Brian Williams / Feist
November 3, 2007
RATINGS SYSTEM
***** = Brilliant, a possible future classic
**** = Great, but not quite perfect
*** = Average
** = Meh, but not complete crap
* = How'd this get past dress?
Cold Opening - Clinton House: Halloween 2007
• I’m glad they did more with Hammond as Clinton this time. He looked hilarious in that costume, and had a couple of good lines.
• Horatio? WTF? I know he looks like Bill Richardson and everything, but come on. Was it really necessary to see him make his SECOND cameo since leaving one year ago? All the while castmembers I actually miss like Dratch and Parnell haven’t appeared once since they left the cast.
• Also, is it just me or did Horatio look slightly thinner?
• Was that a guy or a girl playing Dennis Kucinich?
• Armisen was hilarious as Mike Gravel in the straitjacket.
• I saw the “these aren’t milk duds” joke coming as soon as Armisen gave them the bag.
• Obama’s cameo was a complete surprise. His appearance was too short, though, and he didn’t really do anything that funny. I did enjoy his LFNY delivery.
Stars: ***1/2
Monologue - Brian Williams
• The “now is this really a good idea?” line was a funny start.
• A good solid monologue, and showed that Brian Williams has no problem making fun of himself.
Stars: ****
Commercial - Maybelline for Men Only
• I heard about this commercial getting cut before.
• The concept was lame, but the execution wasn’t bad and had its share of laughs. I especially laughed at the ending shot of Armisen on the motorcycle with his make-up on.
Stars: ***
Sketch - Bronx Beat
• Ohh, no, no, no. Haven’t we suffered enough from this last season? Why waste Brian Williams on this crap?
• Maya seemed to be talking even faster than usual in this one. I could barely understand some of her lines.
• Brian Williams did a good New York voice, though (and it’s probably just me, but he sounded a little like Christopher Walken at times). And Amy talking about her husband being an expert at “grabbing yourself” got a big laugh from me. That was it, though. Please, no more of these.
Stars: *1/2
Sketch - Riley's Way
• Brian did an awesome job in this sketch. Everything from his reaction to him not being in the spin-off, to him insulting the three actors, to his constant bragging about being on Quantum Leap, to him wearing the sideways cap.
• The ending twist was hilarious.
• Sudeikis and Hader always seem to play the directors in these types of sketches. Kinda like how whenever they need a host for a gameshow sketch, they alternate between those two guys.
• They probably could’ve fit the teacher in the spin-off, actually. After all, wasn’t Mr. Belding on Saved by the Bell: The College Years?
Stars: ****
Sketch - Publishers Clearing House Winner
• Kristen as the overexcited host started out funny at first, then almost got annoying after about two minutes, but she got me back to laughing when she began hyperventilating, and when she passed out at the end.
• Brian’s non-reaction to the whole prize was pretty funny. The ending with him getting excited over something minor like cheesy bread wasn’t too creative, but he pulled it off well.
• When they showed all the past winners’ reactions, Forte’s screaming had me dying.
Stars: ***
Digital Short - A Day in the Life of Brian Williams
• I knew the Lonely Island guys would do a short tonight with him.
• A hilarious short as anticipated and Brian was great in all the different scenes. The funniest part was the penny-throwing scene, and Matt Lauer’s reaction.
• At first, I was wondering why we didn’t see who Brian’s phone message was sent to, but the pay-off came at the end. I should’ve expected it, but it made me laugh a lot.
Stars: ****1/2
Musical Performance
Weekend Update - Poehler & Meyers, featuring Roger A. Trivanti, and Barbara Birmingham
• Amy’s hair is looking a little better, compared to the first three Updates this season.
• Best jokes: Giuliani, Wellesley College/Pro-Bush, Sex on plane, Lance Armstrong/Ashley Olsen, Elderly Paraglider
• Armisen continues his streak of appearing on every Update this season. Like usual, his Update commentary was great. He was perfect as the shady exec and got a lot of funny lines, especially the “ass cancer” line at the end.
• The Update Nanny segment was the standard Kenan-in-drag stuff. Mostly unfunny, and his “woman” voice constantly kept slipping into his normal voice. The attacks at Seth were good though. And Seth’s ad-libbing afterwards about her messing up his tie was great.
• Surprised and disappointed that Brian Williams wasn’t anywhere to be seen. I thought for sure he’d do something for Update tonight.
Stars: ***1/2
Sketch - Larry King Live
• Armisen’s mannerisms and lines as Larry King were hilarious.
• The Harry Potter clips were pretty boring. The only laughs in them were Hader’s line about wishing Kristen had a penis and balls, and Kristen’s “No you di’nt” at the end of the last clip.
Stars: **
Commercial - iPhone
• A great and dead-on parody of those iPhone ads. Armisen was just awesome here, and the ending was very clever.
Stars: ****
Sketch - Democratic Nominees Backstage
• Did anyone spot the crew member’s head popping into the bottom of the screen at the beginning?
• Hmm, Horatio AGAIN... Although he actually wasn’t bad here.
• So Hammond’s now playing Chris Dodd all off sudden? WTF? Didn’t Hader just play him earlier tonight in the cold opening? And Amy’s back to playing Dennis Kucinich, instead of the unknown extra who played him in the cold opening? That’s two presidential candidates that were each played by two different people tonight.
• Weak excuse they gave for Obama’s absence, which made it obvious SNL has yet to decide who will play him. The fact that Kenan didn’t show up playing him made me relieved, though. Maybe they’ve already decided to have Armisen play him in the future, and he obviously couldn’t do it in this sketch because he was already playing Mike Gravel.
• This went on way too long, and all of the laughs were just merely light chuckles. Nothing huge. Armisen once again was the best part of the sketch - in fact, this is the fourth consecutive sketch tonight he stole (that includes Update and the iPhone commercial). He’s having a great night (and season so far, actually).
Stars: **
Musical Performance
Sketch - Nightly News Theme
• I cringed and groaned when Maya started her singing routine, because I thought that would be the whole sketch. But it turned out to be various castmembers trying out their individual singing style. Most of them were pretty funny. I especially laughed at Samberg’s “busted” line and Armisen’s whole song.
• Forte looking like a civil war general cracked me up.
• The 007 parody at the end was hilarious, and Brian Williams saying “That’s how I roll” in his typical slow, deadpan delivery was just an awesome ending.
Stars: ***1/2
_______________________________________
Show Highlights:
• Digital Short
• The 007 opening credits of Nightly News
• iPhone
• Riley’s Way
• Weekend Update
• Armisen as Mike Gravel & Larry King
• Monologue
Show Lowlights:
• Bronx Beat
• Kenan on Weekend Update
• The Harry Potter clips
• Democratic Nominees Backstage
Best Performer of the Night:
• Fred Armisen
FINAL THOUGHTS
A pretty good show, and an improvement over the Bon Jovi episode. Brian Williams was as good as expected. He loosened up and clearly had a lot of fun, and did well with the comedic material he was given. He had a lot of the funniest moments of the show. I would’ve liked to see him play more characters, though, instead of himself for most of the sketches.
CASTMEMBER COUNT DOWN:
ARMISEN: 8 sketches (Clinton House, Maybelline, Publishers Clearing House, Update, Larry King, iPhone, Democratic Nominees, Nightly News Theme)
FORTE: 5 sketches (Clinton House, Maybelline, Publishers Clearing House, Democratic Nominees, Nightly News Theme)
HADER: 5 sketches (Clinton House, Maybelline, Riley's Way, Larry King, Nightly News Theme)
HAMMOND: 2 sketches (Clinton House, Democratic Nominees)
MEYERS: 1 sketch (Update)
POEHLER: 9 sketches (Clinton House, Maybelline, Bronx Beat, Riley's Way, Publishers Clearing House, Update, Larry King, Democratic Nominees, Nightly News Theme)
RUDOLPH: 3 sketches (Bronx Beat, Publishers Clearing House, Nightly News Theme)
SAMBERG: 3 sketches (Maybelline, Riley's Way, Nightly News Theme)
SUDEIKIS: 5 sketches (Clinton House, Maybelline, Riley's Way, Democratic Nominees, Nightly News Theme)
THOMPSON: 2 sketches (Riley's Way, Update)
WIIG: 5 sketches (Clinton House, Publishers Clearing House, Larry King, Democratic Nominees, Nightly News Theme)
BRIAN WILLIAMS: 7 sketches (Monologue, Bronx Beat, Riley's Way, Publishers Clearing House, Digital Short, Democratic Nominees, Nightly News Theme)