Don't think I have seen something of his fall so flat than that 'comedian' bit...I get what he was trying to do (for once), but wow that was bad.
That is the joke - the terrible comedian that falls flat. Probably appeals only to other comedians. He added a sad dark bit to this character with the high school girlfriend.
Overall this was the best show of the season - fairly consistent from start to finish. Banks impressed me. They pushed the envelope much further than usual. Cecily was quite choked up in the opening tribute to Paris.
Strong review of the show:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/article...sdisclosu.html
With the exception of Banks’ opening monologue (the SNL opening musical number is a riff on 1970s television variety shows that should have been retired in the early 1990s), this was an exceptional episode. Every sketch was solid. Pre-taped pieces (“First Got Horny 2 U,” “Uber for Jen”) were strong, live sketches (“Black Jeopardy,” “Young Ben Carson,” “So Ghetto”) were excellent…even Weekend Update felt like it had a little bit of pep in its step.
All of the show’s featured players were given opportunities to shine. Cecily Strong was pitch perfect in her role as SNL spokesperson in a solemn tribute to Paris. Aidy Bryant in “First Got Horny 2 U” delivered the night’s biggest laugh. Kyle Mooney returned to Weekend Update with crying on the inside standup comic Bruce Chandler. Vanessa Bayer as Aidy’s stage mom in “High School Theatre Show” gave one of the night’s best performances. Jay Pharoah as “Young Ben Carson” knocked it out of the park. And Bobby Moynihan’s “Walk-On Role” was one his best ever. Not one of these performances take anything away from guest host Elizabeth Banks, who is often overlooked as one of the finest screen comedians of her generation
The week’s most shareable sketch has to be “First Got Horny 2 U,” a spoof of ‘90s boy band videos about young women “coming of age” in the ‘90s.
Seeing the girls squirming around was so funny. Jay was great as young Ben Carson. Keenan as Black Jesus.
The "falling flat on your face on purpose" bit sucks. Big time. With the pope it wasn't good, with the 90's comedian it was terrible...it always seems to come at a terrible time too. I mean the worst possible time. The show seemed to be picking up steam, there were a couple of lulls but things were getting good and then that. It completely takes the audience out of the show. They can still use awkward humor but I think it's more awkward with Moony because people feel sorry for him, not the character.
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First, the Trump show. Pretty bland. Feels like they were pulling their punches a bit, and various reviews have said so too. Totally disagree with people who thought it was mean spirited to him in any way. For someone who has said as many blatantly racist and sexist and just stupid things as he has, they might as well been sucking his toes for the obvious ratings grab. The Drake skit was the best obviously, and at least Trump seemed to do that well. The first episode with him being president was decent too. All in all, pretty much just an episode built on hype, with almost no substance.
I agree that the Elizabeth Banks episode has been the best so far this year. But I also agree it looked strong because the rest of the season has been average to bad. Not a home run by any stretch. Above average. Her monologue was solid, but I've never been big on song and dance numbers. Personal preference I guess, there's been a few I've liked, but it's rare. She does have talent though.
The non-live sketches were good, but again, I feel like they're taking the 'live' out of Saturday Night Live. Too many of them. One video or commercial, plus one sketch is plenty. No reason to do more. The video was pretty funny this time around.
I also like that High School play sketch. Still pretty strong, though might be losing a little steam.
Weekend Update was solid, Pete's bit was good again after a weaker one last time he did his WU bit. Mooney, dear god... I think he's done the 80-90's comedian bit before too. It was so predictable. And it going dark wasn't anything more than wince worthy. Didn't make me laugh or think it was clever. It was just said. I described his humour before as weird, but not funny weird. But I think a closer classification would be anti-humour. Which works in some cases but not all the time. Also, successful anti-humour, has to be unpredictable, even more unpredictable than regular humour. That's why no one laughs at the chicken crossing the street joke, though might laugh pretty hard at other anti-humour jokes.
The high school play sketch kills me as well. I mainly love the audience reactions though. Has anyone been to a play like that? I would love every minute of it.
Just got around to watching it last night, and I agree that was one of the best shows start to finish, in a long time, all of the skits were good. First got horny to you was great, and even weekend update was fairly good right through, love the Russian woman.
Just seemed like there was a lot of fresh ideas that worked this episode.
Just got around to watching it last night, and I agree that was one of the best shows start to finish, in a long time, all of the skits were good. First got horny to you was great, and even weekend update was fairly good right through, love the Russian woman.
Just seemed like there was a lot of fresh ideas that worked this episode.
I watched it again - some episodes improve on a second viewing.
My 14 year old and I found ourselves laughing to Mooney's comedian character. It had nothing to do what he was saying, but it was his physicality and facial expressions that worked for us.
The Russian Olya had such a dark joke - "Did you fall from heaven? Are my babies still there?" Pete's monologues are always good.
I usually like Olya, and I like her dark jokes, of which she usually gets a few in. The fox one was just stupid though. Thought this one was a bit weaker than usual, but still good. Maybe cause the character is not as new as it used to be.
Yeah, I get the irony and anti-humour, and the desperation of the facial expressions fits, but I dunno, just not funny for me. There's sad funny, and just sad. For me it's just sad. I guess I like Thompson's facial expressions though, so to each their own.
I feel like maybe I am being overly critical and everybody has their own sense of humour, but the Adele thing didn't do it for me. And for whatever reason, maybe just déjà vu, I feel like I have seen that skit done before somewhere else - maybe I am just recollecting the Beetlejuice dinner scene.
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