"Saturday Night Live" Episode Review-- Justin Timberlake (Host and Musical Guest)

Well, I'm very satisfied! Aside from a couple of sketches in the final half-hour, this past weekend's episode of “Saturday Night Live” was both very enjoyable and very memorable! Justin Timberlake, as expected, delivered a top-notch performance as the host and musical guest. Hosting the show for the fifth time has earned the musician/actor a place in the late night program's prestigious 5-Timers Club. As he did in the past, Timberlake gave a great performance and exhibited both impeccable comedic timing and sharp chemistry with the variety show's cast. Thus, I cam say with all honesty:

Despite some weak writing in the final half-hour, the performances of everyone made this week's episode of “Saturday Night Live” Fun to Watch!

Warning-- Lots of Spoilers Ahead!

Cold Opening- Hugo Chavez's Funeral

I had a slight feeling the weekly variety program would do something to address the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In the opening, Justin Timberlake performed Award-Winning Musician Elton John; who performed a musical ode to the deceased Chavez. Throughout the segment, Timberlake perfectly mimicked Elton John's manner of singing; despite frequently dropping the musician's British accent. That being said, Timberlake bestowed a very good musical performance, and sang about some tidbits about the late Venezuelan President (such as mentioning the world leader's pet parrot that always wore ah, as well as outlawing Coke Zero). Timberlake bestowed an enjoyable performance as well as a very enthusiastic “Live from New York...”; as this week's episode was the first time doing the latter. This opening successfully got me further excited about this week's episode.

Monologue- Juston Timberlake Joins the Five-Timers Club

This was GREAT!!! As a fan of the original Five-Timers Club Monologue (which aired on December 8^th, 1990- when Tom Hanks hosted the late night program for his fifth time), I had a lot of fun watching “Saturday Night Live” bring back such a great piece of its history. It was so AMAZING to ultimately see SEVEN original five-timers all in the same room. Watching Timberlake interact with Paul Simon and Steve Martin was a lot of fun; especially when the latter ordering a drink from Former Castmember Dan Aykroyd-- who had was able to merely secure a job as a bartender after hosting the show only one time. The piece got even funnier with Five Time Host and Former Castmember Chevy Chase placing an order for a Roll Royce and requesting the bill be sent to Steve Martin. Watching Chase interact with Martin was great as was Timberlake's question about whether or not the two were friends and Martin's confusing answer. The laughs continued as Former Castmember Martin Short presented as a waiter as well as Candace Bergen, the first Female Five-Timer, asking who was responsible for leaving the toilet seat up in the club's one bathroom (with Martin Short's response being the punchline). The whole segment was great; as everyone got a chance to be funny and Timberlake had chemistry with them all. This truly was an enjoyable monologue!

Game Show Sketch- It's a Date!

As I said with the monologue... This was GREAT!!! As I have enjoyed Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg's '90s-era R & B Duo, I was excited to see “Saturday Night Live” take a different turn with the characters by having them be featured as “Bachelor #2” on a dating game show. Castmember Vanessa Bayer was great as a contestant on the show as was Fellow Castmember Bill Hader; who played the game show's very enthusiastic host. In addition, it was SO TERRIFFIC to see Stave Martin and Dan Aykroyd reprise their famous reoccurring characters The Festrunk Brothers; who were credited as Bachelor #3 on the show. Martin and Aykroyd delivered their lines very well and I loved how the characters reveal that they still have their foreign accent after living in the United States for thirty-seven years. Moreover, Castmember Bobby Moynihan made for a good straight-man; as his character, credited as Bachelor #1, realizing that he doesn't have chance on the game show ( as he just flat out said that “I'm going to lose.” Lastly, Timberlake and Samberg were fun as always (with them singing their answers to the questions of Bayer's on-screen persona. Along with the monologue, this sketch was the best of the night!

Sketch- Veganville

I always enjoy these sketches where Justin Timberlake plays his over-enthusiastic dancing mascot character, and tonight was no exception. Donning a snack-cake costume, Timberlake bestowed a grand performance, dancing and promoting a restaurant specifically for vegetarians; much to the chagrin to an Italian meat vender-- played by Bobby Moynihan. As with the previous sketch, Moynihan played a good straight-man and he exhibited great comedic chemistry with Timberlake. Other highlights of the sketch included Timberlake's variation of Rhianna's hit song “We found love in a hopeless place” as well as the Harlem Shake ending. This was another fun sketch.

Weekend Update

This wasn't a bad edition of Weekend Update at all. A good amount of Seth Meyers' jokes were good tonight; especially his quips aimed at Kin Jong Un and Dennis Rodman. What's more, Meyers' presentation was good as well; as he seemed to be taking his time between jokes, instead of just rushing through each one in hopes to get to any featured segments. We also got the welcome return of Bill Hader's City Corespondent Stefon. It has been some time since the popular reoccurring character; and this particular segment was a lot of fun as usual. All the jokes were great; especially Stefon mentioning that he writes for the NBC drama “Smash”, Jerry the Gorilla passing a kidney stone, a nightclub being a burned-down Red Lobster, as well as the comment that club patrons can dance to the sound Donald Duck waking up from a Vietnam nightmare-- which was followed by Hader's dead-on impression of the classic Disney cartoon character. Both Hader and Meyers exhibited great chemistry as always, and the joke about Stefon's very own Five-Timers Club was a great way to bring this week's Update to a close. This was easily my favorite edition of Weekend Update to be featured on “Saturday Night Live” this season so far.

Sketch- The Adventures of Sober Caligula

Now here's where the writing started to teeter off. This sketch, featuring Justin Timberlake playing a Roman emperor confessing that he's a sex addict, wasn't funny at all. As Timberlake's character listed all the sexual activities he has partaken, the sketch got more and more ridiculous. I feel very bad for Timberlake; as the momentum of the evening got severely impacted by the very lazy writing. Our host tried very hard with the material he was given, but alas, the sketch went nowhere. With the addition of the bad homosexuality jokes and the completely abrupt ending, this was easily the worst sketch of the evening. The less said about this sketch, the better.

Sketch- Maine Justice

I was really surprised to see this sketch once again, as the original that aired this past December seemed to be intended as a one-time sketch. That being said, tonight's edition was very good, though it wasn't as grand as the previous installment with Guest Host Jamie Foxx. Jason Sudeikis was once again very funny as the judge; making me laugh with his over-the-top Cajun accent and many of his comments aimed at the defendant; played by Andy Samberg. Justin Timberlake was very good as the bailiff and he exhibited good chemistry with Sudeikis throughout the sketch. Featured Player Kate McKinnon was also very good as the accuser, and did very well speaking in a Cajun accent. Samberg also gave a good performance, though I wish that he had been given some funnier lines. The inclusion of Sudeikis' character feeding an alligator was also amusing and enabled the sketch to take a slight bizarre turn. All in all, despite not being as memorable as the original, this was still a good sketch.

Film Preview Parody- Romantic Comedy

And.. this was another weak sketch. I did not find this piece very funny at all, as the whole concept of a young lady being completely perfect-- with the exception that she has male genitalia-- was another example of how the writers use cheap sexual humor as an easy way to get laughs from the audience. The constant mentioning of her male genitalia got increasingly annoying, and it made the sketch drag on. I will say that all the performances were good; such as Justin Timberlake playing the shocked boyfriend, Castmember Nasim Pedrad playing the woman in question (with being billed as “an adorable brunette”), as well as the inclusions of Fred Armisen's Eugene Levy impression as well as Castmember Kenan Thompson's character being referred to as “a confused black friend.” Despite the good performances, this was not a completely memorable sketch.

Sketch-Commercial- Moet & Chandon

And here was another sketch from the Jamie Foxx show that was made into a reoccurring segment; though I'm not too surprised this was brought back. Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong were once again good as the characters as the model-strippers. They had some good lines; but not that many. Though I will say that Justin Timberlake imparted a keen performance once again, and I got a kick out of the way his character kept entering and exiting the stage. All in all, this wasn't entirely bad, but I wish the closing sketch would have been more memorable.

As for Justin Timberlake's musical performances, I was happy with both. His performance of “Suit & Tie” was catchy and a lot of fun. It was cool to see Jay-Z guest star for the performance so he could perform his lyrics. The whole performance was just great. I also enjoyed Timberlake's second musical performance; which was entitled “Mirrors.” The song was good and I loved how Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and Steve Martin dressed up as The Three Amigos and performed their famous salute to introduce Timberlake's second musical performance. Justin Timberlake is just a very talented musical performer.

As I look back on my review, I have to say that, in all honesty, this may just be my favorite episode of the season. Yes, there were too very weak sketches, but that's always the case with “Saturday Night Live” nowadays. Justin Timberlake bestowed memorable performances throughout the evening and the entire first hour was greatly performed and a lot of fun. And the final half hour featured good performances throughout that helped the quality of the weakest sketches improve a bit. The cast was in top form and they all seemed to be having a good time. All the surprise guests were great and I was happy how everyone got to do and say something funny. Despite any weak writing, this episode truly was the most enjoyable show of the season so far. I hope Melissa McCarthy can follow-up this show with another enjoyable one. Fortunately, I enjoyed her great performances when she hosted last season. So, I have a feeling her show will be memorable as well.

So thank you all for reading my review and stay tuned for my more Nater-Tainment!