Jonah Hill / Mariah Carey
March 15, 2008
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 - Spitzer & Associates
• Refreshing not to see another Hillary/Obama cold opening.
• Before the show, I figured it would be either Hader or Sudeikis who would play Spitzer, and it turned out to be Hader. Like all his other impressions, Hader nailed this one.
• This was a pretty interesting way of parodying the Spitzer scandal, although this felt like it could’ve been a little better. The list of cases that Spitzer will take were pretty funny, especially the Dead Hooker and Gay Bathhouse ones.
• Kristen, even though she had no lines, was still good, too. Her cold expressions and her checking Hader’s phone when he got a call. Also, great unexpected touch at the end when the camera panned over to her angry face after Hader’s LFNY.
Stars: ***
Monologue - Jonah Hill
• Yet another damn musical monologue. This is the second consecutive one, and with Walken hosting the next show, that will make it three in a row (although of course, I don’t mind his song-and-dance monologues).
• I liked this only slightly more than Amy Adams’ monologue since there were a few funny parts during the song, like the Leatherbound bit, Amy as Grandma Nancy, and Jonah’s brief crazy dancing towards the end.
• Did anyone else notice Jonah accidentally saying “Kliss my classy ass” instead of “kiss”? That made me chuckle a bit.
Stars: **
Mini-Sketch - MacGruber #1
• Kristen taking over Maya’s role made me laugh for some reason.
• The abrupt explosions when Forte’s in mid-sentence never fail to crack me up. But the “MacGruber’s angry at his partners” storyline wasn’t as funny as the plastic surgery or drinking problem storylines. It seems like they're starting to run out of ideas for this character.
Stars: ***
Sketch - What’s Your Situation?
• This felt really rushed and the sketch ended before they could really go anywhere with the idea. This should’ve been fleshed out much more.
• Jonah was decent as the sleazy gameshow host, though, and I liked him just saying “What’s your sitch?” to Amy towards the end.
Stars: **
Sketch - Six Year Old Loudmouth
• An interesting character for Jonah to play, and several of his lines were hilarious. The best part was him joking about ordering his father a dress and tickets to Rent.
• Jonah’s cue-card reading was very blatant during this sketch.
• I read on another forum where somebody said they could see Jon Lovitz playing this character, and I agree with that.
• Poor Sudeikis. He got basically nothing to do on tonight's show.
• The ending could’ve been a little funnier.
Stars: ***1/2
Mini-Sketch - MacGruber#2
• The opening theme with Forte walking by holding up the middle finger was hilarious.
• This one was funnier than the first one tonight, as Forte’s whole frustration and arguing with Jonah’s character was good, as was the faux countdown thing at the end.
• Why where there only 2 MacGrubers tonight? There are usually three. Did a third one get cut from the show at the last minute?
Stars: ***1/2
Sketch - The Suze Orman Show
• I always thought that Kristen should play Suze Orman if SNL ever made fun of her. Her impression was DEAD-ON and hysterical. She had me laughing so hard. The writing wasn’t too great and it should’ve been a better parody of the real show, but Kristen carried the sketch just fine with her impression alone.
Stars: ***
Digital Short - Dating Andy Samberg’s Dad
• Jim Downey!!!! When’s the last time he appeared in a sketch?
• A hilarious short. Even though the homoerotic premise wasn’t too original, they took this into a really funny direction with some great scenes, and it’s cool that Downey was willing to do all this.
• Samberg’s angry facial reactions were good and believable. I’m surprised he was so low-key and deadpan in this, since the digital shorts are usually when he goes all out and wild.
• Hader’s line at the end, followed by the freeze-frame on him grinning, and the random “created by Lorne Michaels” credit capped this off perfectly.
Stars: ****
Musical Performance
Weekend Update - Poehler & Meyers, featuring Tracy Morgan
• Best jokes: Spitzer/whistleblower, ruined date, dog IQ test
• I cringed when Amy messed up the Brita filter joke, but Seth recovered it nicely with a funny ad-lib.
• Another awesome Really segment from Seth and Amy. Best quip was Seth saying he wears a condom when he’s client #9 at the deli.
• Tracy!!!! This was the usual excellent commentary from him, and this was also a great way to counter Fey’s pro-Hillary rant. The “black’s the new president, bitch” line at the end had me falling off my couch.
Stars: ****
Sketch - Target Lady
• Why, Kristen, why? You know you’re too good for this crap.
Stars: *
Sketch - NBC Special Report
• Forte’s Brian Williams impression really slipped from the first time he played him. Before, he sounded just like Brian Williams, but tonight, he just sounded like Will Forte talking in a slow voice.
• Hammond’s McCain impression finally makes it on the air, after getting cut from dress several times. The voice was very good, although I didn’t like that thing Hammond kept doing with his hand to emphasize his sentences. He does that same hand thing with some of his other impressions.
• Basing a whole sketch on the fact that McCain is old was questionable, but there were still some good laughs here and there. Amy and Fred's scene was the best part.
• The second week in a row where Armisen only made two small appearances the whole night. It seems almost as if Lorne’s afraid to use him now after the backlash against Armisen from some folks since he started playing Obama. He was consistently getting plenty of airtime before these last two shows.
Stars: ***
Sketch - Clancy T. Bachleratt & Jackie Snad
• What the hell was up with Jonah during this? Throughout the whole sketch, he sounded like he was on the verge of busting out in laughter during his lines. Strange. Was he channeling Horatio Sanz?
• Second week in a row with a trademark “Bizarre Will Forte Sketch”. Anytime he sings in an insane manner always has me dying laughing, and he and Kristen made a great team here. The premise with every song being about “spaceships, toddlers, Model T cars, and jars of beer” was completely random and could have fallen flat, but Will and Kristen’s hilarious performances and facial expressions made it work.
Stars: ***1/2
Musical Performance
Sketch - Online Dating
• Jonah’s opening “I love the smell of burnt meat” line had me laughing.
• A decent closing sketch. Some of Jonah’s revelations were pretty funny, like the euphemisms for his gentials and the modeling part. The ending was nice, too.
• Did anyone catch the reference to Akiva?
Stars: ***
_______________________________________
Show Highlights:
• Digital Short
• Weekend Update
• Clancy T. Bachleratt & Jackie Snad
• Kristen’s Suze Orman impression
• Six Year Old Loudmouth
Show Lowlights:
• Target Lady
• Monologue
• What’s Your Situation?
Best Performer of the Night:
• Kristen Wiig / Will Forte
FINAL THOUGHTS
Certainly not the disaster I was expecting for the fourth show in a row. In fact, I’d say this was better than the last two disappointing weeks (Page and Adams), but still not as good as the Fey show. Tonight was just average, overall, but since it exceeded my expectations, I’m satisfied. Jonah Hill was a one-note host like most were predicting he would be, but he still had his moments like the Six Year Old sketch.
CASTMEMBER/HOST COUNT DOWN:
ARMISEN: 2 sketches (Six Year Old, Special Report)
FORTE: 7 sketches (Monologue, MacGruber #1, MacGruber#2, Suze Orman, Target Lady, Special Report, Clancy T. Bachleratt & Jackie Snad)
HADER: 3 sketches (Spitzer, Six Year Old, Digital Short)
HAMMOND: 1 sketch (Special Report)
MEYERS: 1 sketch (Update)
POEHLER: 6 sketches (Monologue, What’s Your Situation, Six Year Old, Update, Target Lady, Special Report)
SAMBERG: 3 sketches (Monologue, Digital Short, Target Lady)
SUDEIKIS: 2 sketches (Monologue, Six Year Old)
THOMPSON: 2 sketches (Monologue, Target Lady)
WIIG: 8 sketches (Spitzer, MacGruber #1, What’s Your Situation, Six Year Old, MacGruber#2, Suze Orman, Target Lady, Clancy T. Bachleratt & Jackie Snad)
WILSON: 3 sketches (What’s Your Situation, Six Year Old, Online Dating)
JONAH HILL: 10 sketches (Monologue, MacGruber #1, What’s Your Situation, Six Year Old, MacGruber#2, Suze Orman, Digital Short, Target Lady, Clancy T. Bachleratt & Jackie Snad, Online Dating)