S42.E03: Emily Blunt / Bruno Mars

[Peace 47]

This Vanity Fair article that discusses last night's show is interesting.  It says towards the end of the piece, after first taking on the unrelated topics of the new head writers and the fact that the show's biggest stars are women, that the Honda Robots and Burger King sketches are part of the show's move to have more brand-sponsored content within the show so that there are fewer commercial breaks at the edges.  It is what it is; they're doing what they have to do for the business, but it makes me a little sad that that particular comedy doesn't come from a place of pure artistic expression, but rather is just ticking the appropriate sponsorship boxes.  Did Bank of America sponsor that Wells Fargo sketch?  (j/k)

[possibilities]

I wondered if those were product placement, but had written it off because it didn't exactly make Honda look good.

[vb68]

Per instagram, Cecily co-wrote Melanianade. I thought that was exceptional and best of the night.

One tiny flub I caught by Emily in the monologue amused me.  It was barely audible but when she told Pete to go give the guy a massage she called him "Mikey".  

Edited October 17, 2016 by vb68

[Irlandesa]

9 hours ago, peeayebee said:

The escorts skit was ok. I thought the guys were going to turn out to be Donald Jr and Eric Trump. I think what I enjoyed most here was Emily cracking herself up.

The escorts sketch didn't work for me for about 90% of it but Emily Blunt cracking herself up and hiding behind the lampshade and Leslie holding up a Stewie costume made me laugh quite a bit.  It made it worth the buildup.  I too thought they were going to be revealed to be the Trump boys.

6 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Hillary actually has quite a lot of high profile surrogates that are out there campaigning for her. There's Bill of course, but also Obama, Michelle, Bernie, Biden. They could do a sketch with all those people if they wanted, but they'd have to bring a lot of former cast members back.

Oh she absolutely does. In real life, her surrogate game is strong. But I believe the question was about why they don't bring her surrogates out more on SNL.  I think part of it is that a lot of her surrogates have been explored quite a bit on SNL whereas we have newish people with Trump. 

[helenamonster]

The Jaws theme playing as Trump hovered around Clinton in the cold open was everything.

I saw Cecily's Instagram post about co-writing Melaniade and I'm really happy for her to have been such a big part of such an amazing bit. She was on Late Night a few weeks back and talked a little bit about Melania (she kind of feels bad for her as this probably wasn't the life she envisioned for herself when she signed up to be Trump's trophy wife, and all she probably wants is to take care of her kid and be left alone), and I wonder if she's been pushing to have more bits about her in the show. I think it's really paid off; in all the craziness of this election, Melania is weirdly barely a blip on the radar, whereas I feel in any other year she'd be a bigger deal. She hasn't been a huge part of the campaign, especially after the plagiarism controversy and even more so when the Access Hollywood tape leaked, so I think it's a unique, fresh avenue for this show to explore the election. The video was spot on and really awesome. Go Cecily!

My mom could not stop laughing every time they yelled "CHONK!"

Olya! And I love Laura Parsons. "My mom said Billy Bush is going to get $10 million. FROM THIS VERY NETWORK."

The Sink was hilarious too, I thought.

"Do you want an ooey gooey quesadilla?"

I forgot to mention it before, but I'm in love with the new moving bumpers they're doing this year. They're absolutely stunning. This show has its problems but its production value is consistently stellar.

I also like how the Ivanka impression seems to be rotated through the hosts instead of picking a permanent cast member to do it. Maybe Gaga could do it next week?

On 10/16/2016 at 1:00 AM, Galileo908 said:

It's not all that odd to say that the writers tend to treat a Hot Female Host as a bye week...and this time was no exception. Watch next week's ep with Tom Hanks be amazing.

I never really noticed this but I think you're right. As much as I love Tina Fey, I feel like I've heard her talk about "stupid movie stars" and having to deal with them as hosts a million times, and it's always come off as sort of snobby and elitist. I wonder if the "smart" and "cerebral" comedy writers of SNL just don't feel that women who have been on People's "Sexiest Woman Alive" list are worthy of their talent and they'd rather write for people who do deserve it, like Tom Hanks. Which is annoying. Margot Robbie and Emily Blunt might be gorgeous women, but first and foremost, they're highly respected actors. They deserve equal consideration when it comes to the quality of writing the week they host. They're not Donald Trump, for God's sake.

15 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

Emily Blunt was an excellent host. She reminds me of Chris Hemsworth in a way - an actor/actress who's not necessarily known as a comedian who completely embraces the most absurd sketches and gives them their all.  I loved the running gag that all the weird monologues and short films were starring actual Emily Blunt.  She fit right in AND she made Kate break? Kudos Emily Blunt. 

I always forget that Emily is really more of a dramatic actress. I've seen her in so many things and I still associate her mostly with The Devil Wears Prada. Maybe because it reruns on cable a lot and I watch it every damn time it does? Idk. It's not a bad role to associate her with, imo, she's a stand-out in a movie that's pretty packed with them.

13 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

I think it was more they're so eager to fight. Every self described redneck I'm encountered online is ready to go overseas and "kick ass".  I thought the joke equally slammed liberals with Che's great line "I'll turn to liberals when I want a pointed think-piece!"

Yeah, as a liberal myself (though I prefer the term progressive, but that's neither here nor there) who, when discussing the possibility of a draft (that included women) with my father, a man who served half his life in the navy, said the sentence, "I'll conscientiously object my ass all the way to Canada," I had to agree with Michael on this one. We'd all much rather write a think-piece.

[tivofanatic]

10 hours ago, ruby24 said:

(they never bothered to make a character for Michelle all these years).

Sasheer played Michelle at least once the week The Rock hosted.  Barak Obama lost his temper and hulked out into The Rock Obama.  Then Sasheer as Michelle lost her temper over her garden getting ruined and became Leslie Jones as She-Rock Obama.  Maya Rudolph played Michelle way back when Fred Armisen was playing Obama.  But SNL has mostly left Michelle Obama untouched, which was a good decision for the years that Keenan was cross dressing any time the show needed a black woman.  I don't remember anyone ever playing Laura Bush.  I'm sure she breathed a sigh of relief that the underage drinking of Jenna and Barbara didn't become a mocking point.  Lord knows Barbara Senior got it bad. Remember Nora Dunn asking, "Are you proud of your son?" "George is not my son.  He's my husband!"  And Phil Hartman was playing her.  I've got to look that one up on the SNL app. 

 

As far as the show goes, I loved the debate.  Can you believe Trump had even worse "drippy nose", and it didn't even make it into this show because there were bigger fish to fry?  Bobby Moynihan must have looked at Ken Bone at the real debate and said, "He's mine.  I don't even have to call it."   

[NeenerNeener]

There is no such thing as a "silver lab." The pups were weimaraners.

One of my co-workers has two silver labs and plans to start breeding them when they're old enough. They just aren't an AKC-recognized color, and neither are the ginger/red colored labs because no one knows for sure if those colors were an actual mutation or an accidental cross with another breed for the original specimens.

But, yes, those could have been weimaraners, and thus easily gotten locally around NYC. At that young age the puppies look quite a bit alike.

[helenamonster]

7 hours ago, tivofanatic said:

Sasheer played Michelle at least once the week The Rock hosted.  Barak Obama lost his temper and hulked out into The Rock Obama.  Then Sasheer as Michelle lost her temper over her garden getting ruined and became Leslie Jones as She-Rock Obama.  Maya Rudolph played Michelle way back when Fred Armisen was playing Obama.  But SNL has mostly left Michelle Obama untouched, which was a good decision for the years that Keenan was cross dressing any time the show needed a black woman.  I don't remember anyone ever playing Laura Bush.  I'm sure she breathed a sigh of relief that the underage drinking of Jenna and Barbara didn't become a mocking point.  Lord knows Barbara Senior got it bad. Remember Nora Dunn asking, "Are you proud of your son?" "George is not my son.  He's my husband!"  And Phil Hartman was playing her.  I've got to look that one up on the SNL app. 

I guess they were over 21 by Bush's second inauguration but they were still very much characterized as party girls.

[dkb]

On 10/16/2016 at 11:18 AM, Princess Sparkle said:

The second one is called Chunky.  Bruno Mars killed it. He might be my favorite musical performer ever on SNL - he's creative, he's high energy, can actually sing live, and he puts on A SHOW when he's on. I couldn't love him more. 

 

Thanks, Princess Sparkle!

Was trying to send a thank you all of yesterday but  it didn't work on my phone. Everytime I wanted to write something it would show up in the quote box not underneath it. Oh well.

Edited October 17, 2016 by dkb
proper english

[Madding crowd]

I thought this was the worst so far this season. I like Emily Blunt and she was a good host, but I just didn't find anything all that funny. Alec Baldwin's Trump is kind of funny, but I still think something is lacking in Kate's Hillary. I didn't even find Weekend Update all that amusing. I might be the only one, but I just don't find most of the WU reoccurring characters funny. Olya was funny the first couple of times, then it just seemed the same. Same with Vanessa's character and I can only hope she doesn't bring back Jacob. I was looking forward to the Great British Baking Show skit, but they could have done much more with it. And I think Pete Davidson is really one note. 

[Bruinsfan]

22 hours ago, peeayebee said:

And the Hillary jokes were very good too. "I'm made of steel. This is nothing. Hi, girls!"  "I love how generous he is. Just last Friday he handed me this election."

I thought her reactions were perfect and true. The real HRC probably reacted to the news of Trump trying to have Bill's former mistresses seated front and center by doing a fist-pump and asking the debate organizers to keep a camera on them at all times.

19 hours ago, ruby24 said:

and probably Sasheer as Michelle I guess (they never bothered to make a character for Michelle all these years).

They did have Kerry Washington play Michelle when she guest-hosted. But the Sasheer/Leslie Michelle/She-Rock Obama skit is the only notable one they've done with actual cast members that I can recall.

[BatmanBeatles]

One of the new guys does a better impression of Anderson Cooper.

[K2DangerGirl]

Quote

My favorite part came at the very end, when Melania claimed to have written it. Perfect shade.

I said to Mr. DangerGirl during the video "I can only assume this is a parody of some Beyonce song" and then when she said that I was all "CONFIRMED!"

[Phishbulb]

I don't watch "The Great British Bake-Off", but I know who Sue Perkins is, and while Melissa didn't really have a lot of lines in the sketch, she did nail her smug facial expressions pretty well.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Watch Highlights From Emily Blunt's Perfectly Fine Saturday Night Live Appearance

Maybe one too many Trump sketches, but the Girl On The Train actress is winning.

[KerleyQ]

On 10/16/2016 at 0:12 PM, fastiller said:

Any suit won't be for the Baldwin impersonations; they'll be for the Melania impersonations. He'll have Melania sue. 

That's what I was thinking.  I'm guessing that someone within his camp or the party has drawn a firm line on the lawsuit thing, so his work around is having Melania sue.  Her threat to sue over whether or not she exchanged a cordial greeting with a reporter on the street one day was so bizarre that it has to be the case.  So, in this case, yeah, he'll have Melania sue over the various Melania appearances on the show instead of him suing over Alec's impersonation.  In both cases, we know what he's really pissed about is his part (the assault allegation and Alec's impersonation of him), and he likely doesn't even give a shit over the Melania stuff, which is all relatively harmless fluff, but it's a way to sue them regardless.  

20 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Oh she absolutely does. In real life, her surrogate game is strong. But I believe the question was about why they don't bring her surrogates out more on SNL.  I think part of it is that a lot of her surrogates have been explored quite a bit on SNL whereas we have newish people with Trump. 

I think a part of it is also that there's just more material to work with in the Trump camp.  

I noticed on this week's WU that Colin (and, to a lesser degree, Michael) seemed to be staying away from a joke-y delivery on the Trump stuff.  Colin seemed genuinely disgusted with some of the Trump stuff he was covering.  I wonder if that was a conscious decision, to not treat the really awful and serious accusations against him as just one more "oh that wacky Trump!" thing, or if it's just his natural reaction to it all.  

Loved Bruno Mars.  They could have him on multiple times per season, and I wouldn't get sick of him.  He's one of the few musical guests that I never FF.  

[JZL]

I really liked this episode, too, but there was too much Trump stuff.  WU took a couple gut-punches but they were funny.

The product-placement news is very disappointing.  Et tu, SNL?  But then there's Laura Parson's yelling, "[F]rom this very NETWORK!"  Awesome!

@ Whoever mentioned the moving bumpers, those are at least two years old now; they just don't do it often.

[Dee]

Has Bobby retired Drunk Uncle?

If any character would be perfect to subversively skewer Trump, it would be him.

[lovinbob]

I hope not. But he did such a good job as Drunk Uncle, when Trump hosted: "Finally! Someone is saying the things that I have been thinking ... and saying. It's like I'm running for president!

[helenamonster]

13 hours ago, JZL said:

@ Whoever mentioned the moving bumpers, those are at least two years old now; they just don't do it often.

'Twas me, and these moving bumpers are different than the old ones, no? I remember the ones they used to have that were sort of more timelapse-y...I cannot think of a better way to describe it. Idk, they felt more like several pictures strung together whereas these ones are smoother video footage.

Like the old ones were more like this:

And I can't find a .gif of one of the newer ones, but they're stylistically very different. When I saw the Margot Robbie one for the first time during the opening credits of the premiere, I was really impressed.

[lou ann b]

I'm an old woman of almost-56,I could not name one Bruno Mars song. His hosting gigs have been amazing.  But his first performance Saturday night finally just sealed the deal for me. He's incredibly charismatic and talented. The pan through the hall to his dressing room was a awesome idea and really brought excitement that SNL hasn't brought in a while  (musically speaking ).Whatever  "it" is,  the man has "it" in droves. Well played.

[fastiller]

@lou ann b - I'm 46, and nearly 100% of my exposure to Bruno Mars has been through SNL.  I can only name his songs b/c of SNL & p.tv.  And I agree wholeheartedly.  He's got 'it' to spare.

[cpcathy]

His Superbowl show is still on Youtube and it's pretty amazing.

[lookeyloo]

@lou ann b and @fastiller - I'm 72 and way out of the demographic for the show let alone Bruno Mars but I really do enjoy watching him sing anything.  Maybe he needs a grandma and I can volunteer!!

[DollEyes]

My verdict: another good one. Once again, Alec Baldwin & Kate McKinnon were brilliant. Their takes on Donald Trump & Hillary Clinton were as hilarious as ever, from Hillary's attempts to look more human to Trump's being Trumpier than ever. When Trump started stalking Hillary from behind, it was a wonder he didn't put in some plastic vampire fangs and try to bite her. When Anderson & Martha did shots at the beginning of the debate, they definitely had the right idea. 

  Emily Blunt was great. She was funnier than some of the sketches, such as the robot, short film festival and GBBO ones. However, the hooker, hamster & the sink sketches were much better. 

 Because of Donald Trump,"Weekend Update" is practically writing itself. It's like the crazier he gets, the better it gets. 

Just when it seems like nothing could top "Crucible Cast Party," alone came "Melaniade." Seeing Melania rip off another Black woman and try to take credit for it was hilarious. 

 Re Bruno Mars, what a funky little morsel he is. "24 K Magic," indeed.