“You’re like a pretty little Darrell Hammond”
Cold Open: Duh! Winning!
3 Stars
Bill plays Charlie Sheen all tiger blooded up as he welcomes other people in the news for bad behavior like Lindsay Lohan and John Galliano. I know you want the cold open to be topical but starting the show with a fake talk show with multiple guests was a bit much. This could have been trimmed a lot. Bill’s impression is fun though.
Miley Cyrus Monologue
1 Star
We get a “it’s pretty cool” reference right out the gate and then Miley sings a song about not being perfect. I guess she was caught with a bong or something, I couldn’t tell you, I have been neglectful in keeping tabs on Disney Channel stars. We get our 2nd Charlie Sheen reference. My favorite part was the audience’s delayed reaction to the line about smoking from a bong. Miley pauses and waits for them to cheer in agreement with weed and they eventually do but that slight awkward silence was beautiful. This felt pandering to not only the host but to the audience as well.
Rerun of Baby Spanx
Our Time!
1 Star
I assumed we’d be leading off with The Miley Cyrus Show but instead we get a different talk show hosted by a different impression. After the cold open was a celebrity talk show and I know we’re getting another one, this feels like too many celebrity impression talk shows. Kenan and Andy play the two other guys in The Black Eyed Peas that aren’t will.i.am or Fergie and they interview Khloe Kardashian about being lesser known members of a group. This didn’t work for me outside a few Andy lines.
The Sound Of Music
0 Stars
Similar to that terrible Wizard Of Oz sketch from the Anne Hathaway episode, Fred plays a character cut from a famous movie. Here he’s a Freddie Prinze style comedian as one of the Von Trapp children in The Sound Of Music. It’s just a whole lot of Fred doing comedy about being Hispanic. I gotta say, I’m coming close to watching every episode of SNL and this may be the unfunniest thing I’ve ever seen. Obviously that has to be a hyperbolic statement since I’ve seen all of Season 11 but I watched this in stunned silence. I did chuckle near the end but that was mainly Stockholm laughter, like how you would laugh on your deathbed knowing it’s about to be over and you can’t help but find the absurdity of life amusing.
The Disney Channel Acting Special
3 Stars
Miley and Kenan as Raven-Symone teach how to act in a Disney Channel show. My biggest disappointment was that we didn’t get a Laura Parsons sighting. I remember enjoying this at the time but now it feels like a lesser version of those better sketches.
The Miley Cyrus Show
2 Stars
And here it is. Just in time for me to find this recurring sketch tiresome it’s the obligatory real person meets the impression bit. We get our third Charlie Sheen reference of the night. The real Miley plays Justin Bieber which is interesting that the joke about him pretending to be grown up will basically be the joke about Miley in a few years. I rolled my eyes for Miley’s “it’s totally legal” direct to camera when referring to salvia. I guess that was part of the controversy, she was caught with a bong but it was legal weed, again I apologize for not being up on teen scandals from over a decade ago.
The Strokes
"Under Cover Of Darkness"
Weekend Update
The Devil shows up to talk about the Westboro Baptist Church protesting at military funerals for gay soldiers. He thinks it’s evil even for him.
And Anthony Crispino has some second hand news about Larry King’s Speech winning Best Picture, Arkansas governor Huckleberry Hound, and Charlie Rose getting caught with cocaine.
Les Jeunes de Paris
4 Stars
2nd appearance, this one has Nasim and Miley fighting over Taran through dance. Lots of fun bits, specially Andy as a French mime throwing imaginary wine in Taran’s face.
Beastly
2 Stars
I guess it’s better than the first one but I’m glad this is the last time we see Declan parodying another teen thriller. I’m wondering if it was intentional that both Miley and Bieber appeared in these sketches. I do remember the movie Beastly, which may be why I enjoyed this more than the Roommate inspired one.
Rock-A-Billy Lady Party Moisturizing Facial Cream
2 Stars
Kristen and Miley in soft focus promote their face cream and their rock-a-billy album. You can’t buy them separately. They rub cream on their face while they play rock-a-billy music.
The Strokes return with "Life Is Simple In The Moonlight"
Cruise
3 Stars
Miley is a singer on a cruise ship who resents where her career has gone and makes no secret of it. I like the concept of this but think it would be better with an older actress, like this would have fit in well in the Jane Lynch episode. I did enjoy her calling her audience a whole bunch of Grossy McGrossys and Taran steals this as the one man who refuses to accept his abuse.
The copy I found online is missing a commercial for CBS which I'm surprised by since the last sketch seemed to end so abruptly I figured they were running long.
“I also do the middle finger now”
Average
2.1 Stars
MVP
Taran Killam
Duh! Winning!, The Sound Of Music, The Disney Channel Acting School, The Miley Cyrus Show, Les Jeunes de Paris, Cruise
Best Sketch
Les Jeunes de Paris
Worst Sketch
The Sound Of Music
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
The first half was rough. I would move Sound Of Music and The Black Eyed Peas to after Update and move Cruise up. Might as well start with Miley Cyrus Show and get it out of the way. Make Sound Of Music the 10-1 sketch so we can end the show on some beautiful, beautiful silence.
Host Analysis
Not a fan but I don’t blame her for anything. It’s not like she told Fred to do some Hispanic jokes for as long as he wants. They didn’t hang any sketches on her shoulders which was good. She didn’t have to carry anything which means she couldn’t drop anything. Her Lindsay Lohan actually worked better than Emma Stone’s. She was barely in the first two sketches, she was fine in the pre-tapes, and worked well in all the post-Update sketches. But they should have just gone the Bieber route and just make her a random special guest.
Final Thoughts
I did not like this one but again it’s not Miley’s fault. Kenan and Fred tanked this early and it never fully recovered. The Disney Channel sketch is fun but I like any Laura Parsons sketch better. Les Jeunes de Paris is also fun but there’s better ones. Since those are the best parts of the show there’s really no reason to watch this one.
Up Next
Zach Galifianakis returns for the 2nd time with musical guest Jessie J
God this episode blows. I was thoroughly bored throughout and most of the sketches left my brain the second they ended. Les Jeunes de Paris and the Update desk pieces are the only remotely interesting things here (The Strokes were decent but not as great as I had expected and hoped).
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