S41.E02: Amy Schumer / The Weeknd

[formerlyfreedom]

Host Amy Schumer, musical guest The Weeknd

 

 

[Primetimer]

And who's more likely to do a walk-on: Bill Hader, LeBron James, or Chuck Schumer?

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[absnow54]

I feel like there's a pretty good chance that Jennifer Lawrence will show up too, since they're desperate to let everyone know that they're bestest PR friends.

[fastiller]

I want them to make a "The Weeknd Update" joke.

[Certainly Ken]

Edit suggestion:

"Riblet (Moynihan) appears to remind him and his fellow anchor Colin Jost that their JORBS are easy."

[vb68]

I think the cold open will have something to do with the House Republicans trying to find a new Speaker.  Taran can reprise his Paul Ryan impression.

[AndySmith]

Well, a reason to avoid the episode. Can't stand her.

[Jaded]

I think I laughed once tonight during the airplane skit. I stupidly listened to the song that Nicki Minaj guested on and those lyrics made me want to puke. I probably should have changed the channel at some point but I guess I wanted to see if it would get any better.

[bmoore4026]

Ok, I swear she said "Goddammit" in that baby shower sketch.  Guess she won't be back (stupid censors).

[clarkbar]

Laughed out loud during Weekend Update.  Twice.  That hasn't happened for a while.  I call it a win.

 

[vb68]

I didn't think this was the best episode.

 

My station came back real late on the Delta plane sketch, and Vanessa's character was already outside the plane.  It just made the whole thing feel terribly disjointed.

 

I did like the monologue, and I thought Jost and Che had a strong night on Update.

 

I also liked the running commentary throughout the whole episode on guns.  I'm guessing Amy insisted on that.  

 

I was disappointed with the Cold Open as I thought they could had been much more creative with it like have Paul Ryan trying to hide out or something. But it was fun to see Pete try a political impression.

 

Random observation in the Hot for Teacher sketch-  Kyle Mooney has worked out over the summer.   That's all on that one.

Edited October 11, 2015 by vb68

[Fisher King]

I thought the monologue was hysterical but I'm an unabashed AS fan.

[Bruinsfan]

I did a literal spit take when Michael Che had the Black History Month punchline.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I thought the monologue was fantastic - up until the baby bath thing, I'm incredibly squeamish and really didn't need to hear that - it started out fantastically anyway.

 

They actually did The Weeknd Update and I thought it was adorable.

 

The sketches themselves were really uninspired writing.  But Amy did her best.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Bees]

Cold Open: Let's face it -- we all pretty much only like Fox and Friends for the corrections. Granted, Moynihan's character is amusing at times but it's all about the goofy corrections. I did like Kate's character though some may think that it was stupid.

 

Monologue: I'm sorry but I don't get the big deal with Amy Schumer. I don't find her that funny to be honest. Then again, that's pretty much my aesthetic speaking. I don't really like standup comedians whom have the whole "SEX AND GROSS SEX STUFF, AMIRITE?!" schtick going on for them regardless if they're men or women. And that gets me frustrated when I try to see if there's any good women comedians who don't focus on that stuff. There's sure to be some but it feels like all the big ones that hit it big are in that camp. In conclusion, I don't get Amy Schumer but that's just a personal preference.

 

Airplane: I kind of like this. I enjoyed the idea of it. I liked Vanessa and Taran the most in this sketch. Vanessa's freaking out and then Taran giving that very high pitched scream was great too. 

 

Hot for Teacher: I have to admit, the premise of this sketch was super surreal and made me chuckle a little bit and the actors were pretty good. However, it felt like they just didn't know how to exactly bring it all together. There were some really good material here but it just wasn't strung together well enough. Kind of like Project Runway this year and their barrage of one day challenges.

 

Guns Ad: This felt too easy of a sketch to do. There were some interesting moments but mehh it just felt like they did this just to do something on the issue like they needed to fill a quota.

 

Weekend Update: I have to admit The Weeknd Update made me laugh. And I thought some of the commentary was pretty good. I kind of like the back and forth stuff. The Update correspondents....not their best. Though I did smirk a little bit at Kate's character with the "Dear the Cast of Friday" but I felt like they missed a potential laugh by not ending it with "Bye Felicia" unless if I missed that. That Che joke about Black History Month was fantastic. 

 

Wilkes Booth Re-Enactment: This felt like a Leslie Jones sketch but with Amy Schumer substituted as Leslie Jones. Keep in mind I do like Leslie Jones in small doses. But man this felt like something Leslie Jones probably would've done. Still lame though. 

 

Town Hall Meeting: I will say I liked how everything was so quick and snappy. There was no subject that was hung up on. Kind of felt like they were going for a "Parks and Rec" townspeople kind of feel for it. There were some interesting bits here. I loved Kenan's obsessed with Halloween dude. That voice was amusing as hell. 

 

Wedding Shower: Cecily's hysterical crying talk made me think of Mary Tyler Moore's hysterical crying talk in The Dick Van Dyke Show. So I found that kind of funny. However, the sketch itself was too dumb and I wasn't sure what direction it was going on. I mean the opening bit with Vanessa being all unsure of how far along she was and not believing in doctors sounded like a fun idea for a sketch. Then came in Amy Schumer's character and Cecily's hysterical character. I really wished they stuck with the first route though crying Cecily was pretty funny.

 

This kind of felt like a short episode. I do like how things didn't drag on for too long though the obvious theme of gun control did loom pretty heavily. Though am I missing a sketch? I feel like I am. I'm still not a fan of Amy Schumer though. She's just not my cup of tea.

[Jaded]

I thought the monologue was fantastic - up until the baby bath thing, I'm incredibly squeamish and really didn't need to hear that - it started out fantastically anyway.

 

They actually did The Weeknd Update and I thought it was adorable.

 

The sketches themselves were really uninspired writing.  But Amy did her best.

The baby bath thing made me squirm and I'm not usually too squeamish. The comments when detailing how she washed the baby's genitalia weren't needed. I'm not a prude by any means either even if my two posts in this thread may come across that way.

[VCRTracking]

My favorite sketches were the plane sketch("You were useless Mark!"), and the Ford's Theater sketch("Nobody plows me but Abraham Lincoln!")

 

I liked Amy's monologue for the most part. I liked the Kardasians and Bradley Cooper bit. Yeah the baby bath part was kind of "ew". Especially because I'm a guy and my brother's wife just had a baby girl today and now I really hope I'm never asked to give her a bath!

 

Twitter seems divided on Jay's new "Solomon" character. I liked it.

 

Loved the "Weeknd Update" bit.

 

Whoa, Nicki Manaj!

 

Amy was a very good host IMO. She never broke or seemed to be looking at cue cards and she really went all out in her sketches acting wise.

Edited October 11, 2015 by VCRTracking

[nowandlater]

Man, that episode was forgettable. Nothing special, except The Weeknd Update joke.

 

I've written before that I hate standup comedians doing their standup act in their opening monologue (specifically Louis CK).

 

But boy did I hate it Schumer, whose standup act I've enjoyed before.

 

I just think that they should do something special for the monologue, not something they always do.

 

And for a few minutes, SNL becomes all about their standup act, instead of all about SNL.

[Fisher King]

 

And for a few minutes, SNL becomes all about their standup act, instead of all about SNL.

 

The very first airing of Saturday Night Live featured a comedian doing his standup routine. I don't mind that. At least it's not a singing monologue.

[Fostersmom]

Good lord, I hated this episode. I knew I wasn't going to like Schumer, I find her crass and just not funny, but figured the rest of the cast would make me laugh. Yeah, no. I laughed a couple times during the Weekend Update, but that was it. 

[Mama No Life]

Amy was great but I'd rather listen to her stand-up than try to suffer through poorly written skits.  I did enjoy the Booth Theater thing for a while...

 

It was the first time I've watched in a while....the Weekend Update guys are not good.

[hendersonrocks]

I did a literal spit take when Michael Che had the Black History Month punchline.

 

As a Minnesotan, I was like...yup. Well played, Che.

 

I thought this was a good episode. Leaps and bounds better than last week, and Schumer brought energy and humor. I've never seen her show and didn't see Trainwreck, so I just know what I've read in every entertainment magazine for the last six months (A LOT). I was impressed.

 

The purse sketch was probably my favorite. The bad teacher was at the bottom (I just can't with the sexxxxxxy female teacher seduction trope). Colin & Che's gun dialogue was the best thing they've done. 

 

Lots of the cast seemed MIA for all or massive chunks of this one. Did we even see new guy once?

[nowandlater]

The very first airing of Saturday Night Live featured a comedian doing his standup routine. I don't mind that. At least it's not a singing monologue.

 

And that's why I hate '70s SNL.

 

Today's the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live's premiere. Was it brought up in the last hour of the show?

 

Also, today is the 40th anniversary of Bill and Hillary Clinton's marriage.

[Toaster Strudel]

WOW, Amy Shumer sure threw herself into everything 110%.  I loved her parody of the porno "hot teacher" stereotype, she was totally over-the-top while nailing the character in every exquisite detail... yet was able to keep it firmly planted in the realm of "goofy."  When Aidy came to interrupt the uncomfortable porno scene as the eager student, it was a welcome relief!  Aidy was similarly brilliant, her lines were hilarious and she played up her character's wide-eyed sincerity perfectly.  I didn't want Aidy to leave because I knew the bad porno would get going again, LOL, her return was welcome.  Amy Schumer's reactions to the interruptions had me in stitches.

 

I adored that sketch!

 

Also, not enough Leslie.

 

It's about time that Colin & Che became aware of each other's existence, it worked really well.  I do think Colin makes a better straight man to the goofy interviews than Che.  I am also glad that Che's jokes were shorter, maybe one reason I didn't like him was because he treated weekend update like a monologue.  I am glad he improved his diction and stopped stumbling on every second word like he did when he started this gig.  It was his best performance yet.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Toaster Strudel

[Ms Blue Jay]

I noticed that Cecily was barely in the show, but that doesn't really bother me.

 

I also thought that Amy did variations of the same character, kind of like a Melissa McCarthy thing.   Amy loves to mock herself as being Long Island Trash (she said as much during the Bradley Cooper monologue part) so you can see that in every sketch. They both throw themselves completely and admirably into their roles; but the sketches needed WAY better writing.  I found the episode mildly amusing.  I smiled here and there.  The show needs more punch than that.

 

By the way, I absolutely loved Trainwreck.  I think SNL fans should try it, considering Bill Hader was the romantic lead and..... come on, guys, what more needs to be said?  There wasn't really gross out humour that I can remember -- except for the fact that Bill plays a surgeon and there was some gross medical stuff.  Oh, and Colin Quinn plays her father!  I definitely recommend it to women, and I thought it was really transparent that they had a dozen sports cameos to try to get straight guys interested too.

 

I absolutely Love the Fox & Friends News Corrections too.  So my kind of humour, I crack up every time they do this.  So I made this!  Happy Weekend/Weeknd:

 

Edited October 11, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[peeayebee]

I thought there were good parts and not so good parts.

 

I love Bobby in the Fox & Friends sketches. His dumbness cracks me up. Loved him laughing when Taran/Steve Doocey mentioned Pizza Rat. The scrolling corrections are always fantastic.

 

I mainly liked Amy's monologue. Although I wasn't too crazy about the baby bath part, I did chuckle when she said she did a Tinder swipe.

 

I thought the flight attendant sketch was really good. Vanessa was great. Taran too.

 

Hot for Teacher 8 was ok. My favorite part was Aidy. I loved the little girl dress she was wearing. 

 

The gun ad was well done.

 

Weekend Update was one of the better ones. I thought Frankenspeaker and Ben Carson as the doctor to do it were funnier than the audience did. Michael's line, "Can you really trust someone who has a sponge in his brain?" was great. I think Solomon has potential to be a good character, but man, I don't really care for Jay's performance. Still, I loved each time he admitted what he just said was a lie. The Weeknd Update was cute.

 

I didn't care for the Lincoln assassination reenactment. The hands-free selfie stick ad was so-so.

 

The City Council ad made me miss Parks & Recreation. And I read that Amy's character was from her show. I've only seen a couple of eps, so I didn't know that character.

 

The baby shower was pretty good. I think it was predictable that the purse would be on the couch behind the girlfriends, but that's ok. Amy and Cecily gave good performances. However, my favorite line of the sketch, and maybe of the night, came from Vanessa after Cecily says she hopes it was ok that she brought her friend -- ""Yeah, I guess I didn't say NOT to do it, so ..." That was perfect. Oh, and I love how Amy kept giving Kate disgusted glares.

[xander874]

Her character from the city hall skit was in a Toddlers and Tiaras spoof. It was pretty funny so I wished she got more screen time. Amy is funny on her show and I was worried she wouldn't get a chance to shine. I was right.

[VCRTracking]

In the plane sketch I noticed when Vanessa said "Delta was the third best airline" Amy indicated "3" the German way which is a thumb and the index and middle finger. I only know that because it was such a big plot point in Inglourious Basterds!

Edited October 11, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Brattinella]

Wow, does that guy EVER wash his hair??

[strongoxman]

Wow, The Weeknd has some of the worst stage presence I've ever seen of a performer; so fucking awkward to look at.

[BatmanBeatles]

I didn't care much for the Solomon character on WU.

[whatsatool]

Was that a Tracy cameo?

[redlaces]

I didn't care much for the Solomon character on WU.

 

I thought it was the most terrible thing about the episode. I love Kate but, I didn't like her neighbor character on update either. Aidy was super cute in the porn sketch, that's about it on that.. Monologue was my favorite, I hadn't seen that routine before so it was new to me. I am the most un-pc person, and the baby bath thing made me squint a little. I thought the baby shower was kind of funny because it's true. That's all I got. 

[morgankobi]

In the plane sketch I noticed when Vanessa said "Delta was the third best airline" Amy indicated "3" the German way which is a thumb and the index and middle finger. I only know that because it was such a big plot point in Inglourious Basterds!

It's also how to show 3 in sign language (holding your pinky down with your thumb is for 6).

 

I was very surprised to like Update as much as I did, but oh boy, do they need work on their timing!

[possibilities]

That Minnesota Black History Month joke was something from which I may never recover. Even moreso because I didn't predict it from the set up. Wow. You could retire after that one, and just live off the royalties and/or shockwaves.

 

I actually liked that there were surprises-- like the first time the airplane door opened. And I didn't see the location of the "hands free" selfie-stick coming. I thought it was going to be a robot that followed you around, or maybe an attachment to a pith helmet or something like "angel wings" or a shoulder mounted ventriloquist dummy that took pictures and commented on them as it did so. "Clench to take the picture! I don't even feel it!"-- took me totally by surprise. Basically, I really appreciate when the jokes aren't so obvious to me that I feel like I'm watching a rerun.

 

I don't mind stand up comedy for the monologue. I don't mind singing, either. Not sure what people want to see. I like that Amy is committed to saying something serious from time to time, like the part where she was saying "we need role models"-- the baby bath is what people remember, but she name-checked Malala and made a serious point about that whole "exciting time for women in comedy" kerfuffle. She does always sound like she's shouting, though. Did she and Leslie grow up in the same neighborhood?

 

I liked both gun bits-- the commercial and the WU segment. I thought Vanessa was going to use her rifle to get health care without insurance, actually. And hey-- they had her be pregnant twice this episode.

 

Thanks for posting the FoxNews corrections. They are indeed the funniest part of the bit, and sometimes the funniest part of the entire show, in my opinion.

[Ottis]

AS monologue and Weekend Update were best parts of the ep. Almost every skit felt like it had a premise, and nothing else. Interesting opening and then nowhere to go. The airplane and the baby shower skits were especially that way. Maybe the writers had a short week or something.

 

The hands-free selfie stick skit was a great idea that was spoiled by weird execution: The selfie's taken by the selfie sticks often included the camera taking the pic, in the pic. 

 

The gun bit wasn't very funny but it was very political, and I liked that SNL went there. Or rather, returned there after a long absence.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Ottis

[AriAu]

Loved the monologue. I have not seen Amy Schumer do standup before, so I laughed hard, even knowing that it was her shtick, especially since she sold it like some parts were new observations even when they were not.

 Also loved Jost and Che in Update, didn't mind Kate's neighbor character, but did not like Solomon.

I was really unsure about Schumer in the teacher/porno skit. I know she was supposed to show bad/porno acting, but he cue card reading was pretty distracting. Aidy's lines pretty much saved it.

With all of that screaming, the baby shower/purse scene had to be written for Leslie Jones and Schumer took it over.

Thought cold open was great (yes, especially the corrections), but Kate's crazy eyes on Debby Wasserman-Schultz-material was good, but the bug eyes crazy look was too over the top and not even close to accurate.

Edited October 12, 2015 by AriAu

[peeayebee]

I don't mind stand up comedy for the monologue. I don't mind singing, either. Not sure what people want to see.

Yeah, I don't mind what they do for the monologue as long as it's good.

 

 

The hands-free selfie stick skit was a great idea that was spoiled by weird execution: The selfie's taken by the selfie sticks often included the camera taking the pic, in the pic. 

 

I noticed that too. I always hate in movies when a person wakes up blurry-eyed, often the person or thing they're looking at is from another perspective. Bugs me.

 

 Also loved Jost and Che in Update, didn't mind Kate's neighbor character, but did not like Solomon.

 

I liked the character, but did not like Jay. I could easily picture Bobby doing the character and being hilarious.

[potatoradio]

The monologue about the baby bath, the gun commercial and the WU joke about Black History Month were my favorite parts because there was a moment where I thought, "they're going there? Really?" And I realized how happy I was to see them finally introduce some edgy, pushing the boundary comedy that actually worked (IMHO) instead of feeling watered down or cringeworthy. I would like this to continue.

 

Solomon needs to never appear again. 

 

I don't know how she does it, but I always find Vanessa Bayer's "straightman" characters hysterically well done. 

 

 

[Traveller519]

Yikes, the sketches were nothing to write home about. I enjoyed Hot for Teacher 8 and Ford Theater most out of the live ones and at least everything outside of Fox & Friends was original.

Schumer's sketches are the best on her show when they make you face an unwelcome and uncomfortable truth about yourself, male or female. I can't see anything outside of Selfie Sticks or Guns doing that here.

[vb68]

 

I don't mind stand up comedy for the monologue. I don't mind singing, either. Not sure what people want to see.

 

 

I think that's a very well taken point.  Monologue options are really limited to start with, so whatever works is fine with me.  I definitely won't fault a stand up (or the show) for doing stand up.

Edited October 12, 2015 by vb68

[lovinbob]

I laughed through this whole episode. It worked for me!

[Brattinella]

I didn't think I could loathe an actress more than Lena Dunham; I was wrong.

[VCRTracking]

 

I think that's a very well taken point.  Monologue options are really limited to start with, so whatever works is fine with me.  I definitely won't fault a stand up (or the show) for doing stand up.

 

True, but I still miss the days of the late 80s, early 90s monologues when Tom Hanks would "die" on stage and have a weird out of body experience, or when John Larroquette hosted the second time and he declared himself "king of the studio" and challenged audience members to a fight.

 

The Onion AV Club reviewer gave the episode a C review because he wanted the sketches to be more in line with the more sharper satire of Amy's own Comedy Central show. Yeah, the sketches on SNL weren't exactly on the brilliant  level of her "Military Video Game" sketch or the Friday Night Lights parody, but I enjoyed the absurdity of the plane skit and the baby shower.

Edited October 14, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Princess Sparkle]

 

The Onion AV Club reviewer gave the episode a C review because he wanted the sketches to be more in line with the more sharper satire of Amy's own Comedy Central show. Yeah, the sketches on SNL weren't exactly on the brilliant  level of her "Military Video Game" sketch or the Friday Night Lights parody, but I enjoyed the absurdity of the plane skit and the baby shower.

 

You know, I was a little worried that's what the criticism for this week's show would be, and I have to say, while I understand it, I think it's off the mark for two reasons.  The first being that, while I love Amy Schumer and her show, she gets an entire year to write, workshop, and test sketches, which allows her to throw out the bad ones or the ones that don't hit the mark.  You can't do that on a show like SNL.  And the second being that perhaps Amy Schumer wanted to do SNL precisely  because it's a different type of sketch show than her own.  I do, though, think it brings up an interesting point of whether SNL can be properly compared against other sketch shows like Inside Amy Schumer, or Key and Peele, but that's a discussion for another day.

 

I saw an interview with Colin and Michael before the season started, and the interviewer asked them if they were nervous to have Amy on the show, because she's known for the sharp satire on her show - they ended up split on what they thought.  Michael was excited, because he wanted her input and ideas in the writers room (which came to fruition, because I think the gun sketch and commentary were clearly her idea), and Colin was nervous, because he thought if it was anything less than hysterical, they'd all be known as the ones who ruined Amy Schumer.  

 

Speaking of those guys - I cannot describe how hard I laughed in the WU gun debate bit when Michael got to the part about slaves, and then there was the straight pan to Colin, followed by the:

"You’re not supposed to cut to me after that."

"Oh no, I told them to do that."

 

They clearly took the WU criticism of last season to heart, and worked to improve, because WU has been fantastic the past two weeks.  As others have mentioned, the Black History Month line was hysterical, I loved the "they're trying to take our soda buckets!" and "hey man, I have a lot of sneakers" in the gun control bit, and the comparison of Justin Bieber's dick to the Speaker of the House position, with Michael's reaction in the background, cracked me up.  

 

I also can't explain quite why, but Aidy's delivery of "Okay, I guess I’ll just study everything" in the teacher sketch and Bobby's "That's the man who stole Christmas!" in the Fox and Friends sketch made me laugh harder than they had any right to. 

Edited October 15, 2015 by Princess Sparkle

[Galileo908]

I caught the show save for the last sketch last week, but since I was so out of it because of NYCC I barely remember it. It could've been better, but there was some good stuff, sketches just took a while to get to the funny stuff, like the airline sketch.

 

ETA: I do remember the Fox & Friends, WU and the guns commercial being great. With Fox & Friends' list of correction, much like the Simpsons gag it pays homage to, what I love the most is imagining what exactly did these people say to give these corrections in the first place. ("Bernie Sanders is not related to Santa Claus" being my favorite)

Edited October 18, 2015 by Galileo908