Saturday, February 16, 2013

All in all, Very Weak Writing Tonight,

This was not a great show at all.  Very weak material was evident was practically present in every sketch.  Fortunately, however, the show had good performances that improved the quality of some of the sketches.

The Carnival Cruise cold opening featured good performances amidst the juvenile humor.  Jason Sudeikis and Cecily Strong were good as the ship's director and they delivered most of the opening's humor.  Jay Pharoah, Taran Killam, and Tim Robinson were also good; though the bathroom humor was a lazy attempt to get laughs from the audience.  The sketch was an alright way to open the show, though I wish the material had been better.

Christoph Waltz did what he could with the monologue; but unfortunately, there wasn't much memorable humor.  The German stereotype humor was a cheap way to get laughs from the audience and the whole monologue seemed very rushed.  I am REALLY getting tired of musical monologues; as we have seen many over the season.  Christoph Waltz made me laugh but otherwise, this was just weak.

The game show sketch was probably my favorite sketch of the night.  I enjoyed Christoph Waltz's performance as the host.  The joke of the three contestants realizing that they either accomplished very little in life or not happy with their living situation was a bit harsh, but everyone made me laugh thanks in large part to their performances.  Christoph Waltz made me laugh when he enabled his character to break down emotionally upon realizing what he has done with his life and all he wanted to do was be a dancer.  The performances in this sketch were  good.

Nasim Pedrad's bad conversationalist character wasn't that funny or memorable.  While I was happy to see her get the opportunity to play a new character, considering that she hasn't gotten a lot to do lately this season, I was disappointed to see the sketch itself go nowhere.  All the performances were good, though I wish Christoph Waltz got to do more than just play a straightman.  Not a great sketch.


The CD advertisement spoof was alright; though the joke that Christoph Waltz's character ( being a white, nerdy virgin) performing a long with Jay Pharoah's and Kenan Thompson's R & B singers was a bit repetitive.  Though I will say that Waltz's enthusiastic performance made me laugh along with his delivery.  In addition, Cecily Strong and Taran Killam were good as well and they had some funny lines.  Thompson and Pharoah were good as well.  All in all, a weak concept that was vastly improved by everyone's performances.

"Weekend Update" tonight went on a bit too long and the writing wasn't great at all.  Aside from one or two jokes, Seth Meyers's jokes weren't very funny; and it seems that he's rushing through his portions to get to the featured segments.  Taran Killam gave a very good performance as Sen. Marco Rubio; though I will say that the joke of the Republican senator reactng for a glass of water has been done a lot better on other late night talk shows.  Kate McKinnon gave a good performance as her character; though the material wasn't very funny.  And Jay Pharoah once again did well as Stephen A. Smith; though the writing wasn't good as well.  His delivery made me laugh quite a bit; though the joke of him raising the volume of his voice constantly has gotten old. This was a very long edition of "Weekend Update."

I have nothing to say about Fred Armisen's female character.  The sketch was done this October when Daniel Craig hosted; and the sketch basically followed the same format tonight.  Fred Armisen hasn't made me laugh much this season; as his sketches haven't been very funny.  Being on the show for eleven years is long enough, and I REALLY think it's time for Armisen to leave.  Christoph Waltz did what he could with his designated role; but alas, even he could not save it.  This was a very weak sketch.

The "Fox and Friends" spoof wasn't very funny either.  Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer, and Bobby Moynihan all turned in decent performances, though the juvenile humor truly made the whole segment wear thin.  I found this sketch not very funny and it was weird that Waltz did not appear in the entire segment at all; as he could have even played Fred Armisen's character. All in all, a forgettable sketch.

The secret admirer sketch was good idea, though its execution could have been a little better.  The constant joke that Cecily Strong's character did not know which person sent her a very creepy and off-putting Valentine's Day card despite the fact that it was obvious Christoph Waltz's character who did so, was very repetitive.  Waltz gave a very humorous performance in this sketch; as did all the castmembers.  I did laugh a bit; mainly due to everyone's performances, though the sketch itself wasn't great.  All in all, a very appropriate ending to a very weak show.

This was not a very good show.  Christoph Waltz did what he could to improve the quality of many of the sketches with his performances.  Though the writing very much tarred the quality of the show.  Most of the cast were also very good and improved the quality of most of the  segments as well,  And I will say that Alabama Shakes were a good musical guest.  The lead singer has a decent voice and the band itself has a good Alternate-Rock sound.

And that's my review.  Thank you all for following my blog.  I have no idea how the rest of this season is going to turn out.  Hopefully, Kevin Hart will host a decent show.

Thanks again for following me and stay tuned for more Nater-Tainment! 

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