| Reese Witherspoon / Alicia Keys | |
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Well, here we are, the first episode of the 27th season of Saturday Night Live! Under these circumstances, I was expecting a show of very careful comedy, maybe an experimental show to see what they can say and do on TV. I was pleasantly surprised.
[ COLD OPENING ] Mayor Rudolph Guiliani
Wow. The Mayor's little speech was very appropriate and appreciated by everyone. What can I say? What a great man. Great little joke at the end. The show's definitely looking up from here.
RATING : N/A
[ MUSIC ] Paul Simon performs "The Boxer"
One word describes this, and like above, it's Wow. Even though this is not the music I typically listen to, I was very impressed by this performance, and it was great way to start of the season.
RATING : N/A
[ MONOLOGUE ] Reese Witherspoon
Well, she's no stand up comedian, that's for sure...But what else can you expect? Her little polar bear joke took too long to tell and the punch line wasn't even any good. I think I'm safe to say this monologue kinda sucked.
RATING : 3/10
[ COMMERCIAL ] Preparation H
Well I was confused until they showed the box for the Preparation H, then I was too busy laughing my ass off to catch the rest of it. I don't know where they get these ideas, but keep 'em coming!! Hilarious.
RATING : 9/10
[ SKETCH ] Wake Up Wakefield
I'm safe to say that I'm not a big "Wake Up Wakefield" fan, but this was the best one yet. Still, that's not saying much...There were a few parts of this sketch that I found funny, and all of them involved the window. Just like the Today Show, haha... I'm not sure why this was at the START of the show though!
RATING : 6/10
[ SKETCH ] The Little Mermaid : Interspecies Beach
Much like the Preparation H commercial, I was confused until I heard the mermaid sing the line about the "increased flow of mucus to my fish genitalia". Will was the perfect person to cast as the confused victim. I was pretty impressed with this sketch, and when times get rough, and you don't know what to joke about, there's always genitals.
RATING : 8.5/10
[ MUSIC ] Alicia Keys
Well, anybody who is a normal reader of my reviews knows what kind of music I like and what kind I dislike. This, of course, was a dislike. I changed the channel.
[ WEEKEND UPDATE ] With Jimmy Fallon & Tina Fey
Ahh, you can always count on the ol' Weekend Update for laughs! Most of the jokes were top notch, and to top it all off, they had my favorite Jesse Jackson dialogue yet. "Who's this? Who's this? You called me! You called ME! I *69ed you!" Almost as good as last season's Walken episode WU, but not quite...
RATING : 9.5/10
[ SKETCH ] The Culps
The Culps are one of my all time favorite recurring sketches. Why are they on AFTER Weekend Update? Odd! The lesbian wedding added a nice scenario, but that doesn't really make much of a difference, because it's the song parodies that matter. Most of them were pretty good, but my favorites were the parody of Destiny's Child's 'Bootylicious' and the new Jay-Z song. I don't like rap, hip hop, or R&B music, so that just makes these songs funnier. A great sketch!
RATING : 9/10
[ SKETCH ] Celebrity Jeopardy
I almost crapped my pants when I heard the Jeopardy theme start playing at the start of the sketch. I was caught completely off guard! These are almost ALWAYS at the start of the show. Not that I'm complaining, I love Celebrity Jeopardy sketches, and since this is probably going to be Will's last season, we might as well get all the mileage we can out of them. I was a BIT disappointed by this sketch in the end though. Dean Edwards played a good Chris Tucker, the Anne Heche was just dumb, and the Sean Connery was hilarious as usual. I don't know what it was, but it just seemed sort of short. But even though it was poor to Celebrity Jeopardy's standards, it's still an amazing sketch.
RATING : 9.5/10
[ MUSIC ] Alicia Keys
A convenient time to take a peek in the fridge...
[ SKETCH ] Farting Baby
I didn't find anything about this funny. It was just a waste of my time. Just the typical end-of-the-show sketch.
RATING : 2/10
[ SKETCH ] Donatella Versace : For The Children
This character is very, hmm how should I put this, "Molly Shannonish"? But her guests were pretty funny, and the versions of the songs were just ridiculous. So I got some laughs out of this, is that a crime? I think this is a pretty good note to end the show off.
RATING : 5/10
[ OVERALL RATING ] 68 / 100
[ BEST SKETCH ] Celebrity Jeopardy ( 9.5 )
[ BEST QUOTE ] "That's why me and my 'dogs' are down with the 'H'!" - Jimmy Fallon during Preparation H Commercial
[ POINTS OF INTEREST ] Don Pardo messed up on the opening credits. 4 new featured players, but we didn't see Amy Poehler at all tonight. The sketches seemed better near the end of the program. There were cameo appearances by Rudolph Guiliani and Paul Simon.
Well, I'm pretty impressed that SNL managed to pull of a pretty decent show in light of the events. They're very slowing going to have to work George W. back into the show, but I don't mind if they take their time. I'm really looking forward to the next episode. Sum 41 (Canadian Content Alert!) is one of my favorite bands, and although I'm disappointed that Ben Stiller cancelled, Seann William Scott should do a great job.