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whatevs.org presents... by Nummer and H-Bomb Episode 1: LeBron James / Kanye West (9/29/06) | ||
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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) |
To check out Nummer and H-Bomb's Pre-Show Comments, click here
| NUMMER | H-BOMB |
| THE GOOD! | |
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Some of last season’s strongest elements, Will Forte and a capable musical guest, thankfully kept the ’07-’08 season opener from getting too boring. Starting with Forte, his “The Lyle Kane Show”, was damn near an instant classic. Forte briefly introduced the valedictorian Kane character as part of the “BJ & BJ Prom Committee” sketch in last season’s Zach Braff episode, but this time the character was given full center stage treatment. Will and Bill Hader’s multiple “Hi D-are” greetings are probably the most hilarious/annoying catch phrase SNL has spat out since Armisen (as Ferecito) first declared “I’m Just Kidding” back in 2002 and I can already see H-Bomb greeting me with it for foreseeable future. The sketch may have started to run out of juice by the 3 or 4 minute mark, but since we’ll no doubt be seeing it again this season, I’m sure Forte can cook up some better filler (more flute solos perhaps). Check out Armisen’s blog (http://blog.nbc.com/fred/) for a bit more on the creation of Lyle Kane. Thankfully it doesn’t involve the sexual favor Lyle Kane had to perform in order to get a show on the “Black E.T.” network. Kanye West, just like his 2005 performance, was also an episode highlight. Even if you aren’t a fan of the music, you had to be impressed by the lighting setup he used. Not sure if the rig is SNL property of something Kanye hauled in, but more of it could certainly spruce up the boring musical guests (I’m looking at you Akon). By his second song, Kanye seemed to be getting a bit too comfortable (or nervous) as he started to flub lyrics a bit, but his cover up “I just messed up my rap, live TV, live damn” was a nice bit of white out. West later showed up in a sketch making fun of his recent award show outbursts and to be honest, his acting chops were probably a bit better than LaBron’s. West. We’ll no doubt be seeing him back on SNL again. One last positive note would have to be Sudekis as LaBron’s high school guidance counselor. Jason’s rants about having shirts without long sleeves, making his own lunch and his car’s faulty glove box were probably the best lines of the night. After having a bit of a drought last season (starting with that “Bear Shark” head scratcher from 10/21/06), I really hope Sudeikis has a more consistent season this year. When he’s belting out things like “Young Chuck Norris” (1/21/06) or Lonnie San Francisco in the “Firestarter Brand Smoked Sausages” sketch (2/3/07), the man can be a real comedic powerhouse. |
The Season 33 premiere was by no means phenomenal, but thanks to a few key skits and Mr. Kanye West, we were able to walk away with some good laughs. The most noteworthy sketches this week were definitely The Lyle Kane Show, Angry Dog and Great Moments in Guidance Counseling. First off, The Lyle Kane Show came totally out of the blue, which was a huge plus for me. Forte’s strange dialect, which seemed to be a cross between a UP’er and a three year old, was absolutely addicting. “Hi Dare!” Also, Hader’s facial expressions were priceless, especially after Forte messed up his joke routine. This will certainly be a favorite go-to sketch in the future. The Angry Dog commercial spoof was also a real nice surprise. There’s just something about growling poodles that makes me chuckle! And, of course, I love me some Mr. Bill Hader. Come on, nah!! Lastly, Sudekis was just marvelous as the cynical guidance counselor, Larry Baines, in Great Moments in Guidance Counseling. His disbelieving delivery of why LaBron would want to go to college rather than sign with the NBA was brilliant. “I drive a ’93 Corolla, ok? When I go over fifty, the glove compartment pops open. Now, I went to college for four years. Four years, LaBron. And I have no idea how to make a glove compartment stay shut.” Best. Kanye West also proved to be a wonderful addition to this week’s SNL as musical guest. Even though I wasn’t too impressed with his second set, “Champion/Everything I am”, “Stronger/Good Life” was highly entertaining (loved the horn section and those glow-in-the-dark glasses!). It was also great to see that Kanye was able to poke fun at himself during the 106 & Top 10 Live sketch. “Oh, HELL NO!!” |
| NUMMER | H-BOMB |
| THE BAD! | |
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Just like Forte and a great musical guest can be counted on to carry a show, tonight’s pratfalls were also made up the usual roster of problems: rushed/forced recurring sketches, technical issues and a few bad decisions. In the rushed/forced/bad decision department, we were treated to a new Penelope sketch (the third in the last six episodes), the 76th (no exaggeration) appearance of Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton and did we really need 2 jokes, 1 Digital Short and 1 Weekend Update segment about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Was there a quota for this guy or something? As for Penelope, I still like it, but doing it again this soon is really forcing its pattern to the forefront (exactly what doomed “Nuni and Nooni Art Dealers”, “Deep House Dish”, “Debbie Downer”, “Appalachian Emergency Room”, etc, etc, etc.). The rest of the sketches were simply mediocre. Nothing about Hader and Sudekis’ PSA director/stagehand characters begged for them to be brought back (save for the way Hader says “JEEEFFF”), and things like “High School Musical 3”, “106 & Park” and “The Best of Solid Gold” seemed to be built around one good line or dance move, but nothing else. On the nit picky side, it appears SNL director Don Roy King didn’t practice live studio production over the off-season. Don Pardo’s mic was muted for half the opening credits, a cue was seemingly missed to start a video segment during the monologue and some bad camera blocking resulted in a momentary blackout during the Guidance Counselor sketch. King started off really well last season, but by December ‘06, the guy was making more mistakes than I’d seen in 5 cumulative years of SNL. |
As with most athlete hosts, LaBron just kind of went along with his lines without really adding any “oomph” of him own to the sketches. To his defense, the material for the skits he was actually in wasn’t the most creative. Out of 6 sketches, not including his monologue, half of them had LaBron appearing as himself, which to me, lends to rather boring bits. Other than the sketches mentioned in the Good section, the only other thing I found even remotely funny was the way Hader yelled, “JEEEFF!”, in Read to Achieve. Now, that has to say something about the overall quality of the show’s material. I know I’ve also said this a ton of times in the past, but seriously, these political cold openers need a complete makeover. I have found these consistently not funny over the past few seasons and was really anticipating that this week would be an exception. However, all I found myself feeling was extreme disappointment when Poehler showed up as a very humorless Hillary Clinton. Considering that this is the opening sketch, I really hope future episodes can pull out of this uninteresting mode since it sets the mood for the rest of the show. |
| NUMMER | H-BOMB |
| THE BOTTOM LINE! | |
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: Coney wise, this was the best season premiere since 2003’s Jack Black/John Mayer episode, but it definitely won’t be as memorable. LaBron was the typical athlete host playing mostly himself in sketches, but at least there wasn’t another “Derek Jeter Taco Hole” or “Tom Brady Falafel City” type segment. The sketches were mostly of average quality, but with a few solid lines mixed in, nothing was totally unwatchable. After having a summer off, you can never quite gauge an entire season based on just the premiere, so with an actual comedic actor hosting next week (Seth Rogen), I’m sure we’ll get a better taste of what ’07-’08 can offer soon enough. |
As I said in my pre-show comments, having an athletic host was a nervy choice for the season opener. Unfortunately, as I suspected, this episode fell into the realm of past sports-related hosts where the material is ordinary at best and we’re not really left with any lasting impressions. I think that LaBron did the best that he could, but if it weren’t for Forte, Sudekis and Kanye, this episode would’ve been nothing short of forgettable. |
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CONEY COUNT |
| SKETCH | NUMMER | H-BOMB |
1. Cold Opening: Hillary Clinton Address |  |
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2. Monologue: James |  |
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3. Commercial Parody: Angry Dog |  |
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4. Sketch: Penelope | |
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5. Sketch: High School Musical 3 | |
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6. SNL Digital Short: Iran-So-Far | |
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7. Sketch: NBA Read to Achieve PSA | |
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8. Sketch: The Lyle Kane Show | |
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9. Music: Kanye West “Stronger/Good Life” |  |
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10. Weekend Update | |
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11. Sketch: Best of Solid Gold | |
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12. Cartoon by Robert Smigel: The Ambigously Gay Duo | |
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13. Sketch: 106 & Park Top 10 Countdown | |
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14. Kanye West “Champion/Everything I Am” | |
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15. Sketch: Great Moments in Guidance Counseling | |
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TOTALS | 34 / 60 Coneys |
36 / 60 Coneys |
= John Belushi
= Amy Poehler
= Tim Meadows
= Melanie Hutzel
= Charles Rocket
= Self-Explanatory