HEALTH CARE WEBSITE: Kate McKinnon is always a joy to watch, and she delivers an above-average cold open that, while it runs long, has some great touches in the spoof on the healthcare.gov fiasco: the spinning ball of doom, a smashing of a computer, and funny zingers. GRADE: B
MONOLOGUE: This is a pretty bland monologue, and not even Alec Baldwin can salvage it. Most of the jokes don’t land, and for some reason, Miley Cyrus returns after only a few weeks after her episode. The three people up there don’t really mesh all that well, and it’s awkward and unfunny. Good Woody Allen, though, Norton. GRADE: C+
PUMPKIN SPICE: The sketch mainly relies on the sight gags of pumpkin spice smoke rising from a bunch of womens’ vaginas, and it works; Kate McKinnon shoveling a pumpkin near her vagina is always funny. GRADE: B
STRANGER SAFETY CLASS: The best part of this sketch is Bobby Moynihan screaming “YOU SHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS!” Nasim Pedrad is also charming as the naive kid, and while the sketch starts out shaky, it improves a bit later when everyone starts yelling at Norton. GRADE: B
STEVE HARVEY: Okay, so this sketch is amusing enough at first, with Thompson’s Harvey not able to figure out the play on words in front of him, but there’s only so much you can do with that. Some of his misconstrued observations are funny, but ultimately, not enough to hold up a sketch. GRADE: C+
Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders: Now this is fantastic. The audience wasn’t laughing much due to the fact that most people haven’t seen a Wes Anderson movie, but this is a great parody that nails all the aspects of his techniques. GRADE: A-
POSSUM: Well, this isn’t funny. It consists of two guys fascinated with possums in a vent, and it doesn’t amount to anything at all. Usually, the weird reaction shots get laughs out of the audience, but when even that doesn’t do anything, you know the sketch sucks. GRADE: C-
RAIN MAN: So, the guy can count stuff. That’s the “joke”, and it’s elongated over a 3-4 minute sketch. It looks like we’re going downhill now. GRADE: C-
WEEKEND UPDATE: The show’s running long today, so a good 5 minutes are shaved off of Weekend Update. The actual jokes are average this week, and Anthony Crispino is getting old. I admit, though, he makes me laugh sometimes.. Anyway, again not much for Cecily this week; I’ll chalk that up to lack of time. GRADE: C+
12 DAYS NOT A SLAVE: I saw 12 Years A Slave today, and it was a masterpiece. My review will be up later. As for this sketch? Eh. Moynihan walking menacingly behind Pharoah is funny, but none of the other jokes land; I would’ve liked to see a more straight up parody of the movie, but that’s not to be, I guess. Also: it’s weird seeing Taran Killam here after seeing him in the movie. Oh, and go away, Miley Cyrus. GRADE: C-
VIRGIN WAITERS: Yeah, we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. How in the hell is this funny? It’s just a bunch of people acting like idiots, and yes, I know that’s the point, but it really is just a bunch of actors making fools of themselves. The best part of the sketch, aside from when it ends, is “Where do you picture the other person?” GRADE: D
JANELLE MONÁE: I really like Monáe, and I think her second song, “Electric Lady”, shows off her talents a bit better than the first one does. She can rap, dance, and her beats are extremely catchy. Overall, two very enjoyable performances. GRADE: B+
HALLOWEEN CANDY: This started off as a sketch I thought I would hate, but it was surprisingly funny near the end; maybe it’s just because a lot of what came before this sketch was utter crap. Norton’s funny here in an awkward, weird way, and you know what? I like it; my favorite is him opening the Cars 2 DVD case and going, “No DVD. Look who’s in control now?” GRADE: B
OVERALL: C
BEST SKETCH: Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders
WORST SKETCH: Virgin Waiters
FINAL THOUGHTS: That got bad quickly. Everything started off fine enough, reaching its height with the Wes Anderson parody; however, it plummeted in quality afterwards. I do like the ending sketch, which uses Norton the best out of any sketch tonight. All in all, though, a mediocre show.
Credit to NBC and Saturday Night Live for all pictures. I own nothing.
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