S45.E06: Harry Styles

[Dejana]

Cut for time:

*

The real-life Sara Lee social media account manager(s) must be having a day!

Edited November 18, 2019 by Dejana

[Eyes High]

The "That's The Game" sketch was great. It devolved quickly from the dumb platitudes you see on "gritty" shows about drug dealers--"I was BORN in the game!!!"--to the guy getting schooled on the basics of business principles, which was hilarious. The TV Line reviewer noted that it seemed like a Key & Peele sketch, but maybe they were thinking of the Keanu movie (where the lead characters wound up being forced to pretend to be dangerous gangsters). The pre-tapes have been pretty good this season so far: Grouch, Tasty Toaster Tarts, Corporate Nightmare, and now this sketch were all bang-on imo.

Cold open was wretched. No matter what your political orientation is, making fun of the impeachment hearings should be like shooting fish in a barrel, and that was the best they could come up with?

I quite liked Harry Styles' monologue. He was charming, he wasn't visibly petrified like a lot of first-time hosts, and the bit with messing around with the piano was cute.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Eyes High

[peeayebee]

I LOVED that cute-for-time sketch, Jason. Why did they cut it??!? Yes, I know, for time, but it was so much better than some of the aired sketches.

[sempervivum]

18 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I love how game Harry is. I was thinking about him in the ballerina outfit in the interstitial photos (or whatever they're called). He's not afraid to look silly.

I didn't even think he looked silly in that tutu; he has a very graceful body, and an androgynous face, really. There's some playful gender-bending going on there.

[vb68]

25 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I LOVED that cute-for-time sketch, Jason. Why did they cut it??!? Yes, I know, for time, but it was so much better than some of the aired sketches.

Maybe they thought they had enough pre-tapes with "Joan" and "That's the Game"?

I thought it was alright. At first I was thinking we have seen videos just like that from Kyle, then I realized  yes, it's a callback to the Dad one with Woody Harrelson. Duh.

I can't be too sad about it being cut for time because Kyle had such a great showcase on Update. Between this and Dairy Guy, I definitely prefer Dairy Guy. I'm really happy that got on.

[msrachelj]

On 11/16/2019 at 10:54 AM, vb68 said:

Harry reminds me so much of a young Mick Jagger in the clip with Kenan.

Really looking forward to seeing what they do with the Cold open this week. I know. I could very well be disappointed. But this is one of those weeks you really want it to be good.

Except for the personality.  And songs and singing voice. And talent.  

[proserpina65]

That was actually much better than I expected when I heard Harry Styles was hosting.  He's got a pretty deft hand at comedy - he should do more.  His monologue was very funny, and he really committed to the skits.

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 10:19 AM, LennieBriscoe said:

Too bad the show gave a free commercial to that bigot-owned chicken place whose stupid spelling I'm not bothering to Google.

That's Chik Fil A.  The sketch was about Popeye's Chicken.  Two different places.

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 12:33 PM, helenamonster said:

The Popeye's chicken sandwich thing was months ago (I know they've brought it back but the initial craze is long gone)

It was far more recently that someone got killed outside a Popeye's in Maryland (the beginning of this month), although whether it was actually over the chicken sandwich is debatable.

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 12:42 PM, sempervivum said:

I'm surprised it's taken him this long to get into acting; he seems like a natural.

He was in Dunkirk, which came out in 2017.  Although that was most definitely not comedy.

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 3:32 PM, JZL said:

They totally botched the camera work for the CO.  No one seemed to know when Heidi was about fake-feint. 

I thought it worked just fine with her being in the background fainting.

6 hours ago, Eyes High said:

Cold open was wretched. No matter what your political orientation is, making fun of the impeachment hearings should be like shooting fish in a barrel, and that was the best they could come up with?

It wasn't one of their best, but I wouldn't say it was wretched.  More mildly amusing rather than lol funny, imo.

[Guy Caballaro]

For those with ethical reservations about CFA, you should know that the competition is owned by the Catholic Church.

You think “Pope Yes” is a coincidence? Just like “Canon” towels!

Edited November 18, 2019 by Guy Caballaro

[Pete Martell]

Harry had a cake made for Lorne's birthday. Sadly we don't see Lorne's reaction, but we see the cast. 

(Harry also had flowers delivered to various writers) 

[vb68]

You can definitely tell he gets on well with the cast. I think he's a keeper.

[LennieBriscoe]

On 11/17/2019 at 10:20 PM, possibilities said:

Is Popeye's bigoted? I thought it was Chik Fil A which had that problem.

Mea culpa! My mind took a vacation! 

[LennieBriscoe]

23 hours ago, msrachelj said:

Except for the personality.  And songs and singing voice. And talent.  

I don't see how Harry's personality seems different from Mick's, to the former's detriment. They both have charm,  charisma, and youthful energy!

[SnarkEnthusiast]

I was very jealous that Melissa got to fake stage kiss Jon Hamm!

As someone who was in high school/college during the One Direction craze and didn't get the hype, I actually found Harry Styles a very capable (if not memorable) host and kinda sexy? I love how calm he is and he just seems very empathetic and eager to try. He seems very sweet with the cast too!

[ahisma]

On 11/18/2019 at 3:58 PM, Guy Caballaro said:

For those with ethical reservations about CFA, you should know that the competition is owned by the Catholic Church.

You think “Pope Yes” is a coincidence? Just like “Canon” towels!

I am acutely missing the lack of a sarcasm font around here... This made me go, “What?!” at first!

[Pete Martell]

[Phishbulb]

On 11/18/2019 at 11:54 AM, vb68 said:

I can't be too sad about it being cut for time because Kyle had such a great showcase on Update. Between this and Dairy Guy, I definitely prefer Dairy Guy. I'm really happy that got on.

An unfortunate thing is that Alex Moffat had his Terry Fink character (the macro-dosing movie reviewer guy) cut from this edition of Update. I would have probably cut Kate's Jeff Sessions piece in favor of that, but there's no way they're ever going to cut Kate out of the show. Hopefully Fink will appear on this week's Update. 

[LuvMyShows]

On 11/17/2019 at 1:17 AM, vb68 said:

And a lot of it was due to Harry. I thought he was charming as hell and was committed to a pretty big range of roles.

Sure was.  I was very impressed and surprised.  One of the best non-acting hosts in terms of acting quality...Garth Brooks and Christina Aguilera are two others.

On 11/17/2019 at 3:03 AM, Mystery said:

I did too, and I think he's much better looking without all that hair. 

I was so surprised to see how relatively good-looking he was as the older milk guy.

On 11/17/2019 at 4:47 AM, Pete Martell said:

Chris has so much talent; often I don't feel SNL knows how to use it, but this was an exception.

I actually remarked to myself during the skit that I had not realized how good of an actor Chris was.  He conveyed a lot by just doing subtle motions and expressions.

On 11/17/2019 at 8:13 AM, Pete Martell said:

I don't mind animals in the sketches, per se, it's just when they have them every week I start to think they're used as props a little too often.

Bingo!  I think they count on the unpredictability of the animals to cause a screwup, which will be (to their thinking) hilarious.  

[candall]

I'm like Joan, who lives alone, with Doug, or in my case, Tic Tac.  The whole thing made me howl with glee.

I've had fifty laughs from (Do It In My) Twin Bed and now I just think Aidy Bryant is brilliant.

[Jody]

On 11/17/2019 at 12:12 AM, Brn2bwild said:

I related to the Joan sketch... not because I consider my dog my boyfriend, but because when you're a single woman, your pets really are your constant companions.

         My Brother pats the dogs Tummies and the Female dog gets really excited so I call my brother Her Human Being Boyfriend ! IF The Dogs sleep with my Brother, I say that they sleep Together so I act like They have Sex and I Call That A Three Way ! We also have A Male dog and that is why I said Dogs ! !

On 11/17/2019 at 12:35 AM, vb68 said:

I actually wonder if he was there as "just in case" host. I know he shadowed Lindsay Lohan the last time she hosted. Sometimes they just have a vet there to help somebody who might a little out of their comfort zone. I think Hanks was there when Elton John hosted.

They still could had given Hamm something actually interesting to do.

       Also, I don't think Chloe was on This Show !

On 11/17/2019 at 8:21 AM, nickp1991 said:

Someone in the SNL writers' room saw that Days of Our Lives was putting their shooting on hiatus

      I don't know about last November but with the Corona Virus, They never did stop with making the Episodes ! They Film out of Order around 6 Months in Advance ! They were going to Run out of Episodes in September, But They have Gone Back and Started Making New episodes !

On 11/17/2019 at 9:03 AM, Ottis said:

Wow, that cold open was the biggest bomb I have seen on SNL in years. Barely chuckles from the audience. They picked the wrong format. Soap operas are 20 years ago. They should have done a version of Big Brother or one of the newer “reality” shows. Or if they were going to do a soap opera, go 100 percent and do The Californians. 

Harry Styles should smile more. Thanks for telling me who you are. I vaguely knew the name but couldn’t place it. The cocaine line was pretty good. 

Intern Rob would fit in nicely on The Monkeys. And White Get Out was a puzzle until the end reveal. The audience didn’t seem to know what to do with it. 

My dog is my boyfriend. OK. Aren’t people like that character usually cat people?

Childbirth instructors talk to the dads? That’s new! 

Airplane pilots.... OK, I think this ep is just off. What was the set up? Two idiot pilots? Skits work best when they have some sort of tie to reality.

Haha. The drug dealer skit was good. “Quan, you know what you doing?” Ok, that was good. Should have escalated at the end though. 

WU... split screen of Colin and Steven Miller, heh. Kate’s ability to be Jeff Sessions is amazing. I kept looking at her face during the close ups, wondering how she did it and trying to see Kate behind Sessions. The milk headlines were fun, props to WU for paying attention to that story.

”We think it would be better if Sara Lee stopped having threesomes.”

ACTUAL stage shows like this Baby Faye thing are grating. A mock show is... still grating. Finally had to fast forward. 

I hope when I am 89 I have friends like Marcus and Luke.

            There is A Real Airline Named Jet Blue where the Bath Rooms Are Stuffed Up And They were on the Run Way For TWELVE Hours So This is Tied To Reality !

On 11/17/2019 at 9:33 AM, SomeTameGazelle said:

It didn't really rise to the level of a parody. They used the tunes from Gypsy with slightly different lyrics. The joke that Mama Rose kept the stale act going even after June was too old to play Baby June is part of Gypsy. The escalation was that Faye was as old as 45 and therefore completely decrepit! Although realistically if she had actually been performing the show continuously for her whole life either she would have been still capable of doing the splits or else the Newsboys would have been more prepared to vamp.

        Usually, They would Recast and have Another Child play Baby June ! A Different Star instead OF Ethel Merman Maybe Tyne Daly Would be Recast Playing The Mother Rose !

On 11/17/2019 at 3:41 PM, peeayebee said:

More outlets than NBC News have criticized the hearings as boring.

It's always frustrating to me when the show does this with sketches. It's like the writers aren't confident enuf in their jokes or just want to dumb things down for the audience, so they insert audiences or bystanders to comment on the meat of the sketch. 

Anyway, I didn't really have an opinion on Harry Styles before the show, but now I'm a fan -- not of his music, which is blah to me, but his personality and comedic abilities are wonderful. That was one of the best monologues I've seen in a long time. Even when the piano was being put on stage (off camera) and you could hear a thud or clunking, Harry wasn't distracted. His bit at the piano had great jokes, and he delivered them flawlessly. "In Britain we play piano on the other side of the road." "I don't know if you've heard, but I'm not in a boy band anymore; I'm in a man band." I was very impressed AND entertained.

The CO was a dud. I was excited to hear beforehand that Jon Hamm was going to be on, but he was wasted. 

The Popeye chicken sandwich sketch was pretty good, maybe for the performances.

I LOVED the Joan and Doug sketch. Aidy was great. The lyrics were clever. 

The Childbirth Class sketch was fine. Again, the performances were better than the writing.

I liked the pilots sketch. They had great lines. 

Chris Reid in That's the Game was outstanding. What a talent. Great sketch, and he was perfect.

I rarely enjoy WU, and this was no exception. I actually disliked Che's comment that he didn't care if Trump was found innocent and went to prison. Just... no. A stupid thing to say. 

The Sara Lee sketch was ok. Not much there IMO. 

I wish Baby Faye & the Grown-Up Male News Guys had been executed better. I'm not even sure what the point was. But again, Harry was very good.

And I enjoyed him and Chris in the final sketch. 

BTW, I love how game Harry is. I was thinking about him in the ballerina outfit in the interstitial photos (or whatever they're called). He's not afraid to look silly.

        The Point of Baby Faye is that She was Too Old To Do The act where she does the Splits ! Mama Rose was also Too Old ! They would have Other People Playing Those Parts on the Stage ! That IS a Real Broadway Show ! That Show Is Gypsy !