Minding the P’s and Q’s of SNL

QUALITY: Playing hardball, with a George Zimmerman segment off the top! Kate did quite well as Zimmerman’s (for now) current girlfriend.

PROBLEMATIC: Killam playing Piers Morgan has always felt like a necessity, at first to get him more airtime and now just to give him an easy talk show/reoccurring charcter/political commentary edge… and yet, he still isn’t all that good at that posh English accent.

QUALITY: Beck Bennett as the stand-out in the cold open?! “I guarantee it!”

QUALITY: “I will be drinking wine… at the kid’s table.”

QUALITY: Seriously, a wonderful job on the opening monologue. Not too showy from the host, give Kate McKinnon time to prove she’s the Kristen Wiig that everyone thought Wiig was, and add a little bit of murder! Everything is made better with murder! Though oh god, oh no it was Bobby…

PROBLEMATIC: MY FANTASY TEAM! BOBBY MOYNIHAN, NOOOOO!

PROBLEMATIC: We’ll have to include points for dying and/or killing for comedic value next season.

QUALITY: Seriously though, taking advantage of Hutcherson being a tiny actor boy by having Strong give him a piggy back out was moooost wonderful!

QUALITY: Girlfriends Talk Show! This has got to be a favorite reoccurring segment for me, and a rare can’t miss in the current slate of the four to five talk shows they seem to write per episode. Something about Aidy Bryant’s exasperated straight-woman (girl?) mixes perfectly with Cecily Strong no fucks air of teenage girl-ism.

QUALITY: Josh Hutcherson did great with the little details of the sketch, not getting lost on the cue card, listening actively while adding little details like the arm flex and laughing nervously along with Bryant. I’m digging the kid as host!

QUALITY: Wooooah, Mr. Patterson was a weird sketch but it worked pretty damn well thanks to the physical comedy from Beck Bennett. Bravo, matching what’ll no doubt become the trademark baritone voice with the “body of a baby”. So strange, but he nailed it.

QUALITY: Solid, understated digital short, the Matchbox 3. If you haven’t seen the videos of subway dancers on YouTube, they can be pretty damn impressive (while at the same time, if you’ve spent any length of time commuting on the subway it can be so daaamn annoying), so it’s a premise rife for comedy. And they did really well with it.

QUALITY: “If you see a little white dude, please pass him over your heads to us, into our vicinity.”

QUALITY: “…Luckily little white dudes ain’t hard to find.”

PROBLEMATIC: The girlfriend isn’t a fan of HAIM, so I tried to not let that color my opinion of the song. Stiiiill, and apologies to (obviously) Haim’s biggest fan of the Fantasy League SUCK IT TREBEK, but the pair of Haim songs was the show’s weakest point. In an episode rife with comedy and classic sketches (seriously, long as he keeps a career going outside SNL then Hutcherson is a five-timer in the making), watching the female pop-rock trio pull faces while slapping the riffs out didn’t do it for me.

QUALITY: Though I MAY start calling them GIRLS: The Band. Jessa on lead vocals and guitar, Hannah on bass, and Shoshanna on drums! Now unsee it! Try, I dare you!

QUALITY: “And much sooner if someone asked ‘Would you like some crack?’…”

QUALITY: The third dart! See, this is what I was expecting for Rob Ford jokes LAST WEEK, SNL! Thank you, Weekend Update.

QUALITY: “And each time, the complaint was the same…”

QUALITY: “Doctor’s call the condition ‘Baby Neck”…” Aidy Bryant has a Weekend Update character? Well done. “Nothing is more relaxing then the sound of unexplained adult laughter!” Good to see her having so much fun. Also, only Bryant would riff off of “Second meal?” with the affirmative “I’m very cool.”

PROBLEMATIC: Cecily, I think the fist bump might be dead.

QUALITY: Back-tracking for a moment though I do love that in 2013 on a show featuring the kid from Hunger Games as the host, a Looney Tunes punchline can still send ‘em home happy!

QUALITY: WOW, speaking of happy… something about the infinitely strange but wonderfully structured sketch centered around “Your Love” by The Outfield gave me a Bayer-wide smile.

QUALITY: I was kidding about it before when I said Josh Hutcherson is a future Five-Time Club member in the making, he NAILED the delivery of the song with the high point coming early on “… you know I like my girls a little bit older!”

QUALITY: Also, the first time Killam double-taps that syth drum gets me every time.

QUALITY: I made not have dug them as Musical Guests, Haim got big points for being pitch perfect as 80’s girl rockers in the “Your Love” sketch. Seriously, the one with the pink bow? Goofy comedy chops!

QUALITY: Freeze frame ending! BOOOM!

QUALITY: As a reoccurring sketch, the FIRING squad played by Cecily Strong and Bobby Moynihan is too abrasive to be around too regularly, but it is a equal parts uncomfortable and hilarious depending on the intended target. Beck Bennett’s (KILLING IT TONIGHT, a break out shooow) mysteriously orange-dusted Drew being the latter!

QUALITY: When in doubt, the use of Mike O’Brien to set up an out of left field but greatly appreciated Edward Scissorhands gags, is the best use!

QUALITY: haha, Mandrew. hah… oh, wow, that’s creepy.

QUALITY: The Good Neighbors digital short continued the theme of the night being both weird, but sharp with its comedy. The new cast seems to be rounding into form with the writer’s room, and just in time for a bye week before we jump into one heeeell of a December slate. And they were on the other side of the Second Song for the first time! Things are looking rosie!

QUALITY: What’s that? WE GOT ALL OF DECEMBER’S HOSTS CORRECT?!

PROBLEMATIC: What do you mean no one picked Jimmy Fallon? He’s the last good thing on NBC that isn’t SNL!

QUALITY: huh. Well, two out of three, plus the Musical Guest on the third isn’t too shabby (condolences to BILL BRASKY for missing out on Timberlake HOSTING POINTS, oooo) at all.

QUALITY: “Captain What-not is dead?!” What started a potential classicly blah-style sketch, as could be found in the last generation of the cast full of funny accents and                                                                              weird wigs but not much substance, got surprisingly and thankfully weird by taking the idea of a dead turtle and running with it.

PROBLEMATIC: Screaming rabbits.

PROBLEMATIC: Soooo… it did not work with the second dead animal, we lost the shock and therefore the funny. Even the animals being alive (SPOILERS!) could not save the “Animal Hospital” meaning well, shoooot, we actually had a dud sketch this week. Luckily it WAS in garbage time.

QUALITY: Out of the closet, and on to the streets! It’s good to see Mike O’Brien play to his strengths and potentially get a reoccurring character out of Winston Sam Bass: Investigative Reporter! The low self-esteem and willingness to look like he had eaten out of the garbage were choice character notes. Not surprisingly, another Matt and Oz directed piece.

QUALITY: Three sketches after the second song? We’re usually lucky to have two. Damn, it WAS a tight show.

QUALITY: As Kids In The Hall taught us, a bird lady is NEVER a bad thing!

QUALITY: Also, Will Ferrell taught us that family drama is difficult but effective comedy if done right. It’s right up Bryant’s allie, but Killam nailed that beleagured father role as well. Who could have guessed that holiday sketches were a late-show can’t miss for SNL! It’s good to be weird.

QUALITY: Hutcherson reeeally waited out for that hug. But damn if Beck didn’t deserve it after the show he just had, alongside the Host of the Season, so far, in Hutcherson.

QUALITY: Evidently, Killam “looks like my with that mustache” according to Brooks Wheelan and my freshman entry course in lip-reading community college.

REPARATORY CAST

Taran Killam, 69 points

Cecily Strong, 52 points

Kenan Thompson, 47 points

Kate McKinnon, 47 points

Aidy Bryant, 46 points

Bobby Moynihan, 42 points

Vanessa Bayer, 37 points

Jay Pharoah, 25 points

Nasim Pedrad, 15 points

FEATURED CAST

Mike O'Brien, 10 points

Brooks Wheelan, 12 points

John Milhiser, 20 points

Noel Wells, 27 points

Kyle Mooney, 31 points

Beck Bennett, 42 points

EBERSOL GROUP

THE IGNORANT SLUTS - Matt

Kate McKinnon - 47

Cecily Strong - 52

Beck Bennett - 42

John Mihiser - 20

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) The Wire & 2) Forever

5 points for first song

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 166

RECLUSIVE PENINSULA - Rob

Taran Killam - 69

Aidy Bryant - 46

Mike O' Brien - 10

Kyle Mooney - 31

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) The Wire & 2) Falling

5 points for first song

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 161

DAN AYKROYD RAGE - Mark

Vanessa Bayer - 37

Bobby Moynihan - 42

Kyle Mooney - 31

Noel Wells - 27

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) The Wire & Falling

5 points for first song

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 142

FIVE TIMERS CLUB - Leah

Kenan Thompson - 47

Nasim Pedrad - 15

Mike O'Brien - 10

Beck Bennet - 42

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) Honey and I & 2) The Wire

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 114

EXTREME CLOSE-UP! - Jack

Jay Pharoah - 25

Brooks Wheelan - 12

Noel Wells  - 27

John Mihiser - 20

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: No songs chosen.

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 84

DOUMANIAN GROUP

BILL BRASKY - Saad

Taran Killam - 69

Aidy Bryant - 46

Mike O'Brien - 10

John Mihiser - 20

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: No songs chosen.

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 145

MILLION DOLLAR BILL MURRAYS - Russel

Bobby Moynihan - 42

Jay Pharoah - 25

Kyle Mooney - 31

Beck Bennett - 42

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) The Wire & 2) Forever

5 points for first song

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 145

THE TEAM YOU WISH YOU HADN'T STARTED A CONVERSATION WITH AT A PARTY - Brian

Kate McKinnon - 47

Cecily Strong - 52

Mike O' Brien - 10

Noel Wells - 27

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) Forever & The Wire

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 136

SUCK IT TREBEK - Sarah

Kenan Thompson - 47

Brooks Wheelan - 12

Noel Wells - 27

Kyle Mooney - 31

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) The Wire & 2) Don't Save Me

5 points for first song

10 points for second song

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 132

YOU KNOW, IT'S THE TEAM THE HIGH-WASITED MIDGETS THAT HAVE, LIKE, THE RED PANTS AND THE BIG ASS - Kevin

Nasim Pedrad - 15

Vanessa Bayer - 37

Beck Bennett - 42

John Mihiser - 20

MUSICAL GUEST - Haim - SONGS: 1) The Wire & 2) Falling

5 points for first song

EPISODE SEVEN TOTAL 119

DEEP THOUGHTS with the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League

“That baby body sketch floored me.” – THE TEAM YOU WISH…’s Brian

“ (Cecily) needs to take over the talking-to-guest-commentators role from Meyers though and get some practice in before he leaves in a couple of months.” – RECLUSIVE PENINSULA’s Rob

“Well Nasim had a few weeks in the spotlight. Now things are back to normal.” - DAN AKROYD RAGE’s Mark

“Aidy Bryant's sudden ascension in these last few episodes is unexpected.” – RECLUSIVE PENINSULA’s Rob

“I've gone from knowing nothing about (Josh Hutcherson) besides Hunger Games to hoping he has a continued career just so he hosts some more.” – RECLUSIVE PENINSULA’s Rob

“For all keeping track: superstars Katy Perry and Eminem, no sketches. Arcade Fire and Haim, one sketch each.” – THE IGNORANT SLUTS’ Matt

“This sketch, with basically one or two lines from Killam's oddly angry mustached dad, makes me think he could be the next Ferrell.” – RECLUSIVE PENINSULA’s Rob

“I should start asking my picks to help me out over twitter.” - THE TEAM YOU WISH…’s Brian

SEASON 39 OVERALL STANDINGS (after Episode 39x07)