S41.E17: Russell Crowe / Margo Price

[formerlyfreedom]

Russell Crowe hosts; musical guest, Margo Price.

 

 

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I know that the audience was almost completely silent, but the Bruce Chandling "routine" on Weekend Update had me laughing hysterically.

 

Russell was surprisingly good at this.  I think my favourite of his was Dr. Freud on the dating show.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: You just gotta wonder what's going through Hillary's head after her latest string of losses, which includes today's with Wyoming. Gotta love all the forced pandering, with the subway troubles and the two-faced baseball cap. Which was all great, and they even covered the bird that Bernie became friends with. Yeah, I live in New York and for the first time in years we matter in the primaries. It started this week and it won't stop for another two. Help.

 

Monologue: Even though he didn't break out into song, they STILL managed to sneak in some singing into this!

Preparation H: Tackling how awkward these commercials are if the people in them actually acted like real people. Loved this.

 

Politics Nation: I love Kenan's Al Sharpton, so the sudden appearance by the REAL Al Sharpton threw me (and I think the audience too) for a loop. They didn't have Real Al Sharpton say anything funny, just calling out how over the top Kenan's impression is. Sigh.

 

Henry VIII: Well, I liked the hologram effects. Even if Henry VIII was historically accurate, it was still weird and creepy (even if EVERY person was visibly uncomfortable at it)

 

Match Finders: Well, the sure doubled down on the awkward sex talk from Russel Crowe, didn’t they? I loved everyone else in this, especially Kenan. I just love game show hosts that have a clear disdain for the show they’re on. (Although I always thought Hader pulled this off better)

 

WU: Yeah, the gloves are officially off with all the candidates now. “We don’t have values in NY, that’s why we came to NY. To escape people with values like Ted Cruz.” Although the image of Ted Cruz as Pizza Rat was fantastic. So glad to see the return of Somebody’s Mom and of course it was the best thing in the entire show. “They smell like farts but taste like a burp” is most accurate description for Brussels sprouts I ever heard.

 

1) Totally a mom thing to make Brussels Sprouts & Imitation Crab and eat it out of tupperware
2) Kate is a trooper for actually eating it.

 

100 Days in The Jungle: We all have that weird family friend, and I’d be mortified if one of mine showed up to help me in a Survivor-like show. Pretty meh and predictable (of COURSE he’d win the weird challenge)

 

Good Neighbor: Working at Not-Chuck E Cheese is apparently awesome. I did like how they were the ONLY people that thought it was great. Pete’s character gave none of the shits that his costume head was off and he was smoking…in front of kids.

 

Shanice Goodwin, Ninja: WHY did they save a Leslie Jones as a ninja sketch for the end?! Kenan sure picked the worst time for a cough attack, didn’t he? I’d actually like to see Shanice at her day job, still dressed as a ninja.

 

Oprah: A Life of Love: Mike O’Brien as Oprah in an Oprah biopic, I was completely sold on that alone. Who was Jason Sudeikis supposed to be playing? Whoopi Goldberg?

 

Boy they did their best to give Russell Crowe as little screentime as possible, didn't they? I'd say this show was mostly a bust. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss hosts next week, that one's gotta be good!

Edited April 10, 2016 by Galileo908

[SFoster21]

I laughed a fair amount.

[Mumbles]

I know that the audience was almost completely silent, but the Bruce Chandling "routine" on Weekend Update had me laughing hysterically

I *LOVE* this character. Before I had cable growing up I had to endure so many late night tv shows with brick-wall comedians, so I know this type well - the mullet, the satin baseball jacket, the women-what-are-going-to-do? hack jokes. To imagine this type thinking hard enough to have an existential crisis is just a funny concept. I don't know how the other cast members kept it together when he bleated out, "I'm very poor."

The rest of the show....eh....Margo Price was good. Didn't know her before the show, will check her music out. I will say it did look like Crowe was trying.

The goodbyes were pretty short, couldn't tell if any of the cast went up to Crowe. I wonder what the week was like.

[vb68]

Thank God for Weekend Update this week.  I could tell from the monologue they had no idea in the world what to do with Russell Crowe, and he was in a grand total of two sketches the first hour and then three up to the second song.  It's also pretty telling he was in none of the taped pieces at all.  I wonder how much he was even around this past week.  Something was clearly off.  It showed in the goodbyes too.  Though I was transfixed by Pete trying to hump Beck or whatever he was doing.

 

I liked Leslie's Ninja sketch, and the Mike O'Brien filmed piece.

 

Shoutout to whoever said in the last thread that they should have saved  "Establishment Shuffle" for this week.  Yep.

 

 

I know that the audience was almost completely silent, but the Bruce Chandling "routine" on Weekend Update had me laughing hysterically

 

That's par for the course with that character.  The audience never knows how to react to him.

Edited April 10, 2016 by vb68

[Ms Blue Jay]

I *LOVE* this character. Before I had cable growing up I had to endure so many late night tv shows with brick-wall comedians, so I know this type well - the mullet, the satin baseball jacket, the women-what-are-going-to-do? hack jokes. To imagine this type thinking hard enough to have an existential crisis is just a funny concept. I don't know how the other cast members kept it together when he bleated out, "I'm very poor."

 

I was actually thinking this during the sketch.  After the "I'm very poor" moment -- the moment when I lost my mind -- I was actually thinking that if I had to be the Michael Che in that scenario I would be shaking from laughter.  The timing of everything was so good.  Extremely painful in the audience's reaction, but I found the whole thing so funny.

 

I liked the Al Sharpton and Kenan thing.  Kenan saying, "Now this person has created an Al-Gore-....Rhythm to figure out black voting patterns" and calling that girl Christ-ee.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[bilgistic]

I don't know who Margo Price is, but she reminded me so much of Jennifer Aniston in that ladies of country music album sketch from years ago: "I guess it's time for an A-B-O-R-T-I-O..."

[Galileo908]

I know that the audience was almost completely silent, but the Bruce Chandling "routine" on Weekend Update had me laughing hysterically.

This was a VERY slow burn to the punch line, but yeah, the "I'm very poor" just came out of nowhere and it got better from there

I was actually thinking this during the sketch.  After the "I'm very poor" moment -- the moment when I lost my mind -- I was actually thinking that if I had to be the Michael Che in that scenario I would be shaking from laughter.  The timing of everything was so good.  Extremely painful in the audience's reaction, but I found the whole thing so funny.

 

I liked the Al Sharpton and Kenan thing.  Kenan saying, "Now this person has created an Al-Gore-....Rhythm to figure out black voting patterns" and calling that girl Christ-ee.

I've noticed that Kenan's Al Sharpton is just like his Steve Harvey, except his Harvey has a bit of a lisp to it, and Sharpton has gray hair.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Galileo908

[Brn2bwild]

Cold Open: You just gotta wonder what's going through Hillary's head after her latest string of losses, which includes today's with Wyoming. Gotta love all the forced pandering, with the subway troubles and the two-faced baseball cap. Which was all great, and they even covered the bird that Bernie became friends with. Yeah, I live in New York and for the first time in years we matter in the primaries. It started this week and it won't stop for another two. Help.

 

Probably that:

 

1. These states favor Bernie demographically, and he was always going to win them.  Just as the South favored her demographically, as do New York, Pennsylvania, and a lot of the upcoming states.

2.  Even with all of Bernie's wins, she still has a 200+ delegate lead, far bigger than any Obama held over her at any point in 2008.  That includes Bernie's "win" in Wyoming, where even though he won more votes, he underperformed and split the delegates 7-7, so he didn't gain in the delegate race like he needed to do.

3.  That at least she knows the subway uses metrocards instead of tokens.

4.  That at least she's not forced to travel to Rome just days before the NY primary because she mistakenly thought she was going to meet the Pope.

5.  That as Senator from NY for 8 years, there's no way she would make the mistakes Kate McK's Clinton makes.  But that's why the SNL is a comedy and shouldn't be taken as real. 

[Peace 47]

I know that the audience was almost completely silent, but the Bruce Chandling "routine" on Weekend Update had me laughing hysterically.

Was it me, or was the audience in general, and throughout the show, a little hostile? They seemed a little cold. I have grown to appreciate where Kyle Mooney is coming from, comedically, even when I don't find it funny. Chandling is one of those instances for me.

I'm on mobile and can't easily quote two people, but regarding whomever posted about "doubling down on awkward sex talk": they sure did. One, I couldn't believe how many oral sex references they threw in during the matchmaker game. I had no idea they could get away with some of that on TV. And in addition to the Henry VIII sketch, there was also reference to eating duck vagina in the other sketch. I may be a bit of a prude, but I guess what irks me is that any sex-related joke goes for the easy laugh (like dropping f-bombs), where you almost just laugh at the shock of it. So then I hold that comedy to a higher standard, and I didn't see much tonight that cleared the bar.

The last observation that I have is that it is kind of weird that Mike O'Brien did another "white guy plays black icon" film. He's done some interesting films, and the Jay-Z original was not bad, but I didn't see it being worth a repeat. The funniest part was Oprah saying that she would be on all magazine covers as far as you could imagine into the future.

I said last week that I didn't really warm up to Space Pants, but that was head and shoulders above most anything I saw tonight. Crowe was fine for what little he did, though.

[JakeyJokes]

I hate to be so negative, but was there a shift in the writers' room after the recent break? I thought both this week and last week's show were the worst of the season. The only things that worked for me tonight were the open, Deenie (love her!), and the Oprah skit. I thought the Match Finders skit was especially dreadful, and I don't say that for prudish reasons because 15 years ago they did the "Colonel Angus" skit with Christopher Walken and that ish was hilarious.

[Brn2bwild]

I hate to be so negative, but was there a shift in the writers' room after the recent break? I thought both this week and last week's show were the worst of the season. 

Agreed.  It doesn't seem like the sketches from the last two shows and the "Beyonce is Black" parody even come from the same show.

[possibilities]

I liked Oprah and Ninja, and Deanie (someone's mom). I thought Oprah was a commentary on the insane casting of white people for POC roles, especially the problem of colorism directed toward Black women.

 

The show does seem very low energy lately.

[VCRTracking]

The Leslie Jones ninja sketch saved the episode for me.

 

Pete was great in the sketches he was in.

 

I also liked in Mike O'Brien's Oprah biopic the part where Mike as Oprah insisted she be on every cover of her magazine. I think that's probably how it happened out in real life.

Edited April 10, 2016 by VCRTracking

[nowandlater]

It's funny that SNL would have a Preparation H sketch 2 days after Conan did his own Preparation H sketch...

 

Also odd: This is the first time that Conan debuted a new show against SNL. Conan in Korea aired on Saturday from 11 pm to 12 am, not its usual timeslot.

 

As for the show itself, I always question when celebs wait till they're past their prime to do SNL.

Edited April 10, 2016 by nowandlater

[Princess Sparkle]

I know that the audience was almost completely silent, but the Bruce Chandling "routine" on Weekend Update had me laughing hysterically.

Russell was surprisingly good at this. I think my favourite of his was Dr. Freud on the dating show.

The Bruce Chandling routine made me lose my shit. "I am....very poor" was hilarious, and it's not that often that Michael laughs like that during WU, so it must've gotten him too.

I had higher hopes for Russell Crowe based on the promos (which I found quite funny), and he was alright. Not the best I've ever seen, but certainly not the worst. Based on the promos though, I wish there were more sketches with him and Leslie interacting (not just the quick flashes in the ninja sketch and Survivor sketch), because they had a surprisingly high amount of chemistry in the promos.

WU continues to be great. Kate's line of "it sounded like someone was plunging a toilet and getting real fresh with it" had me giggling like a maniac.

I still love Mike O'Brien's sketches. "All you knuckleheads get a car" said in a completely calm voice was hilarious, as was Jason-as-Whoopi's "We cool now?" with the chryon 'Actual movie footage, not reenactment.'

I also got a good laugh out of Keenan's "There's not wrong answers on Match Finders, but that was pretty close" in the Match Finders sketch and Pete's "I wouldn't say proud..." in the Survivor sketch.

[Toaster Strudel]

The show came to a complete halt for me with that interminable Bruce Shandling sketch and the live audience seems to have shared my feelings.

 

Pogie's Pepperoni was a gem... I loved when Aidy-as-manager showed up and their heads literally exploded.

 

Leslie Jones in any sketch brings joy to my weary heart.  That smile... that energy... she is peerless.

[bilgistic]

Thank you; I hate Bruce Chandling. You and I can go sit at our table for two, Toaster Strudel.

[lulee]

I could tell from the monologue they had no idea in the world what to do with Russell Crowe, and he was in a grand total of two sketches the first hour and then three up to the second song.  It's also pretty telling he was in none of the taped pieces at all.  I wonder how much he was even around this past week.  Something was clearly off.  It showed in the goodbyes too.  Though I was transfixed by Pete trying to hump Beck or whatever he was doing.

I thought the same thing - and I fell asleep during WU (but I'd just gotten home from a 9-hour shift. So not implying that WU bored me to sleep). I thought "Where is Crowe???" Did he reject a bunch of sketches??? Did he not show up to some rehearsals? I was asleep during the goodnights, but I thought he seemed good during the sketches that I saw and I didn't see any obvious uneasiness between him and the cast. With all of Crowe's behavioral problems in the past, it wouldn't be surprising if his bad reputation reared its head again.

[whatsatool]

Probably that:

1. These states favor Bernie demographically, and he was always going to win them. Just as the South favored her demographically, as do New York, Pennsylvania, and a lot of the upcoming states.

2. Even with all of Bernie's wins, she still has a 200+ delegate lead, far bigger than any Obama held over her at any point in 2008. That includes Bernie's "win" in Wyoming, where even though he won more votes, he underperformed and split the delegates 7-7, so he didn't gain in the delegate race like he needed to do.

3. That at least she knows the subway uses metrocards instead of tokens.

4. That at least she's not forced to travel to Rome just days before the NY primary because she mistakenly thought she was going to meet the Pope.

5. That as Senator from NY for 8 years, there's no way she would make the mistakes Kate McK's Clinton makes. But that's why the SNL is a comedy and shouldn't be taken as real.

I love you.

I loved weekend update giving Bill a pass defending his wife.

The show came to a complete halt for me with that interminable Bruce Shandling sketch and the live audience seems to have shared my feelings.

Maybe he was brilliant in retrospect but I love those two WU guys and any one else drags them down. Edited April 10, 2016 by whatsatool

[Mumbles]

To the Bruce Chandling fans out there, I just found a Twitter account for him. It's not updated a lot and I can't tell if Mooney is behind it, but here it is:

https://www.twitter.com/BruceChandling

[Ms Blue Jay]

The last observation that I have is that it is kind of weird that Mike O'Brien did another "white guy plays black icon" film. He's done some interesting films, and the Jay-Z original was not bad, but I didn't see it being worth a repeat. The funniest part was Oprah saying that she would be on all magazine covers as far as you could imagine into the future.

 

I don't get Mike O'Brien playing Oprah at all.  It's just an idea that you could write on paper, and you'd be like "Oh... ok."  To actually see it played out though, you'd have to put some jokes in there (I agree, being on every cover - that was an actual, good joke).  The sketch didn't make me laugh, I just find it strange. 

 

I thought Oprah was a commentary on the insane casting of white people for POC roles, especially the problem of colorism directed toward Black women.

 

That's fine and if that was the intention I get that, but it should be entertaining or funny or else it kind of feels like a public service announcement, or a one-note idea...

 

As for the show itself, I always question when celebs wait till they're past their prime to do SNL.

 

I think a lot of actors see it as a challenge for them they must conquer / it's on their bucket list, and maybe at this point the pressure's off and there will be a lot less eyeballs?  So if they're terrible at it, or screw up, or curse on television or something, it won't be such a huge media thing / less consequences?  I think a lot of dramatic actors want to see or prove whether they are funny.  And dramatic actors or even non-actors are given a lot of comedic opportunities after they 'prove' themselves in an arena like this one.

 

But honestly, I thought Russell was really good at this. I enjoyed him at host.  The monologue was pointless though.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[junemeatcleaver]

Kenan is still unfunny.

[vb68]

Mike Ryan's thoughts.  He's pretty much right where I am.  He's a big Bruce Chandling fan who has seen Kyle do him in dress rehearsal to silent audience reaction and get cut.

 

 

As for the show itself, I always question when celebs wait till they're past their prime to do SNL.

 

It's still hit or miss.  Edward Norton from a couple of years ago instantly springs to mind, and he rocked it.

 

Speaking of Chandling, I was reading elsewhere that described him as an Andy Kaufman-esque character.  I never thought of that, but it's accurate.

Edited April 10, 2016 by vb68

[absnow54]

I actually liked Russel's monologue. I thought he was surprisingly charming, and the Les Miz gag was unexpected. I thought he was very good in all the sketches he was in, even though I didn't find the sketches to be that great (the Henry VIII one went on for way too long.) It did seem telling that he was featured so little. I want the backstage gossip from this week.

[vibeology]

I don't expect a history lesson from SNL but Henry VIII had a son with wife number three. If the sketch had been funnier then I wouldn't have minded, but it was a bad sketch so I have no idea to see why it even existed.

[Trini]

Thank you; I hate Bruce Chandling. You and I can go sit at our table for two, Toaster Strudel.

 

Table for three?

[VCRTracking]

I think the best sketches to use a big name dramatic actor aren't ones where they're playing a wacky character but when they're being serious in an extremely silly situation.

[possibilities]

I don't hate Chandling, it doesn't rise to that level of offense. But I literally have no idea what the joke is supposed to be. Can someone explain why it's funny? I know sometimes humor is hard to parse. But usually I can tell what they are going for, even if I don't think something works. In this case, I am completely lost. I kept waiting for something to happen that I could tell was supposed to be funny about it, and it never happened.

 

vibeology, thanks for bringing up Edward. I was going crazy trying to figure out why Henry VIII was forgetting he did actually have a son. I thought that was actually going to be the punchline  prince Edward would show up and turn the whole thing on its head-- but again, it didn't happen.

[potatoradio]

"I have to do ninja stuff" Hee!

 

 

 

The show came to a complete halt for me with that interminable Bruce Shandling sketch and the live audience seems to have shared my feelings

 

People tend to go silent when they think something sucks so hard they're afraid to move or make any noise that might be mistaken for entertainment and encourage the act to keep going when it needs to just...stop.

 

I like a variety of comic styles and I get KM's place in this cast as the "really weird" comic, but man, the stink was worse than a thousand containers of Deenie's Brussels' sprouts.

 

I think that brings us to a table for four?

 

Is Jebadiah coming back? Ever? I miss him terribly.

 

Music wasn't bad.

 

The rest of the show also aired.

 

 

 

 

 

[cpcathy]

I miss Jebediah! Maybe Taran is actually tired of playing him?

 

I enjoyed Mike's Oprah piece, the absurdity of it just worked for me. And I really like Mike O'Brien.

 

Another episode--along with last week's--that will get deleted from the DVR without watching the entire thing.

 

Just a reminder to all, SNL is always hit and miss, it ebbs and flows. The ten p.m. "classic" was early-ish 90's with Charles Barkely, and aside from Nirvana being the musical guest, was hideously unfunny. I'm sure we will return to something worthy of Seth Meyers' era.

[peeayebee]

I thought Crowe did a pretty good job. The monologue was a nice, short start to the show with self-deprecating jokes from Crowe.

 

I was surprised there were two sketches before the first commercial. I wonder why they did it that way.

 

The Prep H commercial was pretty good. I loved the Al Sharpton show. Kenan has some great malapropisms -- Al Gore rhythms, Raisinettes (for resonating), phantom nominal (phenomenal), and my favorite: disenfrench fries people. They when the two of them were going back and forth with "Come on now," I found it so funny.

 

I kind of liked the Henry VIII sketch, mainly for how people reacted to him. Again the writers don't know how to end a sketch.

 

I liked Match Finders. The first time Professor Benedict spoke -- about massaging labia I think -- I just cracked up. I can't explain why I found it so funny every time he talked.

 

My favorite bit in WU was the line, "Not to be outdone, Ted Cruz dragged a slice of pizza downstairs with his teeth." As for Deenie, I didn't think her appearance here was as funny as the first time.

 

100 Days in the Jungle was ok. Crowe was fine, enthusiastic.

 

I loved Kyle and Beck in Pogie Pepperoni's. Great characters.

 

My favorite part of the show was probably Shanice Goodwin, Ninja. Leslie was good (and does a pretty good cartwheel), but the whole concept was so silly. Vanessa was also very funny, as usual. 

 

I liked the Oprah bit. 

 

Not being a country music fan, I FF'd thru the musical performances.

 

Overall, not a memorable show but not a bomb either. 

[Primetimer]

What's most notable of all might be how little he was in it?

Read the story

[Mumbles]

On Bruce Chandling:

Let me begin with the caveat that humor and comedy are very personal, idiosyncratic things and the fact that someone finds something funny doesn't make them smarter, or more sophisticated, or whatever, than someone who doesn't, and vice versa. Comedy is the ultimate "YMMV."

With that, here's why I like Bruce Chandling. Like I posted upstream, I watched a fair amount of "brick wall" comedy shows in my youth, because it was either that, infomercials, or test patterns. So I became well acquainted with that type of comedian - safe, reliant on silly cliche like the difference between the sexes or races, almost always indomitably cheerful. And they all had a certain look - mullets, satin sports jackets, etc. - that Chandling has. None of these guys ever made it out of the brick wall comedy circuit because there was nothing remarkable or special about them. On the flip side they weren't that offensive or edgy, so they continued to get the brick wall gigs. The club owners weren't going to get complaints from the audience, and they could probably book them pretty cheap.

So the idea of such a comedian putting as much thought into the existential emptiness of their life choices is such a cognitive dissonance that it strikes some - like myself - as so bizarre as to be very funny. You'd expect such angst from an Ingmar Bergman protagonist - not Bruce from the Ha Ha Hut. It's somewhat bearable because by the end of the bit, Bruce seems to have found some solid ground on which to continue his existence, so it's not a complete tragedy.

Anyway, that's why I find it funny.

[ebk57]

 

I think that brings us to a table for four?

 

Table for five.  If we can get one more, we can get a reservation at a place that only takes reservations for parties of 6 or more...

 

Agree that this show (and last week) was totally mediocre, even though the host(s) did well.  

[Babalooie]

Has Cecily Strong always been that painfully thin?

[Ms Blue Jay]

There are a lot of guys out there who blanket statement believe things like women aren't funny, or women don't enjoy sports, or the women who do enjoy sports are pretending, or they just watch sports for the cute guys.  Also, if you try and date, there are some men where if they pick up on the fact that you might like a sport, they'll immediately try to test you on it - yes, seriously.

 

So it's funny that they had a comedian on SNL satirizing these type of guys.  He starts out aggressively confident with his bits that women can't enjoy sports and even when Michael tries to correct him he laughs it off and says "good routine".  Then when Michael tires to talk directly TO him and get Bruce to listen, he immediately breaks down and talks about how poor he is and how nobody likes him.  I'm laughing now just thinking about it.

 

It's just a low-brow 1980s type bad comedy that was so successful at one point, and now with social media, more political awareness, women and minority races speaking up for themselves, it just kind of falls apart.

 

I was on a dating website once where somebody tried to message me and I said, why would you even message me when you have something racist against my own race on your page?  His response was to crumble and tell me that nobody wants to have sex with him.... Ok....   Maybe it's experiences like this that made me laugh so much over Bruce Chandling.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[VCRTracking]

Has Cecily Strong always been that painfully thin?

 

I think it's her limbs that look thin. In fact there were people who thought she looked pregnant at one time. Her arms and legs are skinny but her body is thicker than what you'd see on the current Hollywood starlet

Edited April 10, 2016 by VCRTracking

[Galileo908]

Table for five.  If we can get one more, we can get a reservation at a place that only takes reservations for parties of 6 or more...

 

Agree that this show (and last week) was totally mediocre, even though the host(s) did well.  

I'll be six. I normally don't like the character, but I appreciated the slow burn on his bit.

[catrox14]

Russell Crowe has been favorite actor forever . I loved seeing him on here. I thought he was good. The Match Finders thing killed me. I really don't know how he didn't just break. I thought it was really funny.

[Fostersmom]

When did Russell Crowe begin to look like John Goodman? And did anyone else notice there were very few commercial break pics of him? I remember one and just a whole bunch of generic and old SNL graphics. Odd.

[augmentedfourth]

Kenan continues to be the master of the reaction shot. His face in the game show sketch after one of Russell Crowe's responses cracked me up.

 

Anything involving Leslie Jones as a ninja should be awesome. Hell, I was impressed at the cartwheels.

 

Count me in with those who hate the Bruce Chandling character. His last appearance wasn't awful and I thought I might be coming around on him, but nope, I was right back to hating him tonight. And the bit just draaaaaaaaagged on foreeeeeeeeeeever, to the point where I was wondering if they were going to have to cut something later in the show. In the interests of fairness, though, I will say that him interacting with Michael is marginally more tolerable than when he interacted with Colin.

[rck]

This is really pedantic of me, but it bothered me that Henry VIII talked about his six wives and then asked for a male heir. He got a male heir with wife #3!

 

Along the same lines, some of what the German professor said was anatomically incorrect.

 

I actually liked the episode overall, though, particularly Kate McKinnon and the standup comic.

[vb68]

Even though the goodbyes were cut short, the body language of the cast and how far back they were standing were really pronounced.  I'm convinced we will read about this  episode in the next version of the oral history.  I do not think it was a joyful affair with him this past week. 

[helenamonster]

I thought this episode was hot garbage, honestly. I like when they try to go out of the box instead of sticking with the same old tired formulas, but talk about a swing and a miss.

 

The Preparation H bit was badly paced, the Al Sharpton sketch felt like its only purpose was for the real Sharpton to air his beef with Kenan's horrendously dated impression, the Henry VIII sketch looked like they just wanted to try out some new technology (and echoing the inaccuracies, HE DID HAVE A SON), and the Mike O'Brien as Oprah piece was obviously coasting on the moderately successful similar Jay Z bit he did, but if someone hadn't seen the Jay Z bit, I'd think they'd be horribly confused. I mean when I'm more interested in the musical guest, who's a country singer, you know something's wrong.

 

Bless Kate for always being watchable, even when the rest of the show isn't. Not saying it's happening anytime soon, but it's gonna be a sad day for this show when she finally packs up for greener pastures.

 

Hopefully Julia Louis-Dreyfus saves this mess next week.

Edited April 11, 2016 by helenamonster

[nowandlater]

This is really pedantic of me, but it bothered me that Henry VIII talked about his six wives and then asked for a male heir. He got a male heir with wife #3!

 

Oh, that totallly bothered me, too!

[Oscirus]

Even if your history knowledge is bad, anybody with a TV should know that Henry had a son. The other part that made no sense is that he was just hitting on a black woman, yet he acts surprised to see keenan's character.

 

As for the white Oprah skit, if the rules of said world is that white men play black females, shouldn't Tom Cruise have been played by an African-American woman?

 

Nothing else to say other then the fact that the cast and writers need to be revamped. There are way too many stinkers this year.

[vb68]

 

Nothing else to say other then the fact that the cast and writers need to be revamped. There are way too many stinkers this year.

 

I strongly disagree about the cast.  It's really strong right now.  Proof of that in this episode is that better stuff didn't feature Crowe at all.

[fastiller]

This is really pedantic of me, but it bothered me that Henry VIII talked about his six wives and then asked for a male heir. He got a male heir with wife #3!

 

 

Yeah, I had the same thought too.  I'd think that someone on the cast would've said "Wait, what about King Edward?"