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whatevs.org presents... by Jason Nummer Episode 17: Shia LaBeouf / Avril Lavigne (4/14/07) | ||
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CONEY RATING SYSTEM |
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0-10 Coneys – Garbage OAD = Original Air Date* (*To be fair, coneys will be awarded the same as they were the first time they aired) |
| PRE-SHOW COMMENTS |
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20-year-old Shia LaBeouf is having quite the year. First, he's appearing in this week's "Disturbia", then he'll be voicing a penguin in June's "Surf's Up" and if that wasn't enough, audiences can watch him square off with the Autobots and Decepticons in "Transformers" this July. Looking at that roster, and also knowing he's rumored to play Indy's son in next year's 4th Indiana Jones film, its clear LaBeouf is capable of a variety of roles - love him or hate him.
I'm counting on this very variety to help out the show come Saturday night. This season has been much better than the 2005-2006 offering, but let's not kid ourselves, the March episodes definitely saw their share of crap (Manning's weak "Making 300? sketch and "Oprah", "Restless Penis Syndrome" and "Deep House Dish" from the Dreyfus episode regrettably come to mind). With a background including Disney, X-Files and Project Greenlight, LaBeouf is someone the writers shouldn't feel restricted or limited with. Hopefully this makes for a fun episode free of more Bronx Beat.
After showing up in back-to-back seasons in 2003 and 2004, Avril Lavigne is set to make her third trip to the SNL stage. Neither of those past appearances have been very memorable, save for how bored she looked during her 2003 performance of "Complicated." With history as my guide, I'm not expecting much in the way of coneys this time around either, especially as a follow-up to Carrie Underwood's surprisingly strong showings during the last live episode. |
| THE GOOD | THE BAD |
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The rise of Andy Samberg and Will Forte's "Slice Co." were the best parts of tonight's episode. I'm not very surprised to see a sketch about door-to-door knife salesmen starring Forte do well (hell, his character's name was Blade P. Cutworth), so of these two highlights, I'd like to take a moment to discuss Samberg. Did this guy have a big episode or what? Andy hasn't had notable laughs since January's "Make-A-Wish NFL Announcer" (ie: "that'll move the chains") sketch, so to be featured in six total segments had to be a sigh of relief for him. Whether or not this belongs in the "Good" column of an SNL review depends on your tolerance for Samberg's goofy-style humor, but it nonetheless proved Lorne's confidence in him when it comes to connecting with the younger audience hosts like Shia LaBeouf can potentially deliver. It also showed Samberg knows how to make this segment laugh. Who else would trot out a Digital Short half-spoofing the 2004-2005 season finale of the now defunct "O.C."? I can't remember the last time (if ever) Samberg was this visible in a single episode. It will be interesting to see if the streak continues through the season's last three episodes.
Another cast member who hadn't been prominent in a few episodes, Darrel Hammond, also had somewhat of a comeback tonight. Although Seth and Amy had a few jokes about the recent firing of Don Imus, it was Hammond's spot-on impression of him during Weekend Update that got the biggest Imus laughs of the evening. If you missed it tonight, fear not. Knowing Hammond's track record with impressions that worked (Clinton, Trump, Gore), if it was a hit once, maybe it will be a hit another 50 times. |
During the monologue, an excited LaBeouf ran around the backstage area wondering why nobody else seemed as excited about the show as him. Come 1:00 AM, I think I know why. Apart from a few laughs about Imus, Samberg's return to form and knife salesmen, tonight's episode was painfully average and at times, downright dull. We're now in 2007 and Armisen and Maya are still doing The Prince Show exactly the same way they did in 2004 and was a second appearance of the extremely formulaic Dakota Fanning show necessary? Ouch! TMNT jokes, take that Dakota Fanning!
Recycled ideas were also back tonight mainly in the form of Alec Baldwin's pre-taped segment "Hathaway's Mustache Ride Company". During the 2005 Jason Lee episode, Horatio Sanz had a quick, but brilliant commercial parody called "McNultys & Son Mustache Ridery". It's concept? Mustache rides – the best in the business. Tonight we got Baldwin and his mustache inclined staff offering essentially the same thing. Some of the mustache examples (I especially liked Keenan's) were funny, but at the same time I couldn't get over what this really was – a shameless double dip.
Maya's flirting with LaBeouf sketch was also a semi-recycled idea since Poehler has been doing variations on this bit with male hosts for years ("Amy Loves Justin" from 10/11/03 being the earliest example I can recall). Combine this with mustache rides and also the striking similarities tonight's "Sofa King" (pronounced "so fucking") had to past sketches like 2004's "Soaking Corks" or 2003's "Colonel Angus" , and I can't stress how sick I am of seeing old premises simply disguised with different settings. |
| THE BOTTOM LINE! |
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LaBeouf wasn't as versatile as I hoped he'd be, but I did like his Tobey Maguire impression in the otherwise worthless "Prince Show". The rest of his sketch appearances were essentially variations of a 20-year-old kid which didn't exactly force him to stretch his bounds.
For her third visit, Avril scored 5 out of 8 possible coneys which made this her best appearance, yet it definitely wasn't flawless. "Girlfriend" was catchy as hell, but by the time she got to her second song, I was having more fun watching her male band members sing background lyrics about young boys who get in Avril's face. Very bizzare and a little bit off-putting.
SNL has three episodes left this season and I'd hate to see them go out with a whimper. 2006-2007 can still go down as a decent rebuilding period, but excluding Piven's January visit, SNL has failed to crank out an overall solid episode since the New Year. |
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CONEY COUNT |
| SKETCH | RATING |
1. Cold Opening: Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton's Racial Rehab Center |  |
2. Monologue: LaBeouf | |
3. Filmed Segment: Hathaways Mustache Ride Company |  |
4. Sketch: The Prince Show |  |
5. Sketch: Underage Drinking |  |
6. Sketch: The Dakota Fanning Show | |
7. SNL Digital Short: Gun Play | |
8. Commerical Parody: Sofa King | |
9. Music: Avril Lavigne "Girlfriend" | |
10. Weekend Update | |
11. Sketch: Slice Co. | |
12. Sketch: An Intimate Moments with Jessica Simpson and John Mayer | |
13. Avril Lavigne "I Can Do Better" | |
14. Sketch: Maya & Shia | |
TOTALS | 25 / 56 Coneys |
= John Belushi
= Amy Poehler
= Tim Meadows
= Melanie Hutzel
= Charles Rocket