The following is a review of the sketches and performances that took place when Will Ferrell hosted "Saturday Night Live" this past Saturday. I was very excited to see Former Catmember Will Ferrell host "Saturday Night Live" for his third time. His last appearance on May 16th, 2009 was incredible; as it featured a tremendous installment of "Celebrity Jeopardy" that featured guest appearances by Tom Hanks, playing a clueless version of himself, as well as Norm Mac Donald; who reprised his hilarious portrayal of Burt Reynolds. The show also featured a star-studded performance of Billy Joel's "Goodnight Saigon;" which featured appearances Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, and Elizabeth Moss. I was truly hoping for this past week's episode to be completely memorable. Unfortunately, this was not the case; as most of the sketches were lazily-written or rehashed. In other words, this episode was a complete letdown. Fortunately, Ferrell provided many good performances throughout the show; therefore slightly improving the quality of the show. Thus, I can say without hesitation:
Will Ferrell's Return to "Saturday Night Live" This Past Weekend was Strongly Marred by the Show's Inadequate Writing.
For the show's cold opening, Castmember Fred Armisen portrayed President Barack Obama; who visits Vice President Joe Biden, played by fellow castmember Jason Sudeikis, who was upset over all the attention the Commander in Chief was receiving over his declaration of support for same-sex marriage. Throughout their interactions, Sudeikis' Biden was seen playing with trains and behaving in the style of a young boy. The dynamic between Armisen's Obama and Sudeikis' Biden resembled a typical father-son relationship; complete with the latter pouting and not paying complete attention to his superior. Jason sudeikis' Joe Biden impression is always hilarious; and I'm glad we got to see it possibly one more time before the season ends. Fred Armisen, meanwhile, once again brought us his ineffective portrayal of President Barack Obama; and fortunately, it wasn't the main focus of the sketch. As the opening progressed, Sudeikis' Joe Biden said that he wanted to hang out with his imaginary friend “George;” who, after emerging from the closet following the departure of Armisen's Obama, turned out to be Former President George W. Bush; played once again by Former Castmember and the evening's host, Will Ferrell. Ferrell's impression of the Former Commander-In-Chief is always great; and I'm so happy to see him portray him once again. Will Ferrell and Jason Sudeikis possessed great chemistry; and their interactions were amusing. Will Ferrell's enthusiastic performance was great and I was very happy to see him open the show.
For his monologue, Will Ferrell brought out his actual mother to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. And, in order to make his greeting completely genuine, Ferrell told the cue card handler to drop the cards and let him speak on his own. The result was a greeting that was completely all over the place. I got a chuckle out of Ferrell insulting the piano player when the given background music started getting too loud; but the segment could have been a little more humorous. But I'm glad that Ferrell got to do his own monologue without any interruptions from the cast; as they have done those types of monologues a lot this season, All in all, a decent monologue and a welcome return by Will Ferrell.
The first official sketch of the show featured the return of Middle School music teachers Marty Culp, played by Will Ferrell, and Bobbi Mohan-Culp; played by Returning Castmember Ana Gasteyer. Ferrel and Gasteyer used to portray these characters when they in the cast together from 1996 up to 2002. This time, their characters were filling in for a Lady Gaga impersonator at a LGBT prom. I never really minded these sketches; mainly because the earnest performances of Ferrell and Gasteyer made-up for the fact that the basic set-up of these sketches followed the same pattern during each installment. And every one of these sketches basically featured the two characters performing a medley of popular songs of the time period; and tonight's sketch was no exception. I did get a strong laugh out of Ferrell and Gasteyer performing exnthusiastic renditions of Nikki Minaj's “Superbass” and LMFAO's “I'm Sexy and I Know It.” In all honesty, I was surprised that , out of all Ferrell's reoccurring sketches, they bought this one back tonight. Perhaps Former Castmember Darrell Hammond was unavailable to partake in a new installment of “Celebrity Jeopardy.” Nevertheless, Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer gave strong performances; but I turly would have liked to see a more special sketch following the first commercial break.
Following this sketch, we got to witness the return of yje reoccurring ESPN Classic sketches. For this installment, Jason Sudeikis' sportscaster Pete Twinkle was joined by his fellow reporter Greg Stink, played by Returning Former Castmember Will Forte in a surprise appearance, were covering a Woman's Golf Championship. The sketch was apparently meant to take place in 1994; right when OJ Simpson's infamous car chase was taking place, Sudeiks' and Forte's characters would constantly switch from their coverage to a news reporter, played by Will Ferrell, who seemed less-than-interested in the whole affair. These ESPN Classic sketches have been executed four times during the 2009-2010 season as well as in April 2011. Jasoon Sudeikis and Will Forte demonstrated keen chemistry throughout the sketch; and the latter's over-enthusiastic performance provided some good laughs. However, the constant references to maxipads went on a bit too long; though Sudeikis' performance did improve the sketch a bit as well. In addition, I was greatly disappointed to see that Ferrell was barley used at all during the sketch; and he only got the opportunity to deliver a few comical lines. I really wished he got to do more during the sketch; but alas, this wasn't the case. And as the rest of the show unfolded, it saddened me to witness Will Ferrell only contribute supporting roles in the sketches.
The evening's digital short followed next; and it happened to be the 100th pre-filmed segment created by Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island co-horts Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaeffer. Only in this case, the latter was portrayed by Justin Beiber for a majority of the sketch-- which I found to be slightly strange. Throughout the piece, the trio sang about many of the shorts that have aired since they began airing on “Saturday Night Live” in 2005. We got to see the return of some characters that have appeared in the shorts; such as Jon Hamm's under-wearing, saxophone-playing Sergio, Kristen Wiig's body-fuzion lady, and “Crazy” Natalie Portman. We even got to see Andy Samberg and Special Guest Justin Timberlake bring back their R & B singers who were famous for their special boxes. It was pretty impressive to see the referencing to many previous shorts and characters; but the excessive self-pleasuring jokes were very inappropriate and grew old very fast. Will Ferrell as well as the evening's musical guest Usher made small appearances during the short; but I truly with that our host for the evening got more to do. Nevertheless, it was a creative short and it shows just how much The Lonely Island have contributed to “Saturday Night Live” for the past seven years. I do think, however, that this piece should have been saved for next week's season finale; considering the fact that it's rumored to be Andy Samberg's final show.
The evening's edition of “Weekend Update” proved to be very unmemorable. None of Seth Meyers' jokes were funny at all and his “Really” segment concerning Time Magazine's breast-feeding cover appeared forced. Seth Meyers' performance seemed rushed throughout the segment ; as were previous editions this season. He just seems to be phoning in his recitals week after week now. We also got “treated” to another edition of “Get in the Cage;” in Which Andy Samberg impersonates Nicholas Cage and interviews a different celebrity about their soon-to-be-released film. This time, Liam Neeson appeared to promote the May 18th release of “Battleship.” Samberg and Neeson didn't seem to possess great chemistry and the latter wasn't very humorous at all, In all honesty, Samberg should have stopped doing this segment after doing it with the real Nicholas Cage this past February. In short terms, this whole edition of “Weekend Update” wasn't very enjoyable and the mere fact that Will Ferrell didn't appear at all didn't help at all. All in all, a major disappoint and I'm hoping thatnext week is much better; as it will be the season finale.
The next two sketches turned out to be very disappointing as well. The first was a vignette entitled “The 2012 Funkytown Debates;” which featured Will Ferrell and Castmember Kenan Thompson portraying two 70's-era characters that were outlining their political views and goals in a manner reflective of the time period. Will Ferrell portrayed Captain Catfish; who went on to introduce the members of his political cabinet; which were played by various members of the cast as well as Musical Guest Usher. Ferrell did his best to save the sketch; but unfortunately, not much could have been done. Kenan Thompson's Doctor Silky Delicious just appeared to be a variant of his “What Up With That” character and his overall performance just came off as annoying. Even Featured Player Taran Killam, who portrayed the moderator of the debate, couldn't improve the quality of the segment. This is a very big shame; considering the fact that he's had a great season so far and has proven to be a truly versatile performer; just like Will Ferrell himself. All in all a, a very lackluster sketch.
The next sketch proved to be even more disappointing. The segment, entitled “Broadway Sizzle,” starred Castmembers Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as two theater veterans that were auditioning performers. Both Wiig and Hader had nothing to work with; as their dialogue wasn't funny At all the sketch seemed to be hastily put together. Will Ferrel portrayed an aspiring singer who kept mistakenly performing songs that were meant to be crooned by women, Despite Ferrell's admirable performance, the sketch itself could not be saved. Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and Will Ferrell are great performers, and to see them given weak material is very disappointing. Simply put, it seems as if the writers of “Saturday Night Live” just don't care who hosts the show anymore. They just want to get paid for their work. That is completely saddening;as the writers of this show used to care about making audiences laugh. There's hardly any genuine effort on their part to make the sketches completely hilarious. They are just relying on the cast and the show's host to make things better just by bestowing their performances to the viewers. I could go into more detail about this topic; but I'll save it for my end-of-the-season review.
The final sketch of the night wasn't entirely great. Jason Sudeikis played a son who was commemorating his parents' 25th wedding anniversary. However, he kept getting interrupted by various distant cousins and strangers who also prepared toasts of their own. This sketch was actually first done in December 2008 when Hugh Laurie hosted as well as on May 16, 2009 when Will Ferrell last emceed the programs. Some of the toasts were amusing; particularly the one turned in by Ferrell's character; who was meant to be a psychic-for-hire and promoted his services to those in attendance. Taran Killam also provided some comedy as an aspiring model who wanted to create awareness about himself. Other that that, Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, and Bobby Moynihan portrayed characters they did in previous installments of the sketch; but their performances alone weren't enough to improve the lackluster writing. Even Will forte, who brought back his blond-haired, sun-glassed creep Hamilton wasn't able to salvage things, Jason Sudeikis did a good job as the sketch's designated straightman; though his performance slightly mirrored those he has given in previous incarnations of this sketch. All in all, a very disappointing ending to a very disappointing episode.
As this episode came to an end, I shook my head in a state of serious disapproval. This was the best the writers could come up with for Will Ferrell; who spent seven years at “Saturday Night Live” and bestowed many memorable performances throughout his tenure? Why wasn't he the focus of many of the sketches? Why, aside from George W. Bush and Marty Culp, didn't Ferrell get to reprise any of his popular characters and sketches? Why didn't he get to reprise his dead-on impression of James Lipton for a surely hilarious and memorable spoof of “Inside the Actors' Studio”? Where was Former Castmember Cheri Oteri for a possible return of the Spartan Cheerleaders or the reprisal of the early-morning talk-show spoof “Morning Latte”? I would have even welcomed the return of Fellow Former Castmember Chris Kattan for a resurfacing of the head-bopping Roxbury Guys. Aside from the return of Ana Gasteyer, there wasn't a single appearance of anyone from Will Ferrell's cast. Why couldn't the show go all out for him like it did when Jimmy Fallon hosted this past December? That episode we got to see the returns of many former castmembers: Amy Poehler, Rachael Dratch, Tina Fey, Horatio Sanz,
Tracy Morgan, and even Kattan. What's Lorne Michaels' problem? This episode could have been the best show of the season. But no. We got a rushed and sloppily-put together episode with Will Ferrell hardly getting to demonstrate plenty of his trademark comedy. Chalk this episode up as being the most disappointing episode of the season.
And that's my review. I'm looking forward to live-blogging this week's season finale; which will be hosted by Mick Jagger-- who is also serving as the show's musical guest; along with The Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, and Jeff Beck. Hopefully we get a halfway-decent finale to a truly imperfect season. See you then!
E-mail me at thatsnatertainment@gmx.com
E-mail me at thatsnatertainment@gmx.com
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