SNL Thoughts: 11.21.2009
Catching up on the DVRed SNLs this week. Constant traveling sucks.
Host: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (1). His opening was a song from Singin’ In The Rain while occasionally getting punched in the face by Bobby Moynihan. Not bad — it was a foreshadowing of a super-intense, heavy-on-the-singing performance to come.
Musical Guest: Dave Matthews Band (4). My Dave Matthews window was very small. I resisted it in college until Grey Street finally conquered the radio-induced anger created by Ants Marching and Satellite. This led to a one-year fling in 2003 with Before These Crowded Streets and Everyday. I’ve returned to my pointless resistance because the name of the new album — Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King — makes me angry. The second song was better than the first and they sounded great on the SNL stage which is challenging for a band. I was most mesmerized by the Ruben Studdard-esque (in both size and sweat-volume) trumpet player.
Cameos: Al Gore, Mindy Kaling from The Office.
Best Skit: Neighbor Ruins The Moment From Say Anything. Gordon-Levitt stands outside with the boom box over his head and Jason Sudekis keeps interrupting. I’m presuming it’s not on Hulu due to the use of Your Eyes in the sketch. Gordon-Levitt tries to do the deep Generation X thing — “It was the song playing during out first time. I’m trying to remind her of our first time” and Sudekis responds with “The first time? Why would you want to remember the first time? The first time is always weird unless she’s slutty. Is she slutty? Cuz that’s cool, too.” If I had to pick a second, it was The Chinese Prime Minister Goofs On Obama Via Interpreter. Weirdly, PLR and I had a conversation within 24 hours of watching a white guy play the Chinese Prime Minister as to whether or not there has ever been an Asian regular on SNL. “Does the prime minister look like Mrs. Obama?” “What?” “Answer the question, does the prime minister look like Mrs. Obama?” “No.” “Then why you try to make sex with him like Mrs. Obama?”
Honorable Mention: What’s Up With That 2. Another episode of BET’s What’s Up Wit’ That. This time, Mindy Kaling is the random cameo guest who doesn’t even have a line and the host interrupts Al Gore to break in to song. This one is even more over the top than the one from October.
Line of the Week: From Weekend Update – “Snoop Dogg rang the New York Stock Exhange’s opening bell on Monday which explains why the opening bell wasn’t rung until 4:30 on Tuesday.”
Character of the Week: Dave Matthews as Ozzy Osbourne. On the recurring “Mellow Show” with Jack Johnson. We get Bill Hader as Dave Matthews, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jason Mraz, and Dave Matthews as Ozzy Osbourne.
Worst Skit: Secret Word. Just a swing and a miss on a game show parody. It happens.
Digital Short: Two Worlds Collide. Andy Samberg performs with Keenan as Reba McEntire. Well… Samberg believes a large black man who found a ratty weave is Reba McEntire and wrote a song about their relationship. “They say she has a penis.” “She does.” “They’re just jealous.” “They’re not.”
Weekend Update: Short and sweet Weekend Update with only Al Gore (actually Al Gore) on to promote his new book I Made It All Up, Global Warming Is A Farce. That might not be the actual name of the book. Credit where it’s due, though, pretty funny appearance where we get a popular vote joke or two and he outlines his new plan for getting his message across: being crazy.
Final Notes: I wasn’t blown away… two good skits and a short weekend update. The rest was pretty forgettable “meh.” Not quite as strong as the Blake Lively episode in which a skit containing the forever-quotable “he said I was too pretty for condoms” didn’t even make the top two. Good hosting job by Gordon-Levitt even though he got saddled with the “we don’t know what to do with this guy so we’ll just have him sing in every sketch” show of the season.
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