“Sweet leftover booty”
Cold Open: Mitt Romney Raw & Unleashed
3 Stars
Mitt Romney is trying to shed his lame image and get edgy. He delivers rehearsed flubs and dons a leather jacket. Jason’s always a good go-to for a cold open. This is kinda tame but I guess that was the point.
Jason Segel Monologue
Jason sits at a piano and is quickly joined by The Muppets (out in theaters next weekend). This struck me as slightly corny but cute in retrospect but I recall enjoying it at the time. I was a fan of Jason from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and How I Met Your Mother so I was excited for the new Muppet movie, and I ended up really enjoying it. I liked the Muppets assuming they were hosting because they’re bigger stars and Kermit’s Ray Romano impression.
Rerun of Red Flag
Kelly Auditions
It’s like the Regis Auditions sketch from Season 25 but with less blackface. Kelly Ripa runs through some Regis replacements and it’s a cavalcade of celebrity impressions. I really enjoyed the quick pace to this, never staying with one person too long. My standouts would be Bill’s Garrison Keillor, Taran’s Ashton Kutcher, and Jay’s Denzel Washington which receives a big applause break from the crowd. Not sure what Jason was going for with his Antonio Banderas, maybe he’s doing an impression of Chris Kattan’s impression? Bobby’s Rosie O’Donnell was actually funny, which got me wondering if Horatio’s Rosie was in the original Regis Auditions sketch (she’s not, I think I was mixing this up with a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire sketch with Darrell’s Regis and Horatio’s Rosie). Bit of a weak ending with Kristen’s Kathie Lee driving in on a golf cart but at least it got out quick. I was worried we were gonna get a few minutes of Kathie Lee shtick to end the sketch.
Kemper-Pedic Me Time Mattress
Jason praises his new mattress by alluding to the fact the he can masturbate without waking his wife up. Funniest part of this for me was the fact that I was watching this episode in bed next to my sleeping wife. That brings up an interesting question, what’s more embarrassing, getting caught masturbating or getting caught writing an SNL blog?
Affectionate Family
It’s the 5th visit with the Vogelchecks. I referenced some of my older reviews to see if I ever enjoyed this sketch. Turns out I never truly hated it, only in that way I hate every recurring sketch, and I was a little surprised that I kinda liked this one. I’m not going as far to say it’s good but it certainly doesn’t detract from the episode. I got a laugh at the World War II kiss, the family passing chapstick via kisses, Bill spitting gravy in Andy’s face, even Paul Rudd’s cameo which is only a man-on-man kiss. Vanessa gets the biggest laugh with her deadpan “That’s sweet. Wait, I bet it’s not”. Something off here? I liked the Vogelchecks? Maybe I just haven’t seen them in a while or maybe I’m just enjoying my new Me Time mattress a little too much.
Florence + The Machine
"Shake It Out"
Weekend Update
We get a Really?!? With Seth And Kermit which is a fun idea on paper but I started to lose interest quick.
Retirement Party
I honestly felt embarrassed for everyone involved here. Sometimes I watch sketches like this and think they must be doing this to reach some bad sketch quota they need to fill. Nobody seems committed to this. The only person who comes out unscathed is Vanessa who doesn’t have any lines but still got a smirk out of me. It’s Fred’s retirement party and they bring up Kristen to speak, but she doesn’t wanna speak, so she yells that she doesn’t want to say anything like an angry version of the ‘don’t make me sing’ sketch. I liked her first outburst but that’s when I thought this was gonna be a sketch with a bunch of crazy characters giving speeches. Instead the joke of this sketch is to bring Kristen up again and have her say she doesn’t want to say anything, then do it a third time. Wait a minute, is this sketch ripping off Uncle Joe from Season 20? Oh, and Jason is in this as a crazy guy who promises to reveal a secret in very dramatic fashions.
A New Jack Thanksgiving
3 Stars
Interesting to have two celebrity impression sketches in the same episode. Bobby as Medium Richard (hilarious) introduces some Thanksgiving themed songs for a new compilation CD. Most of the acts are weak to forgettable (Nasim, Abby, and Vanessa as a TLC-like group, Andy as Cross Cris, and Jason as a pantsless soul singer) but Kenan’s song about filling up on booty was funny and the name drop of the fictional group Toni, Tone, Tony Shaloub, an act I wish we could have seen.
Seducing Women Through Chess
This didn’t do much for me. I spent most of the time trying to figure out the connection to Olivia Wilde’s cameo in this. I Googled the timeline of her relationship with Sudeikis and it said they met at an SNL after party. Was that for this episode? If so, why was she in this to begin with?
Andre The Giant Chooses An Ice Cream Flavor
As soon as I hear Don Pardo’s voice setting up this sketch I instantly love it. Really like the concept and format of this, just a quick and stupid in-and-out. Jason as Andre The Giant ruminates over ice cream flavors before deciding on a single scoop of vanilla which appears miniature in his tiny hands. Dumb comedy done right.
Florence + The Machine return with "No Light, No Light"
The Blue Jean Committee
By all accounts I should hate this so I’m not sure if my love for it is genuine or more surprise that I even liked it a little. Fred and co. sing a fun and breezy song about a Massachusetts afternoon and drinking cinnamon beer. The song is a legit banger that’s been popping up in my head randomly all week and everyone’s commitment to their inappropriate rocking turns this into a fantastic 10-1 sketch. We start with Bobby quietly jamming out and we end with Bill doling out high-fives with The Muppets behind the bar. I don’t quite get the end with Andy but I’ll take it.
"It rocked harder than a Josh Groban concert”
Average
3.4 Stars
MVP
Vanessa Bayer
Kemper-Pedic Me Time Mattress, Affectionate Family, Retirement Party, New Jack Thanksgiving, The Blue Jean Committee
Best Sketch
Andre The Giant Chooses An Ice Cream Flavor
Worst Sketch
Retirement Party
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
Cut Jon Huntsman from Update. The show really dipped in the middle but ended strong, which is good because I walked away from this thinking about Andre The Giant and Blue Jean Committee rather than an all out dud like Retirement Party. You could have thrown in a few more muppets too. We got a fun shot of Kermit operating the camera during the commercial break but how about Dr. Teeth sitting in with the band?
Host Analysis
Andre The Giant and Kemper-Pedic were both fun but nothing else was too memorable. A questionable impression, man-on-man kisses, and drag. He actually wasn’t that bad in Retirement Party but there wasn’t much sense putting effort into that.
Final Thoughts
Pretty solid episode despite that post Update dip. The whole show was good pretty much until that one stinker. The Muppets were a fun addition and Florence + The Machine was awesome. I could see a lot of this episode showing up on my best of season list and I can see one sketch making the worst list.
Up Next
Steve Buscemi finally returns.
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