Okay, here’s my review. While this show was mildly
inconsistent, it was one of the better episodes this season in kind of a middle
of the road way. While there’s still some reliance on recurring bits, the
writing is on a minor upswing. Seth Rogen was merely a serviceable host as he
has proven to be two previous times. Good to see Beck and Kyle getting more
airtime this week (as well as the rest of the featured players even if they’re
in smaller roles). Anyway, let’s get right to it.
New GOP - I quite liked this Coachella open. It was a rather
thin premise that they might not have done enough with, but it was a little
more creative than most. Taran's Paul Ryan was put to good use here and Beck
was funny as Jeb Bush although I can't say much for the impression. I did like
"ratchet" and "basic bitches" lines. Brooks as DJ Rand Paul
was good. Nassim was pretty badly misscast as Bobby Jindal, but the
"molly" lines were pretty funny. B-
Monologue – This was okay. It felt like it would've been
much lamer had it been delivered by someone with less relevancy to comedy than
Seth Rogen. It felt like they just threw his first monologue in a blender with
Rob Lowe's '97 monologue but this was more entertaining. As soon as Seth said
"4:19 am" I immediately knew where that jokes was headed. Still, I
thought Noel as his sister imitating his laugh was cute. Bobby and Kate as his
parent was a nice touch. I liked the Fear Factor joke as well. The Zooey
Deschanel cameo felt a little pointless, but it was pleasant. James Franco's cameo
was pretty funny and I liked how they poked fun at his recent Instagram
scandal. He was a pretty good sport there. Taylor Swift's cameo wasn't totally
necessary either, but at least it was the closest thing the show has had to a
genuine surprise in quite a while. I mean, given how public perception of
Taylor and her image have shifted so drastically over the past year and a half,
I thought we'd never see her anywhere near 30 Rock in a million years but at
least it's nice to see she can show some sliver of a sense of humor about
herself as well. Then, Seth mentioned Ed Sheeran was in the building and her
cameo suddenly made more sense. Anyway, it was an inoffensive monologue. B-
Shallon III - I really don't think this needed to be
recurred a third time, but I did like how Seth was cast as a D.A.R.E. employee.
Noel, Bobby and Aidy were the true highlights and I did like the "just say
now...to crack" line at the end. C-
CNN Pregnancy Test - This was another topical piece that
showed signs of cleverness but fell flat in terms of execution and got
repetitive pretty quick. It was allright but something felt missing. Plus, the
entire premise of making fun of CNNs wildly inept reporting has been done do
death (and done much better) by Stewart and Colbert. C+
Birthday Dinner - This sketch revolving around broken arms
was pretty disappointing. Aidy did well here but they kind trailed off as a
whole. Seth's acting was a little stiff, surprisingly. Everyone's cheesy
Southern accents were pretty jarringly distracting but at least they shifted
focus from that and ended the sketch just shortly enough after it really
started to fall apart. C-
Monster Pals - This sketch was a noble effort. It was
probably the best SNL performance of Mike O'Brien's career so far. Again, Seth
seemed a little off his game here but Franco and O'Brien were put to good use
here. I also liked how this had a sentimental "Sad Mouse" vibe in the
middle and the jab at Monsters Inc. was funny. B-
Blue River Dog Food - This commercial was...different.
Although, the shots of the dog were a little gratuitous it had a lot of
different energy. It wasn't that funny, but it was darkly interesting. Sadly,
it hit a little too close to home for me as Seth and Cecily's interactions
reminded me a little too much of my own parents at times but that's a story for
another time. C+
Update is pretty consistently bland. While Jost shows no
real signs of improvement delivery wise, at least he has visibly grown some more
confidence at the expense of developing some blatant Seth-like qualities. I
would put Kenan's Big Papi Ortiz commentary right up there with his Ray Lewis
commentary from last season in that they bot just dragged on pointlessly.
Still, I gotta admire his comittment to that accent. I liked how they changed
the dynamic of Jacobs' interactions with the Update anchors, but they still
missed a few opportunities. At least Cecily is more likable than Seth was here.
C+
Trashy Cousins - This didn't seem all that different from
the way it was described in Mo Levy's Blog and in the FeaturingEmilyPrager
report. I liked seeing this, but I feel like a combination of reading a
description of it before it aired and what it lacked in its execution kind of
took away from its humor value for me. Now that I've actually seen this, it
feels just like they ran one more cheap gay joke into the ground. Still, Cecily
and Seeth's performances were quite strong here. Also, is it just me or was
Nassim just wearing Hader's old Stefon wig? C-
Undercover Sharpton - This felt like another missed
opportunity. It felt like they were just doing the same joke from those
Politics Nation sketches. A lot of it just dragged on and went nowhere, but at
least they kept it short and Kenan really looked the part of 80s era Sharpton
than he ever did playing Sharpton today. C-
Happy 420 - This Kyle Mooney character was hilarious. I'm
glad to see they let him revive this character from YouTube as well. To me it
felt like it was more of a composite of his 420 poser and his "how we
trip" guy. His songs had me cracking up and Beck and Rogen as his dealer
were great additions. A-
Sperm Bank - This sketch was surprisingly funny. The
delivery by Seth and Kenan really saved this. I also liked the old timey photo
with the "semen" barrel, the visual of Aidy running screaming with a
full cart, the Chewbacca/hobo sperm references and the yogurt machine gag at
the end. B+
Now, for my updated rankings…
1. Kerry Washington/Eminem
2. Miley Cyrus
3. Lady Gaga
4. Seth Rogen/Ed Sheeran
5. Louis C.K./Sam Smith
6. Anna Kendrick/Pharrell
7. Bruce Willis/Katy Perry
8. Tina Fey/Arcade Fire
9. Paul Rudd/One Direction
10. Drake
11. Lena Dunham/The National
12. Jim Parsons/Beck
13. Josh Hutcherson/HAIM
14. Jimmy Fallon/Justin Timberlake
15. Melissa McCarthy/Imagine Dragons
16. John Goodman/Kings of Leon
17. Edward Norton/Janelle Monae
Well, after a two week break Andrew Garfield hosts on May
3rd to promote the next Spiderman movie. I haven’t seen Andrew in anything
besides The Social Network and I remember him being pretty good in that one.
Still, I feel this could go either way. See you then!
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