S39.E17: Anna Kendrick / Pharrell Williams

[Tara Ariano]

First-time host!

[JTMacc99]

I watched the promos she did with Taran, and now I have high hopes for this episode.

[formerlyfreedom]

I am really really looking forward to this show.

[gwlisa]

Dang it! My NBC channel is all whacked out. And now I'm worried they won't post the Little Mermaid skit online since she sang Womanizer (or so I read, since my feed was cracking all over the place.)

[Valerie]

Not one but TWO Disney sketches? I approve. And I love Anna's voice so the more singing, the better.

[vb68]

Well that was an energetic show.  Has there ever been that much singing and dancing in an episode before?

I absolutely love the Les Jeunes des Paris sketches.   I just think they are so fun and creative.  In fact, I laughed  out loud in this one.  I can't help it.  I loved the Picard joke and how all of the French kids loved him. Heh.  I'm a nerd.  And was that Kyle?  Once again, I had to go through the list of guys in my head.  I'm always surprised for some reason that he's really short.

And apparently I'm an old nerd because I thought the line about Jimmy the Greek saved that last bit about white guys playing basketball.  Look that one up if you don't remember the name.  It was a perfect on point joke for that whole set up.

Update was a massive improvement over last week.  Colin and Cecily actually interacted.  I love Kate's Angela Merkel.  I thought Brooks sounded really hoarse.  Is that his normal speaking voice?

And let me just say that they missed a great cameo opportunity and inside joke for Pharrell to be in the Principal sketch as the rival Principal of Princess Anne High School.  Yes, I know I'm the only one who would get that, but I really would have appreciated the effort.

Edited April 7, 2014 by vb68

[Brattinella]

I guess I will be in the minority for this week's episode; I hated it and changed the channel in the first half hour.  I was repelled by the "dongs" piece, cold opening was meh, and by the time Sebastian et al were on the stge, I was done. (I DID love Kady's costume, though!)

[Toaster Strudel]

I'll never like musical theater.  So sue me... but I loved Anna Kendrick.  She's a good actress/singer and radiated fun all night long.

Colin Jost is really growing into his role.  The joke about the hawks taking over the library and attacking everyone that went to the library... no one got hurt... had me in stitches.  Cecily just annoys me now.  She's much better in skits, her appearance on WU is a big let down.

Ady really rocked it.  She's definitely settling in.  I want her octopus dress, dammit.  Someone go steal it for me, there's five bucks in it for you.

Fox & Friends was awesome as usual, especially since we haven't seen it in a while.

[Brattinella]

Oops, I got her name wrong, I also LOVED Ady's octopus dress!

[A Boston Gal]

vb68, amen to the Weekend Update improvement (although last week was so bad there was almost no where to go but up.) Kate's Angela Merkel can come by and unwind at our place any time!

[niklj]

I liked the short with Kyle, Vanessa, and Beck. Funny take on those kind of awkward relationship tropes.

Congrats to Cecily for getting her own commercial--she did a pretty great job on it.

Did Hans Zimmer conduct the orchestra in the second Pharrell song (which sounded horrible BTW)?

Kate McKinnon once again an MVP. Unlike Kristen Wiig, I universally love all her characters.

Finally, Anna Kendrick did a pretty good job. No complete duds of sketches this episode.

[sevans623]

Dongs Around the World amused me way more than it probably should have.  But I like Anna Kendrick anyway, so she already had my sympathy going in.  The Little Mermaid skit was great (ditto everyone on the Octopus dress!), as was the awkward dating short.  Overall pretty entertaining show this week. 

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Colin and Cecily actually interacted.

I think they're still finding their footing and chemsitry. But (much as I like Ceciy Strong) having 2 anchors is definitely an improvement.

I thought this show was relatively solid overall; no home-run sketches, but nothing that truly flopped, either. And Anna really gave her all to each sketch. (And I agree "Dongs all over the world" was WAY more catchy than it had any right to be.)

Edited April 7, 2014 by ShadowDenizen

[marketdoctor]

The "Womanizer" song from The Little Mermaid made CNN Headline News this morning.  To be able to sing as The Little Mermaid singng Britney Spears showed, imo, how talented Anna Kendrick is.  (Mandy Moore does that in some of her movies--listed as singing in character.)

[Princess Sparkle]

Did Hans Zimmer conduct the orchestra in the second Pharrell song

 

He did - they've been working together recently (ex - Amazing Spiderman 2 Soundtrack), so he must've come by for an assist.

I'll admit, I don't entirely "get" Anna Kendrick - probably a mix of me thinking she comes off as inauthentic AND that the stupid Cups song she sings was overplayed on the radio this summer and drove me nuts.  But with that said, I thought she was very competent.  They had her sing a few too many times, but overall, it was pretty good.

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

The theater geek in me was doing a little dance throughout the whole episode. The Little Mermaid skit was awesome (Nobody mentioned Aidy? She had her part down pat! and Jay singing doing Sean Paul?) I loved the intro. I loved the kids dancing behind Pharrell (who were they BTW?) And now I have "DONGS. . . . all over the world" stuck in my head as an earworm. Great episode. 

[izabella]

Kate's Angela Merkel can come by and unwind at our place any time!

I loved Kate's Angela!  Poor, Angela, caught between Obama and Putin...

[ShadowDenizen]

Actually, I found that both Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon have really upped their game in the last season or 2  (I actually was kinda hoping for a "Girlfriends Talk Show" sketch!!)

And Aidy was wonderful as Ursula in the "Little Mermaid" sketch. Loved the dress, and the hair, and her vocal inflections and facial expressions were spot-on!!

[JTMacc99]

And Aidy was wonderful as Ursula in the "Little Mermaid" sketch. Loved the dress, and the hair, and her vocal inflections and facial expressions were spot-on!!

In particular I liked how she scoffed at the idea of taking Ariel's hair. 

[vb68]

Aidy was also such a pro by the way she stepped in after the audio flub.   I think she saved it because Anna had the deer in the headlights look.

[A Boston Gal]

...so they both reacted to the flub in character! :)

[Milburn Stone]

Aidy was also such a pro by the way she stepped in after the audio flub.   I think she saved it because Anna had the deer in the headlights look.

And she did it without missing a beat. I marveled at it even more the second time I watched.

[Tara Ariano]

Interesting: I think the flub might have been edited out for the west coast re-broadcast!

[JTMacc99]

I didn't get a chance to see the last few things after WU until last night. I really liked the Booker T Washington sketch, which is hit and miss for me.

I was already laughing at "threw thirty beach balls into the hippopotamus area" before the punch line. Heh. And then Jay's delivery of the Hungry, Hungry Hippos line was great and made me laugh harder than it really should have.  Most likely because that whole idea is exactly the kind of harmless smart stupidity my friends and I engaged in when I was a kid.

[DXD526]

I love to watch Taran dance! The guy has some serious chops. Love to see the way he throws himself into the Les Jeunes des Paris sketches. I think I could watch 90 minutes of that alone!

 

Still trying to warm up to Colin Jost, and I'm not sure what it will take to do so. I still find his delivery flat, and on a more shallow level, the oh-so-clean-cut preppy look doesn't help any. He looks like every guy I hated in college. Allowing him to get a bit shaggy would be a good start, IMO.