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I didn't really know what to think of tonight's episode before it began. I had never even heard of Ian McKellen before he was confirmed to host, and I didn't really know what to expect from Kylie Minogue. I guess I'd just have to wait and see.
[ COLD OPENING ] Tom Ridge
The way Darrell looked alone was enough to have me rolling... I was going to be pretty disappointed if SNL hadn't touched on the color coded terrorist warnings...Letterman and Leno have been over them all week! The ridiculous colors that they had were completely unexpected and quite hilarious. I really liked this opening! It can't get much better than this.
RATING : 9.5/10
[ MONOLOGUE ] Ian McKellen
This was boring, but he threw in a few jokes, which is better than average! His little crack at the end about the priests was classic. Decent.
RATING : 7/10
[ COMMERCIAL ] Kotex Classic
These are the kind of commercial parodies I love! The ones that completely catch you off guard and are ridiculously funny. This clearly fits into that category. I don't know what else to say, other than it's nice to see Tina in something besides the Weekend Update!
RATING : 9/10
[ SKETCH ] Versace
...you've GOT to be kidding me. They're opening the show with THIS? Oh I think we're in for a long night... I don't find anything funny about this sketch. The impression is so exaggerated that it's just dumb, and none of the guests were funny either. What a royal waste of time.
RATING : 2/10
[ SKETCH ] NPR Delicious Dish
Well I haven't seen one of these for a bit! For those of you who are loyal readers, you'll know this was the only sketch I could stand Molly Shannon in. I still think that she was funnier than Rachel, although she's not too bad. What usually makes this sketch funny is when there's a funny guest on, such as Alec Baldwin as Pete Schweddy or another similar type guest. But this time it was Ian, and he wasn't funny. This REALLY brought the rating of this sketch down.
RATING : 5/10
[ CARTOON ] Fun With Real Audio : Oscar's Greatest Moments
This was just plain irritating. I could barely sit through it when I watched it on tape.
RATING : 1.5/10
[ SKETCH ] Hot Air Balloon Mystery Theater
Well here's an interesting idea! I'm a fan of this type of sketch, the kind where they just take a ridiculous idea and run with it. I found it to be very clever, and there were a few good jokes and occurrences, but overall this wasn't too thick of a sketch, and maybe should have been pushed more towards the end.
RATING : 6/10
[ MUSIC ] Kylie Minogue
It was cool too see a host genuinely into the musical guest! This isn't the most complex ditty in the world, but it was performed well. Good if you like that sorta thing.
[ WEEKEND UPDATE ] With Jimmy Fallon & Tina Fey
This Update had some fairly good jokes, my favorites including the terrorism alert "I will make brown" one, the Survivor/Urine Fetish one, and the Barbie one. The dialogue with Ian as Maggie Smith was just dumb, but I think that kiss caught Jimmy completely off guard. I doubt it was rehearsed that way! Jimmy adlibbed very well and this brought the rating up. For me, however, the highlight of this Update was definitely the introduction to Jeff's Louie Anderson impression! DEAD ON! Hilarious! The voice was just perfect and the dialogue was great. I was extremely impressed by this and I'm hoping to see a Family Feud sketch of some sort coming up soon.
RATING : 9.5/10
[ SKETCH ] The Ferey Muthar Talk Show
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. What the hell was this? Even Darrell's mustache problem wasn't enough to save this landslide...although Horatio's adlib about the mustache was quite good...
RATING : 2/10
[ SKETCH ] Edmund McGrave : Life & Times of Charles Dickens
Well this sketch was well produced and acted out. Ian did a good job handling this. I'd imagine it would be a riot to see in person too. But on TV this really didn't do much for me. Not enough comedy.
RATING : 4/10
[ MUSIC ] Kylie Minogue
Again, not the most complicated song ever, but she performed it very well. Unlike SOME people, she had the dignity to sing live, and it sounded good.
[ SKETCH ] Kevin & Richie's Comic Book Zone
Oh no...this has recurring sketch written all over it. This was promising at first, but nothing really much developed. I didn't really find this funny at all, but I was probably a bit bitter from some of the previous lackluster sketches.
RATING : 3.5/10
[ OVERALL RATING ] 54 / 100
[ BEST SKETCH ] Hot Air Balloon Mystery Theater ( 6 )
[ BEST QUOTE ] "Wait, wait, wait Jimmy, are you nuts? McDonald's...Family Feud...are you TRYING to summon Louie Anderson?" - Tina Fey during Weekend Update
[ POINTS OF INTEREST ] Will missed tonight's episode to work on a movie.
I was very disappointed with this episode. The rating (54) tied with last season's Lucy Liu episode, and that's the worst episode next to Tom Green, also from last season. Oh well, I'm not going to dwell on it. It had it's high points. The next live episode will be hosted by Cameron Diaz, who has hosted before and done a good job. Musical guest will be Jimmy Eat World. I haven't heard much of their music, but what I have heard (Bleed American, The Middle) impresses me. I'm looking forward to this episode after the few weeks off.