Saturday Night Live Season 39 Reviews - Episode 19 - Andrew Garfield / Coldplay

"Can a bitch get a beef bowl?"

Cold Open: Press Conference

3 Stars

Donald Sterling apologizes for racist comments

The recently fired owner of the LA Clippers talks about his life after being banned from basketball.  Bobby does something that is incredibly hard to pull off, playing a despicable character while also coming off likable himself.  I shouldn’t be surprised as this is basically his Drunk Uncle routine.  He talks about how he’s organizing a million man march back to Africa to never come back and how he’s trying to fix his reputation’s black eye (the worst kind of eye).  We also get visits from Jay as Dennis Rodman, Sasheer as Donald’s gold digging girlfriend, and Kenan as the president of the NAACP, all three of which get to join Bobby for the “Live from New York...”.

Andrew Garfield Monologue

2 Stars

Andrew gets help from his girlfriend and costar Emma Stone

Uh oh, our host needs some help.  Better bring out an obligatory celebrity cameo.  It’s probably always been this way but this is the season where it feels like it started with the over abundance of cameos and extended applause breaks.  Emma Stone tells Andrew to rely on the cue cards and be self deprecating.  They’re later joined by Aidy who talks about her cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Stanx

3 Stars

Pants that hold in your farts

Beck has to fart during a business meeting, luckily he’s wearing his Stanx which not only slim his waistline but also have a chamber for his farts to not offend his coworkers.  It’s got a decent reveal at the end when Beck removes his Stanx and causes a gas explosion in his apartment but after the fart in the previous Seth Rogen episode, I think I may be farted out.

Family Feud

2 Stars

Celebrities compete on Family Feud

So the last time we saw this it was Justin Timberlake playing Jimmy Fallon and now we get Andrew as Justin Timberlake.  This is an all musical episode and we get Nasim as Bruno Mars, Kyle as Skrillex, Kate as Shakira, Jay as Drake, Aidy as Adele, Taran as Russell Crowe and Noel as Reba McEntire, the latter proving that she was indeed playing Reba in the Guy Fieri commercial in the John Goodman episode.  This was a big old dud.  Aside from Taran singing Les Miserables and Aidy’s raunchy Adele impression, this was a bummer.  I had no idea what Andrew was going for with his “impression” but I can’t say it was good.

Oliver Twist

1 Star

Some woman also wants more

Oliver Twist gets the courage to ask for more gruel in the orphanage and Cecily would also like some more.  She talks about the rough year she’s had and how she deserves more than Oliver.  I didn’t like this at all.  I can’t say I hated it like I hated moments in the last sketch but I didn’t laugh at anything.

The Beygency

3 Stars

A man runs from the law when he disparages Beyonce

This was considered a season high point at the time and while I respected how well it was put together I couldn’t help but also think how much time and effort must have been devoted to this.  If they would have had Brooks play Andrew’s part in this they could have dedicated a few hours to punch up the scripts to the last two sketches.  Andrew says he’s not crazy about Beyoncé’s new song and that starts a chase scene throughout New York with cameos from Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Raskjub from 24 and a parody of The Adjustment Bureau (remember that movie?).

Coldplay

"Magic"

I’ve never been a big fan of Coldplay and when people say their earlier stuff was better I always think, how much better?  It all kind of sounds the same to me.

Weekend Update

We get our first instance of Colin using “Dad” as a punchline when he reports on cheerleading being declared an official sport.  This would go on to be a recurring joke for him through the years.

We get another appearance of Olya Povlatsky which might be my favorite Kate character.  She again talks about how awful living in Russia is but on the bright side they have finally gotten reruns of Full House and she’s been binge watching.

Future cast member Leslie Jones comes out to talk about how valuable she would be during the time of slavery.  She’s currently single but back then she would be set on dates constantly to give birth to strong black babies.  This caused a bit of controversy at the time as this was not the style of humor the show was known for.  Some people didn't think talking about slavery was an okay subject for comedy, but if it's funny, it's funny.  Leslie definitely provided an energy boost in this episode and after Kenan's notorious comment about not being able to find a black woman who's ready, Leslie proved here that she's someone to take notice of.  Her style didn't translate to live sketch comedy, but that's a topic for later episodes.

Then we get our 4th (4th!?) appearance from Jebidiah Atkinson who shares his reviews of the Tony nominated shows.  Once again he tries to hype up the audience for a big joke but the joke this time is about the Abraham Lincoln assassination.  The joke is about Our American Cousin (the play Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated) killing in the balcony.  I think they told that joke the day after Lincoln was assassinated but here they're acting like it's too soon.

Spider-Man Kiss

4 Stars

Andrew and Emma Stone share a kiss on film

Hey, Emma Stone is here!  What a surprise!  Oh wait, just like last week, they blew their celebrity cameo in a lame monologue.  Wouldn't it be more exciting if we got this late in the show and were surprised and delighted by an appearance from Emma?  At least the sketch is fun.  Andrew and Emma are filming the kissing scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 but seem to have no idea how real people kiss.  They put their cheeks together and touch tongues, suck chins, and blow air into each other's mouths.  The two have really good chemistry but I was let down by the ending when Coldplay's Chris Martin comes out to kiss Andrew.  It just seemed like they were stuck so they went to the old tried and true two dudes kissing will always get a laugh.

Wedding

4 Stars

The best man makes a poorly timed confession of love

During a wedding ceremony, Andrew confesses his love for the bride.  Romantic music plays as he pours his heart out but when he's finished he finds that his love is not reciprocal.  The bride actually barely knows him.  Things get more awkward as we find out that Andrew is also the best man and his toast is up next.  We later find out that the maid of honor is his wife and he has just delivered this proclamation in front of his 4 children.  This was a well written sketch that escalated nicely and included a good ending as well.  This is also the best and funniest Andrew has been all night.

Coldplay returns with "A Sky Full Of Stars" and they perform in front of a sky full of stars.  Get it?  Because the song is called A Sky Full Of Stars and there is a sky full of stars behind them.

No 10-1 sketch tonight as we end with a rerun of The Bird Bible

FINAL ANALYSIS

"Show me fiddling with your giblets!"

Average

2.75 Stars

MVP

Leslie Jones
Weekend Update

Best Sketch

Wedding

Worst Sketch

Oliver Twist

How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It

A slow first half with a really good back half.  I wish they would have cut Coldplay's second song so we could end with one more decent sketch.  Brooks Wheelan had a pretty funny sketch that was cut for time (you can see it on YouTube) where he and Kenan play the hosts of a radio show dedicated to hot BBQ sauce.  Put that in the lineup instead of Family Feud or Oliver Twist.  If they had swapped Wedding for either of those sketches it would have built more of a momentum pre-Update.  This episode was so slow at the beginning that I was writing it off as a big old dud until we ended up getting two good sketches near the end of the night.
Host Analysis

Nothing too great but nothing too awful.  He was right down the middle in quality.  He was really good in the pre-filmed piece and the final two sketches but man, that Justin Timberlake impression was downright annoying and his Oliver Twist wasn't much better.  So a definite mixed bag.  He didn't fall flat on his face but I wouldn't be excited to see him again.

Final Thoughts

Another average to weak episode.  Leslie Jones brought some energy and there were two sketches I enjoyed but this one had the same problem that the previous show had.  It's completely forgettable until you get two good sketches in a row.  Then it fades from your memory almost instantly.

Up Next

The incredible and amazing Charlize Theron hosts for the first time since 2000, before she was an Oscar winner and one of my favorite actresses.