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whatevs.org presents... by Jason Nummer Episode 15 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Snow Patrol (3/17/07) | ||
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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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With Julia Louis-Dreyfus returning to SNL for St. Patricks Day this weekend, she becomes the third host from last season to reappear already (Dane Cook and Alec Baldwin being the others). Granted her last gig was strong -- great monologue, Wiig and Hader were breakouts and the cameos (Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Al Gore) ran wild - but was it enough to get her back in Studio 8H a scant 10 months later?
In addition to a few negative trends I've pointed out over the past few reviews, an emerging one for this season has to be a reliance on recurring hosts. Once or twice a season is fine, hell...pretty much expected, but in addition to Cook, Baldwin and Dreyfus, Season 32 has also given us the 5th appearance of Drew Barrymore and the 2nd from Justin Timberlake. I'm guessing Lorne is going for hosts with history to help ease the blow casual viewers may still be finding with the smaller cast, but there is much to be said about new blood. To put it bluntly, 4 of the top 5 episodes so far this season have come courtesy of first time hosts.
That said, I'm playing Devil's advocate because I know Dreyfus will have a great show. Add in Snow Patrol and this season's musical talent only gets better. Let’s just hope the next 5 episodes give us some fresh faces. |
| THE GOOD | THE BAD |
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Out of nowhere, but presumably to promote “I Think I Love My Wife”, came a cold opening political segment from SNL alumni Chris Rock. This was Rock’s first appearance in nearly 10 years (the last being a cameo in the overlooked 1998 David Spade/Eagle Eye Cherry episode) and in turn, it was probably the best political humor the show has seen this season. At its core, Rock’s rant was little more than a differences between White and Black routine, but when put into the context of who do you feel more sorry for in terms of 2008 Presidential Candidates – Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton, it really worked. As Rock points out, white women used to burn bras compared to black men who used to be burned alive. It was really nice to see Rock back, too bad we also didn’t get a Nat X.
What a night for Bill Hader. Apart from things like playing one of the drunken buddies in the “Danny’s Song” sketch from Wilson’s episode, he hasn’t been front and center since the so-so Dry Eyes game show parody (Timberlake 12/16/06). Tonight, he got to shine twice – the first being as an obnoxious Italian talk show host in La Rivista Della Televisonie, and later as a frustrated PSA director in CBS Cares. I’d be lying if I said both segments were groundbreaking in terms of content (both the language challenged American on a foreign talk show and the director “action/cut/action/cut” bits have been done to death on SNL), but with Hader’s brilliant voices and overall likeability, neither one died. Loved how he kept saying “JEFFFF!” in CBS Cares.
Following up the success of her Sloths PSA from the Forest Whitaker episode, Wiig came back tonight with a silly segment about investing in gold. “Golding your Gold Gold” was just one of many nonsensical lines Wiig’s snobby rich character put out there while trying to convince the masses about the value of investing in gold. Trim off about 30 seconds, and it would have been a perfect 4 coney segment. Wiig. Continuing to do little wrong.
On the musical side, I have to credit Snow Patrol for not playing anything off 2003’s Final Straw. Great pop all around, but coming off Arcade Fire’s much talked about performance from the last live episode, it wasn’t balls to the wall amazing. |
Once in awhile, we reach points in the season where I could literally just cut and paste the “bad” comments from previous episodes into each new review – and it usually happens at this time of the year (must be the Spring in the air). Fortunately for this season, there has been more good than bad and my complaints tend to get limited to bad recurring sketch choices and technical gaffes. Well low and behold, this pretty much sums up tonight’s pitfalls.
The biggest offender was the ongoing recurring slump. The predictable-as-ever returns of Deep House Dish and Maya as Oprah were just boring. H-Bomb pointed out that Sudeikis and his “Wink” song on Deep House Dish was actually pretty funny, and admittedly, this appearance was a tick above January’s Gyllenhaal installment, but the sketch still doesn’t connect with me anymore. And even if Samberg’s sidekick character continues to get better than Dratch’s ever was, the sketch is still played out.
In the tradition of 2004’s Dr. Porkenheimer’s Boner Juice and January’s Urigro commercial parody, tonight gave us the next step in SNL’s never ending string of male anatomy humor - Restless Penis Syndrome. The segment wasn’t very funny and was also the latest in a line of odd sketch endings where the whole thing ends up being a commercial (think “Over Here” guys from 2003 for what can be argued as the start of this trend). C’mon. Restless Penis Syndrome? Definitely not one for a Best of Sudeikis special.
Update was nothing special either. Did we really need Fred Armisen as Judge Larry Seidlin in back-to-back episodes? And what was the deal with all the plastic monkey ass talk? I smell a bomb. |
| THE BOTTOM LINE! |
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The highlights of tonight’s episode were almost a carbon copy of what was strong in the first Dreyfus episode: cameos, big nights for Hader and Wiig and a monologue that didn’t suck. Dreyfus did another great job as host and didn’t grow tiresome after her second appearance in less than a year (the same can’t be said for the frequent Ben Affleck episodes of 2004). As a whole, the episode was on par with other “average” outings this season like Ludacris (11/18/06) and Dane Cook/The Killers (9/30/06). Now Dreyfus just needs some breathing room before getting invited back for a third dance. |
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CONEY COUNT |
| SKETCH | RATING |
1. Cold Opening: SNL Special Report: Road to the White House |  |
2. Monologue: Dreyfus |  |
3. Sketch: Oprah |  |
4. Commercial Parody: Monnex Gold | |
5. Sketch: Restless Penis Syndrome | |
6. Sketch: La Rivista Della Televisonie |   |
7. Music: Snow Patrol “You’re All I Have” | |
8. Weekend Update | |
9. Sketch: Deep House Dish | |
10. Sketch: CBS Cares PSA | |
11. Sketch: Lottery Winners | |
12. Music: Snow Patrol “Chasing Cars” | |
13. Sketch: Search for the Next Pussycat Doll | |
TOTALS | 28 / 52 Coneys |
= John Belushi
= Amy Poehler
= Tim Meadows
= Melanie Hutzel
= Self-Explanatory