I’m really trying to think if I had any expectations going into the episode. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t. Daniel Craig’s not known for comedy. And there really weren’t any sketches or characters that I wanted to see.
I will say that during the opening credits, I was secretly hoping to see Paul Brittain’s name. Sadly, not seeing his name was far from my only disappointment in the episode.
But before we get to the meat of the episode, let’s take a gander at our rating scale;
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
Presidential Debate – Right off the bat I’m glad to see Chris Parnell. And as someone who watched the debate and tried to find the humor in it, I really appreciate what SNL tried here. But the debate exists in a strange area where it was ridiculous enough that it’s almost impossible to parody. I enjoyed the inner monologue for the, most part. Pharoah, the impersonator is funny, Pharoah the actor is terrible.
Rating: Tim Meadows
Monologue – Again, Craig is very much a cipher to me. Seeing him sent up the aloof vapid actor bit was pretty funny. And obviously we at Fish & Spaghetti are fans of In Memoriam, so that slayed me. The joke was pretty much a one-note joke and it did get old. Still he stood up there with no help from the cast at all, so kudos to him.
Rating: Tim Meadows
Construction Site – Awkward characters always rock. And the humor of what was coming out of the normal guys mouths was just a funny as listening to Daniel Craig bumble it. Craig seemed to be working just as hard on his accent as he was on reading his cue cards.
Rating: Jim Breuer
Bond 50 – This had me weak! The names of the bond films were hilarious unto themselves, but then the out of place actresses killed. Diane Keaton had me in stitches. Hippopotopussy. And I wonder if Kate McKinnon playing both Jodie Foster and Ellen DeGeneres was a meta thing. Either way she did as amazing job as both. And of course Fred Armisen’s Penny Marshall topped things off nicely.
On a side note, it was great seeing something that allowed the female cast members shine.
Rating: Phil Hartman
MSNBC – While I’m not an avid Rachael Maddow watcher, I don’t think Strong’s impression of her was solid enough. Especially when compared to Sudekis’ Chris Matthews, which was spot on. Also funny; Sharpton’s excuses. That Freaky Friday one had me giggling through the whole set up.
Though I wonder what happened, because this was clearly drafted to be a cold open (it’s political, the lack of Craig.) Did another sketch get bumped? Was the debate sketch a late addition? Interesting anomaly.
Rating: Kristen Wiig
Long Island Medium - This was a funny bit, though Craig was largely forgettable in it. Everybody bursting into tears constantly kept a smile on my face. And then the scene on Long Island were mad funny, especially Tommy Moynihan as the still living husband.
Rating: Phil Hartman
Atremis – I wanted to like this sketch. I liked the sci-fi clichés. I mean I really liked the sci-fi clichés. I loved the crew’s dialogue. But this sketch just didn’t click. I liked the twist of the cat being dead and I liked the name Fuzz Aldrin. But the weirdness and the lack of any ending made it wack.
Rating: Janeane Garofalo
Muse Performance #1 – That guitar the bass player was playing was sick! I liked the whole preamble to rocking out, because I was very curious why the drummer was on an actual drum set. But that guitar was so dope.
Weekend Update – Again, the debate stuff resonated with me. The stuff about Biden was stuff we’d been talking about at work after the debate, so hearing it on the air was really enjoyable. “And put your shirt back on” that line was just gold. And Seth’s ad libbed “Big Bird left, right?” was brilliant. And did anyone else feel like McKinnon’s Spaniard drifted into Italian?
A Sorry Lot We Are – That title sequence was truly spot on. And I want the writers to know that, while I may be the only one, I really appreciated the line about Blockbuster. It got totally stepped on, but it should have killed. Also Bobby Moynihan doesn’t have a British accent? I guess he’s human after all? Armisen’s cameo as the stereotypical British gangster was funny too.
Rating: Tim Meadows
Regine – The pretentious posturing was funny. The faces, not so much. And while Hader and Armisen almost broke, not even that could redeem this sketch (which had zero ending.)
Rating: Janeane Garofalo
Muse Performance #2 – For some reason the cadence of the song reminded me of Thriller. I can’t call it. I didn’t enjoy this song as much as I did the first song, maybe because it wasn’t as theatrical?
The Undecided Voter – This is the five-to-one? Yet another bit without Craig. Obviously this was thrown in to fill a hole. But what happened? Even the audience didn’t enjoy it. Wack.
Rating: Unrated
Final Thoughts – If I had to guess, I’d say that Daniel Craig wasn’t terrible interested in the writing or creating process. It felt like he was just performing in the sketches, but not really invested in them. Kate McKinnon had a huge episode this week. And her fellow featured players continued to get more screen time. But this was not an enjoyable episode. I spent most of it waiting for a payoff that never came. Hopefully next week will be better.
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