Which isn’t to say that it was all bad. It wasn’t. It was a definite improvement over the previous three shows.
But that isn’t to say it was good either. Very hit and miss, both between sketches and within sketches. But for this show, at this point, average is above average, and we’ll take anything positive to close out SNL in 2010.
And what was positive, you ask? Well you really can’t beat this, putting together our two probably favorite characters of the year, Gov. David Paterson and Stefon:
It’s been five days and yet we still have a bad taste in our mouth after last week’s ‘SNL’ hosted by Paul McCartney with a special appearance by Paul Rudd. We understand that Paul McCartney is special, even the British monarchy has acknowledged that. There are stars, and there are mega-stars, and then there are supernovas. McCartney is the latter. However, we still believe that ‘SNL’ shouldn’t have been so much about him, and his presence struck us a somewhat selfish booking, designed to provide more pleasure for the cast and crew than the audience at home. This sentiment was only driven home when Paul Rudd remarked on ‘Live! With Regis and Kelly’ that (no surprise) after the show McCartney stuck around to play an impromptu private concert. Rudd was obviously still in awe of the moment, noting that he’s “a massive Beatles fan, like everyone.” But we’re not massive Beatles fans, and even if we were, we wonder if we’d be interested in McCartney’s other works, like the songs he played for his first two ‘SNL’ sets. So that got us thinking, do people really care about hearing Paul McCartney play anything but Beatles songs? Do they just tolerate McCartney in hopes that he’ll break out the Beatles catalog? Or do they genuinely enjoy the cuts from Wings and his solo stuff? So to get more clarity on this question, we turned to our guest blogger-in-residence and Beatles aficionado Kieran Walsh, in our latest Kieran’s Korner:
Wow. Lead me into a minefield, why don’t you?
It’s not an easy question. It’s not an easy answer. Gosh… Well, let’s do this.
Move Over Betty White, ScarJo, Anne Hathaway, and any other Hollywood starlet, young or old, who had her sights set on hosting SNL. Get in line behind the chocolate chip chomper, the macadamia mastictor, the snickerdoodle scavenger himself, Cookie Monster.
Is there anyone on the Internet these days doing better work than Sesame Street (and that includes my mom’s emails)? After firing off one viral sensation after another, from the Katy Perry-Elmo music video (yes, we thought it was good, clean fun) to a terrific True Blood spoof to a brilliant take on the Old Spice commercials, this one could be their magnum opus. Who would have imagined that the most reliable source for viral video genius in 2010 would be Sesame Street?
SNL, Lorne, you have about a month left in the year to make this happen.
And, realistically, wouldn’t it be amazing if this actually worked? But beyond just the novelty, and joy of seeing Cookie Monster take the stage at Studio 8H, it would be especially poignant for the Muppets, original SNL contributors, to return to the show after 35 years. In many ways it would be a return to the scene of the crime, as their brief run during the first season of SNL was one of Jim Henson’s few failures, with the abstract Muppet segments proving unpopular with audiences. So now, three and a half decades later, and twenty years after Henson’s death, Cookie Monster can make it right. He can bring it full circle. Like a perfect cookie (see what we did there?).
It’ll never happen, but at perhaps Cookie Monster can at least make a cameo. That’d be worlds better than relying on Seth Rogen to play him.
Two weeks back we talked in-depth about Jon Hamm’s third hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live and how in the third go-round we often see a distinct sense of adventure, how the host is now comfortable with the cast, the cast is at ease with the host, they’re all on the same page and are willing to try something that might be hit or miss, but is often still entertaining in the attempt. We also mentioned that this past weekend would be Scarlett Johansson’s third hosting turn, so it’d be interesting to see if she took the same kind of leap as Hamm, or if she settled into a more predictable role, functional, competent but not exceptionally ambitious or outrageous, more along the lines of Drew Barrymore’sSNL resume. Well, it certainly wasn’t the former, but not so much the latter either. We’re kind of confused actually. Cause, really, more than anything, it seemed like a showcase for Johansson’s hair, her sense of style, her brassy broad persona and her variations on NY-NJ accents.
Don’t forget, Scarlett Johansson returns to Studio 8H for her third hosting turn this weekend. Inevitably, there will be some variation on this sketch (but if Ryan Reynolds pops up again, we won’t complain):
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Did you know that, according to IMDB, ScarJo’s first credited role was as Laura in the 1994 Elijah Wood “family film” North? In his review of that movie, Roger Ebert said “I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it,” and then later on Siskel & Ebert remarked, “I hate this movie as much as any movie we’ve ever reviewed on the 19 years we’ve been doing this show.” So, you know, check your local listings!
We rarely miss a story here at Jumped The Snark. But we dropped the ball yesterday, neglecting to acknowledge yesterday’s milestone 41st anniversary of Sesame Street. Our bad.
So in (belated) honor of the day (which, if we’re not mistaken, is the felt anniversary) here’s one of our favorite Sesame Street clips:
And here’s a pumpkin we carved in homage to Ernie (unfortunately, we neglected to purchase black fabric to create appropriate tuft of black hair):
And we think this is a great excuse to, once again, post The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, which, looking back, is probably what cemented our love for The Muppets. It provided the necessary Muppet history in the same way that Saturday Night Live: 15th Anniversary Special was a spectacular primer for our nascent 7 year-old brain. We were probably the only kid who listed his two favorite videos as the Muppets 30th anniversary special and 1986 Mets: A Year to Remember.
Congrats, Sesame Street! See you in a year for your 42nd (+ 1 day) birthday! (the glitter anniversary, if we recall correctly)
Well, despite our reminder to you last week, we eagerly arrived home on Monday night only to be severely disappointed when we realized that we had neglected to set our DVR to record the Women of SNL special. We had been looking forward to it ever since Jon Hamm delivered his goodbyes the day before, but the thought never occurred to us that our SNL season pass would not apply to the female-centric primetime special. OUR BAD.
To add to our dismay, neither NBC.com nor Hulu is hosting the full special. However, it appears that the only original material included a few one-on-one interviews and this excellent take on the Real Housewives (we’re going to go ahead and say they’re primarily targeting RH of NJ over the other installments, with Amy Poehler, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Laraine Newman channeling the nascent RH of Beverly Hills via satellite).
Last week we hypothesized that the Halloween episode of SNL hosted by Jon Hamm would either be the best of the season or the laziest. Hamm, making his third hosting appearance, has already proven to be a go-to, top-notch host, one that brings out the best in the cast and crew. But, on the other hand, what often happens when the show is blessed with a skilled host is that they relax, relying too much on the host’s charm and natural comedic talents (see: Galifiankis, Zach). However, what we were treated to this week was something in between, and something, in hindsight, typical of a third hosting go ’round. During a debut performance the material can often be safe, figuring out if the host has what it takes, a bit of a feeling out process. If that host succeeds, then when he or she comes back for a second stint the crew is energized, knowing that they have someone who will deliver. You could see that confidence, motivation and excitement in Hamm’s second hosting job last winter. But when a host comes back for the three-peat, the crew is now so comfortable and at ease that they’re willing to taking more chances, throwing more caution to the wind. So what you receive is not mainstream yuks and recurring sketches, or weary, unmotivated punchlines and recurring sketches, but a sense of adventure laced with apathy for the viewer. This is what happens when you have a host who no longer needs to prove himself, who has tenure, which is why so many of Alec Baldwin’s shows are peppered with offbeat sketches, some that delight (like last season’s bizarre “Timecrowave“) and some that crash and burn (like “Arizona Evenings” from the same episode). Judging from this past weekend’s show, it seems that Hamm is now in that class.
Which isn’t to say that it was all bad. It wasn’t. It was a definite improvement over the previous three shows.
Jumped The Snark 