Saturday, November 16, 2013

A "That's Nater-Tainment!" Special writing: a Review of Kerry Washington's 11/02/13 "Saturday Night Live" Hosting Debut and Sketch Ideas for Tonight's Show


Cold Opening- The Oval Office

Now, THIS was a very creative opening. It's always nice to see “Saturday Night Live” poke funt at itself through one of its sketches. In a creative attempt to address the fact that the long-running variety program does not fave a female African-American castmember, Guest Host Kerry Washington plays First Lady Michelle Obama and has no choice but to walk-off screen whenever the sketch called for the actress to assume a different impression-- such as portraying an exuberant Oprah Winfrey or being asked to go offscreen to change into Beyonce as well. Castmember Jay Pharoah did a fine job portraying President Barack Obama as always. Fellow performer Taran Killam got some laughs in his role as the Commander-in-Chief's press secretary; who would enter the Oval Office to announce the visiting the room to address the arrival of the administration's biggest supporters. The joke that Kerry Washington having to go offscreen to perform quick costume changes quite humorous; and the entire opening showcased just how game the actress would be for the evening's sketches. I also got a laugh out of an accompanying onscreen disclaimer that, among various points addressed “Saturday Night Live”'s lack of female African American castmembers as well as the admittance that the show needs to fix the situation at hand. Another laugh came from the arrival of “six Matthew McConagheys”- a clear joke on the fact that the show had hired six new white castmembers. The appearance of Rev. Al Sharpton at the end of the sketch felt kind of tacked on, but I did get a laugh out of his statement that we have learned nothing at all from this opening sketch. Overall, a very well-written and well—performed sketch as well as a good way to open the show.

Image of Kerry Washington as First Lady Michelle Obama and Jay Pharoah as President Barack Obama taken from http://snltranscripts.jt.org/13/13eobama.phtml

Monologue- Kerry Washington

This wasn't a bad monologue at all. Kerry Washington, while talking about her time in New York City that week, is approached by some “Saturday Night Live” castmembers; who ask her for help in dealing with some scandals they are involved in. Though never have seeing the ABC series “Scandal”, in which Washington stars in, I pretty much got the joke of the monologue a few minutes into it. Highlights of the monologue included Bobby Moynihan sighing with relief over the fact that his reputation isn't worth anything when Washington said that was the only thing that could cost him in the midst of the press getting a hold of a personal photo of him and his girl friend as well as Our gust host helping Kenan Thompson locate his missing keys. However, the biggest laugh I got from the monologue was when Kerry Washington asking Vanessa Bayer whether or not she has played Miley Cyrus enough lately--- right after the “Saturday Night Live” castmembers asked who would portray the pop star after being instructed by our guest host instructing her to catch the first flight out of New York City in an attempt to get away in the thick of a scandal. Seeing the sketch comedy program poke fun at itself in two sketches was nice and Kerry Washington did a fine job interacting with the cast and also appeared comfortable with the comedic material. All in all, a clever and entertaining monologue.


Image of Bobby Moynihan and Kerry Washington taken from
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/13/13emono.phtml

Sketch- Career Week Ceremony

I just want to start off by saying that it's nice to see Nasim Pedrad star as the main character in the evening's first sketch of the night for two consecutive shows; considering that she's hardly been doing anything during the season's first three episodes. That being said, this sketch wasn't great; mostly due to weak writing. That being said, Nasim Pedrad gave a good performance as her very-excited career counselor character. Pedrad did a fine job performing as her character, who was giving a presentation following a school's career week. She did a good job whenever she was on stage by herself and she must be commended for enabling her character to maintain her character’s constantly-excited attitude and did a fine job keeping the audience's attention. I will say, however, that Kerry Washington didn't really contribute anything special as Pedrad's character's assistant; but that's the fault of the writers. In addition, the constant usage of random sound effects, that were being selected by the shy son of Pedrad's character, played by Featured Player Mike O'Brien, got old fast. Nevertheless, Pedrad gave a decent performance as her character and the sketch wasn't bad; even if the writing wasn't that great.

Short Film- “What Does My Girl Say?”

Having seen the very-popular Youtube music video for Yivis' song “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)”, I have to say this was an alright parody. Jay Pharoah and Kerry Washington did a fine job spoofing the video; which was basically centered around the premise of the latter's character finding out that her boyfriend has been communicating with other women. Pharoah did a decent job emulating Yivis' singing style and Washington gave an energetic performance as the girlfriend. My biggest laugh in the sketch came from Pharoah repeatedly saying “I don't know. Please don't go. You pay for my phone” following his girlfriend's response to his unfaithfulness. However, while I do applaud “Saturday Night Live” for spoofing Yivis' successful online video, I can't help but wonder just how other late night comedy programs could come up with even funnier spoofs,


Sketch- How's He Doing?

This sketch was first done when Former “Saturday Night Live” Castmember Maya Rudolph hosted back in February of 2012.. The basic joke of the sketch was basically the same as the first one: the African-American panelists would support the president no matter what. Kenan Thompson did alright portraying the host of the talk show and Jay Pharoah and Kerry Washington played the two panelists. The main laughs I got from the sketch were from the panelists supporting the president no matter what religion he was; even if he were to convert to Scientology or even become an Orthodox Jew. I also got a laugh from Thompson's character saying that a fallowing episode of the talk show would deal with figuring out who would be the difficult one in a relationship: President Barack Obama or Kanye West. Thompson, Pharoah, and Washington performed well together and the sketch unfolded decently. This wasn't a bad sketch, though this installment basically played out the same way as its first installment.

Sketch- Miss Universe Moscow 2013

Well, let me first say that this sketch provided a good opportunity for the “Saturday Night Live” female castmembers to all star in the same sketch. But, other than that, this sketch's humor mainly centered around the women speaking in mock-foreign languages. In addition, some of the humor in this sketch just seemed a bit to over the top; particularly Aidy Bryant, as Miss Greenland, punching Miss. Switzerland, played by Featured Player Noel Wells, in the back of her head with her shoulder, as well as Kate McKinnon , as Miss. Bolivia, laying a big kiss on the lips of Nasim Pedrad, as one of the hosts of the ceremony (who referred to herself as “someone from the E! Network” at the start of the show.) In addition, Kerry Washington offered a couple laughs as her character “Miss. Uganda”; particularly her delivery when she was stating that she was going to keep her pageant dress. But the biggest laughs I got from the sketch came from the interplay between Taran Killam and Pedrad as the the ceremony hosts; especially from the latter commenting that she laughs be cause she “hates the silence.” Nevertheless, while much of the humor in this sketch came from some of the more forced material, I enjoyed seeing the women of “Saturday Night Live” front-and-center.

“Weekend Update”

This wasn't a particularly bad installment of the weekly news segment. My favorite quips of the segment came from co-anchor Cecily Strong: saying that the St. Louis Cardinals lost the World Series to Mumford and Sons (The Red Sox) as well as, jesting that Kanye West's adapting of the Confederate Flag into his merchandise pertains to the idea that every time something upsets people, the rapper makes it his own (referring to his marriage to Kim Kardashian). This particular installment of “Update” probably ended up featuring Strong's best performance as Seth Meyers' co-anchor.. As for this particular installment's featured segments, Kate MCKinnon gave a humorous performance as German Chancellor Angela Merkel; who was very nervous about the NSA spying on her phone activity; particularly her Google Search history. My biggest laughs from this included her fear over the NSA being concerned about her looking up feline videos as well as her looking up pictures of “Jason Segel with no shirt” and “Jason Segel fully dressed,” McKinnon once again did well with er segment and I'm glad she's been getting regular opportunities to play new characters on “Weekend Update”, However, it should also be said that I did enjoy Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah's appearances as Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal respectfully. While Thompson's impression has gotten old by now, I did like his comment that Pharoah's Shaquille O 'Neal's head looks like a potato; and the latter simply saying that he likes potatoes. Pharoah brought some laughs as his portrayal of Shaquille O' Neal; mainly through his constant eye crossing and head bobbing. Pharoah and Thompson interacted well together and, even though the segment went a bit long, their performances saved it, All in all, this was probably the best edition of “Weekend Update” so far this season.



Sketch- Cartoon Catchphrase Game Show

I have mixed feelings about this sketch. First, it must be said that the idea of contestants having to guess which cartoon character said a particular phrase was a creative idea for a game show. In addition, the idea that the contestants had to bother phoning a friend to find out which cartoon character said the catchphrase in question was also humorous. However, the idea that Aidy Bryant's character "Diane" finding out that her husband was sleeping with another woman at the time of her call wasn't very funny at all; in fact, it was a downright mean-spirited form of comedy. The sketch got worse as it went on; as Vanessa Bayer's contestant, "Gwen", finding out that her sister was also sleeping with the husband of Aidy Bryant's "Diane". The sketch just basically used mean-spirited humor for its jokes and probably would have worked with just Kerry Washington's game show host character slowly becoming frustrated over the contestants being unable to figure outt which cartoon character said whichever catchphrase was mentioned. While Bryant gave a good performance as her character-- game show host "Melanie Griffish." I feel the entire bit could have been an opportunity for Kerry Washington to showcase her comedic side as she would eventually become more irritated by the contestants being unable to answer the questions without calling their friend. In other words, this sketch was more mean-spirited than it should have been. Though I will say this was a creative idea for a sketch and all the performances were good.

Image of (from left to right) Aidy Bryant as "Diane" and Vanessa Bayer as "Gwen" taken from  http://snltranscripts.jt.org/13/13ecartoon.phtml

Sketch- Principle Frye

I am pretty tired of this reoccurring character by Jay Pharoah. The constant joke of Pharoah's character making announcements in a fast-paced manner in-between breathing heavily over his microphone. This sketch also plays out the same way every time it takes place;; with Pharoah's character making announcements in-between other people making announcements. The only difference with this installment was that it took place at a carnival rather than the auditorium of a school. I hardly laughed at all. Kenan Thompson's janitor character and Kerry Washington’s character didn't get a lot to do, but they did what they could with their material. Overall, however, this was just a very weak sketch.

Sketch- Date or Diss

And, here was another badly-written sketch. I'm getting very tired of “Saturday Night Live” making spoofing MTV's reality shows. The only real laughs I got was from the announcer stating that the female contestants were told what to say as well as Taran Killam's character's confused reactions to the ladies' reactions. Other than that, this sketch wasn't very funny. Kerry Washington did what she could with her character, but she wasn't given anything funny at all. In addition, Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong weren't very funny as their character as well, and it just seemed as if the writers were more concerned with employing forced humor to get the audience laughing at their characters. This wasn't a great sketch at all.

Short Film- Ice Cream

Now, THIS was a creative short film! I'm very happy that Featured Players Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney are getting opportunities to create and star in short films for “Saturday Night Live”. In this short film, Vanessa Bayer and Bennett play two customers at an ice cream parlor who give a clueless employee, played by Mooney, too much to think about when the male patron makes a joke. Watching Mooney's character, and later his boss, played by Taran Killam, get lost in dream sequences where there are performing lots of research in an attempt to figure out Bennett's customer's joke In fact, the overall bizarreness of the final sequence made me laugh out loud with genuine surprise. These short films that Bennett and Mooney ha  ve been showcasing are a good addition to “Saturday Night Live” this season and I'm looking forward to seeing them bring us more as the season goes on.


Image of (from left to right) Beck Bennett as am ice cream store customer, Kyle Mooney (as his ice cream parlor character imagining himself in the background, Vanessa Bayer as another ice cream parlor customer and Mooney (as his ice cream parlor character behind the counter) taken from http://snltranscripts.jt.org/13/13eicecream.phtml

Well, that's my review. Overall, Kerry Washington did a fine job as the show's host and she did whatever she could with the material she was given. I definitely would like to see her host again in latter seasons; especially when the writing gets better. She and Norton have done well with their first host stints, and I hope the next two hosts do as well.

Which brings me to tonight’s show. Lady Gaga is making her hosting debut on “Saturday Night Live.” Though, she has appeared in sketches when she previously served as the show's musical guests on October 3rd, 2009, which featured Guest Host Ryan Reynolds, and again on May 21st 2011; with Guest Host Justin Timberlake. I remember her second musical guest appearance very well, as she got the opportunity to join Timberlake in some sketches; especially co-starring in a popular digital short. I'm sure you all remember “The Golden Rule”; which featured Timberlake and Andy Samberg as their sunglasses-wearing, R&B -Crooning Bad Boys. The short featured Timberlake's and Samberg's characters having a 3-way with one lady; played by Lady Gaga. The short film was much fun and it became a very popular Internet video. Lady Gaga also joined Timberlake in a sketch where he played his well-known singing-and-dancing mascot; in which she dressed as a liquor bottle to his bottle of bourbon. Lady Gaga also appeared in a game show sketch where they played contestants on a game show entitled “What's That Name?” In the sketch, Lady Gaga did a fine and humorous job being able to identify more people than Timberlake ever could; even being able to identify a member of his former music group NSYNC; who was played by then-Featured Player Taran Killam. In all her sketch performances, Lady Gaga performed well and she interacted well with Timberlake as well as the “Saturday Night Live” castmembers.


So, I'm not too worried about Lady Gaga's performances as the host and musical guest. I'm looking forward to seeing her work with the current castmembers and demonstrate her comedic acting chops. What I'm worried about is, of course, the poor quality of the show's writing. As we all know, most of this season's sketches haven't been very funny and I'm worried that Lady Gaga will be subject to a lot of poorly-written sketches.

With that being said, I would like to take this opportunity to share three sketch ideas for tonight's show:

Sketch #1: Lady Gaga Meets Her Male Equivalent

Maybe, as part of a sketch or even her monologue, I would like to see Lady Gaga meet her Male counterpart. I just think it would be funny to see a male castmember, played by possibly Taran Killam or one of the new male castmembers, sing in the same manner that she does. However, as the bit would go on, it would become evident that the male counterpart has no real talent and he's just standing up there on stage making a fool of himself. As the sketch nears its close, the male performers should break character and admit that Lady Gaga is the real talent and he states that he's just embarrassing himself on live television. This would give Lady Gaga an opportunity to possibly poke fun at herself and play the straightwoman in the sketch.

Sketch #2- Lady Gaga's House of Gaga-Style

Here's an idea for a commercial parody. Lady Gaga advertises the first of her new clothing stores where people can buy her outfits in order to give them more confidence. It would be funny seeing some “Saturday Night Live” castmembers play people who, after dressing up in Lady Gaga's outfits, are able to take on any challenges thrown their way. This could provide Lady Gaga with additional opportunities to poke fun at herself and maybe even poke fun at one of her own songs (spoof either “Born this Way” or even her new song “Applause”) when singing a brief jingle for her store. This would be a nice and simple sketch to right before her first musical performance or even close out the show.

Sketch #3- Lady Gaga's Ancestors

In this sketch, Lady Gaga could take a look back at her decedents. We would see brief vignettes where the “Saturday Night Live” castmembers play her relatives from ages ago. And each of them would be a version of Lady Gaga that would dress in the fashion of that time as well as sing parody versions of her own songs with lyrics that pertain to the time periods. Maybe we could see a castmember play a prehistoric ancestor of Lady Gaga who would wear elaborate lion cloths and crudely utter some sounds that would eventually, down the line, become what would be the opening for her song “Bad Romance.” In addition, maybe we could see one of Lady Gaga's relatives in 1776. Maybe the writers could make the quill that John Hancock, played by one of the “Saturday Night Live” castmembers, used to sign the Declaration of independence came from a feathered outfit worn by one of Lady Gaga's ancestors; played by another one of the “Saturday night Live” castmembers. The outfit would eventually become the inspiration for one of Lady Gaga's elaborate outfits of the past few years. And the sketch would go on like this with more of Lady Gaga's relatives being presented and how they all helped Lady Gaga become the artist she is today.

So these are my own sketch ideas for tonight's show. I just hope the writing is good tonight and that Lady Gaga gets to star in creative sketches.

But no matter what, don't miss my live-blogging soverage of tonight's episode of “Saturday Night Live”. Starting at 11:30pm, I will be commenting on the sketches, the writing, the performances of the cast and Lady Gaga. And by mid-week, I will be posting a review that states my opinions in more detail.

So be sure to have your televisions set to NBC by 11:30pm and have my blog on your computers. Be sure to keep refreshing your computer screens so you can see my latest posts during the show. Feel free to share your own opinions by clicking the “comment” link underneath any of my posts, Your feedback means a lot and I look forward to seeing your opinions.

I thank you for following my blog and I appreciate your support. Stay tuned and I'll see you at 11:30pm!
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