“Wham, bam, thank you Hamm”
Cold Open: A Message From The Vice President
2 Stars
Jason as Joe Biden delivers a last minute, thrown together monologue about the midterm elections.
Jon Hamm Monologue
Jon comes up with advertising slogans for products suggested by the audience. Andy tries to stump him with 9volt batteries but Hamm’s to good for that.
Ronnie And Clyde
I always sense bad omens when we start with the Digital Short. I don’t know if that theory holds water but it makes me feel like you don’t have a lot of faith in the rest of your material when you’re kicking off the show with this, a retread of a short at that. We last saw Rihanna and Shy Ronnie last season, this time they’re robbing a bank. Same bit as last time but the song is super catchy and gets in your head for days.
Vincent Price's Halloween Special
6th and final appearance of this sketch. Kristen plays Judy Garland, Jon is JFK, and Fred is once again Liberace. We get a lot of double entendres. Since this is the last one I’ll watch I just went through my reviews of all the others, apparently this has always been a 3 star sketch for me. Not one I love but I’ve never hated it. My enthusiasm did start to wane once Liberace became a recurring character which doesn’t surprise me at all.
Back To The Future 25th Anniversary DVD
It’s a good ol’ fashion impressions sketch. We get Bill’s Al Pacino, Jay’s Eddie Murphy, Kristen’s Jennifer Tilly, Bobby’s Sam Kinison, and Jon’s Robin Williams. That’s the chronological order but coincidentally how I would probably rank them as well.
Audition
Before she auditions Kristen lists off things she has no problem doing on stage like swear, show graphic nudity, rap, jiggle, fart, and eat bird poop. The only thing she won’t do is wear a costume. Her husband Jon comes to her aid with an impassioned speech until the director gets fed up and jumps out the window. Fun gag with Jason jumping out a first floor window and Kristen and Jon are pretty hilarious in this.
Back To The Future 25th Anniversary DVD
More impressions as we get Bill’s insane Alan Alda. We also get some we’ve seen before like Kenan as Bill Cosby, Fred as Prince, and Andy as Nicolas Cage. We also get Taran’s creepily good Pee Wee Herman and two SNL alums in a row with Abby’s Joan Cusack and Taran’s Gilbert Gottfried.
Rihanna
"What's My Name?"
Weekend Update
I Didn't Ask For This
Bobby hosts a show for stars of embarrassing viral videos. He was filmed peeing his pants in fear. Kristen was hit in the head while fleeing from a bee and Jon has a weird cry. I wish this had a little more to it than spoofing viral videos of the day but it was still fun.
Highway Cops
Jason and Jon keep getting distracted by the foliage and forget their police missions. It’s all just a lead-up to a man-on-man kiss which is a long setup for a weak punchline.
Darlique & Barney
Why do I dislike some sketches on principle? As soon as I see a piano and a boozy lounge singer I’m already checking out. Kristen and Jon have pretend arguments and playful banter for about 3 minutes. It’s not terrible thanks to the performances but it’s a big tub of forgettable.
Rihanna returns with "Only Girl (In The World)"
Dog In Purse
David Spade voices as a male dog dressed as a girl in a socialite’s purse. Feels like they just animated a Spade riff. Not sure if the sound mixing issues were just the online copy but at one point it sounds like they start using a different microphone.
FINAL ANALYSIS
“Are you insane in the membrane?”
Average
2.8 Stars
MVP
Kristen Wiig
Vincent Price’s Halloween Special, Back To The Future 25th Anniversary DVD, Audition, Weekend Update, I Didn’t Ask For This, Darlique & Barney
Best Sketch
Back To The Future 25th Anniversary DVD
Worst Sketch
Highway Cops
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
Swap I Didn’t Ask For This with Vincent Price, which is almost always a post-Update sketch anyway. I realize that would put the gay panic of Liberace right next to a sketch predicated on boy kisses so I guess you have to cut Highway Cops. Shame, that sketch really had something going for it. If there’s another joke in that sketch that’s not ‘boy kiss=funny’ I fail to see it.
Host Analysis
He didn’t falter and had fun characterizations in each sketch. This episode was a bit of a letdown only because his first two were so strong. But none of the weakness of this had anything to do with him. It’s absurd that this was the last time he hosted. Even if his post Mad Men career hasn’t been huge he wouldn’t feel out of place hosting SNL now. You’d think, why’s he hosting? Then you’d see he’s playing a cop in a Scorsese movie and think that’s enough of a reason to have Hammy back on the show. Maybe they just ran out of puns for his name so they stopped calling.
Final Thoughts
The weakest of the Jon Hamm episodes but that’s no reason to never have him back. I wish we would have gotten Forte back for a Jeff Montgomery over a Vincent Price. Actually have them both because that’s the only thing Halloween-y in the show. This was October 30th, give me some spook.
5 episodes in, let’s check in on the newbies. So far Jay’s gotten the most substantial airtime but we’ve yet to see him as a character that’s not an impression. Vanessa had Miley Cyrus but has also been scoring laughs in some thankless roles. Taran had one centerpiece sketch but he didn’t talk in it. Other than that he’s just been walk-on roles. I guess maybe that puts Paul ahead of him since he got a character and a cold open but that’s really all he’s had in these first shows. Taran’s gotten to show off some impressions so that gives him the edge.
Up Next
Scarlett Johansson hosts for the 3rd time
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