Charlie Day / Maroon 5
November 5, 2011
RATINGS SYSTEM
***** = Excellent, a possible future classic
**** = Great
*** = Average
** = Meh
* = How'd this get past dress?
Cold Opening - A Message from the Ghost of Moammar Gaddafi
• Oh, come on, SNL - at least TRY to throw us for a loop every once in a while. So many people on various SNL boards called this as the upcoming cold opening for the past few weeks, and I quietly thought to myself “Aw, give SNL a little credit, guys - I don’t think they’d be that predictable and desperate as to do a cold opening with Gaddafi’s ghost”. I stand corrected. Never overestimate the current SNL writers.
• This especially comes off looking lame when you consider that Gaddafi’s death has already become old news by this point. There are so many missed opportunities for a more topical cold opening this week, particularly a Herman Cain one.
• My only laugh in this overall dull cold opening came from the line about the elevator from “The Shining”.
• The “bro” thing was straight out of Horatio Sanz’s playbook. Back in the days when HE was the go-to player for every single middle-eastern leader (much like Fred today), he would always talk in that “That is bull-jive, bro-bro” slang (and much like Fred today, Horatio also used to portray all middle-eastern leaders the exact same way with no variation at all).
Stars: *½
Monologue - Charlie Day
• A fantastic monologue; easily the best of the season so far.
• Charlie came off incredibly likeable and funny right off the bat, then this got even better with the surprise appearance by Danny Devito. He and Charlie played off each other hilariously here.
• Charlie’s piano/harmonica song at the end was the icing on the cake, and his singing voice cracks me up.
Stars: ****½
Commercial - Kim’s Fairytale Divorce
• It was a given that SNL would do a sketch tonight on this topic, and this was a great way of executing it. Much funnier than I was expecting.
• Most of my laughs here came from Kristen, who was excellent as the Kardashian Mom with her desperation to come off as young as her daughters.
• Other big laughs came from Taran and Andy. Just the way they both simply looked had me rolling.
• Charlie as the divorce attorney was awesome, especially him showing off the bacon wrapped in $100 bills.
Stars: ****½
Sketch - The Dr. Oz Show
• The funny thing is, I was just thinking earlier this week what it would be like if SNL did a Dr. Oz parody sometime soon, and I figured Bill Hader would play him. Looks like I was right. Bill did a fantastic impression of Dr. Oz as expected.
• This sketch ended up being pretty underwhelming overall, and mostly just relied on cheap bathroom humor. This would’ve been more acceptable in a later time slot, not as the lead sketch of the night.
Stars: **
Sketch - Meeting of the Greek Gods
• I always enjoy full-cast ensemble sketches like this. Almost every performer in this sketch had their equal share of laughs. My favorites were Andy’s idea of turning into a dolphin and having non-consensual sex with his own daughter, Jay as Apollo (especially the white make-up around his eyes), and Charlie’s sex-obsessed character.
• Jason was a hilarious straight man as always, and I especially cracked up at his frozen deadpan facial reactions to some of the ridiculous lines.
• Taran’s voice was awesome in this sketch. Even in the smallest roles, he still puts in 100% commitment.
Stars: ***½
Sketch - It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green
• Kenan’s Cee Lo impression has actually improved from the last time he played him. In the “Horse Play” sketch from last season, Kenan didn’t even bother changing his voice at all when playing him, but tonight Kenan did a surprisingly decent imitation of his voice.
• This was a pretty funny sketch; better than I was expecting it to be. Kenan had some pretty funny one-liners, especially the one about him putting on Teletubby outfits with the crotch cut out, as well as the line “Much like my arms and legs, this is a stumper”.
• Charlie’s Freakasaurus character was good, and I loved Bill as Colonel Nasty (that reminded me of when Bill used to play Colonel Sanders all the time in his earlier seasons).
• Some people have been comparing this to other recent talk show sketches Kenan played the host of, like the Black Eyed Peas one. If anything, this sketch to me felt a little reminiscent of “What Up With That”. Not the whole sketch, obviously, but just certain aspects of it, like the red suit-wearing band members played by Jay, Paul, and Bobby... oh, and ESPECIALLY Charlie and Bill’s characters - can’t you imagine Freakasaurus and Colonel Nasty as random walk-ons in a typical “What Up With That” sketch?
Stars: ***½
Commercial - The Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy Vol 2
• This was one of my favorite sketches from last season, but I never would’ve expected it to be brought back. However, tonight’s installment turned out to be just as funny as the first, maybe even funnier.
• Like I said earlier in this review, I’m a sucker for full-cast ensemble sketches and I love how tonight’s Catchphrase Comedy installment managed to work in EVERY single castmember, unlike the one from last season which had a few castmembers missing.
• Some of the new comedians in this installment were great, especially Charlie’s Dane Cook knock-off, Jason’s “Who said that?” character, Jay as Black Stewie Griffin, and Bill’s Chicago-accented “I’ll s*** your c***” character.
• Oh, and Adam Levine randomly getting attacked by a hawk was a hilarious non-sequitur. Too bad that couldn’t have happened to him during Maroon 5’s musical performances tonight...
Stars: ****½
Weekend Update - Seth Meyers, featuring Gov. Rick Perry, Judy Grimes
• Best jokes: Happy people/Bert & Ernie, Dubai
• The Rick Perry commentary was very silly, but a lot of fun and Bill was just hilarious. I like how the whole commentary had a loose vibe featuring lots of funny ad-libbing, although at one point, it started feeling like the whole thing was improvised.
• Seth’s “A Closer Look at Europe” rant wasn’t too bad, but was also very forgettable. There were no really clever one-liners/quips that stood out to me at all. I get the feeling Seth wanted this rant to come off as a memorable future classic, but he definitely fell short. The problem is that Seth is too bland and milquetoast. Aside from his “Really” segments, Seth just does not have the personality, timing, or wit to pull off a classic long-winded Update rant the way that past anchors like Dennis Miller, Fey & Fallon, and even Colin Quinn routinely managed to do.
• The return of Judy Grimes? No. Just... no. (Hey, this is the first time all season that I pulled out my trademark “No, just... no” review!)
Stars: **½
Sketch - Dolphin Movie
• I thought this whole sketch was gonna be centered around Taran’s dolphin trainer character at first and it did seem to have potential, but the actual result turned out pretty disappointing. The overall sketch was pretty weak and predictable, especially the ending with Charlie forgetting to record the audio - I saw that coming from a mile away.
• Kenan’s first “I do MY job” did make me laugh, before they ended up turning it into this sketch’s catchphrase.
Stars: **
Sketch - Seinfeld Apartment Crime Scene
• This is one of those sketches that probably looks stupid on paper, but comes off hilarious in execution. It was all in the performances for this sketch, and Charlie and Jason certainly delivered. Their acting in this was an absolute riot and the chemistry between them was so much fun to watch. I can’t even pick out my favorite moment of the sketch because pretty much everything Charlie and Jason did made me laugh out loud.
Stars: ****
Commercial - Lil Poundcake
• Rerun. Watching this again, I now see what some people meant last time when they said the Lil Poundcake doll bore quite a facial resemblance to Vanessa.
_________________________________________________________
Episode Highlights:
• The Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy Vol 2
• Kim’s Fairytale Divorce
• Seinfeld Apartment Crime Scene
• Meeting of the Greek Gods
• Monologue
• the Rick Perry commentary
Episode Lowlights:
• A Message from the Ghost of Moammar Gaddafi
• the Judy Grimes commentary
• The Dr. Oz Show
• Dolphin Movie
Best Performer of the Night:
• Bill Hader / Charlie Day
CASTMEMBER / HOST COUNT DOWN
ARMISEN: 3 sketches (Moammar Gaddafi, Greek Gods, Catchphrase Comedy)
ELLIOTT: 4 sketches (Fairytale Divorce, Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy)
HADER: 6 sketches (Dr. Oz, Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy, Update, Crime Scene)
MEYERS: 2 sketches (Catchphrase Comedy, Update)
MOYNIHAN: 4 sketches (Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy, Crime Scene)
PEDRAD: 3 sketches (Fairytale Divorce, Greek Gods, Catchphrase Comedy)
SAMBERG: 4 sketches (Fairytale Divorce, Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy)
SUDEIKIS: 3 sketches (Greek Gods, Catchphrase Comedy, Crime Scene)
THOMPSON: 4 sketches (Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy, Dolphin Movie)
WIIG: 5 sketches (Fairytale Divorce, Greek Gods, Catchphrase Comedy, Update, Dolphin Movie)
BAYER: 3 sketches (Fairytale Divorce, Greek Gods, Catchphrase Comedy)
BRITTAIN: 4 sketches (Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy, Dolphin Movie)
KILLAM: 4 sketches (Fairytale Divorce, Greek Gods, Catchphrase Comedy, Dolphin Movie)
PHAROAH: 4 sketches (Fairytale Divorce, Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy)
CHARLIE DAY: 8 sketches (Monologue, Fairytale Divorce, Dr. Oz, Greek Gods, Cee Lo Green, Catchphrase Comedy, Dolphin Movie, Crime Scene)