(S34E06) I'm not one of the hardcore Mad Men fans out there, but from what I've seen, the show is slick as hell. Never would I have expected Don Draper to be so funny, so I was absolutely thrilled that Jon Hamm did such a beautiful job hosting. He and Anne Hathaway have been stand-out hosts this season, and hopefully they'll be back for more, if only to show other hosts that it is entirely possible to read from cue cards with some degree of naturalism. Actually, some players could take notes, too. Mr. Hamm even managed to do some impressions without making me cringe out of my seat, which was a super-extra-bonus. It was a strange night, certainly, what with the Fingers in Butts and Amy Poehler being MIA to have her baby (I hope the baby will have Amy's eyes and Will Arnett's voice), but Mr. Hamm's performance managed to carry the show and help everyone deliver a solid episode.
Cold Open: Geez, this dragged on forever. Jason Sudeikis' Biden still isn't quite there yet, but Darrell Hammond's grumpy-faced Murtha was pretty good.
Digital Short ("Rasta Man"): I couldn't understand what Andy Samberg was saying through most of this, but the bits that I could hear were kind of funny. Please note I only heard "Excuse I!" and something about Cool Runnings and heard him get super-quiet when he walked past a group of black people.
"Two A-Holes in an Ad Agency in the 60s": This was probably a lot funnier to anyone who has seen Mad Men, not only because of the special appearances by Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery (aka Silver Fox), but the impressions were too perfect. We've seen funnier "Two A-Holes" sketches, but the fact that it was Mad Men made it a little more bearable.
"Obama Variety Hour": Hi, Maya Rudolph! It's been a while. I suppose this Maya's appearance as Michelle Obama was another reminder that the SNL cast needs a little more diversity.
"Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women": Amazing and hilarious in its simplicity and execution. I was surprised by the amount of retro-y slash Mad Men-related things in this episode. I wouldn't be surprised if the show just got a lot of new people interested, or at least willing to take their skirts off for Don Draper.
"Weekend Update": Poor Seth Meyers had to pull this off all on his lonesome. At least Amy's absence was for a wonderful reason. I guess I wasn't too far off when I mentioned last week that Amy looked like she was rocking that Sarah Palin rap so hard, the baby was about to slip out. That's how people have babies, right? I saw a TLC show about it once. Anyway, there were a few chuckle-worthy lines here and there, but the highlight of Update came at the very end with Maya Rudolph and Kenan Thompson singing, "We love you, Amy." Even my bitter, frozen heart melted for that moment. Just a little.
Finger in Butts: This week's "Fartface." At least Hamm pulled a few good faces.
I'm super-sad that NBC didn't upload the Vincent Price sketch. The pacing of the piece was a little awkward, but I thought Mr. Hamm's James Mason was hysterical and Bill Hader's Vincent Price is always funny to me. Maybe I just have a thing for retro-themed sketches.
Coldplay: Man...these guys really don't do themselves justice live. I didn't think that was possible, but I guess it is. I'm assuming they played a third song ("Yellow"!) because of the time left from the sketches that needed Amy Poehler. I believe she and Maya were supposed to pull a "Bronx Beat" for old times' sake, but perhaps it's for the best that they didn't do it. Anyway, even though I'm digging Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" look, they totally need to throw in more lasers.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-26-2008 @ 1:04PM
Ryan said...
Coldplay's lead singer can't sing. Geez. A lot of digital magic going into their recordings.
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10-26-2008 @ 1:45PM
Edward said...
I was wondering why the musical guest was on 3 times...
10-26-2008 @ 7:16PM
Greg said...
Actually, they played 4 times, technically. They played the show out (though it was only the very beginning before getting cut off).
10-26-2008 @ 1:05PM
David said...
A couple of weeks ago Entertainment Weekly bemoaned the fact that SNL's references were way too old for a younger audience (they specifically mentioned Armisen's Lawrence Welk impression), and I have to agree with them here. James Mason? Liberace? Gloria Swanson? I certainly get them, and enjoy the mimicry, but is this honestly the best they can do in 2008?
I also reluctantly have to say that although I have loved the Nicholas Fehn segments, and have such respect for Armisen's performance, that's enough. There is absolutely no variation to the material, and you can only do so much with an idea that's based on No Material.
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10-26-2008 @ 4:37PM
Elf said...
I bet there were numerous last-minute script changes due to Amy's absence. The Nicholas Fehn bits seem to me to require absolutely no script or rehearsal, so I bet Armisen drags him out any time they have to fill a hole in the show at the last minute.
10-26-2008 @ 1:55PM
Midnight13 said...
Is there anyone in America who still has never heard of the AMC series "Mad Men"? Not only did Jon Hamm mention it in the monolouge, the network its on, the day its on and the time its on, but every commerical break NBC showed a promo for "Mad Men". Hey, whatever gets people watching, just wondering if there was anyone watching Saturday Night Live asking, 'Who is is this guy? Is he even a celebrity?'
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10-26-2008 @ 5:33PM
Jogue said...
When they announced him as the host last week I totally had to google him to find out who he was haha. I've heard of Mad Men and even Don Draper, but had zero idea of any of the actors from that show. That being said lol, this was one of the best shows lately.
10-26-2008 @ 5:49PM
ac said...
I've heard of Mad Men and watched an episode a while ago but I still had no idea who he was when he walked out till he said what he was in. Now I know. Will I watch Mad men? Most likely no.
10-26-2008 @ 1:57PM
Frank Wrench said...
What about Jon Hamm's John Ham? Sure, it was gross-out, but I laughed so hard at "My last name has two M's. And there's no H in my first name. Feel stupid yet? You should."
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10-27-2008 @ 3:28PM
Happy Steve said...
Yeah, the Jon Hamm's John Ham was pretty amusing.
I liked the Peter Sarsgaard's SARS Guards one better though.
10-26-2008 @ 2:35PM
shadowracer said...
"If it feels like ham, don't wipe your ass with it."
Best SNL by far in a long time. The Mad Men skit is a lot funnier if you are a fan. The Salvatore joke was funny.
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10-26-2008 @ 9:43PM
Oscar said...
It breaks my heart that more people didn't enjoy the Samberg Rast song. I got it right away and I assumed anybody who has been to college has seen a white rasta poseur or two. I don't know all the rasta slang he was dropping, but when he's talking about being a "rude boy living in a shanty dorm" or "toiling part time at jah-Coldstone Creamery" I was rolling. That's the gist of it, a shanty dorm instead of a shanty town and toiling in an ice cream parlor instead of in a field under the sun.
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10-26-2008 @ 2:46PM
Jeff said...
Honestly, I hated this episode of SNL. There were almost no good skits. The week Hathway hpsted was the best by far.
Also, do they HAVE to open with election skits every time? There is no one more glued to this election than me, but SNL is trying too hard in some cases (the opener last night was watching the same joke, repeated 6 times)
Hoping for better next week, and with an Obama cameo, it should be interesting.
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10-26-2008 @ 4:07PM
Jill said...
I completely agree. But SNL has been in a downward spiral for years. The so-called "jokes" are lazy and the humor in general is no even good enough to be deemed adolescent. Jon Hamm was a VERY welcome guest and helped to make up for this show's lame attempt at humor.
10-26-2008 @ 3:40PM
Aaron said...
oh the vincent price bit was the funniest even if i had no idea who these people were.
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10-27-2008 @ 12:41AM
Ang said...
I have to say the only reason I watched most of SNL last night was that I saw Jon Hamm was going to be on.. (I agree with most that the show has not been great for the last few years and I usually have better things to do on a Saturday night) also I was at my parents house for the weekend and they have a AWFUL cable plan. I almost fell off the couch laughing when the 'Guide to Picking up women' came on, yes you would have to watch the show to understand what they were talking about (and seriously why are you NOT watching the show? It has amazing writing, an awesome cast, and even though it is a period piece the stories and themes are important even today)
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10-26-2008 @ 6:18PM
Jimmy said...
A good ep. Perhaps not the best of the season, but very solid. Don Draper's Guide To Picking Up Women was an instant classic, and the non-A-Hole dialogue in the Mad Man sketch was spot-on. The Butt/Finger sketch was sophomoric, calling it this week's Fartface is a little harsh.
A few other comments:
* A couple bands have played three songs on the show. (U2 and Eric Clapton come immediately to mind.) I kind of assumed Coldplay was big enough to warrant three, so I wasn't too surprised. What did surprise me were the performances themselves. I'm not going to say Chris Martin was lip-synching, but something about their performances felt off to me. I'd blame it on my TV, but the rest of the show seemed fine.
* Maya was a nice surprise! She grew up with Gwyneth Paltrow, so maybe she was there because of the Coldplay connection?
* The Rosie O'Donnell joke ("Hey, Kool-Aid") was the highlight of Weekend Update!
* The Digital Short sucked. I'm almost to the point of not liking something just because Samberg's face is on it.
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10-26-2008 @ 6:42PM
Craig said...
It was by far the best episode of the year. I am a Mad Men fan so maybe I'm biased but I was disappointed that they had to include the Two A-Holes into the Mad Men sendup. It would have been easy to simply do a takeoff on the show. Although perhaps they thought too few would get it.
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10-27-2008 @ 2:57PM
Frank Wrench said...
Yeah, that's exactly what I thought! Bill Hader was doing a really good job as Sal, I thought, and the times they did actually parody Mad Men instead of the two A-holes worked well. "Well, it's noon. I'm off to the bar."
10-26-2008 @ 7:03PM
Paul said...
No mention of the trick-or-treating sex offender? That and the "Vincent Price" sketch were 2 of the best written and acted of the season. I was also quite pleased with most of the other sketches, and even "Update" (which clearly had less jokes and an extra appearance by Fehn because of no Poehler) wasn't bad.
Coldplay's problem was the soundman, especially during "Yellow", where the lead guitar was non-existent and the bass was way too high in the mix. I'm guessing they weren't expecting to play that one, but because of Poehler's last-minute labour-times, were asked to do a third that hadn't gotten any practices or soundchecks.
So far, SNL is 3/6 this season. The other 3 have had some good content, and I might even be tempted to put last week's episode in the "great" category too, but I can definitely say that I'd re-watch the James Franco, Anne Hathaway, and Jon Hamm episodes again.
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