It can be tricky when the person hosting Saturday Night Live
is doing so to promote a movie.
It’s essentially just part of their promotional tour, for something they
finished a year ago, so who knows how into it they’ll be?
Additionally, Andrew Garfield is a bit of a mystery. I’ve only ever seen him in dramatic
pieces. And I’ll be honest; having
watched Amazing Spider-Man 2 on Monday and Amazing Spider-Man on Friday night,
I’m not the guy’s biggest fan.
So, how’d he do on SNL?
Our trusting rating system;
Phil Hartman – Comedic gold
Chris Farley – Definitely funny, but
kinda messy
Norm MacDonald – Funny, but not for
everyone
Kristen Wiig – So-so premise saved by
performer.
Tim Meadows – Didn’t hate it, didn’t love
it, dripping with adequatulence
Darrell Hammond – Funny, but overstayed
it’s welcome
Jim Breuer- Crowd pleaser, but a bit
obvious
Robert Downey Jr – Brilliant performer,
not a lot to work with
David Spade – Trying too hard
Janeane Garofalo – Weird weird, not weird
funny
NBA Cold Open – Of course SNL had to address the Donald
Sterling incident. Adam Silver’s
line about learning new handshakes was funny and it would have been interesting
if they’d kept it on him (perhaps issuing new penalties) instead of trying to
make Sterling funny. Sterling
saying offensive things might sound funny, but there were more audience groans
in this sketch the all season combined.
And that NAACP/Colored joke got zero response. Kenan bit was funny and almost redeemed this sketch. Almost. It felt like because SNL spent so much time avoided race
based humor that it’s muscles had atrophied and it couldn’t perform here.
Rating: David Spade
Monologue – Nice to get a taste of the real Andrew
Garfield. It was cool to see how
genuinely excited he was to be there.
I will say that the (completely predictable) appearance of Emma Stone
could have been executed better. Nice
to see Aidy get her shoutout for being in Amazing Spider-Man 2. But Garfield wasn’t the star of his own
monologue, which was disappointing.
Rating: Jim Breuer
Stanx – This sketch felt way tonally off. Crude fart jokes aren’t for everyone,
but this just didn’t hit the right note.
Yeah, the accumulation of his farts throughout the day was mildly funny,
but the explosion came out of nowhere and didn’t fit the sketch at all.
Rating: David Spade
Family Feud – Nice to see SNL is trying to make this sketch
work. It’s always funny to see
people break out bite-sized impressions of celebrities Poor Noel, whose Reba is close enough
to her Nancy Grace to give me flashbacks.
I will confess to loving Aidy’s Adele. Of course half of this sketch is introductions, but it
seemed like Garfield was really giving it to Timberlake. Like really going at him. I also like that Pharoah opted to go
extra Canadian with his Drake impression.
Rating: Kristen Wiig
Oliver Twist – I can’t front; this feels like Strong is
doing a Melissa McCarthy character.
Deirdre could have easily been played by McCarthy any of the previous
times she hosted. She’s got that
same sadsack quality. The
juxtaposition and anachronistic qualities of the sketch made it funnier for me
than the character. Also, the
ending was wack.
Rating: Tim Meadows
Beygency – Nevermind that it’s modeled on a movie that
essentially flopped, this sketch was gold, because what sane person doesn’t
love Beyonce? From Bobby
Moynihan’s cashier to appearance of Jack Bauer and Chloe Sullivan O'Brian this was great. Will seeing people do the Single Ladies
choreography ever get old? The
premise, the execution, everything was flawless. They only way it could have better is if there had been a
Bill O’reilly reference.
Rating: Phil
Hartman
Coldplay Performance #1 – This seems like a very subdued
Coldplay song that sounds nothing like the one being promoted in the Target
ads. I did it. I also can’t help but hear the song and
imagine how it relates to his current relationship problems.
Weekend Update – Olya Povlatsy is always a welcome person on
update. She’s a great character
with so much to give. Plus I grew
up with Yakov Smirnoff so it’s a comfort character. Leslie Jones made her debut in a bit that was vaguely reminiscent
of statements made by Cliven Bundy.
She sold a tough premise, it didn’t quite work perfectly, but she did
her best. (I’m looking forward to
seeing how the white SNL recappers tackle critiquing her.) Also, when was the last time a writer made
it on Update? Jebidiah Atkinson
returns and steals Update as always.
Killam’s recovery powers are amazing! I also liked the circle-back to Lincoln. As for Jost and Strong, the George
Clooney joke was funny.
Spider-Man Kiss – So what is a pretty pedestrian bit about
Emma and Andrew not kissing like normal people is saved by the appearance of
Chris Martin. He’s the star of
this sketch and what makes it memorable.
Rating: Kristen Wiig
Wedding Dinner – Garfield really nails the nervous energy of
Kevin. His proposal to the new
bride was pitch perfect as was his meek retreat. But the escalation in this sketch was masterful. And that’s what makes the lack of an
ending all the more disappointing.
Everyone performed so well in this sketch, especially those kids, that
it’s conclusion just killed things.
Rating: Chris Farley
Coldplay Performance #2 – I do like this song. Yeah, it’s
very much a dance song, but I enjoy when Coldplay aren’t mopey and sad or
soaring and anthem-y. These two
songs make me curious enough that I might actually check out Coldplay’s new
album, though that might just be my sympathy for Chris Martin’s crumbing
marriage talking.
The Bird Bible (Repeat) – So I knew there was something
wrong when there was an extra set of commercials between “Wedding Dinner” and
Coldplay’s second song. I wondered
if it was something related to their performance or another matter
entirely. I didn’t imagine that we
wouldn’t get another new sketch though.
It’s disappointing. I wil
say that this sketch does play much better in this slot than it did when it
originally aired.
Final Thoughts:
This was a pretty good episode.
Garfield did a solid job for his first time hosting (though he really
only did heavy lifting in Wedding Dinner and Family Feud) and seemed completely
game. That mess up at the end of
the show was disappointing though.
Next week is Charlize Theron and The Black Keyes, which
should be interesting. I’m trying
to calibrate my expectations accordingly.
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