S41.E01: Miley Cyrus

[Racj82]

Just have to say that I can't fuck with Miley. Not here or any other avenue at this point. The unsexiest sexpot of all time, I don't care if she smokes weed even if she thinks we all do, I hate her voice (which isn't her choice) because it's annoying and it makes every character sound like variations of her over and over again. Her ME ME ME trying to grab attention persona is tired and I don't think she's that funny. I thought she had successfully faded into the background and thanks to MTV, I can't get rid of her again.

[TV Anonymous]

Worst of all, why in the world is he doing an Italian accent in the first place when Pope Francis himself doesn't have one?    He's Argentinian and sounds it.

 

Agree. There has not been italophone Pope in the Vatican for 37 years. Worse yet, it was less than two weeks since Pope Francis spoke in the Congress in English. His accent was certainly Spanish instead of Italian.

[mizkat]

I thought Miley did fine in her first appearances, but I didn't enjoy her here.

 

I think she was going through the motions. Or taking too much of whatever she's been taking, because she seemed to have distance from the material, and I didn't get a sense of her being nervous or not giving a crap. It was like she was only half there. 

 

It's because of Hammond I noticed how much The Trump says "Huuuuuuuge" a lot.

It's because of Hammond that Trump will forever be "The Onion Loaf" to me--one of many, many reasons I don't see him as a viable candidate. 

 

The Millenials sketch reminded me of The Californians. I hope it's not recurring. It also reminded me of a sketch where someone jumped out a window while officemates watched. I can't remember the specifics.

 

I thought they did a similar sketch with Dakota Johnson--bored office millenials who couldn't be bothered to help their co-worker Aidy, who had both arms broken. Didn't she fall out the window at the end of that sketch? Or maybe I'm confusing it with something else. Either way, both sketches were similar to me. I guess when you have a millenial guest host it's required to parody their generation. 

[Mumbles]

I actually really enjoyed the episode. My favorite sketch was the Ruby Nichols one at the end (still laughing at "Skunk Meat For Supper Again"? ) Also thought Taran nailed Trump's facial expressions and speaking pattern.

It's funny about Miley's voice. It's a typical YMMV moment, but I love it because with all the high pitched, fake-baby-voice vocal fry we hear from the Kardashians and the Hiltons and Ariana Grande and their ilk, it's refreshing to see a 20-something year old girl with a speaking voice like Bea Arthur's. And working with the Flaming Lips is way cooler than Taylor and her girl squad.

[lou ann b]

Well, I thought it was one of the stronger season openers in recent years.

 

Cold Open: I thought Taran did fine as Trump, it must be a bit weird for him to be doing it with Darryl still being part of the show, but maybe it wasn't his call-especially with Darryl also being Bill Clinton later on. My hope is that Trump drops out of the race before much longer so this will be a moot point....

Monologue:Like everyone else here, I thought Aidy's Kim was the highlight. And she didn't have to say a WORD. Bobby was also awesome as Jared/Josh.Also liked Jay and Michael as America's Favorite Feuding Rappers. Not enough Jay tonight for my tastes-love the guy.

Abilify: My friend commented we need to give Trump an "extra strength" dose of this drug. Very funny bit. And Miley looked attractive as Mrs -Whoever.

Homecoming 1955: New Guy aquitted himself very well, I thought. I love to watch Taran sing and dance..

HIlary and Val:Loved. Kate is a genius and aside from a bit of early "staring at the cards", I thought Hilary did a good job. Loved Kate's last night:"It's a solid business pump" or something like that.

WU: Little sexy Girl Scout Thin Mint Colin is back-I thought he and Che have improved rapport-but I've never had a problem witih Che, so maybe I'm not the one to ask. I loved Leslie from her first appearance on SNL, and I continue to love her.

I continue to really enjoy Pete. Someone mentioned a Sanjaya joke and how ir wasn't timely. Well, I work with someone 22, which is Pete's generation and she's always throwing out comments like that.  That's their frame of pop culture reference sometimes. I roll with it. It would be like me mentioning Donny Osmond's guest apperance on Here's Lucy....

Millenials. It may be tired, but...*please refer to my comment above re 22 year old coworker* It was pretty much spot on.

Katz's Deli:Leslie again. Love. "I can't have a baby, I want to be a dancer"....I must work this into a converasation.  Vanessa was really good here.

The Squad: Aidy and Vanessa made this a movie I'd like to see.  had to explain to my friend the 89 reference, she's never really heard any of Taylor's music and I can't abide her for very long myself.

American Voices:Leslie was 3 for 3 last night. She got into the character and there was some real tension there.

Good Neighbor: I missed the beginning because I hit the FF button after american voices, so went back. Odd, but it worked somehow. I find Bobby hot in glasses-sayin'.

I have no comment on the Miley songs, because I was also hitting the FF button at that point.

I give the show a B+-Miley kept it from being an A.

 

[Fostersmom]

 

Good Neighbor: I missed the beginning because I hit the FF button after american voices, so went back. Odd, but it worked somehow. I find Bobby hot in glasses-sayin'.

 

 

There's a millennial who works in one of our other offices, a very nice kid, barely 21. He still lives at home, but got married today. His new wife moved across the country to be with him. Too bad they made no real attempt to figure out where they will be living. They registered at Target and REI and I asked if they will be living in one of the tents from REI.

 

You didn't miss the beginning of the Good Neighbor sketch. It was weird. It went directly from the Ruby sketch, right into the Good Neighbor with no transition. I think we all missed the beginning. 

[lou ann b]

Thanks, Foster's Mom. I thought my cable provider was messing with me here in Ohio.

[Princess Sparkle]

Now that I already outed myself as a Miley fan earlier in the thread, I might as well out myself as a Kyle Mooney fan. He has a weird, strange sense of humor that I'm totally into. I don't know why he ended up with an Italian accent as the pope, but I got a legitimate laugh at him saying he closed down a bar by singing Closing Time with Mos Def. I also liked that the sketch with him marrying Miley was a follow up to the last time she hosted, when he was stressing with Bobby and Beck over the fact that she wanted to sleep with him.

And speaking of WU, I'll out myself again - I'm a fan of Jost and Che behind the desk, and I think those two are gelling together. I believe it was vb68 that posted an article in the media thread a few months ago where Colin basically acknowledged that he knew people didn't like him behind the desk, but he was working to fix it, and I think that showed last night - that's probably the funniest he's been behind the desk, and it seems like he landed on his persona. I liked the "race relations" joke, and that when Michael busted his chops about it, you could hear a genuine laugh coming from him. I also cracked up in Pete's segment that when he was around his grandpa, he couldn't acknowledge that he was friends with Michael, but that his grandpa loved Colin, and I freaking died when Colin gave that dorky thumbs up. And, of course, Leslie and Colin are magic together at the WU - even though he clearly knows what's coming, it appears that Leslie's overatures still can catch him off guard and make him laugh; he looked like he was struggling to keep it together when she started yelling "How am I being subtle???"

I thought Miley was a good host; former Disney kids are usually good, and to me, she's no exception. Yeah, she wears crazy shit and talks about smoking weed a lot, but so did a lot my friends when we were 22. I won't lie, I got a really good laugh in the homecoming sketch when she started rapping that the new guy would have to sleep with Nasty Pete (I think that was his name). It didn't really have anything to do with Miley, but I liked in the Katz's Deli sketch that Leslie's fake orgasms include the condom breaking and exclamation that she can't have a baby, either because she's a dancer or because her brothers husband needs to stay because he needs to finish his long con.

Not enough Aidy and Bobby for my taste, but there never is. And honestly, Vanessa can leave any time now. She has somehow become less and less funny to me as each season goes by. And unfortunately for me, I'm guessing since she worked with Amy Schumer on Trainwreck, she'll probably be in a lot of the episode.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Princess Sparkle

[heatherchandler]

The "When Harry Met Sally" sketch started slow but I was laughing hard by the time Leslie Jones was yelling about the and Marko being her "brother's husband" and the "condom being busted"!

.

You enjoyed that?? I thought that was awful.

I guess I just don't like Leslie when she is doing the screaming shit.

[lovinbob]

I love Vanessa. I find her funny and versatile.

 

I agree with the sentiment that Miley is like Justin Timberlake -- I feel the same way. Not interested in their music, and with Miley, I'm even less interested in her public image. On SNL, though, she shows that she's got talent in more than one area. For a big name season premiere host, though, she was unbelievably underused.

 

I didn't laugh much this episode, though I liked the intro song and the Abilify ad.

[VCRTracking]

You enjoyed that?? I thought that was awful.

I guess I just don't like Leslie when she is doing the screaming shit.

I just love when a sketch gets super specific and detailed like Marko "running a con". I still remember from when Cuba Gooding Jr. hosted years ago, in a sketch about the filming of a Bible miniseries that for some reason had to be improvised and suddenly Will Ferrell as Jesus and Horatio Sanz is a crew member are fighting and Gooding playing an apostle is breaking it up:

"Come on!, come on! Come on, Barry! Come on, Jesus! Don't fight, you guys! I mean, come on! You guys have been friends since the Coast Guard!"

Edited October 5, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Traveller519]

I really enjoyed Miley's 2013 hosting gig, but I can't really say she added much to this one outside of singing "My Way" in the monologue. This whole summer whenever she's popped up somewhere, my dominating thought is "Goodness, it must be exhausting to constintly be trying to appear so edgy and attempting to kill the tween version of yourself." One of the SNL bookers obviously thinks she's the greatest thing going, from having her appear to "coach" Ed Norton through his first appearance to singing a Paul Simon song on the 40th Special when Paul was already there. I agree that it seemed like the writers didn't want to write for Miley this time around after her summer and she seemed fine by it so she could get into costume for her songs. I repeat her wanting to focus on those.

Some stray thoughts

- For comedic purposes the pope has been "played" as Italian for a while. I remember various versions of Pope John Paul II played as super Italian though he was Polish. Family Guy was the most obvious one I can recall.

- The Good Neighbor skit was indeed a continuation of the one (their first I believe) they did the last time she hosted, except that time it was about her wanting to have sex with Kyle in his dressing room, and ended with the wedding... I think.

- Speaking of Kyle, I get that he's not everyone's cup of Kombucha, including Lorne's if reports are to be believed, but I like that his sketches mix up the format a bit, especially now with Mike O'brien gone.

- All the Hillary pumping seemed to me to be very clever inside joke acknowledging her pandering. Hence the "I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this joke" line during Update. A sort of... "Hillary only agreed to come on if we would shill for her" joke, knowing that the audience knows full well that Hillary's shtick at the moment is to appear as in tunexpected with the youth of today as possible.

- I like Kate's take on Hillary as super fed up with having constantly taken a backseat (and smiled while doing it) and her time is now, and why can't everyone just see that, and stop making her have to run through all these god damn hoops! Kind of an interesting riff from Amy's "I'm the smartest person in this room, but I can't say that, but why can't you all see it?!" take.

- Finally, I have mad respect for Leslie. I'm not always the biggest fan of her stuff, but I admire how far she's come. She forced her way out of the writers' room and onto the show, and she obviously writes a ton. The quickest way to stardom on the sow is to be a good writer and put yourself in your sketches, or be someone who is easy to write for. Her hard work is paying huge dividends for herself.

[ktwo]

Why were the goodnights cut off so early? I wanted to see how Miley could possibly hug anybody in that dress that she had on.

[Princess Sparkle]

I'm happy the show is back.  I thought it was a pretty good premiere.  Miley was fine.  It actually felt like she was an afterthought in most of the sketches.   I did notice that she was really into that second song, and it looked like she was crying. I was only half paying attention, though.

 

Hillary was a very good sport, and I think she was having fun.  Taran's Trump, on the other hand, needs some serious work.  That surprised me, and it must be doubly hard as he is competing against memories Darrell's great impression.

 

Leslie just brings it.  Yes, I know she screams a lot, but it works for me.   i ain't 'fraid of no Jost!

 

I'm glad the article I posted in the cast thread was wrong, and Beck got his promotion.  Kinda surprised Colin and Sasheer did as well.

I meant to mention that in my earlier post and completely forgot.  Yeah, Taran got the cadence of Trump, but that voice needs some serious work.  

[Traveller519]

The problem with doing a Trump Impression, is that it's well worn territory these days. It's like doing a Schwarzenegger. They kind of need to find a hook to put on it for 2015, it's not there yet, hopefully it comes. I don't like impressions for the sake of doing impressions.

[hendersonrocks]

I don't know why he ended up with an Italian accent as the pope, but I got a legitimate laugh at him saying he closed down a bar by singing Closing Time with Mos Def.

 

I actually might have laughed at that, but I couldn't understand half the words he was saying and apparently Closing Time and Mos Def were among them.

[Bruinsfan]

Homecoming 1955: New Guy aquitted himself very well, I thought.

It really cracked me up when he said "I don't know if I wanna go all the way with you and Nasty Jack," but was uncertain about it like being the middle of a Devil's threeway might not be an automatic dealbreaker.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Bruinsfan

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

 

- Finally, I have mad respect for Leslie. I'm not always the biggest fan of her stuff, but I admire how far she's come.

IMHO whenever I see Leslie on the screen she appears so excited and cheerful which of course makes me want to watch her. Everything is right out there in the open. 

[possibilities]

That "excited and cheerful" persona idea really nails it. Even when she's saying what amounts to an angry rant, you feel like you could hug her and she'd hug you right back without missing a beat.

 

Also, I feel like she'd be in "our" corner (whoever we are) when the shit went down, i.e. she's active and undefeated, however frustrated she might be. SO many female characters are either passive or beaten down and Leslie is vibrant and unapologetic and not submissive or stupid. All her "out there" comes from lucidity, not crazy. And all her "crazy" comes from not fitting into limits, rather than from being internally chaotic or confused.

Edited October 5, 2015 by possibilities

[ari333]

Well dammit Hilary was awesome. She looked good too. 

Not a Miley fan, but on that second song with the long blonde wig, she sounded almost... ALMOST.... like the goddess Stevie Nicks.... -ish. The minor key and haunting melody didn't hurt either.

Edited October 5, 2015 by ari333

[vb68]

 

The problem with doing a Trump Impression, is that it's well worn territory these days. It's like doing a Schwarzenegger. They kind of need to find a hook to put on it for 2015, it's not there yet, hopefully it comes. I don't like impressions for the sake of doing impressions.

 

 

That and it's just hard to top the real thing for the crazy over the top crap that comes out of his mouth.  I felt like Taran was downplaying him just a bit if that makes any sense.

[BatmanBeatles]

 

They could have had her in a skit calling  tech support for computer advice on how to delete emails.

With Jimmy Fallon as the tech support.

 

I too couldn't understand Kyle's bit on WU. I think the reason they didn't mention the dentist's name is that not very people know it. I didn't.

[Princess Sparkle]

That "excited and cheerful" persona idea really nails it. Even when she's saying what amounts to an angry rant, you feel like you could hug her and she'd hug you right back without missing a beat.

 

Also, I feel like she'd be in "our" corner (whoever we are) when the shit went down, i.e. she's active and undefeated, however frustrated she might be. SO many female characters are either passive or beaten down and Leslie is vibrant and unapologetic and not submissive or stupid. All her "out there" comes from lucidity, not crazy. And all her "crazy" comes from not fitting into limits, rather than from being internally chaotic or confused.

That's why I loved in her desk piece this week when she said something along the lines of "Men always say they want a strong woman; well here I am in my size 12s and I've got my own money!"  

[Ottis]

Cold Open: So-so. Kind of over Trump.

Monologue: FF'd through most of the talking. Agree that Bobby going from Jared to Josh Duggar was amazing. Wish they would have slammed kentucky clerk way harder, or at least slammed the people who support her.

Abilify: OK.

Homecoming Dance: Skipped a lot of it.

Hillary: Hillary was better than I expected. Liked that Kate challenged her a bit on recognizing gay rights. Just the fact that HRC went on SNL, even though she was among friends, is a good thing, IMO.

Weekend Update: I FF'd through every character bit they bring out, in this and other episodes. Can't they simply mock the news?
 

The Millenials: Had great promise, but was so shallow. Yes, everyone knows Millenials are entitled and phone-obsessed. Can we dig a bit more, please? I badly wanted to share this one at work, but in the end it was so lightweight and cliched that I can't.

Katz's Delicatessen: NY joke, don't care. And it was way too long. If that happened in a restaurant near here, someone would have called the police.

The Squad: It felt authentic and well done, but I don't care about Taylor Swift or her squad.

I don't remember the rest of the show. FF'd through most of it.

 

I liked that SNL was getting a little more cutting edge with political commentary. I saw enough Miley at the MTV awards or whatever she hosted recently.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here are the Sketch Predictor's predictions on the episode!

 

What Will Happen When Miley Cyrus Hosts Saturday Night Live (for a third time)?
And who will debut a flawless Cecile Richards impression?

[Fostersmom]

Thanks, Foster's Mom. I thought my cable provider was messing with me here in Ohio.

 

I'm in Ohio too, but I'm pretty sure it was just odd timing all around. 

[AriAu]

That "excited and cheerful" persona idea really nails it. Even when she's saying what amounts to an angry rant, you feel like you could hug her and she'd hug you right back without missing a beat.

 

I came to this site to see if anyone thought the Katz's Deli/Harry met Sally thing was funny since I hated it. Her rant was just plan uncomfortable to listen to and there was no funny material....or maybe I missed something.  or maybe I am outside of her target demo?

I get what the point that she is happy go lucky, but her only act seems to be (or ends up with) her yelling.

[Katmai]

 

There's just something about her unabashed aggressiveness and his slight deer in the headlights look that really nails it for me.

 

I came to this site to see if anyone thought the Katz's Deli/Harry met Sally thing was funny since I hated it. Her rant was just plan uncomfortable to listen to and there was no funny material....or maybe I missed something.  or maybe I am outside of her target demo?

I get what the point that she is happy go lucky, but her only act seems to be (or ends up with) her yelling.

AriAu, I'm one who is very tired of Leslie's unabashed aggressiveness and yelling. Not every character of her's needs to be like that, nor does every skit that she's in need that. I'd love to see her try some other character, any type of character, than the well she goes to every.single.time. I imagine she yells all of her lines in Ghostbusters, too.

 

On a positive note, not enough Bobby and Aidy this week and one of my fav skits was with HRC & Kate. I'm coming around to Kate's HRC after being disappointed when she first started doing it, due to comparing her to Amy's version. Kate can hold her own and run with it.

[Ruby25]

I also think that's exactly how she's going to be in Ghostbusters and I'm sort of dreading it. God, the screaming. Why do people think something's funny just because you scream it?

[formerlyfreedom]

Let's take further discussion of Leslie and any other cast members that doesn't have to do with the episode to the Cast Discussion topic.

[jjj]

[wrong thread] 

Edited October 25, 2015 by jjj