Cold Opening- “CBC Toronto”
I had a feeling that Bobby Moynihan would be portraying Canadian Governor Rob Ford this week. And that also “Saturday Night Live” would be spoofing the governor's admission to smoking cocaine. However, this wasn't very funny. Practically the whole sketch seemed to be an excuse for Moynihan to act in a complete ridiculous manner in his attempt to parody the government official. First of all, it seemed that the six-year castmember was trying to act like the late Chris Farley while portraying Rob Ford throughout the entire opening: from his “goofy” soft-voiced speaking tone to his boisterous cursing when screaming at the people of Canada when delivering his “apology.”The only part I laughed at was the “60 Minutes” spoof towards the end of the bit; when Lara Logan, played by Kate McKinnon, kept stating that she believed every false admission that Moynihan's Rob Ford “confessed.” Other than that, this wasn't a very great opening.
Monologue
This was quite fun. It was nice to see Lady Gaga poke fun at herself and the entire concept of pandering to the crowd. I enjoyed seeing her perform a variant of her current hit “Applause” and I liked the concept of her going into the audience to connect with some people-- each one she conversed with were played by a “Saturday Night Live” castmember. I liked the brief portion she had with Bobby Moynihan and I liked his urging the audience to applaud for “people working out their differences.” Lady Gaga gave a good performance throughout the monologue and I liked the incorporation of the music from Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York” into the closing of the monologue. The segment was enjoyable and Lady Gaga's performance was very good.
Sketch- “Waking Up with Kimye”
I'm getting tired of “Saturday Night Live” building talk show sketches revolved around random celebrities. The very idea of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian hosting a morning talk show was just plain silly to being with. Though it should be said that Jay Pharoah's impression of Kanye West has improved since he last did it this past season. In addition, I'm happy to see Nasim Pedrad star in the first sketch three episodes in a row. Her impression of Kim Kardiashian was alright and she interacted well with Pharoah as Kanye West. I did get a chuckle at the fact that the show's house band consisted of various members of te Kardashian family. But my biggest laugh came from Lady Gaga as her Apple employee character saying that she feels that people who try too hard with their outfits are hiding something about themselves. I like seeing Lady Gaga poke fun at herself, and she played her character well. This was an alright sketch but I hope it doesn't become a reoccurring sketch too quickly.
Sketch-Commercial- “Whaaat? The Worst Cover Songs of All Time”
Speaking of “Saturday Night Live” featuring sketches with talk shows hosted by random celebrities, here is another type of segment that have been played out a bit too much in recent years: commercials for CDs or DVD compilations featuring songs being sung by random musicians. And this particular one wasn't that great. First of all, Taran Killam's impression of Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz, but he wasn't given very funny lines. The whole idea of artists contributing their most unforgettable screw-ups to an album was alright in itself, but most of the impressions weren't that great. I did get a small laugh out of Bobby Moynihan's portrayal of Susan Boyle and Aidy Bryant's body movements when impersonating Adele were amusing as well. But my favorite part was Lady Gaga's contribution being her “singing” Madonna's “Express Yourself” when she meant to be crooning her hit song “Born this Way”. Watching Lady Gaga poke fun at the fact that both songs sound alike was funny and I'm very happy to see her poke fun at herself once again. Her part in this sketch was clearly my favorite,.
“Weekend Update”
This was a mostly weak edition of the weekly news parody segment. None of Seth meyers' and Cecily Strong's jokes were particularly very funny. What's more, their portions seemed a bit more rushed than usual and they seemed to be going from one joke to the next in a very fast-paced manner. In addition, I wasn't very fond of Kenan Thompson's pre-taped segment. He appeared as a crotchety old man named “Mr. Senior.”; and his pre-filmed segment featured his character running up to people on the street and harassing them over rushing the Thanksgiving holiday season just came off as forced and annoying. What’s more, I'm getting tired of Thompson being heavily featured this season. I've stated this over and over already. I just wish his appearances would be limited as the season goes on; allowing the rest of the castmembers more time to shine. As for Taran Killam's performance as speech critic “Jebidiah Atkinson,” it must be said that this was the best part of this past week's edition of “Weekend Update.” Though the writing for his character was weak, I got many laugh's out of the four-year castmember's hilarious performance. Watching him portray his speech critic character, who refused to take back the negative comments he made towards Abraham Lincoln as well as other politicians, was humorous. I got laughs as the segment went on and the various comments Killam's character made regarding the quality of his speech review (i.e. exclaiming that one of his more was lackluster critiques that was printed was “just a right draft” as well as his delaration that he will still continue reading his reviews despite Seth Meyers pleading him not to). Killam's character was the only bright spot during this rather lackluster edition of “Weekend Update.”
Sketch- Co-op Board Interview
Now this was a sketch that had the potential to be good; but it fell apart due to poor writing. Vanessa Bayer and Featured Player Beck Bennett play a couple meeting with the eccentric board members of a apartment building they were planning to move into. Most of the questions that each member of the co-op board asked them during the meeting were either slightly humorous or just borderline ridiculous. While I was happy to see Featured Player Kyle Mooney have actual lines in a live sketch; nut his role of playing the odd husband to an equally bizarre wife, played by Aidy Bryant, who were warning Bayer's and Beckett's characters about the sounds they make when having sex wasn't funny at all. I did get a few chuckles from Lady Gaga's character; who spoke and dressed like Marisa Tomei's character from “My Cousin Vinny.” However, I did not fine Kenan Thompson's janitor character funny at all; who basically kept going on about how he keeps all his keys to the apartment building around his genitals. The writing for Thompson's character, as well as for Bryant's and Mooney' characters, just came off forced and just plain juvenile. Vanessa Bayer and Beck Bennett played their straitfoward roles finely, though I wish they were given funnier material for their characters.
Sketch- “Spotlightz!”
This was a decent performance-based sketch. Lady Gaga and some of the “Saturday Night Live” cast members played young child actors performing in stage productions of high-profile films like “The Social Network” and “Forrest Gump” as well as a performance “Breaking Bad.” I remember that Vanessa Bayer's character, a child actress named “Laura Parsons.” first appeared in a sketch back in November of 2010 when Scarlett Johansson last hosted. Bayer did a decent job as her character; but my biggest laughs was from Lady Gaga's character, a child actress named “Lizzy Jacobson”; who, along with a young actor named “Tristan,” played by Taran Killam, acted out a child-friendly scene in an adaptation of “Training Day.” There were other laughs I got from the sketch; particularly when Bayer's character “Lauara Parsons” acted out a scene from a child-friendly stage production of “Breaking Bad”; in which Killam's character portrayed Bryan Cranson's “Walter White” singing a small song about selling crystal meth. The writing for this sketch was fine and the performances were all good.
Short film- Blockbuster
I have to say that “Saturday Night Live” has been putting in a lot of effort in their short films this season. In this piece, Bobby Moynihan, Taran Killam, and Mike O'Brien played three Blockbuster employees who, after being told by their boss (Beck Bennett), that the popular video chain has closed, fall into a state of despair. The three castmembers' characters lament over the loss of their job; and I got lots of laughs from Killams' on-screen persona having to be pulled away from a Redbox he was clinging to as well as Moynihan's employee giving a cardboard cut-out of a character from “The Croods”, that he had taken with him after the store closed, a viking funeral. The sketch got even funnier when the three characters came across a society of Blockbuster employees ans how they decided to settin in and eventually engage in a make-out session with Lady Gaga's character. The twist at the end of the short film also provided laughs. All in all, a very creative and humorous short filmed piece.
Sketch- Fourth Grade Talent Show
Finally! Featured Player John Milhiser gets a real starring role in a sketch! He and Lady Gaga play two overly-eager parents who, while sitting in the audience of the talent show, excitedly coach their daughter throughout her performance. Our host and Milhiser did very well performing together; and I am very impressed with the latter's physical comedic performance. I got a kick out out of the increasingly-hilarious dance movements; especially when they started removing their shirts and engaged in Floor show-style dancing. In addition, I also got some laughs out of the grimacing of the school principle, played by Aidy Bryant, who kept shaking her head with disapproval when watching the parents perform their exuberant dancing. Lady Gaga did a great job here and judging from John Milhiser's performance as the father, I have to admit that he has potential on the show. All in all, an enjoyable sketch.
Sketch- “Lady Gaga in 2065”
This was a good closing sketch. Set fifty years in the future, an elderly Lady Gaga tries very hard to get a hotel handyman, played by Kenan Thompson, to remember her songs and career. While Thompson pulled off a decent performance as his character, who was unable to remember hardly anything about the singer's career, it was our host who turned in the memorable performance. Watching Lady Gaga play herself in the future was enjoyable, and I loved seeing her tirelessly try to bring remind Thompson's character about the songs she sang and the outfits she wore. I loved her referencing her duet with Beyonce when performing the song “Telephone” as well as her playing the piano while singing her song “Applause” in a reminiscent manner at the end of the sketch, I enjoyed her performance very much and the whole sketch just basically demonstrated just how endearing Lady Gaga can be. She gave a GREAT performance as the show's host and she proved that she was up for anything throughout the entire night.
Image of Kenan Thompson as a futuristic janitor and Lady Gaga as n elderly version of herself taken from http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS473US477&biw=1348&bih=631&tbm=isch&tbnid=_KFvQSGXxJ136M:&imgrefurl=http://www.hypable.com/2013/11/17/lady-gaga-snl-recap/&docid=VPyRIDyk7XEVCM&imgurl=http://static.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Lady-Gaga-SNL1.jpg&w=666&h=341&ei=ntqTUraSDtbJsQSV14HIDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=510&vpy=200&dur=2047&hovh=160&hovw=314&tx=222&ty=87&page=2&tbnh=136&tbnw=265&start=19&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:27,s:0,i:184
And, that's the show. I enjoyed Lady Gaga's performance as the show's host very much. She was a good performers in the show's sketches and she had good chemistry with the “Saturday Night Live” cast. As for her musical performances, I thought, while her performance of “Do What U Want” with R.Kelly was just alright, her performance of “Gypsy” was just terrific!!! Her singing was great and I loved seeing her play the piano and the guitar with grand energy. I really hope she host's “Saturday Night Live” again.
As for the show itself, I feel that the better sketches took place after 'Weekend Update.” “Spotlightz”, the Blockbuster short film, the talent show sketch, and “Lady Gaga in 2065” were the best sketches of the show. Lady Gaga's performance in the monologue made it very good, “Waking Up with Kimye” was just alright at best and the co-op interview sketch was quite poorly-written. Most of the cast did well this episode. Vanessa Bayer, Taran Killam, and John Milhiser did the best; though it should be mentioned that I did like Jay Pharoah's impression of Kanye West. As said before< I am getting tired of Kenan Thompson's overexposure and I hope he gets used in smaller doses as the season goes on, Though I will say his performance in the “Lady Gaga in 2065” sketch was fine. He interacted well with Lady Gaga throughout the sketch and that was his best performance of the entire episode. I'm just glad that the new castmembers are getting more screentime as the season progresses.
And that's my review of Lady Gaga's episode. My review of Josh Hutcherson's show from this past weekend should be up bt tomorrow night.
Thank you all for following my blog and stay tuned for more Nater-Tainment!
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