“She called Garfield the N word”
Cold Open: The Lawrence Welk Show
3 Stars
Taran playing the male lead in a Dooneese sketch feels like a pretty big deal. I still have to watch Season 36 to see how well he did in his rookie season but getting a role traditionally thrown to the host seems like a vote of confidence. Dooneese is now at that point of her life where the host comes in and does it with you. Melissa seems to have the arms of a He-Man action figure to pair with Kristen’s doll hands. I can’t really understand Melissa’s lines thanks to the fake teeth they have her wearing but I still find myself enjoying the mayhem of these sketches. I also prefer them in the cold open spot rather than the middle of an episode.
Melissa McCarthy Monologue
Melissa and her Bridesmaids costar Kristen take over the monologue as well with a dance routine where they don’t actually dance. The silhouette gag was fun as was Taran and Bobby coming out to show off some actual moves.
Lil Poundcake
A doll that injects your child with the HPV vaccine. Interesting seeing this after the pandemic where it feels like a middle finger to anti-vaxxers. But if memory serves me correct the HPV vaccine caused controversy too as it was sold by the right as a vaccine for an STD aimed at young girls.
Office Flirt
Melissa comes on strong to Jason and acts hella sexually inappropriate to some balloon animals in the process. It’s nice to start with a character piece for Melissa, but it does kinda feel like the typical SNL crazy character acts all crazy towards a straight man sketch that were used to seeing. Guess that’s solid proof that Melissa easily could have been a cast member. Both Melissa and Jason do great work here and I liked the ending of Bill’s ponytail model stealing her heart and humping her on Jason’s desk.
Stomp
A police precinct turns into a Stomp routine with cops and criminals banging on trash can lids. This was excellent and really fun until it turned into a violent shootout with Blue Man Group, who they mistake for aliens. This went from a 5 star to a 3 star in about 3 seconds.
The Comments Section
Jason interviews internet trolls. Bobby posts inappropriate comments on videos using the alias xxxDeathByFartsxxx, Taran posts ‘boobs’ on every photo, and Melissa responds to everything with crackpot political theories. Bill once again tonight comes out to put a nice button on a sketch by punching them all in the stomach.
Rock’s Way
Hey, it’s Jay Pharaoh. I didn’t realize until now that he was completely absent in the season premiere. He gets a nice showcase here as Chris Rock performing in Romeo & Juliet, Oliver!, and Annie. He’s no Jimmy Fallon but few are.
Lady Antebellum
“We Owned The Night”
Weekend Update
Taste Test
Melissa joins a taste test for Hidden Valley Ranch. In my memory of this sketch I recalled Melissa squirting ranch dressing on her face multiple times but it’s just the once in this universe where Nelson Mandela is still alive. This is another showcase for Melissa but it’s once again a sketch where a crazy character annoys straight characters.
The Essentials
Melissa keeps falling up the stairs. This did not work for me. It wasn’t that funny the first time and it wasn’t too great the fourth time.
Lady Antebellum returns with “Just A Kiss”
Complaints
After Andy brags that he’s never had any complaints about his love making a number of women enter to voice theirs. He’s got a super dinky wiener and he seems scared in bed. Weirdly, this is the first time Kristen’s showed up in a sketch since the monologue. Seeing how the show started with the two Bridesmaids stars I was only assuming we’d be getting Melissa as Gilly and Penelope’s friend all night. I’m glad they went in another direction and ended with a fun little character piece for Melissa and Andy. Him getting his sack of mail delivered to him with sexual complaints was a fun bit of absurdity.
FINAL ANALYSIS
“Can you garlic ranch blast me now?”
Average
Average
3.2 Stars
MVP
Melissa McCarthy
The Lawrence Welk Show, Monologue, Office Flirt, The Comments Section, Taste Test, The Essentials, Complaints
Best Sketch
Complaints
Worst Sketch
The Essentials
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
Pretty good lineup and only one dud in the show. Maybe shorten Update by one desk piece.
Host Analysis
It felt like a cop out giving her MVP honors but there was really nobody else to go with. This was Melissa McCarthy’s coming out party and it was a success. She stood out so much and really cemented her status.
Final Thoughts
A very fun episode and a continued step in the right direction for the season. 2 great episodes in a row. I may be too grandiose but I feel like this was a star making episode. Bridesmaids comes out in May, this is in October, and she’s getting an Oscar nomination in a few months. I have a feeling if it wasn’t for this episode that wouldn’t have happened. She needed to show some versatility quick before she got pigeon holed into one role.
I’ve already watched Season 39 so I went back to my review of Melissa’s episode that season and I apparently hated it. My biggest complaint was that all of Melissa’s characters were the same and the sketches all had the same structure (Melissa says something, everyone reacts to the thing she said). I liked this one specifically because of the versatility of Melissa. She played aggressive, meek, beautiful, ugly, confidant, and shy.
Up Next
Ben Stiller hosts with Foster The People
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