| Sen. John McCain / The White Stripes | |
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By Neil McCormick
I was expecting this episode to be filled with political humor with Senator McCain hosting. Episodes with hosts who aren't actors are always hard to predict whether or not it will be a flop, so it was hard to know what to expect. When I first heard that Nelly had been replaced for this episode I was pretty psyched, but then I had neutral feelings when The White Stripes were announced. Don't get me wrong, I'd take The White Stripes over Nelly any day, but they're just not something I'd voluntarily listen to.
{cold opening} Iraqi
State News
Hmm I guess Horatio is playing Saddam
now. Meh, whatever works. I really liked the graphic of Iraq at the beginning of
this sketch. An average sketch overall, because I found that to be the only real
funny part. I don't know what else to expect from a cold opening, but I was sort
of hoping for another Bush opening... Either way, this will do.
RATING : 6.5/10
{monologue} Sen.
John McCain
John seemed sort of nervous at first
but that didn't really last for long. When Fred debuted his Fericito character
in the season opener, I wasn't really sure if I liked him, but he's really
starting to grow on me now. He really made this monologue work well. John saying
"I'm just kidding" is pure gold. Good monologue, but not as good as
last week's with Chris Kattan's vampire family.
RATING : 7.5/10
{sketch} Hardball
The return of Hardball! Darrell's
impression of Chris Matthews manages to crack me up every time. I was surprised
that Paul Bagala wasn't a guest, and in the end him not being there sort of took
away of some comedic value of this sketch. Darrell had some great lines
throughout, and John McCain's Ashcroft impression was pretty cool. However,
compared to other Hardball sketches in past seasons, this one was a bit
lackluster. Don't get me wrong, though, this was still a great sketch.
RATING : 8/10
{sketch} Lifetime
Movie
Okay just the disclaimer on it's own
would have been enough to give this sketch a high rating. The rest of it was
just a bonus. The poor acting, the ridiculous plot, and the interview at the end
really work well to make a hilarious sketch. I loved when Amy and Maya were
talking to the cop about "invasion of personal space" and Chris
Parnell replied "Well, that would be different. We take crimes against men
more seriously." A good way to poke fun at the network. Good sketch, I'm
thoroughly impressed.
RATING : 8.5/10
{sketch} Wake
Up Wakefield
This sketch should have been
slaughtered a while ago. It really isn't in any ways funny. My favorite part
about the Wake Up Wakefield sketches is how Maya's character is in love with
Jimmy, and how Rachel is always talking about getting picked on. That just never
gets old now does it? I like how they keep the same idea in every one of the 15
Wakefield sketches so far.... if you can't tell I'm being sarcastic.
RATING : 2/10
{cartoon} Ambiguously
Gay Duo
The AGD is probably Smigel's greatest
SNL creation. Just when you think that these cartoons can't get any funnier or
more ridiculous, they pull it off. Ace and Gary dancing to "Five For
Fighting" was pretty hilarious. In fact, pretty much everything about this
whole cartoon was funny. Good job Smigel, you made up for the Smurfette Show...
well kinda.
RATING : 8.5/10
{sketch} Meet
The Press
I really liked the Meet The Press
sketch from awhile ago where Tim was interviewing Hilary Clinton, but this one
really wasn't as good as that one. I still enjoyed this one though. Darrell harassing
people is always funny, and I think this proves it. Darrell's line about Bush
"forgetting to run" was hilarious and was probably the best part of
this sketch.
RATING : 7/10
{music} The
White Stripes
Well that guitar was pretty cool. Not
a big fan of this music though.
{weekend
update} Weekend Update
I was very surprised to see that this
Weekend Update was even funnier than last week's! There were a lot of great
jokes in this one, and my favorite was probably the "combining the danger
of flying with the poor safety records of trains". The highlight of the
entire Update, however, was Will's new character Tim Calhoun. I laughed nearly
the entire time he was talking. He had some great lines, including "I've
done a lot of some drugs, but some not at all" and "America needs
another big lake." Also, his theory on killing all the whales was classic.
I can't wait to see more Tim Calhoun in the future!
RATING : 9.5/10
{sketch} McCain
Sings Streisand
A clever little sketch idea, and at
times it was pretty funny, but on an overall comedic value, it falls a little
short of the standard set by the rest of the show. Not bad, but it just could
have been better.
RATING : 5/10
{novel}
My Big Thick Novel by Jack Handey
These really aren't nearly as funny
as Handey's Deep Thoughts. This segment gave me a bit of a smile, but that's it.
Deep Thoughts could have you laughing for a long time, but I haven't found that
the Big Thick Novel segments are that good.
RATING : 2.5/5 (Not counted towards
episode rating)
{sketch} Top
O' The Morning
Hmm, I wasn't a big fan of this
sketch. It's good to see that Seth might have another recurring character, but I
didn't really enjoy it too much. I don't really know why I didn't like this
sketch, maybe I was tired both times I watched it, or maybe it was just lacking
jokes. Either way, this was one of the low points, sketch-wise, of the episode.
RATING : 3/10
{music} The
White Stripes
Okay this song clearly took less than
five minutes to write. Boourns. Wait... better than Nelly, better than Nelly...
{overall rating} 71
/ 100
{sketch of the night} Lifetime Movie (8.5)
{quote of the night} Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews
:
"Crazo, crazo, Belafonte's a crazy mofo."
{points of interest} Third episode in a row to have a
71/100 rating... these first three episodes were pretty even! Will Forte debuts
a new character, Tim Calhoun. Jack Handey returns for the first time this season
with a Big Thick Novel entry.
Okay, this is getting weird now. This was the third episode in a row to receive a 71 out of 100 rating. However, this show had significantly less sketches than the first two, so you can be safe to say that this episode was slightly less than the first two. Either way, Season 28 seems to be off to a promising start, but not off to a bang like it was the last two seasons. Now SNL has a week off to think things over before Eric McCormack hosts on November 2nd. Be there!