this for my ipod video?
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3-05-2006 @ 2:14PM
Jason said...
I mean a copy of the Rap video.
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3-05-2006 @ 2:49PM
Brent said...
I thought it was a bad episode as usual. The rap stuff is getting dumb. The "Weekend Update" was painful to watch. If I was a liberal, I would still not find SNL funny because they were unoriginal jokes. SNL skits are kind of like the Democrat Party because they do not have any new ideas. Cheney shot someone--good one.
I did like the Larry King bit and the Sasha Cohen "The Aristocrat" joke. Nerds questioning Portman about "Star Wars" was good.
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3-05-2006 @ 4:34PM
Jim said...
P.S. The bumper shots of Natalie were amazing.
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3-05-2006 @ 5:20PM
mauricio said...
I must say this episode was not great. I rarely found myself even smiling at the show. I had looked forward to seeing F.O.B> but they left me disappointed. I seem to recall them performing the same way on what I think was Leno. I could hardly hear the words to their songs. I seemed to have concentrated more on jumping around the stage than to playing their guitars. Anyway this episode just totally sucked, well except for Natalie Portman. Like someone has already mentioned she is still gorgeous even with short hair.
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3-05-2006 @ 5:39PM
Matt said...
The person who wrote this column must be working for SNL because he seemed to have something positive to say about almost every sketch. It was probably the worst episode of SNL I've ever seen start to finish. Im going to agree with most of the others and say that the Digital Short was the only sketch I laughed at only because its funny to see the "nice girl" Natalie Portman being so vulgar. Other than that, the show was terrible. They really need to clean house with this cast. They have been on way too long now. In my opinion that is because they are so unpopular that they are unable to move on to movies like the SNL casts of the past.
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3-06-2006 @ 3:50AM
mark said...
i was actually at SNL's dress rehearsal show. i think they take the audience's response to the jokes to tweak things for the live show. believe me, they cut out A LOT of crap for the weekend update. there was this whole 5 minute long terrible bit where darrell hammond was paying his tribute to the various oscar nominations (singing like johnny cash, an impression of capote, etc.) and they also had at least a dozen more headline jokes that were not funny at all.
i was also pissed to see that they cut out 2 pretty funny skits that were much funnier than the "nunie" skit. one was at a broadway restaraunt where the waiters sing, and it ended up being a really dumb plot for the upcoming "new twilight zone" series
the other skit was a star wars one where natalie has an acting coach who is getting her to thoroughly know all the obscure creatures in the star wars universe. the guy who played the acting coach did incredible impressions of the star wars creatures, and it was funny to see natalie making the weird noises and motions while dressed like padme on tatooine.
the other skits that they left out weren't funny.
p.s. why did F.O.B. play 'sugar we're going down' instead of their upcoming single 'a little less sixteen candles a little more touch me'... they could have promoted their new single...
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3-06-2006 @ 1:27PM
Pete said...
Natalie Portman is quite stunning. And she can act. How many guests are way too obvious with their cuecard reading (Mr. Haysbert)? NP actually pulled it off to some extent. Granted, noone seems to care how aweful they look reading on live television, but... The Jamba sketch, Update and the Digital Short were all season highlights.
Oh, and Fall Out Boy was/is terrible!! Tell me this is not a group trying to prove they're cool after all those "kick me" signs were taped to their backs in school. The mock passion, the aimless thrashing... The Who they are not.
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3-06-2006 @ 2:00PM
Murdoink said...
I found this episode quite enjoyable, although I also believe that SNL needs a facelift, not only commercials but repeating sketches are getting old and boring.
The Digital Short was awesome and it's living proof that the new guys are the ones who are going to change the show for better.
I also hopes that Natalie hosts again in a next season.
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3-06-2006 @ 4:27PM
CHRISTIAN said...
Yes, "Fall Out Boy" were terrible. Outta tune, out of synch with each other, a tight band they are not. Crap!!!
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3-06-2006 @ 4:34PM
zimyatov said...
Ahhh, regarding the original article... an IRISHMAN named VANELLI? Not ususally.
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3-06-2006 @ 7:28PM
Beatriz said...
here's NP's gangsta Rap
http://www.devilducky.com/media/42822/
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3-07-2006 @ 2:49PM
Katie said...
When I saw the Gangsta Natalie sketch, it immediately made me think of one of the bits in the beginning of one of the Lonely Island sketches, called Awesometown (it was a Fox/MTV pilot, but it didn't get picked up). It was similar in humor. You can watch just the beginning of it, and at some point during the introduction, Jorma starts gangsta rapping, and it freaks out Andy and Kiv.
http://videos.thelonelyisland.com/tli/awesometowndc.mp4
Also, if anyone remembers way back when in December on the show when Jack Black hosted, there was a sketch feturing Andy as a Hermaphrodite alien stranded on a planet with Jack. This sketch is just a slightly edited version of a sketch from the same Awesometown pilot. Still funny, but just interesting to see what the "original version" looks like:
http://videos.thelonelyisland.com/tli/glirk.mp4
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