SNL 39.9 Review - John Goodman, Kings of Leon

Leg two of the three-episode series of Christmas episodes heading into the holidays featured an old favorite.  John Goodman hadn't hosted in awhile, but this was his 13th time hosting the show, making him one of the most loved hosts of all time.  Like the week before, we all knew this had the potential of being a special show with some guest appearances.  Although John Goodman once again shows that he could have been a cast member and will always give a great show, the episode fell short of iconic.

Cold Opening

The cold opening started off the show with President Obama for only the second time this year.  With everything that has been going on with the President, it was about time SNL gave their commentary on it.  However, stealing the show was Kenan playing the fake interpreter for the hearing impaired that popped up at Nelson Mandela's funeral.  The geeky, grinning Kenan made everything Pharaoh's Obama was saying even funnier.

Monologue

It takes a beloved host for them to give a completely random song to them and ask him to go out there and kill it.  That's what they did with John Goodman, and he did.  What does he really want for Christmas?  You will just have to listen to find out in this song that could have been the opportunity to do a Blues Brothers number.  Instead, Kenan fills in admirably.  By the way, John Goodman is a huge man.  You don't quite understand how big until he stands next to Kenan and makes him look short and skinny.

Weekend Update

In what seems to be the Seth Meyers farewell tour, all the favorite Weekend Update characters (that are left) have been coming by to pay their respects.  This week it was Drunk Uncle with John Goodman playing Drunk Uncle's Drunk Uncle.  It was so perfect of a union of character and character actor (much better than any of the others they have tried to guest star with Moynihan).  Once again, Goodman makes a big guy look tiny.  That dude is a giant!  The other guest was a response to the now infamous Megyn Kelly comment that Santa has to be white.  Enter the Black Santa trying to break as stereotypes as he can.  It served its purpose of making a statement on the topic.

Best Sketch

Outside of the greatness of the sketches already mentioned, there wasn't a lot that jumped off the screen.  Probably the best of the rest was the tour de force of impressions that came out of Guy Fieri's Christmas Bash.  Bobby Moynihan does a scary Fieri as the host of what he describes as "a party as random as the food he makes."  Here are a couple things we can take from this sketch: Aidy Bryant looks scarily like Mimi from the Drew Carey Show, anyone can look like Mini Me with a bald cap and a pinky, and Bobby Moynihan can simultaneously look like every member of the cast of Pawn Stars.  Honorable mention goes to the Dance of the Snowflake.  Something just makes me happy inside to see John Goodman wear a giant snowflake outfit.

Worst Sketch

Like I said, not much jumped off the screen, however not much missed either.  The closest thing to a miss was this Will Smith-esque impression and rap about H&M.  It just wasn't my thing.  Honorable mention  would have to be the shameless plug for the new holiday flop Grudge Match with Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro.  The two stars show up and form the Three Wise Guys with Goodman.  There were some pretty funny one-liners which kept it from being too painful.

Dark Horse Sketch

For some reason, and I don't know why, but when John Goodman is hosting, you expect to see him in drag at some point.  It just makes too much comedic sense to put a man of his size in a wig and a skirt.  This comedic gold comes out here as Goodman plays a woman suing her former employer for wrongful termination.  She claims she was fired for being too beautiful.  Let me repeat that.  John Goodman dressed as a woman was fired for being too beautiful.  I agree with Taran Killam's opening statement representing the company: "Really?!?"

Grade

As I said, this episode definitely was a disappointment from what it could be.  John Goodman is such an iconic host that it could have been something magical.  However, it was almost as if the writers were so focused on the final episode to come that they went into cruise control for the couple leading up to it.  With that said, John Goodman is hilarious.  He is so likable and lovable that it was hard to hate anything he did here.  It was a good episode, but much like the Paul Rudd episode the week before, it could have been so much more.

***B***

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SNL Season 39.5 Review - Kerry Washington, Eminem

Some people were quite critical of Saturday Night Live when they went out to replace the many cast members that were moving on to bigger and better things that of the six new cast members brought on board, only one was a woman and none of them were black.  I mean, it's the 6th year of Obama's presidency and they have not been able to have a Michelle Obama impersonator.  When Kerry Washington was announced as host, you knew they would take advantage of having a talented African American woman around.  Kerry Washington was amazing every time she was on screen.  I only wish the overall product was a little better.

Cold Opening

By far the best sketch of the night was the cold open.  Every time a black woman has hosted in the last few years, they have taken their turn at being Michelle Obama so you knew it was going to happen at some point.  It ended up being the first thing out of the box.  Not only did she play the First Lady, but it also made light that they take advantage of having someone like Kerry Washington around.  Can she do Oprah?  Beyonce (with or without Jay-Z)?  In one sketch?  She pulled it off well.

Monologue

With such a strong cold opening, I had high hopes for the rest of the episode.  However, they followed up one of the strongest cold openings of the season with one of the most disappointing monologues of the season.  I don't watch Scandal, however the banter back and forth as they discussed the show didn't spark my interest in any way to watch it.  Quite the opposite actually.

Weekend Update

Kate McKinnon has become very good at playing quirky Weekend Update guests with this week's incarnation being German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  However, the highlight of this week's installment was the NBA talk (among many other things) with Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal (Kenan Thompson & Jay Pharaoh).  It was random, ridiculous, and completely hilarious.

Best Sketch

This season's most memorable sketches so far have been random music videos that are randomly thrown in the middle of all the live sketches.  From "Boy Dance Party" to "We Did Stop (the Government)," they have brought about some of the biggest laughs so far.  This week was the same.  It was only a matter of time that a sensation like "What Does the Fox Say?" made its way to the show, and it was the perfect way to bring it up.  Jay Pharaoh and Kerry Washington were perfect making fun of each other.

Worst Sketch

There were several sketches that didn't really work.  Even though Kerry shined almost every time she was on screen, the sketches weren't just that funny overall.  This includes the sketch immediately following the monologue starring Nasim Pedrad as a motivational speaker at Career Day.  Pedrad shines very now and then, but some of her cooky characters are too bizarre to be accessible.  This character is the perfect example.  Again, Kerry was funny when she came on screen, but I just didn't get it.

Dark Horse Sketch

Kerry Washington hosts a game show where three complete idiots guess the catchphrase from popular cartoon shows.  They constantly need to use their "phone a friend" to get help on these simple questions.  Each time they do, the answers get more ridiculous as Aidy Bryant's husband seems to be having romantic escapades with everyone that is called.  Aidy might be the queen of the one-liners right now on the show.

Grade

Outside the great skills of the host, nothing in this episode really impressed me.  Nothing made me cringe quite like Bruce Willis's "pwetty kitty cat," but nothing could be considered great either.  It is a very forgettable episode, which is sad since Kerry Washington proved to be a very worthy host.  I hope she gets another shot at it when the writers have a little more practice writing to her style.

***C***

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