Scarlett Johansson hosted the first new Saturday Night Live of the year with musical guest Death Cab for Cutie. Wow this crew really knows how to take the buzz from the Jack Black hosted show and flush it right down the toilet. Scarlett Johansson was solid in her performance, as well you would expect from a great actress, but they didn’t give her anything good to work with. Any thoughts that SNL might be headed in the right direction where thoroughly put to sleep along with me almost a couple of times during the show.
Opening Cartoon: Pat Robertson talking to a group of children regarding the deaths and sicknesses of recent people in the news in relation to his dumb comments about Ariel Sharon recently. I saw where they were trying to go with this but they just didn’t get there.
Opening Monologue: Amy Poehler joins Scalett Johansson on stage and they are both wearing the same black strapless dress design. They proceed to sing a song about being a star. Amy a comedy star and Scarlett a movie star. The song is amusing pointing out things like how Scarlett was in Girl With a Pearl Earring with Colin Firth and Amy did a sketch with him as a one legged woman with gas. As long as it is not a Q&A I am all for it.
Taco Town Commercial: While this is a funny commercial parody they have played this a lot. I guess we can all just be glad they didn’t play the Morgan Stanley parody again.
Deep House Dish: The performances by Johansson, Parnell and Poehler as they sang their house music inspired songs were decent and very well performed the rest of the sketch was not so much. Tiarra played by Rachel Dratch continually says something stupid to which Kenan says could she be more boring? This was the question I kept asking myself about this sketch. Too which I really don’t think it could have.
Smorgasbord: The Scandinavian cooking show. This was hard to watch. It was slow and quite unfunny. Well except for the bit about the show being sponsored by Swedish Chef Ringtones. Andy Samberg played a version of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets in this bit within a bit.
Robert Smigel Cartoon: These are usually the bright spot, however over the top they are, of an SNL show in which one is included. This cartoon about Darwin was not one of those spots.
Chandelier Sketch: A commercial for chandeliers and how they make everything in your house better. The first half of this was pretty bad. I can’t say about the second half as my cable started running an emergency broadcast check, which cut off the audio to the end of this bit. The audio came back right at the end for me to miss the last line and hear the audience give what seemed to be the biggest laugh and applause of the night.
Duluth Live: The morning show has a new theme song performed by a live band. Each time the hosts try to start the show the song continues and continues and continues. Which would have been just fine if it had been funny in any way. The bit ends with the song finally coming to an end as guitars are smashed and drums are knocked over. The host then announces that he is sorry to the shows guests who never appeared because they are out of time. It was a very long way to go to get to a weak punchline.
Weekend Update: Lately this is pretty much what I tune in for. It is consistently the best part of the show even when it is really bad. Except this week the update is that they decided they didn’t want to standout from the rest of the show. Boy did they blend right in. The one funny line was from Amy Poehler about a new search engine called Quaero that has been dubbed the French Google. “You type in your query and they refuse to look it up for you.†Well something to that effect said with a French accent. It was the first time I actually laughed all show.
My Super Sweet 16: An attempt at parodying the MTV show. This parody was neither super nor sweet.
Jewelry Store Sketch: Jason Sudeikis as a man talking about buy an engagement ring for his woman but really he just wants to steal some stuff. Scarlett is the person behind the counter showing him is options. The one funny line by Jason was, “Not so big I have to work Saturdays but not so small she kicks me in the nuts.†This in regard to what kind of ring he is looking for. The sketch results in him being stun gunned as he tries to take the tray of rings and run.
Submarine Sketch: Scarlett’s character attempts to tell Seth Meyers’ character that she is no longer in love with him and that she has fallen for the character played by Horatio Sanz. This whole love affair took place over night in this mini submarine that can barely fit three people. This sketch just made me sad because I realized that the show was almost over and I could count on two fingers the number of times I had laughed.
Mr. Willouby: This show ended with a voice over that said something about being tired and depressed. Well that about sums up this week of SNL. I was tired and depressed. Neither of which is what they audience should be at the end of the show.
This Week Overall: Scarlett Johansson, they sure had her singing a lot, was good but the material was bad. Death Cab for Cutie sounded good as the musical guest in their two performances. When the best comedic thing about the show was a commercial parody that has been played multiple times already this is not a good thing. Maybe next week, we can always hope.
How did you feel about this week’s Saturday Night Live? Leave your thoughts in comments.
