This was a descent week for Saturday Night Live. The show was hosted by Peter Sarsgaard star of the, soon to be released on DVD, movie Flight Plan with Jodie Foster. The musical guest was the Strokes. It was a huge improvement over the previous week, which was just that…weak.
Anderson Cooper 360: This was the opening sketch and was quite funny. Seth Meyers played Cooper while his guest were the Mayor of New Orleans played by Finesse Mitchell, Jesse Jackson played by Darrell Hammond and Hillary Clinton played by Amy Poehler. The Mayor tried to convince Cooper that what he meant by a chocolate city was that it should be yummy not all black. Rev. Jackson talked about how New Orleans should become a dessert cart, a mosaic of sweets, repeating the refrain “and the cart rolls on.†Hillary Clinton was asked about her comparing the Republican run congress to a “plantation.†She talked about how it was very evident why she chose that for comparison. It was because her audience was African American. She goes on to say that if it had been a Jewish crowd she would have used “concentration camp†instead or talking to a group of Hispanics she would of referred to them as a “landscaping company.†It was a solid opening to kick things off.
Peter Sarsgaard Monologue: He talked a bit about the creepy, serious and dramatic roles he plays and how he was happy to be doing some comedy. It mainly revolved around video clips of him getting to know the cast and how freaked out they were by him. Quite amusing and a good use of the host and what he is known for.
Nelson’s Baby Toupees: An infomercial like advertisement for baby toupees. It is a way to combat male infantile baldness so that boy babies don’t lose self-esteem. Before and after shots of bald babies and babies with perfect toupee covered heads were pretty good. It was nice to see a new commercial.
Target Checkout: My first thought was: Wow I can’t believe they are doing this again the last one was terrible. This wasn’t much better. Basically the checkout clerk can’t believe what her customers are buying and wants to know if they have more. When the customer says yes she walks off to find one for herself. Sarsgaard as the store manager who can’t do anything about the customer complaints because he is on his “best break ever.â€
Pirates Convention: Bet you didn’t know that pirates like to say RRR..rrr. Well they do. Not to mention any word that has an R in it. So that is why they invited Peter Sarsgaard to speak at their convention, mainly so they could introduce him and say his name. They also like Arby’s among other places like the Ritz Carlton where they normally hold the event. It started out mildly humorous and dropped off from there.
Carol: Unbelievably just one sketch after the Target sketch this not so funny one joke sketch appeared once again. Carol blurted out her normal over the top comments and the handsome man is intrigued and wants to spend more time with her. Then she has to use the bathroom and the skit is mercifully over. If the one joke is funny then by all means use it but this is not and this is like the third or fourth time already this season we have endured Carol.
Song About A Young Chuck Norris: Jason Sediekis sings about what a young Chuck Norris was like. Andy Samberg plays the young Chuck Norris. We see Chuck kick a purse-snatcher’s butt and then return the purse to a grateful and beautiful woman and then he punches her in the face too. It was pretty good. Although after the last three sketches almost anything would have been.
Cat Fancy Magazine: Except this sketch where Seth Meyers plays a reporter for Cat Fancy Magazine who is called into his boss’ office because he has been embellishing his stories. Stories like the cat who babysat 700 children or the one that had gone to college and got a doctorate degree. It kept looking like it was going to be funny but alas it was not.
Weekend Update: This was back to the usual. That being it was actually funny. Darrell Hammond played Al Gore and Seth Meyers played John Kerry in an interview bit. It was pretty good. Tina kept interrupting Kerry before he blathered on to long to ask another question. The best part was after a Golden Globes/Drew Barrymore joke about how her breasts looked in her dress at the Globes she made a cameo in which she scolded Amy and Tina about making fun of women’s bodies. The whole time wearing a fake top that made it look her boobs hung down to her waist. Each time she turned to one the anchors she smacked them with one of them. The funniest was when she left and swung one over her shoulder like a scarf as she walked off the Update set.
Gays in Space Sketch: This was supposed to be a show on the Logo Network. It is not a real show and it was not real funny. The opening and closing theme song sung by Will Forte was funny in its old time sci-fi show sound. This was so bad I would rather they have just showed the Target bit again.
Hotel TV Won’t Go Off: I can’t believe I forgot to write about this sketch, as it was one of the better ones. The basic idea is that the TV won’t go off and is stuck on the hotel channel where they tell you about things that are offered on the TV as well as the hotel. The things like movie selections and what is available at the restaurant. Rachel Dratch plays the lady on the TV and has to keep repeating the lines as the TV repeats itself. Peter Sarsgaard plays the hotel customer who just wants to turn it off and get some rest. The sketch called for him to hit the TV and when he did the picture went away on the TV screen. They did a pretty good job of trying to cover as Dratch stayed in character and Sarsgaard moved to the other side of the set as someone snuck in to fix it. After that was taken care of Sarsgaard goes on to start asking the TV questions and talking back to it as it continues to repeat the same clip over and over again. There were some pretty funny lines. Finally he finds the remote and turns her off. Then he just can’t stand it anymore and turns her back on. This segment was added at about 12:30 p.m., still can’t believe I left it out of the original post at 3:06 a.m. this morning.
NSA Wire Tapping: Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch play two old ladies having a conversation over the phone. Peter Sarsgaard plays the NSA tech listening in on them. Ever time he thinks he has just heard a possible threat he presses an alert that lights up a red light in front of him. One old lady talks about how her son dropped a huge bomb about moving to Texas. Another one talks about her grandkids being 9 and 11. While trying to think of a movie title the NSA blurts out the correct title. Finally the person listening in gets exasperated and walks off and then the grannies start to go into the real plan to get the White House for the bad prescription drug plan. The writing of this sketch was pretty good as it played with this idea a funny way.
Peter Sargaard’s SARS Guards: This was really good. It had the host hocking his facemasks that block 60% of the SARS virus from being breathed in while worn. This was a really funny bit. It played well off of his name and was just short enough not to wear it to thin. Remember “it is the only SARS Guard with my face on it.†Similar in style to Eva Longoria selling a pill to plug up your pooper earlier this season.
It was a good week for SNL. More than half of the comedy bits were on this side of funny, which is the side you want to be on. A few laughs and I was smiling when the show ended, not because the show ended. Can’t wait for the Steve Martin hosted episode coming up in a few weeks.
So, what did you think of last nights SNL episode? Let us know in the comments.
Next Week: Replay of the Dane Cook hosted episode with musical guest James Blunt.
