Well, the third episode of “Saturday Night Live”'s thirty-ninth season has aired on October 12th; and, just like the previous two shows, there were more misses than hits. Guest Host Bruce Willis took the stage for his second time; the first being on September 3oth, 1989; back when the show's sketches were cleverly-written and not featuring the same jokes over and over again,. What's more, we had genuinely talented performers like Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman; who were so naturally funny that they were able to make every sketch enjoyable. What's more, any reoccurring sketches from the late 1980's, such as “Wayne's World,” featured fresh comedy and not simply rehashed storylines. Nowadays, popular one-time sketches are turned into reoccurring segments and practically play out in the same fashion as the first installment. And you'll see this later on in my review.
To get to my main point, Bruce Willis tried what he could to save the weak material. It was clear that he was enjoying himself in the sketches and he possessed good chemistry with the show's cast. Unfortunately, Willis was subjected to some truly poorly-written sketches that contained humor that was borderline ridiculous. However, it should be mentioned that some particular castmembers were able to improve the shoddy material of the sketches with some stand-out performances that actually brought forth some genuine laughs. Nevertheless, Episode Three of the sketch-comedy program's new season proved to be not entirely memorable. Thus, I can say with all honesty:
Bruce Wills' 2013 Hosting Stint Was, For The Most Part, A Not-Entirely Hilarious Ninety Minutes
Cold Opening- “Gravity”
This was actually a funny opening. Even though I haven't seen the Sandra Bullock-George Clooney film, it was easy to figure out that the idea of the two astronauts, played by Cecily Strong and Taran Killam respectfully, becoming detached and floating around in space while on a mission was a parody. However, the idea of the two astronauts reaching out to NASA for assistance, only to find out that almost everyone had been furloughed as a result of the government shutdown, was quite humorous and a good tie-in. Kenan Thompson actually evoked some laughs as a janitor who was deemed the only one essential to keep around NASA. Watching Thompson's character simply saying that he needs to grab a pen and paper to write down the confusing coordinates that Killam and Strong's characters were stationed was funny as was his ridiculous suggestion that the two astronauts take a cue from “Willy Wonka” and take some burps in an attempt to get down was also very funny in its sheer silliness. Kate McKinnon also brought some laughter as a lone female janitor responding to the two astronauts' loss of oxygen and not being able to think by saying that “neither can congress.” The whole opening was a short and simple premise that was actually genuinely funny. Two bad that opening sketch was probably one of the very few cleverly-written pieces of this particular episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
Monologue- Bruce Willis
This wasn't a bad monologue. Bruce Willis is joined by Bobby Moynihan; who said that he's always thought of the actor as a father to him and asks if they can play harmonica together. The result was an lighthearted blues performance that featured Willis playing the instrument with ease and Moynihan belting out his “melodies” in an off-key manner. I did get a laugh out of Moynihan stopping his playing to take some breaths using an inhaler in a comedically sheepish manner. When interacting together, Willis and Moynihan had good chemistry and I liked the letter's fake poster of himself as the baby from “Look Who's Talking.” In short terms, this was a silly but enjoyable monologue that played out in engaging fashion.
Sketch- Navy Seal Opps
This was a good sketch and probably the last entirely cleverly-written piece for a majority of the rest of the show. Featured Castmember Beck Bennett plays a commander of a squad of navy seal opps, outlining his troops' gameplan for an upcoming mission. Bruce Wills plays a soldier named “Zernicki”; who, instead of sticking to his primary mission mission task, outlines a gameplan of his own that basically serves as a plotline for a action film-- one that could be a typical blockbuster starring the actor himself. Wills' character describes how he would sneak up on different bad guy soldiers as well as how he would proceed to do away with them. While “Zernicki” describes his own mission, Bennett's on-screen persona keeps interjecting to remind Willis' character that he is to ensure that the squad's communication does not go down. Wills gave a good performance throughout the sketch as his character and was a good sport to be poking fun at the type of narratives that would serve one of his action films. In addition, Bennett did a fine job as the straightman of the sketch and his baffled responses to “Zernicki”'s descriptions were well-performed. Furthermore, Kenan Thompson turned in a decent performance as “Patterson”; a soldier who got increasingly engrossed in “Zernicki”'s action-packed scenario. The whole sketch was both well-written and well-performed throughout and its conclusion was both satisfying and actually funny-- with the whole squad following “Zernicki” oin hopes to live out the soldier's scenario. Just an enjoyable sketch all around.
Sketch- The Ol' Barbershop
With this sketch, the episode starts to take a nosedive in terms of the quality of the writing. Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah play two motor-mouthed barbers trading over-the-top stories while cutting their customers' hair. Meanwhile, Bruce Willis plays “Terry”; a newly-hired barber who proves to be incapable of telling hilarious anecdotes and only ends up trailing off and spinning yarns that go nowhere; all the while cutting the hair of a customer; played by a blonde-wigged Bobby Moynihan. Now, while Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah possessed good chemistry, it should be noted that the latter was clearly just doing an impression of Eddie Murphy's barber character “Clarence” from “Coming to America.” While Pharoah performs good impressions, I am disappointed to see the “Saturday Night Live” castmember stoop to copying one of the many hilarious performances of Eddie Murphy. I really wish that Pharoah would have come up with an original voice for his character; but, alas he didn't. I will also mention that the joke of Willis' character being unable to tell good stories became predictable early on in the sketch. In addition, the ending of the sketch felt quite abrupt; as the punchline seemed to be that Moynihan was apparently supposed to be a convict – as seen from his orange jumpsuit. This ending had no genuine humor whatsoever and felt like a tacked on visual gag.
This sketch just wasn't great at all.
Short film- Boys Dance Party
This was humorous. It seems that “Saturday Night Live” has made the idea of making comical music videos a replacement for the “SNL Digital Shorts.” This music video was quite well done and the production value had a lot of effort put into it. I got a kick out of most of the crazy dance moves by Bruce Willis, Bobby Moynihan, Kenan Thompson, and all the other male performers. While the idea of a group of guys engaging in a dance party once their wives leave for the day, while very simple and silly, the execution of the short film was enjoyable. Of course, some of the dance moves got a little too outrageous by the end of the film, most of the guys' dancing brought forward some genuine laughs. I'm happy to see Bruce Willis go along with such a silly premise; as I wouldn't expect him to be a part of something of this nature. Nevertheless, “Boys Dance Party”, for the most part, was a fun short film and may just be “Saturday Night Live”'s next viral hit.
“Weekend Update”
This was a mixed-bag of the sketch comedy's trademark news segment; however, there were more misfires than successes. Even though Cecily Strong's performance as Seth Meyers' co-anchor has improved since the first episode of the season, the second-year “Saturday Night Live” castmember still seems a bit awkward sitting at the Update desk. It should also be mentioned that she didn't really have many funny jokes; save for one quip about the hairstyles of Bruce and Kris Jenner looking exactly the same. I'm curious to know if whether or not Cecily Strong will have a co-anchor once Seth Meyers leaves to be the new host of “Late Night”. Unfortunately, I just don't see her doing “Weekend Update” by herself.
As for the guest commentators of this week's edition of “Saturday Night Live,”I do have a bit to say. First of all, Kenan Thompson makes an appearance as Senate Chaplain Barry Black; offering up prayers for the government shutdown. Thompson's bit wasn't very funny, and the whole idea of his on-screen persona venting his frustration with the situation in Washington and wanting to hit members of congress in the face with a sock full of change as well as performing other acts of violence on members of congress was just plan ridiculous. I'm REALLY getting tired of Kenan Thompson being used as the show's new go-to-guy for many of the sketches important characters. He's truly becoming WAY overexposed and some of his acting is starting to grate. He doesn't have the acting chops to be the “star” of of “Saturday Night Live.” If this continues, I'm starting to worry that the quality of the iconic sketch-comedy series will go down further.
Lastly, on this edition of “Weekend Update”, Featured Player Brooks Wheelan gets his first true opportunity to shine. The stand-up comic-turned- sketch comedy performer gives a commentary as himself commenting on the Army's upcoming policy on tattoos and advises soldiers to not rush out and get over-the-top tattoos before the new regulations come into effect. The piece wasn't bad and I got some honest laugh's from Wheelan's self-deprecating comments regarding his own tattoos as well as his comments heeding the bad decisions he made in terms of tattoo choices when he was a teenager in high school. The piece was entertaining and Wheelan handled himself well behind the “Weekend Update” desk for his first time. Furthermore, it was nice to see a stand-up comic behind the desk for the first time in years and I look forward to seeing Brooks Wheelan appear for more commentaries as the season goes on.
Sketch- Kirby the Kitty Cat Man Returns
And here's where the quality of the show continued to suffer. Bobby Moynihan reprises the role of “Kirby”; an eccentric astronaut whose immense love for his pet feline could end up jeopardizing a space mission. Moynihan last played this character when Daniel Craig hosted the previous season. And, suffice to say, the sketch practically played out the same way as before; only this was meant to serve as a (loose) parody of Bruce Willis' film “Armageddon.”Moynihan's comments regarding his beloved pet grew tiresome and only dragged out the sketch even more. What's more, the character acting like his precious pet got killed in an explosion outside the spaceship,only to reveal that everything is alright (his cat is alive, the explosion was only a solar flair) , was quite predictable. All in all, this sketch was just not good at all.
Sketch- Centauri Vodka Launch Party
Now this was a creative sketch that was well-performed. Unfortunately, it suffered from drawing out a premise for the entire duration of the sketch. Bruce Willis plays the front half of a two-man centaur costume. Featured Player John Milhiser plays the unfortunate soul embodying the second half. Milhiser's character turns out to be an actor that is suffering from a serious cold. This causes Milhiser's character to have difficult controlling his own body; as he wheezes and coughs; causing the two-man operation to backfire-- causing Willis' character to move around-- all the while pleading for his cohort to stop. Watching Bruce Willis being dragged around the scene as a result of the actions of Milhiser's afflicted character was humorous; though the bit went on a bit too long. What's more, the ending of the sketch felt abrupt and it seemed that there was no genuine punchline. All that being said, Bruce Willis handled the materiel well and it was nice to see John Milhiser get to have his first major role in a sketch,
Sketch- Protective Son
Remember my point in the earlier portion of my review of how reoccurring sketches from the late 1980s' didn't rely on the same jokes being repeated on every installment and was different each time it took place? Well, we sadly do not have that now. Back when Bruce Willis hosted “Saturday Night Live” on September 30th, 1989, he appeared in a “Wayne's World” sketch as a cool high school senior appearing on “Wayne Campbell”'s , starring Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey as their characters “Wayne Campbell” and “Garth Algar” respectfully, where he revealed the new cool word of the year. My main point is, “Wayne's World” was a reoccurring sketch that featured a different series of jokes during each installment and didn't rely on the same punchlines over and over again.
This sketch, however, is the complete opposite. Taran Killam reprises his role as “Eddie”, an obnoxious and over-protective young man who meets his mother's (Vanessa Bayer) new boyfriend; played by Bruce Willis. Upon meeting Killam's “Eddie,” Willis' character accidentally says the made-up word “chun” when attempting to say that he has a “child” of his own at home. As a result of the boyfriend's mistake, Killam's character starts to excessively make fun of the older man and obnoxiously says that he's only “messing around.” The entire sketch was basically a rehash of the first installment from the previous season; which featured Guest Host Justin Bieber as the boyfriend of “Eddie”'s sister; played by Nasim Pedrad. The entire sketch basically played out as the first installment; save for the fact that Jason Sudeikis' character of the boy's and daughter's father was written out of the sketch,
Taran Killam did what he could to improve the sketch's poor quality, but the bad writing greatly affected this particular installment. The only laugh I got was how Killam's character said that his own neck looks like an accordion. Bruce Willis also did what he could when playing his earnest character; but even he couldn't do much to improve things. Between this sketch as well as the return of Bobby' Moynihan's character “Kirby” from a couple sketches ago, it is clear that “Saturday Night Live” needs much better writers than the ones they have now. I love this show a lot, but when I look back at sketches from earlier years, I fear that the late-night sketch comedy series will never recapture the magic it once had. What a shame.
Pre-Taped Sketch- Sigma
Good to see Featured Players Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney star in another short film. This one in particular was much better than their short film from the Miley Cyrus show. In this particular short film, Beckett and Mooney play two members of a college fraternity who challenge two pledges, played by John Milhiser and Jay Pharoah, to a game of beer pong. The only thing is that the rules and set-up make it seem like the whole game was meant for children; examples include saying that the pledges have to whistle song when knocking down a cup as well as if the ball lands inside one of their own cups, the applicants have to design their own roller coasters using colored pencils and markers. Beckett and Mooney worked very well together as their fraternity members and Milhiser and Pharoah performed their roles of the confused pledges fine also. Other laughs I got included Mooney and Beckett's characters chanting “Chug”, “Chug,” “Chug,”; And the camera pulling back to reveal a toy train zipping along on a track as well as showing off some projects they worked on for their science class. Overall, a good short film and I am happy that Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney are getting more opportunities to contribute new short films to the show.
And that's the show. Overall, the writing is in a poor state. The writers of “Saturday Night Live” are mostly either rehashing one-time only sketches in a poor attempt at creating new skits as well as dragging out obvious visual jokes in an attempt to fill time in sketches. With three episodes into “Saturday Night Live”'s thirty-ninth season, is off to a poor start.
However, as we have seen with this episode's cold opening as well as the army sketch, there is still some capability present to make decent sketches. In addition, it should be said that the show's new castmembers are contributing humorous material and thus show potential to improve the quality of the variety series. I just wish that a majority of the show's writing would improve; particularly that for “Weekend Update”-- which is in need of a lot of help-- especially considering that Seth Meyers will be leaving the show in the near future.
I will also say that Bruce Willis did what he could with the material he was was given. He seemed to be game with the roles he was given, but, in all honesty, II do wish he got to do more. Aside from a weak “Armageddon” parody in the “Kirby” sketch, we didn't get any real spoofs of Willis' films. I wish the writers would have come up with parodies of some of his hit movies like the original “Lethal Weapon” or one of his other successes like “The Sixth Sense” or, most recently, “RED.” Bruce Willis did a fine job as the host, though he could have been given A LOT more to do.
And that's my review. I will be live-blogging this week's episode of “Saturday Night Live”; featuring Guest Host Edward Norton. Beginning at 11:30pm, I will be commenting on the writing, the performances, the sketches, and anything else that comes to mind during the show. And, by mid-week, I will be posting review of the show.
Be sure to have your televisions set to NBC by 11:30pm and have my blog on your computers. Be sure sure to keep refreshing your computer screens so you can see my latest comments. Feel free to share your own comments as your feedback means a lot. I thank you for all your support and I look forward to seeing your opinion.
So have a good night and I'll see you tomorrow.
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