Justin Timberlake
December 16, 2006
RATING SYSTEM:
***** - Future classic
**** - Almost perfect
*** - Average in every way
** - Eh
* - Is this 1994-95 again?
COLD OPENING: Santa’s My Boyfriend
- This was a really nice and different opener, and it was good to finally not see a political opening for once. The girls had several funny lyrics and this kinda reminded me of something SNL would’ve done in the 70’s.
RATING: ****
MONOLOGUE: Justin Timberlake
- Bill, Fred, and Andy as live-action versions of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing with Justin was great and creative. Bill was especially funny, as was Justin’s aggravated reactions to him.
RATING: ***1/2
SKETCH: Bring it on in to Homelessville
- I was shocked when Justin showed up in that outfit and I realized who he was playing again, because I really didn’t think they would bring the Omeletville sketch back.
- This was really funny, basically just as good as the original version. Justin’s performances and energy really makes these sketches.
RATING: ****
SKETCH: Target Cashier
- Oh, god, no. Not this shitty character again. I thought they stopped this for good.
- Justin was okay, but the whole chapped lips thing got old after a while and him getting an allergic reaction at the end wasn’t funny.
RATING: *1/2
DIGITAL SHORT: Dick in a Box
- I was already cracking up right at the beginning when they showed Andy and Justin as the early 90’s/Color Me Badd-esque singers, but then when they got to the dick in a box bit, I completely lost it and could not stop laughing for the rest of the short. Truly hilarious. This was just awesome and classic Lonely Island material.
- Easily the best Digital Short of the season so far.
RATING: *****
SKETCH: The Barry Gibb Talk Show
- At the beginning, I was disappointed - although not surprised - that they brought this back yet again since I didn’t really like the second time they did this with Cameron Diaz and thought this was only funny as a one-time sketch. But I surprisingly ended up enjoying tonight’s version a lot more than I thought I would. Fallon had some great lines (I especially liked the one about putting a bottle inside of Darrell and kicking him until the bottle breaks) and was more manic as Barry Gibb than usual, and they added a different spin in some parts.
- The bit with Justin/Robin always responding "No... No, I don't" every time he's asked if he has anything to add is kinda dead weight, though, and annoys me. Not even tonight's really energetic studio audience laughed much in those parts of the sketch.
RATING: ***1/2
NEXT LIVE SHOW: January 13, 2007 - Jake Gyllenhaal
SKETCH: Dry Eyes
- This sketch got cut from dress a few weeks ago (I think from the Matthew Fox episode). When I read the sketch description in Jamie Klein’s report, I thought it sounded kinda lame, but the sketch was much funnier than I thought. Fred’s immediate bawling was hilarious, as was Justin’s attempts to not break down crying and the look he kept giving the camera when he would go back to a straight face.
- Also nice to see a gameshow sketch on these days. They need to do these more often nowadays because gameshow sketches never fail.
RATING: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
WEEKEND UPDATE: Poehler & Meyers, with Lou Dobbs & Same-Sex New Jersey Couple
- A lot of great jokes tonight, with barely any bad ones. Best jokes: Begging God, Obama/Bush, Chanukah, Barbie
- Darrell’s Lou Dobbs commentary was pretty good. Though I still can’t stand how all of Darrell’s news anchor impressions look and sound exactly the same. I mean, how was his Lou Dobbs any different sounding from his Dan Rather or Ted Koppel or Brit Hume?
- I can’t believe the New Jersey couple is now recurring. They weren’t that funny the first time, and they were even less funnier this time. These characters just ain’t cutting it.
RATING: ****
SKETCH: Hip Hop Kids
- Surprised that this was Jason’s first and only appearance tonight. Kenan’s barely done anything at this point tonight, too.
- I knew this would be pretty lame just judging from the opening credits, and I was right. A sketch like this with white kids acting black is too obvious to do with Timberlake.
- Jason made me laugh, though, with that voice he talked in and the frozen look on his face in that one part, as well as him getting eaten by the monsters.
- I could tell one of the monsters was Bill, but who was the other, shorter one? It looked like Will, so I’m gonna guess him.
- Justin almost lost it at one part.
RATING: **
SKETCH: Ghetto Stepmom & Daughter
- I had to open my big mouth about Kenan not having anything to do so far, because they just had to go and bring this damn character of his back. Another sketch made recurring tonight that shouldn’t have even been done in the first place.
- You could clearly see Kenan standing outside of the door for, like, a whole 30 seconds before he made his entrance on-camera.
- Justin in drag was kinda funny, but he couldn’t save the sketch.
- This sketch dragged even more than the first one did, especially the cell phone call. And the sketch ending exactly the same as the original one (with Kenan bending down and then hopping on the desk) sucked, too.
RATING: *1/2
SKETCH: A Holiday Message from Nancy Grace
- Good lord, what a bore-fest this was. I kept waiting and waiting for the real funny pay-off to happen, but it just never did. She just kept talking and talking about the same unfunny rape victim crap. This was so bad and dragged on so damn long that I almost fell asleep, and it seems like the audience did, too, as you can only hear, like 2 people laughing.
- I used to like Amy’s Nancy Grace, but I’m now starting to see why some others find her and her voice annoying. I think her impression has already run its course, only after 3 appearances.
RATING: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
__________________________________
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:
- Dick in a Box
- Dry Eyes
- Bring it on in to Homelessville
- Santa’s My Boyfriend
- Monologue
- Parts of Weekend Update
SHOW LOWLIGHTS:
- A Holiday Message from Nancy Grace
- Target Cashier
- Ghetto Stepmom & Daughter
- Hip Hop Kids
- Same-Sex New Jersey Couple on Weekend Update
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The first half of the episode contained some very good stuff, but the show really fell apart after Weekend Update where the sketches got progressively worse, culminating in that horrible Nancy Grace disaster. Certainly not as good as Justin’s first episode, but this still overall averages out to a good show. Justin was again a surprisingly funnyand versatile host, even if the material wasn’t as consistently good this time.
TONIGHT’S RATING: ***
CASTMEMBER/HOST COUNT DOWN:
ARMISEN: 5 sketches (Monologue, The Barry Gibb Talk Show, Dry Eyes, Weekend Update, Ghetto Stepmom & Daughter)
FORTE: 3 sketches (Bring it on in to Homelessville, Target Cashier, Hip Hop Kids)
HADER: 4 sketches (Monologue, Dry Eyes, Hip Hop Kids, Ghetto Stepmom & Daughter)
HAMMOND: 2 sketches (The Barry Gibb Talk Show, Weekend Update)
MEYERS: 1 sketch (Weekend Update)
POEHLER: 4 sketches (Santa’s My Boyfriend, Weekend Update, Hip Hop Kids, A Holiday Message from Nancy Grace)
RUDOLPH: 4 sketches (Santa’s My Boyfriend, Target Cashier, Dick in a Box, Hip Hop Kids)
SAMBERG: 2 sketches (Monologue, Dick in a Box)
SUDEIKIS: 1 sketch (Hip Hop Kids)
THOMPSON: 2 sketches (Hip Hop Kids, Ghetto Stepmom & Daughter)
WIIG: 8 sketches (Santa’s My Boyfriend, Target Cashier, Dick in a Box, The Barry Gibb Talk Show, Dry Eyes, Hip Hop Kids, Ghetto Stepmom & Daughter, A Holiday Message from Nancy Grace)
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: 8 sketches (Monologue, Bring it on in to Homelessville, Target Cashier, Dick in a Box, The Barry Gibb Talk Show, Dry Eyes, Hip Hop Kids, Ghetto Stepmom & Daughter)