| Cameron Diaz / Jimmy Eat World | |
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I'll admit...I had some very high hopes for this episode. Even after just two repeats I was going through severe SNL withdrawal. Last time Cameron hosted surprised me in how funny it was...hopefully this one would do the same. I was also really looking forward to Jimmy Eat World's performances. I've only heard two of their songs, 'Bleed American' and 'The Middle', both of which are pretty decent. It's looking like they'll be the last rock group of the season so I figured I might as well suck it up and enjoy it.
[ COLD OPENING ] The Culps
I think that this segment of The Culps may in fact be the best of all time. Sure, the songs were pretty good, just as good as always I guess, but the dialogue before the singing was just pure gold. I found this to be an extremely clever way to tie Ana's pregnancy into a sketch. This is looking like Ana's last season on SNL so it's good to get some recurring characters back into the show before the season's out. Overall, I'd say I very much enjoyed this sketch...an almost perfect way to start off the episode.
RATING : 9.5/10
[ MONOLOGUE ] Cameron Diaz
This was definitely one of, if not, the best monologues of the season. Sure, many people think that a monologue should just be the host being funny, but I disagree. I'm glad to see any cast members taking part in the monologues. Actually, I think you could just put Will in that outfit out there and not have him do anything for ten minutes and I'd laugh the entire time. The second he walked out there I was hysterical in laughter. "Are you suggesting a butt-off?" I was definitely impressed with this one!
RATING : 9/10
[ SKETCH ] 17th Annual Auto Show Spokeswoman Awards
At first I thought this was going to be a good sketch. You gotta admit, it's quite the crazy idea and I can see something like this being extremely funny. However, they managed to screw it up royally. I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't like it...I guess I really didn't see much comedy in it. The only part I found slightly humorous was when Chris yelled out to "Stop the music!" and the scene cut to Jeff where he just hit a tape recorder with a pen to stop it. Other than that quick second of comedy, this sketch was extremely lackluster and pretty disappointing.
RATING : 2/10
[ SKETCH ] MTV Spring Break 2002
Okay some people may not agree with me here, but I found this sketch to be hilarious. Why, you ask? I don't know. Probably something about Maya and Cameron's dancing during the Shania Twain song. It's such a dumb idea but I was pleasantly surprised. One of those crazy sketches I guess!
RATING : 8/10
[ SKETCH ] SNL 530th Anniversary
I honestly nearly shat my pants. This was so unexpected and such a clever idea! Will and Ana did perfect impressions of the Oscars announcers. The NyQuil at the ended added the perfect touch. Almost perfect, but since it was so short, I don't think it deserves that JUST out-of-reach 10.
RATING : 9.5/10
[ SKETCH ] Astronaut Jones
Okay. This was pretty much the identical sketch to the one from the Britney episode. This time I knew the humorous comment was coming. Did it make it any less funny? No, absolutely not! I actually think I laughed more after this one... I just find it so funny how Tracy makes the ridiculous comment and then it goes immediately to the closing credits of the show. "Written by Tracy Morgan". Just as funny as last time!
RATING : 9/10
[ SKETCH ] Celine
Like I mentioned during my comments for the Cold Opening with The Culps, I think they're trying to get Ana and her old recurring characters as much time as possible in her "last season(?)". Her Celine Dion impression always cracks me up, and this was no exception. Overall though this sketch really wasn't up to par with some of the previous stuff tonight. Sure, it was better than the Award Show sketch, but that isn't saying much...
RATING : 5/10
[ SKETCH ] Gorgeous Living
I didn't find anything funny about this sketch. I could not see any comedy in this whatsoever. If this ever turned into a recurring sketch I don't know what I'd do...
RATING : 0.5/10
[ WEEKEND UPDATE ] With Jimmy Fallon & Tina Fey
Opening the Update was one of Tina's rants, and it was one of the best for sure. I loved how she listed all those countries and made comments. "Kuwait : Against us, but has oil, Iceland : With us, but can't really help us" Overall though, it wasn't the jokes that stole the show. No, it was the guest segments. Tonight we saw for the first time Dean's Denzel Washington impression. It was definitely quite exaggerated but I felt it was great from a comedic standpoint. Hopefully we'll see more of it in the future. Next up was the Geraldo segment. HILARIOUS. I loved how he talked about his encounter with the "dastardly suicide bomber just moments ago". Again, an extremely exaggerated impression but still hilarious. But to wrap it all up we had the company of Jasper Hahn. I was fully expecting the same old drawings, but having the songs was a great way to revive this character! The bearded...uh...shellfish was hilarious. So, although most of the jokes were a little bit less than usual, the guest segments really saved this Update from certain disaster.
RATING : 9.5/10
[ MUSIC ] Jimmy Eat World
This is their current single "The Middle". It's a good song; not too complicated and quite catchy. I felt this was a good performance and it sounded real good live.
[ SKETCH ] Mr. Peepers
Yes it's quite obvious what they're doing. Certain cast members are on their way out and they're getting their characters into some sketches before the finale. Makes sense. I've just about had it with Peepers. It was such a good character, but there have just been too many sketches and it's just not funny anymore. Sorry.
RATING : 1/10
[ SKETCH ] MTV 4
Well this was sorta funny in an odd way. The screaming and music of the band was like fingernails on a chalkboard, but I guess that was the whole point. The thing I did find funny about this sketch was the ridiculous lyrics of the songs. "Bad angel why you so bad? GO TO BED!" Other than that, this sketch was well deserving of being at the end of the show. Middle of the road, but not painful to sit through.
RATING : 5/10
[ MUSIC ] Jimmy Eat World
I looked it up and found out that this song is "The Sweetness" from their current album. Although Nick disagrees with me here, I found this song to be nearly 10 times better than "The Middle". This was a rockin' performance! I was extremely impressed!
[ NOVEL ] My Big Thick Novel By Jack Handey
"...and threw prisms of light onto my binoculars" Funny! Caught me by surprise and that was the whole point.
RATING : 4/5*
* - not counted towards episode's final rating
[ OVERALL RATING ] 62 / 100
[ BEST SKETCH ] SNL 530th Anniversary ( 9.5 )
[ BEST QUOTE ] "Bobbi's pregnancy has been a breeze...except for the sleepless nights and disabling rage attacks." - Will Ferrell as Marty Culp
[ POINTS OF INTEREST ] Seth Meyers didn't have a single comedic role tonight.
After the show was over I thought, "Gee that show rocked!" But as a look back I see why the rating turned out so low. There were some sketches (Award Show, Gorgeous Living, Peepers) that completely screwed this episode's average. This episode definitely had the two extremes in the sketch department. Jimmy Eat World impressed me a lot with their performances. I can almost guarantee next week will be one of the best episodes of the season...The Rock is hosting!