S45.E07: Will Ferrell/King Princess

[Princess Sparkle]

Will Ferrell hosts, King Princess is the musical guest

[Pete Martell]

[vb68]

King Princess in that second clip kinda comes off as Will's kid that he made stand up there. It was a bit awkward.

I hope they do indeed have a tribute to Alex Trebek as someone here suggested.

Edited November 22, 2019 by vb68

[ottoDbusdriver]

And King Princess is ..... some sort of singer, I guess ?

[Pete Martell]

16 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

And King Princess is ..... some sort of singer, I guess ?

Apparently she's going to be a part of Harry Styles' upcoming tour (and has done other things). I had only heard of her because some fans really really wanted her to be an MG. Apparently SNL listened...

Edited November 22, 2019 by Pete Martell

[Pete Martell]

[GoldenGirl90]

This Dem debate is pretty hysterical. It should’ve been the cold open imo.

[futurechemist]

At this point it seems lime it would be easier to make a list of which presidential candidates ARE played by current cast members:

Buttigieg

Yang

Warren

Booker

Gabbard

Did I miss any?

[shapeshifter]

I'm not a regular watcher, so maybe a change happened before tonight, but this was the first time I noticed what seemed to me a sea change WRT being less offensive and more sensitive (some might say PC). I didn't see the whole show, but I noticed, for example, during the Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che, that both clearly cringed at the insensitive or offensive jokes. Is this new?

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Yes, the real news is really dumb. A dumb speech written in big, black letters. Will Ferrell's entrance was mistimed and threw off the whole thing, I don't even know what this sketch was supposed to be about.

Monologue: Ryan Reynolds is here for some reason! And so is Tracy Morgan! So...that was the monologue? Just a whole lot of dumb awkwardness? Okay...

Heinz Relax: I need this. I knew that the new ketchup bottle would make an even more awkward sound. And they were amazing.

Dem Debate: So it looks like the main cast is getting an easy week, there's been more cameos than regular cast so far. Larry David, Rachel Dratch, Woody Harrelson, Fred Armisen, and Maya Rudolph were all on stage, everyone else got like one line. I knew that Will was gonna be Tom Steyer. He's just so weird and rich and creepy. Seriously, this should've been the cold open. This was amazing.

Thanksgiving: Maya and Fred in another sketch! This was certainly heavy-handed. I liked the wall break at the end. Everyone likes corn. "What is this, 2014?!"

House Party: "Why is the teacher here?" That was so great. But where was Pete in all of this?

Bertucci's: Will and Kate make a great combo. "Horny for Family."

WU: "Resting Spongebob face." Well, can't un-see that now. Like I said up top, the news is too dumb to satirize beyond showing actual clips. The "Just Bought A Boat Guy" was a welcome return. Adding Ryan Reynolds as "Knows The Owner Guy" was even better.

Wizard of Oz: Man, was this the longest we've gone in a show without seeing Kenan? He was the "M&Ms: We have the meats" announcer in WU, but this was the first time he was on screen. I loved that EVERYONE was a Munchkin. And oh my god, they even mentioned the (alleged) Munchkin Suicide. That was surely the recipe for success: Munchkin voices.

Chippy: This was so weird. I loved how much Kenan was into it. And my god, Will Ferrell sticking vaseline up a puppet was one of the last things I expected to see tonight, but I laughed at it.

All in all, this was probably a bigger mess than last week. Will was great as always, but it looks like everyone wanted the week off.

[Robert Lynch]

The banter between Will and Ryan was just terrible. You could sense the awkwardness there.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[GoldenGirl90]

.

Edited November 24, 2019 by GoldenGirl90

[Robert Lynch]

The woman with the leather jacket behind Reynolds looked so annoyed and you could tell from her eyes that she was over that segment. I know she was trying her best to cooperate, but her eyes said it all.

[ebk57]

I may have laughed twice during Update.  Otherwise, this show was deleted from the DVR as soon as it was over.  Good thing they have some time off.

[vb68]

Other than the typically uninspiring cold open, I thought this was a pretty great episode. There were maybe too many cameos (Not sure why Ryan Reynolds need to be there), but they were all a lot of fun.

That debate sketch feels like it's everything I've been waiting for all season. And yes, it should had been the cold open even though it felt like it was super long. And with Will having a class reunion onstage, honestly shocked they didn't get Fallon to do Mayor Pete. Or have Paul Rudd reprise it.   I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but as a news junkie, it made my night. Line of the night- "You all are waiting for me to say something off color. Or on color."

Even Colin and Che turned it up a notch tonight.

Disappointed there wasn't a Celebrity Jeporady/ salute to Alex Trebek. 

ETA:

Quote

House Party: "Why is the teacher here?" That was so great. But where was Pete in all of this?

I get the impression Pete didn't show up this week.

Edited November 24, 2019 by vb68

[opus]

Didn’t someone here say Pete isn’t there when Larry David is?

[Mystery]

It was fun to see the picture of young Cecily in the House Party sketch. 

[vb68]

7 minutes ago, opus said:

Didn’t someone here say Pete isn’t there when Larry David is?

Oh yeah, good point.  That's right.

BTW, I don't think I saw any dogs tonight.

[Arkay]

While I generally find Will Ferrell amusing, the monologue was cringe-inducing. One overlong joke, with the ex-husband of Scarlet Johannsen? Wouldn't that be awkward for Colin? Or maybe these things are cool in 2019, I'm too old to know. 

I thought Kate did a great Dorothy. That was my favorite sketch tonight. I also adore Fred Armisen and everything he does makes me laugh.

Last year at this time, my heart was breaking for Pete and I was worried for his life. This year I'm tired of him having his own customized schedule. He's absent, or shows up for one line, and he's never in the goodnights. I get that it's awkward for him because he dated Larry David's daughter, but if Colin can be around his fiancée's ex-husband, Pete and Larry should be able to handle it. Or maybe Larry refused to have Pete around--I could definitely picture that!

It was fun to see all the familiar faces but it did cut into face time for the newer cast. I'd like to see Chloe more because she hasn't been on much. 

I have never heard of the singer and really didn't find her compelling. 

[Peace 47]

I genuinely lol’d at “M&Ms:  We have the meats.”  The idea of M&Ms with meat in them just struck me as really funny.

I missed the cold open and most of the monologue, which sound like the parts people disliked the most.  So I came out with a pretty favorable impression overall.  The debate sketch was a ton of fun.  Woody’s Biden makes me laugh.  The “on color” line was good, as was his picking up on Steyer being “too close” and saying that sounded like his kind of guy.  Harris being desperate to meme so she could get some momentum was also good.

[vb68]

Damn.  I just realized there was not a single mention of Will being a 5 Timer. Not one word. How weird. And yes, that does make the monologue worse in retrospect. 

Edited November 24, 2019 by vb68

[mikem]

I believe Weekend Update didn't start until around 12:17.  Is that the latest that WU has ever been?  I think they might have thrown an extra segment or two before WU, compared to the usual lineup.  Or maybe the sketches were unusually long.

The show started out rough.  I thought the monologue was a terrible idea to begin with, and then it never seemed to end.  But most of the remaining sketches, especially the pre-taped parts, were decent.

[Mystery]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

Damn.  I just realized there was not a single mention of Will being a 5 Timer. Not one word. How weird. And yes, that does make the monologue worse in retrospect. 

The SNL rerun after the early (west coast) live show was Jonah Hill's 5th show, with Tina and Drew Barrymore and Candice Bergen, and that's when I realized they didn't have anything for Will. 

[Mibbitmaker]

I generally agree the show was weak for the cold open (and I like political sketches) and monologue, but great after. The commercial started with my least favorite comedy subject, but became really funny shortly thereafter.

There were a large amount of cameos tonight, with the exception of the ones I was hoping would be there this week: with all the talk at the hearings of the group being called the Three Amigos, it would've been great for Chevy, Steve Martin and Martin Short to reprise those roles for a quick joke about that.

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, Mibbitmaker said:

with all the talk at the hearings of the group being called the Three Amigos, it would've been great for Chevy, Steve Martin and Martin Short to reprise those roles for a quick joke about that.

That would have been an expensive joke.

This was the same as last week for me, I enjoyed the second half of the show more than the first.  Very odd.  Can't say it was the best written show, but I thought it was funny, so that's  good.

Loved that they referenced the urban myth Munchkin suicide in Wizard of Oz.  Funny sketch too.  Also liked the ventriloquist bit, even if it was just one joke.

I even liked Weekend Update for a change.  I liked the Nazi joke about how everyone at the auction looked like they were bidding.

I like to say something about the musical guest:  King Princess did a nice job with the dancing and energy on her second song.

[Spartan Girl]

Will was funny and I liked the cameos, but I wish they had done a Five Timers Club skit, or at least any of his old skits. Eddie Murphy better deliver on the latter next month.

[GoldenGirl90]

I had to look up how tall Ferrell is because he appears to tower over them here. He’s 6’3”

The first time I was introduced to Will Ferrell was through the movie Superstar. I was (selfishly) hoping for a re-enactment and a Molly Shannon guest appearance last night. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Edited November 24, 2019 by GoldenGirl90

[ahisma]

Their YouTube channel has three cut-for-time sketches. I would have preferred Cast List over the ventriloquist dummy or the horny for pizza ad.

[GoldenGirl90]

At least he has a sense of humor about it. 😂

[Ottis]

I think it’s probably time for the cold open to be about something other than Trump. Last week was a detailed and unfunny mess, this week was just a mess. 

I don’t think I laughed until Chippy. Too bad that didn’t go anywhere. It has a great start.

Wait - I did laugh at the line about the Mayor Pete dance and trying for a negative black vote. 

On the plus side, the only bit I fast forwarded through was the pizza skit. 

[Scott]

7 hours ago, vb68 said:

Damn.  I just realized there was not a single mention of Will being a 5 Timer. Not one word. How weird. 

One of the bumper photos (or maybe it was the one from when his name is announced, I can’t remember) did have him in the 5 Timer smoking jacket. 

[DanaMB]

9 hours ago, Arkay said:

Last year at this time, my heart was breaking for Pete and I was worried for his life. This year I'm tired of him having his own customized schedule. He's absent, or shows up for one line, and he's never in the goodnights. 

I’m so over him. I wish he’d just leave the show. 

Edited November 24, 2019 by DanaMB

[SnarkEnthusiast]

11 hours ago, opus said:

Didn’t someone here say Pete isn’t there when Larry David is?

Probably residual bad feelings from the breakup with his daughter / awkwardness on Pete's part. And if the post-Ariana mess is an indicator (blocking her on everything, passive aggressively implying on social media that he might kill himself and then refusing to see her when she rushed to check on him), Pete is apparently a massive, petty douchelord when it comes to breakups. And anyway, he's dating Cindy Crawford's daughter now, because I guess leagues aren't a thing anymore.

On 11/21/2019 at 11:01 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

And King Princess is ..... some sort of singer, I guess ?

She's an up-and-coming lesbian pop singer whose record label is tied to Harry Styles somehow - I'm thinking he pulled strings to get the gig for her because she's not exactly SNL's demographic. She's huge among queer girls 15 to 25ish. She's not even 21 yet and actually has a very good voice. She performs almost every concert stoned out of her mind (or while vaping) and her signature concert look is braless white tank, so this was by far the most sober and put together I've ever seen her. She looked great. I've met her briefly and she's very nice, so I really wish success for her.

Edited November 24, 2019 by SnarkEnthusiast

[OpalNightstream]

Not a fan of the WU boat guy anymore. It’s getting gross (I know that’s the point but it’s too much)

I wish mya Rudolph would come back permanently. She can do no wrong. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

44 minutes ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

She's an up-and-coming lesbian pop singer whose record label is tied to Harry Styles somehow - I'm thinking he pulled strings to get the gig for her because she's not exactly SNL's demographic. She's huge among queer girls 15 to 25ish. She's not even 21 yet and actually has a very good voice. She performs almost every concert stoned out of her mind (or while vaping) and her signature concert look is braless wife beater, so this was by far the most sober and put together I've ever seen her. She looked great. I've met her briefly and she's very nice, so I really wish success for her.

Thanks for the info, I had never heard of her before.  And you're right, her voice is pretty good.

During the 2nd song, she seemed to be stuck on the spin cycle. :)

[Robert Lynch]

The cold opening was odd. There seemed to be a lot of flubs there. 

[MrWhyt]

10 hours ago, Arkay said:

Last year at this time, my heart was breaking for Pete and I was worried for his life. This year I'm tired of him having his own customized schedule. He's absent, or shows up for one line, and he's never in the goodnights.

i hate it when co-workers are flaky like that, does Lorne always make you cover Pete's shifts?

[TiredMe]

That cold open was terrible. It’s like they have to push in a Trump sketch every other week regardless of the material. Just awful.

once Will bombed the monologue I was seriously worried about this show. The democratic debate saved it for me. 

Honestly though, pretty hit or miss. I think they need some new writers. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

11 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

The banter between Will and Ryan was just terrible. You could sense the awkwardness there.

That was the joke? Will being starstruck with Ryan Reynolds and getting distracted from doing the monologue actually made me laugh.

11 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

The woman with the leather jacket behind Reynolds looked so annoyed and you could tell from her eyes that she was over that segment. I know she was trying her best to cooperate, but her eyes said it all.

All I could see was the people around Ryan Reynolds laughing or trying not to laugh too much. I didn't catch anything that looked like anyone was over it.

10 hours ago, Arkay said:

While I generally find Will Ferrell amusing, the monologue was cringe-inducing. One overlong joke, with the ex-husband of Scarlet Johannsen? Wouldn't that be awkward for Colin? Or maybe these things are cool in 2019, I'm too old to know.

If the monologue with Will had been a problem for Colin, I doubt he would have been ok with Ryan's appearance on Weekend Update.

Wasn't there also another monologue within the last couple of years where the host went on a backstage tour and one of the attractions they pointed out was "the Livelys", i.e. Ryan Reynolds and his current wife Blake Lively? It seems like they must be on good terms with the show.

[Racj82]

11 hours ago, vb68 said:

Oh yeah, good point.  That's right.

BTW, I don't think I saw any dogs tonight.

Praise the Lord! Although Cecily did bring up dogs during the debate.

[JZL]

I got the firm impression that the debate was supposed to be the CO but they pushed it farther back and came up with the POS that actually was the CO a half an hour before airtime.  That was the lamest CO I can remember.  That might also explain why WU was ~ 15 minutes late.

King Princess was pleasantly surprising-- she can sing and can actually play a musical instrument.

I'm no Will Ferrell fan but this show was OK.  The Vaseline bit at the end was a riot.

[Racj82]

Opposite day again.

I enjoyed this show quite a bit. Just seemed like a fun and breezy episode. I actually laughed out loud multiple times and I rarely do that with this show.

I don't care about what guests, cameos or whatever I just want to have a good time I just did this week.

[Robert Lynch]

37 minutes ago, TiredMe said:

That cold open was terrible. It’s like they have to push in a Trump sketch every other week regardless of the material. Just awful.

once Will bombed the monologue I was seriously worried about this show. The democratic debate saved it for me. 

Honestly though, pretty hit or miss. I think they need some new writers. 

Pretty much new everything.

[helenamonster]

The cold open had horrible timing issues, though I don't think it would have been all that great even if everything had gone smoothly.

I got distracted during the monologue cuz the woman sitting next to Ryan was very pretty and had a great smile, and I started wondering how they picked the people who got to sit in those seats. Are they friends/family of the cast? Do the summer lottery winners sit there while the people in standby sit in the balcony? Especially if you're going to do a monologue that shows that part of the audience, you need to make sure the people aren't going to do anything crazy and should probably be mildly telegenic. I don't know, but I think it says something about the quality of the monologue that I was paying more attention to the audience members than what was actually happening.

Ryan Reynolds is very handsome though. Like stupid handsome.

I couldn't stop laughing at the Heinz Relax commercial because I am twelve years old.

When Melissa showed up as Maddow I was wondering why they weren't using Cecily (who's done her before) but then she showed up as Gabbard and the world made sense again.

I don't even want to touch that Thanksgiving in the 1600s sketch. What is with the show's compulsion to do ~*problematic content*~ and then pull the punch at the last second?

The "Party at my House" bit had big Aaron Carter energy and I loved them for it. Also there was a teacher in his mid-20s who used to show up at the parties when I was in high school, and he absolutely was there to creep on the girls. Glad they didn't go in that direction.

No Five Timers sketch and no Celebrity Jeopardy. What are we doing here, folks?

I take Pete's absences for granted now, but was Ego in anything tonight?

1 hour ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

And anyway, he's dating Cindy Crawford's daughter now, because I guess leagues aren't a thing anymore.

Oh wow, guess his thing with Kate Beckinsale ended pretty quickly. Hey Pete? Maybe try being single for a bit, my guy.

[futurechemist]

The cold open did seem half baked. The audience cheered 5 seconds before Will showed up on camera and they never actually introduced his character as Sondland. Though I did appreciate them mocking Trump's tendency to hold press conferences near loud helicopters.

I laughed during the debate sketch despite not really liking it. It's all superficial jokes. Maybe because there's too many candidates. I feel Gore-Bush was the peak of SNL campaign humor.

[vb68]

11 hours ago, mikem said:

I believe Weekend Update didn't start until around 12:17.  Is that the latest that WU has ever been? 

I actually thought it was pushing 12:25, which really surprised me. That is SUPER late.

3 hours ago, Scott said:

One of the bumper photos (or maybe it was the one from when his name is announced, I can’t remember) did have him in the 5 Timer smoking jacket. 

Honestly, that is so lame. They had so many of his former cast mates there anyway. Just present him with the jacket. They could have even done it in the goodbyes.

4 hours ago, ahisma said:

Their YouTube channel has three cut-for-time sketches. I would have preferred Cast List over the ventriloquist dummy or the horny for pizza ad.

 

I liked Cast List, too.  I'm not sure what I would had cut for it besides the Cold Open, though. All the other sketches worked so well.

Speaking of the Cold open, it suffered from almost everything. it was sorta unintentionally hilarious watching Alec and Will completely talk over each other.   But it was like the writers missed the substantive point. Sondland has turned and thrown Trump-and everyone else- under the bus. At least follow along if you have to do a sketch summarizing those events. As it was, I was transfixed trying to figure out the guy's notebook standing behind Cecily. Not a good sign.

12 hours ago, Arkay said:

but if Colin can be around his fiancée's ex-husband, Pete and Larry should be able to handle it

I didn't even think about Ryan and Colin last night, but I'm seeing a lot on it today. Eh. Presumably everybody has moved on and is happy in their relationships now. If Colin was uncomfortable, I'm not so sure he'd ever say. He really strikes me as one of those " The show comes before everything " types.

45 minutes ago, Racj82 said:

Opposite day again.

Not really. A lot of us have said we liked everything past the monologue. But I do LOVE dogs, though. 🙂  Hee.   

Edited November 24, 2019 by vb68

[cpcathy]

I laughed out loud all the way through the episode, I loved all the cameos and I thought Ryan Reynolds was really funny during Boat Guy. 

[Macbeth]

Why  was the Dorothy sketch on during the last half hour.  It should have been bumped up to the first half hour.

It was funny and Kate did a great Dorothy impression.

Re Will not being recognized as a 5 timer - given that he was originally a cast member maybe that's the reason why he wasn't honored.  But I really don't know. 

[Thumper]

The cut "Cast List" sketch is very funny!

[Racj82]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

I actually thought it was pushing 12:25, which really surprised me. That is SUPER late.

Honestly, that is so lame. They had so many of his former cast mates there anyway. Just present him with the jacket. They could have even done it in the goodbyes.

I liked Cast List, too.  I'm not sure what I would had cut for it besides the Cold Open, though. All the other sketches worked so well.

Speaking of the Cold open, it suffered from almost everything. it was sorta unintentionally hilarious watching Alec and Will completely talk over each other.   But it was like the writers missed the substantive point. Sondland has turned and thrown Trump-and everyone else- under the bus. At least follow along if you have to do a sketch summarizing those events. As it was, I was transfixed trying to figure out the guy's notebook standing behind Cecily. Not a good sign.

I didn't even think about Ryan and Colin last night, but I'm seeing a lot on it today. Eh. Presumably everybody has moved on and is happy in their relationships now. If Colin was uncomfortable, I'm not so sure he'd ever say. He really strikes me as one of those " The show comes before everything " types.

Not really. A lot of us have said we liked everything past the monologue. But I do LOVE dogs, though. 🙂  Hee.   

Some have. It's just been more negative than not. And a lot of times when certain episodes are almost complete dumpster fires to me and people will be praising it. I can never truly guess how the majority will react to this show.