S42.E09: John Cena / Maren Morris

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Host John Cena; musical guest Maren Morris

[JZL]

Yipes, I had to look up both of these peeps.

[Princess Sparkle]

I'm pretty excited for this.  For wrestlers-turned-actors, he's not as charming as The Rock, but he can be quite funny - I found him to be laugh out loud funny in both Trainwreck and Sisters.  He can be a little monotone, but with the right types of sketches, I think he'll do pretty well.  

[Phishbulb]

Dwayne Johnson is actually booked on The Tonight Show on Friday, so I'm expecting we'll see him cameo in this episode. 

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Okay, here they're finally tightening the screws on Kellyann. And holy crap, who bet on Walter White making a cameo?! "They're not bad, they're alt-good." I'm stealing that.

Monologue: Weird, a commercial started during the intro. Someone at NBC's getting fired, lemme tell you that. And we WERE gonna get another singing monologue, but damn I love whenever the cast gets into a wrestling mood. Leslie and Bobby can cut some damn good promos.

Hook a Hunk: This turned out better than I thought it would. The other guys desperately trying to play the game was so great. 

The Karate Teen: Fun. Of course Cena just punches the guy when he goes into the crane, it's stupid why they didn't do that in the Karate Kid.

Science Presentation: Ahh, commentary on Student Athletes never gets old.  "That is a round. orange. banana."

Dyke & Fats Save Christmas: YES! Christmas came early! This was funny as hell, so good to finally see them again. This needed to be longer. Also, is it wrong that I want to see "Keith: Black Detective"?

WU: Welp, they're pretty much bending over for Trump now. At least it seemed like it at first, it got much better as it went on. Then they brought in Kate as Angela Merkel. Was not expecting a Hoobastank reference, but then again, who would? Kathy Anne is the poor man's Drunk Uncle, but even I thought she got better as she went on, but I think Che ruined it.

Where'd Your Money Go?: Ha, a game show about teaching finance to dumb millionaire athletes, where every answer is "no." Cena as Gronk couldn't be more perfect casting, and Charles Barkley hosting it was just icing. Gronk is like if Dave & Busters was a person was also great.

Christmas Tree: This was delightfully dark.

Through Donald's Eyes: This shoud've been earlier. But then again, Trump's probably asleep or not paying attention right now so he probably thinks this is all real. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's ideal self really was John Cena with giant hands. This was just a fantastic sketch, my favorite of the night.

John George: This was silly. Kenan with zero patience is best Kenan.

United States of Talent: Well this one got stupid and gross fast. If it were me, I would've just had the owl drop to the ground.

So this was a great episode, but where was Pete? And Leslie was only in the monologue, while Sasheer only had a nonspeaking cameo in the last sketch.

[vb68]

Well for me the show started off really slow and I was thinking it was definitely an off week. But it got progressively better as it went along.  It was awesome seeing the long awaited return of Dyke and Fats, and then Update really got things rolling. Loved Che's line about Exxon's charitable acts of wiping oil off ducks, and Colin's Tracy Morgan-reindeer joke.

Sure, seeing Bryan Cranston reprise Walter White is fun, but the Cold Open seemed so tepid and pretty lame IMO. I guess I was looking for something (much) sharper and pointed, even if Alec was not there.

Cena definitely didn't lack for enthusiasm , but for the first half I was thinking they were hampered by his lack of range.  Then he was AWESOME as Gronk and sold his little Trump act. So I don't know.

The Athlete vs nerds in college was certainly good social commentary but maybe a little too on the nose or something?  I hate to be the one who says it wasn't funny because again it really nailed that issue, but yeah I didn't think it was funny.

I also didn't think Karate Teen was all that either, but whatever.

I still think it was an off week but there were highlights.  Specifically Dyke and Fats, Update, Where'd Your Money Go,and Cena as Trump for me. 

Edited December 11, 2016 by vb68

[opus]

Cecily, as Kathy Ann, had the best line (I may be paraphrasing here) : "Oh, you know he's watching "

[Jaded]

I should have muted the 2nd song that girl sang too. Now I have "I'm a 90's baby In my 80's Mercedes..." stuck in my head and not in a good way.

[MerBearHou]

Didn't laugh once.  The show's writing is declining after a good start this season (IMO).  Too Trump-dependent. To me, very one-note and lazy writing.  

[vb68]

One interesting and kinda sweet tidbit about Dyke and Fats according to Mike Ryan on twitter is that Aidy purposefully used her boyfriend's last name of O'Malley for her character.  (I believe he's a writer on Seth's show, so people would catch it.) 

[Maverick]

29 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

So this was a great episode, but where was Pete? And Leslie was only in the monologue, while Sasheer only had a nonspeaking cameo in the last sketch.

 It my be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like Pete so his presence wasn't missed.  Leslie was in the Christmas tree sketch (she gave Aidy the lady Isotoner gloves).  I'm not surprised at Sasheer.   I don't know why she's still on the show. 

[Peace 47]

15 minutes ago, opus said:

Cecily, as Kathy Ann, had the best line (I may be paraphrasing here) : "Oh, you know he's watching "

That was a sharp line.  I also actually lol'd when she said something like the answer to the question of "Why McDonald's?" was because she had "burned a lot of bridges at Wendy's."

The return of Walter White should have been a great Cold Open, but the writing wasn't that sharp, and Cranston definitely seemed not that into it (to me).  It was like he was just there to shill for that truly dreadful-looking movie he has coming out this Christmas, and he just ended up playing the whole thing very broadly.  I remember when Aaron Paul as "Jesse" was on during an Obamacare sketch a few years ago:  that one was funnier than this.

[vb68]

Quote

 I remember when Aaron Paul as "Jesse" was on during an Obamacare sketch a few years ago:  that one was funnier than this.

Agreed.   Timeliness helps a lot, and I think the context was more on point, too.  And I like Bryan Cranston and Breaking Bad. This was weak cheese, though.  I actually groaned and had a Seth "Really?!"moment that that's the way they opened the show. 

Edited December 11, 2016 by vb68

[Pete Martell]

9 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

The return of Walter White should have been a great Cold Open, but the writing wasn't that sharp, and Cranston definitely seemed not that into it (to me).  It was like he was just there to shill for that truly dreadful-looking movie he has coming out this Christmas, and he just ended up playing the whole thing very broadly.  I remember when Aaron Paul as "Jesse" was on during an Obamacare sketch a few years ago:  that one was funnier than this.

I don't think it helped that he was one of the "I'm moving to Canada" club (as I think Alec Baldwin was years ago), who of course don't move; I doubt he's thrilled about being involved in this as the election is still leaving many numb.

[helenamonster]

Yeah, the Cold Open was weird. Walter White being appointed to the DEA should work but I just think the timeliness was too off. The show is over and out of the cultural zeitgeist. It would have popped more if Breaking Bad was still on (and I too was distracted that Bryan only seemed there to promote his terrible-looking movie).

Bobby as "The Waddler" had me cracking up.

As someone who went to a school that generally prioritized academics over everything but still had pretty strong sports programs, the science final sketch was too true. Look, we all have different strengths, and school just isn't everybody's thing, but damn was it frustrating to sit through the presentations of the kids who only showed up to class to keep their athletic scholarships.

THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF DYKE AND FATS. I didn't think we'd ever get a sequel! Just as good as the first, imo.

Weekend Update was on fire. Kate's Angela Merkel is <3

Any predictions on when we'll get Trump's tweet(s) about Through Trump's Eyes? Fifty extra points if you correctly guess the exact statement (syntax and all). It was a terrifyingly accurate sketch.

Not one of the season's best episodes, but John Cena seemed game and I wouldn't mind having him come back. I thought he was especially good in The Karate Teen.

Already looking for toothpicks to keep my eyes propped open for next week, which is sure to be one of the lamest Christmas episodes in recent memory.

43 minutes ago, opus said:

Cecily, as Kathy Ann, had the best line (I may be paraphrasing here) : "Oh, you know he's watching "

I clapped and whooped alone in my living room. I might be in the minority, but I love Cathy (Kathy?) Anne. It's the kind of character work Cecily excels at. I even thought she made good points about conservatives and liberals (we really do need to cool it with the change.org petitions).

[Bees]

I don't know how to feel about this episode. I mean I liked it but it wasn't that great. Though I don't think it's of any fault of John Cena who I thought did fantastic, all things considered. I'd be cool with seeing him host again in the future. I think it's just that with the Tom Hanks episode and Dave Chapelle episode, I just feel kind of spoiled in a way. Man, this season has been pretty great, hasn't it?

I enjoyed the Hook a Hunk thing. At first I thought it was going to be a lame rehash of the "And she's my daughter..." one from earlier in the season (or was it late last season...I don't remember) but then I saw how it went and it got pretty great. I also liked the Beck and Kyle characters getting all lovestruck then Mikey's character like "Uhhh.....so can I go now?"

So baby brother Affleck is hosting next week? Should be interesting at least. You know, I feel like there should be a rule that Christmas episodes should be hosted by either former cast members (I HATE Cast Reunion Episodes normally, but they're a little less obnoxious and annoying during Christmastime) or a Friend of the Show (i.e. Baldwin, Hanks, Stone, Goodman, Timberlake, etc.) I wonder if Ben will pop by. 

As for the Football Player in Science sketch, I wish they had gone the "he's actually really really smart but you all dumb things down too much for him because you're too afraid of your jobs being in jeopardy if he ends up not doing well" like a perfect opportunity would've been when Vanessa's character was stumbling over her answer for that scientific equation. I thought it would've been pretty great if he ends up answering it, surprising everybody (but maybe I just like subversive humor like that). 

[bmoore4026]

Very weak episode.  Two game show parody skits?  Really?  Even Bryan Cranston's appearance could salvage it.

Love Cecily Strong's Weekend Update character.  Much better than Every Drunk Girl at a Party.

And no skit send up of this year's NBC musical?  Fail.  Yes, I still use "fail".

[Dee]

Cathy Anne is a keeper.

[The Solution]

7 hours ago, Jaded said:

I should have muted the 2nd song that girl sang too. Now I have "I'm a 90's baby In my 80's Mercedes..." stuck in my head and not in a good way.

Right? That girl SUCKED! I see a bright future for her as the fat broad in the trailer park who was on SNL once. But don't ask her to sing because:

1. she can't; and
2. meth

[hendersonrocks]

"They go low, I get high" was an exquisite line. Cathy Anne, you are A DELIGHT.

The other highlight was Leslie Jones not needing a wrestling character to take on John Cena ("I'm Leslie Jones, bitch!") and then falling victim to his pecs. I know little to nothing about the man other than that he has my favorite line in the very funny movie Sisters ("my safe word is KEEP GOING"), but I enjoyed his happy-go-lucky persona - he made a delightful Gronk & Alabama football player. It seems like his style could be in sharp contrast to Casey Affleck, human Xanax, next week.

[Phishbulb]

7 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Any predictions on when we'll get Trump's tweet(s) about Through Trump's Eyes? Fifty extra points if you correctly guess the exact statement (syntax and all). It was a terrifyingly accurate sketch.

I wonder if this was Julio Torres again? He seems to write the most creative and surreal pieces on the show. Loved all the little touches like the fashion show on the TV where all the models were wearing long red ties and the Fox news report just being "huge, huge success...victory...fantastic....landslide". Something about this sketch was almost Charlie Kaufman-esque (reminded me of the dream sequences in "Being John Malkovich"- especially all of Trump's assistants just saying "Trump, Trump, Trump" over and over)

Edited December 11, 2016 by Phishbulb

[wknt3]

8 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Monologue: Weird, a commercial started during the intro. Someone at NBC's getting fired, lemme tell you that. And we WERE gonna get another singing monologue, but damn I love whenever the cast gets into a wrestling mood. Leslie and Bobby can cut some damn good promos.

Yeah there seemed to be a few technical glitches this week - the commercial, the graphic popping up early during "Where'd Your Money Go", and a couple others I'm not remembering right now but noticed at the time. Which is very unusual as no matter how good or bad the writing is the directing and technical stuff are usually superb.

[Princess Sparkle]

9 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

 

The return of Walter White should have been a great Cold Open, but the writing wasn't that sharp, and Cranston definitely seemed not that into it (to me).  It was like he was just there to shill for that truly dreadful-looking movie he has coming out this Christmas, and he just ended up playing the whole thing very broadly.  I remember when Aaron Paul as "Jesse" was on during an Obamacare sketch a few years ago:  that one was funnier than this.

 

9 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Yeah, the Cold Open was weird. Walter White being appointed to the DEA should work but I just think the timeliness was too off. The show is over and out of the cultural zeitgeist. It would have popped more if Breaking Bad was still on (and I too was distracted that Bryan only seemed there to promote his terrible-looking movie).

 

Yeah, the joke itself was a good one, but the execution was really lacking.  It also didn't really help that Bryan Cranston never got to the full Heisenberg voice - imagine how much funnier the "I am the one who knocks" line would've been if he'd said it like he did on the show.

John Cena was a pretty game host, but in terms of "wrestlers/fighters as hosts", I'd rank him below The Rock but above Rhonda Roussey.  Some sketches weren't that great, but the ones that hit were great.  In the monologue, "I'm Leslie Jones BITCH!" made me laugh out loud, as did Bobby's wrestling character being "The Waddler".  And DAAAAAMN, I knew Leslie was tall, but I didn't know she was that tall - she was taller than John Cena!

I really enjoyed the academics sketch, especially Beck's dry "Are you trying to make us lose the game nerd??"  Bobby in the background as the coach was cracking me up too.  "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're the smartest kid in the world." And the return of Dyke and Fats was perfect.  I have to say, I was pretty impressed John Cena got the stereotypical Chicago accent down; I didn't take him for much of an impressionist.  I also enjoyed the money game show sketch, and I got halfway through the sketch before I realized the Irish guy was Alex Moffet.  And I could watch hours of Bobby as Jon Daly.  

I enjoyed the swipe at NBC during WU, as well as the "Trump usually waits until the work is done until refusing to pay" line, and Cathy Ann & Angela Merkle were perfection.  Though, did a technical glitch happen during the live show?  I watch the show on Hulu, and after Colin made the South Korea joke and it bombed, he said "Ah well, it's dress rehearsal", so I wasn't sure if they swapped in the dress rehearsal cut for Hulu.  There were a couple of stumbles through the jokes too and Michael was really losing it during Cathy Ann, which makes me think it might be the dress footage.

I guess I'm in the minority on this, but I liked the musical guest.  I've heard her songs on the radio and enjoyed them, and I thought she sounded really good and clear on the stage (something we've seen a lot of musical guests fail at) 

Edited December 11, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Peace 47]

1 hour ago, Princess Sparkle said:

I watch the show on Hulu, and after Colin made the South Korea joke and it bombed, he said "Ah well, it's dress rehearsal", so I wasn't sure if they swapped in the dress rehearsal cut for Hulu.

No, that happened on the live show.  He was just joking that it wasn't so humiliating that the joke bombed because it was "only" dress rehearsal--when in fact he was embarrassed in front of a national audience.

I meant to ask about the other joke you mentioned:  Trump normally refusing to pay until after the work was done.  I'm drawing a total blank on what the source of that reference is.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Peace 47

[vb68]

Quote

I meant to ask about the other joke you mentioned:  Trump normally refusing to pay until after the work was done.  I'm drawing a total blank on what the source of that reference is.

Trump canceling the Boeing order on Air Force One.

 

Quote

Cathy Anne is a keeper.

I have to say the character really grew on me this time. I never liked her when she started in sketches. (Wasn't she the cohort of some grumpy troll who tried to keep people from crossing a bridge?) And this appearance was better than her first appearance earlier in the season on Update.

 

Quote

and I got halfway through the sketch before I realized the Irish guy was Alex Moffet.

Thanks.  I wasn't sure and kept wondering if it was Beck.  Alex so far has mostly been used as a straight guy in sketches other than a quick appearance as one of the Trump boys, so it's good to see him get some real character work.  Still waiting to see some of Melissa's impressions.

Edited December 11, 2016 by vb68

[Primetimer]

See what we did there? Still transfixed by those gigantic biceps.

View the full article

[Ohwell]

OK I'm gonna say it:  I'm sick, sick, sick of Leslie Jones and her loud, obnoxious black woman who sexually assaults white guys shtick.  And she wonders why she got pilloried on twitter. 

John Cena was ok, but the musical guest sucked.

[fastiller]

2 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

 

The other highlight was Leslie Jones not needing a wrestling character to take on John Cena ("I'm Leslie Jones, bitch!") and then falling victim to his pecs.

I think it would've been funnier if they extended the joke from previous weeks and had Kyle Mooney show up and throw up his hands in a gesture of "How can I compete?" or similar.

[Peace 47]

34 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Trump canceling the Boeing order on Air Force One.

Colin said that Trump canceled the order before Boeing started the work on the planes, which was unusual because Trump normally waits until the work is done before reneging on payment, and the audience laughed.  I just am drawing a blank on when Trump had someone perform work where he thereafter refused to pay for it and was wondering what past bad behavior the joke was referencing.

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

I really enjoyed the academics sketch, especially Beck's dry "Are you trying to make us lose the game nerd??"  Bobby in the background as the coach was cracking me up too.  "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're the smartest kid in the world."

Bobby was the best thing in this. I also liked the "nerd" comment, esp when Beck said how many points Nerd got.

It wasn't a bad show, but nothing too memorable. I consider myself a person of sophisticated wit, but the loudest I laughed was when the Mighty Owl threw up in Cena's face. Why? I don't know. The whole owl thing was just weird and funny to me. For one thing, who thought of that? And that was some ratty-looking owl.

I agree about the Walter White bit. I love Cranston, but he didn't really seem to be in character. I understand he was there partly to promote his new movie, but the joke would have worked better if it was just a line, that Trump was appointing Walter White as head of the DEA.

The monologue was fine. I enjoyed Bobby, Kenan, and Leslie. The Waddler was particularly funny.

Oh, I did think that Cena's pants were too short. Then I thought when he ripped off his shirt that he would also rip off his pants, so I thought they looked bad because they were tear-away pants. But no.

I liked how Cecily and Cena's relationship progressed on Hook a Hunk. The three contestants were also good.

The Karate Teen was ok. Cena was good.

WU had some good stuff in it. I liked Colin saying that he hoped in a security briefing that "they give [Trump] headphones and an iPad and make him watch Frozen." I liked Angela Merkel OTT attempt at sarcasm, and also her line about Hillary: "She is so deep in the woods I'm worried she will come upon a candy house." I like Kathy Ann, but I couldn't always understand what she was saying.

On Where'd Your Money Go, was the Irish golfer and the guy Bobby played real?

I think Cena did a good job.

Quote

Colin said that Trump canceled the order before Boeing started the work on the planes, which was unusual because Trump normally waits until the work is done before reneging on payment, and the audience laughed.  I just am drawing a blank on when Trump had someone perform work where he thereafter refused to pay for it and was wondering what past bad behavior the joke was referencing.

Trump has a history of not paying workers who helped build his properties, for instance saying that when everything was completed, the work was substandard. In one case, he wouldn't pay a carpenter everything he was due because Trump said the work wasn't up to his standards, but then Trump (or his company) offered the guy work on another of his jobs. The man didn't take it. He also ended up going bankrupt.

Edited December 11, 2016 by peeayebee

[Princess Sparkle]

8 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

 

On Where'd Your Money Go, was the Irish golfer and the guy Bobby played real?

 

Bobby was the golfer, the Irish guy is an MMA fighter, and they're both real people.  I don't know much about Conor MacGregor, but John Daly has had a lot of gambling trouble and has (or had?) a bad drinking problem, so him being on the show made perfect sense. 

Edited December 11, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Dee]

How in the world has Kate McKinnon's Angela Merkel not been featured in a Sprockets sketch yet?

[DEL901]

41 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

Colin said that Trump canceled the order before Boeing started the work on the planes, which was unusual because Trump normally waits until the work is done before reneging on payment, and the audience laughed.  I just am drawing a blank on when Trump had someone perform work where he thereafter refused to pay for it and was wondering what past bad behavior the joke was referencing.

Apparently this has been a standard Trump business tactic for decades... you can google it in reference to his casinos and golf clubs etc.

 

Liked the opening sketch and thought Cena wasn't bad.  He had enthusiasm and charm which helps a lot especially when the writing isn't up to par.

[Gemma Violet]

6 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Apparently this has been a standard Trump business tactic for decades... you can google it in reference to his casinos and golf clubs etc.

 

I remember reading about a guy who provided dozens of pianos to Trump casinos and couldn't get paid.  He was told by the Trump organization that the publicity of doing work for Trump would be worth not getting paid.  In the end, I think he was paid like 50% or something of what he was owed.  

I've never heard of John Cena, but I thought he did a good job.  I liked Brian Cranston's appearance as Walter, but he needed to trim back his beard.  He was a very scruffy Heisenberg.  And yeah, I agree with the person upthread who said he should have said the "I am the one who knocks" like he said it on BB.

[Inquisitionist]

56 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

Colin said that Trump canceled the order before Boeing started the work on the planes, which was unusual because Trump normally waits until the work is done before reneging on payment, and the audience laughed.  I just am drawing a blank on when Trump had someone perform work where he thereafter refused to pay for it and was wondering what past bad behavior the joke was referencing.

 

13 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Apparently this has been a standard Trump business tactic for decades... you can google it in reference to his casinos and golf clubs etc.

Exactly. 

[AdorkableSars]

11 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

So this was a great episode, but where was Pete? And Leslie was only in the monologue, while Sasheer only had a nonspeaking cameo in the last sketch.

This sadly seems to be par for the course in Sasheer's case...but yeah, where the heck was Pete?!

11 hours ago, opus said:

Cecily, as Kathy Ann, had the best line (I may be paraphrasing here) : "Oh, you know he's watching "

Haha! So great! Cecily is so hilarious as Kathy Ann. I loved her closing line too (paraphrasing): "I think we might have a little Leslie/Colin thing going on!" Che: "No, we don't." I also loved Che's Fresh Prince joke, and Jost's NBC joke was good too. 

Overall, I thought John Cena was pretty funny. The writing did seem a little weak this episode, but a host who's enthusiastic helps, and Cena certainly was that/ The "Bananas" sketch was hilarious.

I love Maren Morris, but she's not that impressive live, and tonight was no exception. I saw her in concert in September, and was very underwhelmed, which sucks, because she's so great. So happy she sang "My Church". I though she might not, since that song came out quite some time ago.

[Toaster Strudel]

1 hour ago, fastiller said:

I think it would've been funnier if they extended the joke from previous weeks and had Kyle Mooney show up and throw up his hands in a gesture of "How can I compete?" or similar.

Or Kyle could have been effective in distracting her from John Cena!

[Inquisitionist]

I had no idea who John Cena was before the show.  Thought he did a fine job.

Cecily Strong was on fire last night.  "They go low, I get high" are my new words to live by.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Inquisitionist
Cecily Strong's name deserves to be spelled correctly!

[Tipsymcstagger]

Kate McKinnon is a national treasure. That is all.

[Gemma Violet]

12 hours ago, Maverick said:

 It my be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like Pete so his presence wasn't missed.  

Not unpopular with me.  I don't like Pete and I've started to mute the TV when he's on.  There's something about him that annoys me, especially on Weekend Update.  I do admit he did a good job as Marco Rubio in the debate sketches, but that's about it for me.

[theatremouse]

Kate had me laughing so hard I was wheezing, and couldn't find my inhaler. Worth it.

[Bruinsfan]

13 hours ago, Maverick said:

 It my be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like Pete so his presence wasn't missed.  Leslie was in the Christmas tree sketch (she gave Aidy the lady Isotoner gloves).  I'm not surprised at Sasheer.   I don't know why she's still on the show. 

With you on the Pete dislike, I've seen enough dumb kid scoring with hot older woman sketches to last me a lifetime. Can he do anything else, besides ramble about smoking pot on WU? As for Sasheer, she's very pretty (hey, that can't hurt), and does good perplexed normal reporter/moderator/housewife reacting to craziness, which is a needed support role for a lot of sketches.

2 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

Colin said that Trump canceled the order before Boeing started the work on the planes, which was unusual because Trump normally waits until the work is done before reneging on payment, and the audience laughed.  I just am drawing a blank on when Trump had someone perform work where he thereafter refused to pay for it and was wondering what past bad behavior the joke was referencing.

Another rabbit hole to go down.

I about lost it when Leslie came out during the monologue to fanfare and spotlights. Her "I'm Leslie Jones, bitch!" was the icing on the cake.

[fastiller]

1 hour ago, Toaster Strudel said:

Or Kyle could have been effective in distracting her from John Cena!

That would've been better than my initial idea.

[Fostersmom]

During the college grades sketch I kept having flashbacks to when I worked in the office of admissions while in college in the late 90's. We could look up other student records and it was always fun to look up the student athletes to see what classes they were taking. One of the big basketball players happened to also be the coaches son. He had like 3 "independent studies" listed as classes during basketball season. We named them Being the Coaches Son I, II, and III. And guess what… he passed them all!

Cena did better than I expected. They relied a little too much on he's got big muscles, but I really elected them to have him shirtless in half the sketches, so at least they didn't go there. His Gronk impression was fun cuz damn, Gronk am dumb more often than not! LOL! Now I want Gronk to host so he can do a Cena bit. 

Update was pretty dead on with the exception of the clunker of a joke. Colin's attempt at a counter joke was a nice try, but unfortunately also flopped. It left me wanting a conversation between Angela Merkel and Kathy Anne though!

I'm not minding the lack of Pete, Sasheer, or Melissa. A little Pete goes a long way and I'm more than sure he'll be in sketches next week with Casey, poor Sasheer is just so boring, and Melissa's voice makes me want to stab something in my eardrums, it's so damn grating. 

[Toaster Strudel]

I'm so embarrassed.  The funniest skit for me was "Majesty" the Owl vomiting in everyone's faces.  I thought I'd die laughing.

[questionfear]

I nearly fell off the couch laughing at "ah yes, in America you call it the alt-right, in Germany we call it 'why grand papa has to live in Argentina'". 

[MrWhyt]

9 hours ago, Ohwell said:

OK I'm gonna say it:  I'm sick, sick, sick of Leslie Jones and her loud, obnoxious black woman who sexually assaults white guys shtick.  And she wonders why she got pilloried on twitter.

yeah she should have expected that her work on a sketch comedy show would lead to being relentlessly trolled by racist assholes, have her private info hacked and have stolen nudes of her posted online. How dare she! *clutches pearls*

Cena provided another example of how a mediocre to bad show can be saved by a host who's not afraid of looking like a fool

Edited December 12, 2016 by MrWhyt

[JZL]

I didn't know who John Cena was but he was good and they should have him back.  Cecily must have written the Hunk sketch-- she got some bonus face-sucking time during Beck and Kyle's bit at the end. 

As far as I can tell, Maren Morris has no talent, but I don't pretend to be a connoisseur of country music.  

The Walter White bit in the CO was hysterical.  I cringed in the monologue when Cena said he was going to start singing but they threw a nice curve instead.

WU was strong again and I was won over by Cathy Anne after a low original opinion.

The show is just hitting on all cylinders right now.  I hope it's because Lorne got his head out of his patootie after the Wiig/Myers era but it's more likely happy accident.  The outside pressure to diversify the cast has had a hugely positive effect and Lorne should be sorry for not doing that earlier on his own. 

Edited December 12, 2016 by JZL

[Ohwell]

41 minutes ago, MrWhyt said:

yeah she should have expected that her work on a sketch comedy show would lead to being relentlessly trolled by racist assholes, have her private info hacked and have stolen nudes of her posted online. How dare she! *clutches pearls*

She's capable of being a better, i.e., funnier, comedian than that same old shtick.  She certainly didn't deserve what happened to her on twitter but I can see how the trolls had a field day based on her characterizations on SNL

Edited December 12, 2016 by Ohwell

[helenamonster]

12 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Yeah there seemed to be a few technical glitches this week - the commercial, the graphic popping up early during "Where'd Your Money Go", and a couple others I'm not remembering right now but noticed at the time. Which is very unusual as no matter how good or bad the writing is the directing and technical stuff are usually superb.

Another glitch I noticed was that the audio was off during parts of "Through Donald's Eyes." At one point it was several seconds ahead or behind (I think ahead) of the visual. I was hoping to watch it again on YouTube this morning but they hadn't put it up last time I checked, and I'm wondering if it's because they're trying to clean up the audio.

12 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

I guess I'm in the minority on this, but I liked the musical guest.  I've heard her songs on the radio and enjoyed them, and I thought she sounded really good and clear on the stage (something we've seen a lot of musical guests fail at) 

I didn't know who the musical guest was when they announced her, but I recognized both of her songs. I'm not into country music but I enjoyed her anyway. I also thought she looked a lot like Selena Gomez, especially in her bumpers.

Another great part of the Cathy Anne bit was when she was wondering why we couldn't call people with swastika tattoos who said "Heil Hitler" Nazis. "I thought it was called White Pride, aren't you supposed to be proud of it?" It was a nice mirror to Merkel's excellent "You call it the alt-right, we call it why Grandpapa has to live in Argentina."