A Morning After Review: SNL With Jason Segel

Another Saturday gone by, another SNL.  This time with Jason Segel.  Let's reminisce about last night.

Cold Open:
Like a lot of SNL skits of late, Mitt Romney "Raw and Unleashed"was a one note joke about Mitt Romney wanting to appear edgy and dangerous but not being able to.  Once you got past the first joke, it was a predictable and unfunny cold open.  And something about Sudekis' Romney voice bugs.

Monologue:
Shallow note: Remember when How I Met Your Mother started and Jason Segel was kind of cute is a real guy sort of way?  The Muppet thing must have got to him because he kind of looks like one now.

Segel sang with the Muppets, who think that they are also are also hosting SNL.  Segel has pleasant singing voice, the song was catchy and the Muppets were adorable.  It wasn't super funny but it was a better monologue than last week and was definitely enjoyable.  And sadly, one of the best things about the night.

Red Flag:
A take off on those Chanel commercials, this had Kristen Wigg as a woman who men should be warned against.  Wigg's faces in it did make me laugh (which is rare for me) and while I'm not sure why the Chanel tie in, it was a funny concept.

Replacing Regis:
An excuse to have everyone on the show do a different impersonation  in a revolving door of potential co-hosts for Live with Kelly Ripa, this let the cast show what they are made of.  The best?
Sudekis' Rickey Gervais, Armisen's George Lopez, Elliot's Zooey Dechenel and Farrel's Denzel Washington.  I actually found it disappointing that the cast is so good at impressions and yet they use them so rarely.  I'd love to see any of these characters host a home decorating show or try to give law advice.   I don't know.  There is something good in there that they just aren't using.

Kemper-Pedic Commercial
This is one of those one note jokes (Segel does several things on his side of the bed, that all resemble masturbation, that won't wake his wife) that worked because of the short nature of the sketch.  One of the better fake commercials I have seen of late.

Kissing Family Thanksgiving:
I thought this was funny the first time I saw it years ago.  Now?  I get annoyed by the lip smacking noises and am bugged that they have nothing new to provide.  People spinning around before they kiss doesn't make it fresh and guys locking lips isn't edgy anymore.  They tried to change it up by having people spit food at each other but it just came off as gross and made no sense when they later referred to it as affection.  Spitting food is not kissing, folks.  This does not expand on what you do have, it takes it in a barfy direction.  But Paul Rudd showed up and him and I'm a sucker for a surprise guest, so that was fun.

Florence and The Machine: Shake It Out
Florence has a great voice and I enjoy this song but it was not a terribly exciting performance.  With a choir on stage you think there would be more movement but...nothing.  I prefer to listen than watch, which makes for an unsuccessful performance.

Weekend Update:
Govener Hunstman
Ah, so begins the "Candidates show up on SNL".  Hustsman's New Hampshire love was a good concept and he didn't totally bomb and I kind of love that SNL is part of the campaign stops now.  Will we see the president on it before election time?  My guess is yes.

Really with Seth and Kermit
Kermit saying Really was cute but school lunches was not the topic to do it on and having a Muppet there made the whole thing a little to PG for my taste.

Seth was pretty on tonight.  Go Seth!

Retirement Party
This sketch was NOT funny and Kristen Wigg's screeching hurt my ears.  Fail SNL.

New Jack Swing:
I never love when SNL does brief silly songs by various fake artists, but they continue to do it so it must appeal to someone.  Right?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Although I must admit, Florence was way more entertaining here than in her actual performance.

Digital Short:
"Seducing Women Through Chess"  Um, what was that?

Florence and The Machine: No Night No Light
See the above comment about performance number one, take out choir and put in harp.  Done.

The Blue Jean Committee
Oh Hey, Paul Rudd again!  Other than that, what was happening here?  Was the song supposed to be funny?  Were the people rocking out to it supposed to be funny?  None of it was.  Another week that I'm really curious what got cut in dress if this made it to air.

This was an episode that started out okay and then just got bad.  There wasn't a very good use of the host and the sketches just seemed thrown together.  What was the most disappointing was that the Regis sketch showed that there is some serious talent in this group.  I just hope some day they will get material to match.

Morning After Review: SNL with Emma Stone

A few thoughts on last night's Saturday Night Live:

The Cold Open: Republican Debate
When I began religiously watching SNL in the mid 90's, the cold open could be anything.  The one rule, and I think it was a good one, was that it had to be funny.  The current regime feels that it has to be political, which frankly is sometimes a really boring way to start the show.  With an election year fast approaching, at least they actually have something to mock and this week's Republican debate DID give them some genuine material.  That being said, I had a similar problem to it that I have when they mock Kathy Lee and Hoda...when the real life thing is so ridiculous it doesn't seem much like an exaggeration at all.

Monologue: Emma Stone
I enjoyed that they referenced the fact that they were totally ripping off Kirsten's Dunst's old Spiderman monologue but it pretty much sucked.  And the ANDREW GARFIELD showed up.  Win.

Secret Word
Emma Stone was hysterical in this.  Her beauty queen was such a ditzy creep and I'll be quoting that "the state bird is the peach" for a while.  The audience seemed to dig Kristen Wigg too, although to me it felt like wayyy too much of the same from her...she's a three note comedienne to me and here use used all three at once.  Overall, not much new to see here but not a total dud either.

WXPD News: New York
Bill Hader, to me, is by far and away the best that SNL has to offer, so I always appreciate any sketch that is Hader centric.  I still laugh any time Hader's old man news reporter Herb hits the mic in the face of ther person he is interviewing.  It was especially funny when they took the joke to the next level by having him prod Kristen Wigg with it to verify that her character was in fact a woman.  The fake punches at the end sucked, though.  But I guess that's live TV for you.

Digital Short
Andy Samberg sings about wanting it to rain in his video.  Not a digital short I will remember.

Coldplay: Paradise
As you know if you read my Friday post, this song has been talking to me.  So, even though I am not a Coldplay fan, I was excited to hear it.  Enjoyed it, really enjoyed the black light graffiti set but what the hell is up with Chris Martin?  Can he open his eyes when he sings, or can only one orifice be functioning at a time?

Weekend Update:
The concept of Jason Sudeikis' devil being offended by the Penn Sate scandal was funny, but it fell a little short in execution.  It felt like they truly wanted it to be a "Really w/Seth and ___" but decided against it.  I did enjoy the list of all of the things on the Internet that the devil was responsible for...that was clever.  I almost wish that was a sketch in itself.
AND
Garth and Kat is the one of my favorite things Kristen Wigg does and the only thing I ever enjoy of Fred Armisen's but it was fun to see.  Chris Martin being their back up singer was a fun twist a sketch that always the same.  And hey, he had his eyes open here!  But I guess it would be really hard to read lips without them.

Les Jeunes De Paris
Yes! I love Ta Douleur  and the Miley version sketch so was hoping for this.  Granted, this whole people dance to odd music and strange things happen sketch isn't for everyone but I love it.  It was the least successful of the three they have done (I think it is the music choice) but who doesn't love someone giving birth to a midget on stage?

Bridal Shower Gone Wrong:
Emma Stone's odd older man character Wallace was a hoot and his gifts of gay porn and used anal lubricant, along with his human toilet provided for some laughs.  This was Stone's sketch, and I'm glad they let her play the old man with the odd proclivities rather than a party goer with one of the regulars taking on the Wallace role.  It would have made it less fun.  This was my favorite sketch of the night, although I'm not sure that the audience agreed.

Coldplay: Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall
I'm not sure if that was Chris Martin dancing or if a ghost was beating him up on stage, but it was odd either way.   Also needed to look up the name of song since I couldn't understand a word of the lyrics.  Could we not have done Paradise again?

Crying At The Office
The pulling ice cream to eat out of nowhere  and shots of Coldplay crying was funny, but all I could think was "Why haven't I tried listening to Adele while I'M crying at the office?"  So, thanks for the idea, SNL.  I know it was a joke, but I'm totally taking it seriously.

We're Gonna Make Technology Hump
The title says it all.  Very much an end of the show sketch and one of those "who the fuck came up with this?" things.  But I bet I know a bunch of World Of Warcraft fans who thought it was funny.  But for me...fail.

Overall an okay show, by far not the worst that I've seen but not Timberlake level stellar either.  I did appreciate the use of the host and even the musical guest in the sketches and enjoyed that the political sketches were kept to a minimum.  And did I mention Andrew Garfield?  Oh, I did.  Well, yeah.  That was good too.