S42.E15: Octavia Spencer / Father John Misty

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

Octavia Spencer hosts with musical guest Father John Misty.

 

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Kate as Jeff Sessions as Forrest Gump is one of the most clever things I've seen out of this show in a while. Putin showing up, and then Octavia Spencer in character from The Help were great cappers.

Monologue: Gotta love Octavia Spencer making fun of her many typecast roles (So many nurses...), and the whole Hidden Fences crap. Props for keeping it short. Hidden Fence Light is, of course, the natural conclusion to that.

TBD: This was clever and sad. Yeah, an inspiring biopic about the lone Republican who eventually stands up to Trump...whoever that will be (but DEFINITELY not Paul Ryan). Probably played by Bradley Whitford. BRAVE RESPONSE TBD.

Intellectual Property Theft: This was clever, and maybe kinda racist? I did like how the names became more outrageous, like Dayquil, and Nyquil, and Octavia, er, Activia (whoops, Leslie).

Girl At A Bar: Really going after the "Nice Guys" and fake feminists, I liked it. Of course Aidy was my favorite. I was expecting the balls guy to refer to other kinds of balls and not, you know, his testicles.

Zoo-Opolis: Here's a "cast trots out celebrity impressions" sketch. And hey, a rare sketch where the cast impersonates former SNL castmembers like Tracy Morgan, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Kristen Wiig. Octavia was pretty good, as was Melissa. Holy crap, her Kate McKinnon was spot on. And how likely was Kate actually just off to the side of the stage when Melissa pulled that off?

Youngblood: I liked the concept, the old guy playing chess gets schooled by Pete Davidson. 

WU: SNL is damn lucky the weirdest Trump news has always come on Saturday so they can comment on this first. And they're getting all their Jeff Sessions bits out of the way at once tonight. Loved that we finally got to see a bit with Donald Trump Jr. AND I'M ERIC. Gotta admit, Eric sucking on that Capri Sun gave me my biggest laugh so far. I'll also admit that Vanessa's little kid character has grown on me. All those horrible lines delivered in that same "overeager kid actor" cadence that she does so well.

Sticky-Bun: This was funny, but weirdly too short? "WILL YOU EAT?" is what's gonna stick with me after tonight's episode.

Jode: This was another weird sketch that didn't seem all that fleshed out. It's a good thing I had closed captioning, I thought Octavia's character was named Joan.

Chuckie Chocolate: Bobby sighting! Okay, this got interesting once the chocolate guy was revealed to be a disgruntled employee. Otherwise...meh. I had a feeling this played better in dress rehearsal.

Spencers: Oh I get it, OCTAVIA Spencer running Spencer's. Again, there was barely anything to this one. Those glasses Octavia had on were the best part.

This episode started interesting, but lost steam pretty fast. It's sad when Kate as Kellyanne just sitting and a real commercial about BAT Taxes were the best parts of this. Outside of the cold open, Kate barely did anything, Pete was just in the chess bit, and Bobby showed up at the end, seemingly like he forgot he was still on the show. (I hear he landed a pilot, I was hoping he'd at least finish out the season)

Scarlett Johansson hosts next week.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Galileo908

[ottoDbusdriver]

Did Lorne Michaels lose a bet and was forced to put Father John Misty on the show ? Is FJM the next big thing --- because I don't get it.

Wow, he rhymed Taylor Swift with Oculus Rift, and used the lyrics "woman-hating epileptics" in a song that might have been called 'Comedy', and followed that up by dancing like Elaine Benes at a Xmas party on 'Seinfeld'.

WTF ?  If I Google this guy, is he actually a priest ? Or is that just his brand ?

[ebk57]

Kate as Kellyanne kneeling with the phone throughout was the best part of the show.  

[sshellowe]

Wow...this was...painful.

[Shaynaa]

Unless I missed something, there was no actual Kellyanne kneeling skit?  I'm so confused.  I saw her when the show went to break and assumed that would be coming up.  This was really not a good episode.  The Jess Sessions skit was funny but it just seemed to go downhill.  The "nice guy" feminists in the bar was pretty good.  The rest?  I have never heard of Father John Misty and couldn't figure out if his terrible dancing was supposed to be a joke.  Then he was dancing again while the end credits rolled.  What was that?
 

[vb68]

I thought it was a very quiet and rather low key night.  There were only a couple of things that really stood out to me.

It says something that Kate silently  won the night by constantly mocking Kellyanne's sitting position, even at the end of Update.

Update was the other highlight, keyed by Che's "at least they had a choice" response to Colin.

I didn't like the stolen names sketch. At best it was extremely lazy IMO.  They should have skipped that one.   

ETA: Never heard of Father John Misty before, and I have a feeling never will again.

Edited March 5, 2017 by vb68

[mortonsalt]

12 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

This episode started interesting, but lost steam pretty fast. It's sad when Kate as Kellyanne just sitting and a real commercial about BAT Taxes were the best parts of this. Outside of the cold open, Kate barely did anything, Pete was just in the chess bit, and Bobby showed up at the end, seemingly like he forgot he was still on the show. (I hear he landed a pilot, I was hoping he'd at least finish out the season.)

I agree with your whole post, but especially this part about it starting out interesting, but then losing steam pretty fast.

I kept waiting to see Kate McKinnon pop up as Kellyanne without any legs because they showed her a few times, but like you wrote, the show barely used her which is very unfortunate as she's probably the funniest cast member right now.

7 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

WTF ?  If I Google this guy, is he actually a priest ? Or is that just his brand ?

No, I thought he might be one as well, but when I Googled him right before the show, I found that he wasn't. 

[Arkay]

Nothing was funny, nothing. Boring, a lot of flubs, sketches that went nowhere. 

[vb68]

Quote

Did Lorne Michaels lose a bet and was forced to put Father John Misty on the show ?

Thinking more about this, if I recall correctly, they didn't announce him in the last episode in February when they put up the graphic with Octavia's name, so I do get the impression they got to the point that they just had to go with somebody.

Edited March 5, 2017 by vb68

[ebk57]

1 minute ago, vb68 said:

Thinking more about this, if I recall correctly, they didn't announce him in the last episode in February when they put up the graphic with Octavia's name, so I do get the impression they got to the point that that they just had to go with somebody.

I was going to say they should have skipped the musical guest then and go with more skits.  But thinking about that regarding tonight's show...no.

[TheGreenKnight]

The show was weaker in the second half; after WU, the only skit I cared for was Chuckie Chocolate. I had no idea who the musical guest was, but I love Octavia Spencer. The Jeff Sessions opening was certainly the highlight.

Edited March 5, 2017 by TheGreenKnight

[SFoster21]

Octavia Spencer has a career, good for her, but the repeat of that sophomoric frat boy joke that ruined whatever was decent and true about "The Help" was disgusting.  Talk about eating shit.

[vb68]

Quote

I was going to say they should have skipped the musical guest then and go with more skits.  But thinking about that regarding tonight's show...no.

I can't believe they didn't even do anything with the Best Picture screw up at the Oscars. True it was almost exactly a week ago, but boy howdy it was still ripe for some parody.

[Temperance]

I liked more of this than many of you. I loved the Forest Gump sketch, the TBD republican who stood up to Trump, and the monologue. Weekend update was really good as well.   

I wasn't as impressed by the chuckie chocolate one. And I read an article about Spencer's Gifts that still makes me give 'em a little side-eye.  

No Alec tonight. I guess Kate got a light night tonight which is good if you thought she was playing too much.  Playing Kellyanne was funny.  I liked that we saw more of Vanessa tonight. 

[VCRTracking]

I first noticed Jimmy Fallon his first year when he did a great Adam Sandler impression on "Celebrity Jeopardy".  I think Melissa will get a lot of notice for doing two spot on impression of two SNL cast members, one who's still on the show!

Throwaway lines like "At least they had a choice." is why I like Micheal Che.

Edited March 5, 2017 by VCRTracking

[burner]

That was a rough show which is a shame because Octavia Spencer is great. But I'm not sure comedy is where she shines or at least not SNL-type comedy. I think Father John Misty is pretty good and enjoyed his performance but he's kind of known as the ultimate hipster / a hipster parody and can definitely come off weird if you're not familiar. Anyways, this is a good song from him:

 

Not much worked for me tonight. Kellyanne appearing throughout the show just sitting in that pose on her phone was great. And Melissa is so good at impressions that I'm glad they found an easy way to let her run thru a bunch of them. But man, I wish someone would tell her to use a fake voice all the time. Her real voice (super mumble mouth) is very distracting.

Edited March 5, 2017 by burner

[jjj]

Thanks for confirming that there was no Kellyanne actual skit, just the pose throughout the show.  This reminded me of the early-years episode where Samurai Stockbroker ended with Buck Henry with an actual sword wound and coming back with a bandage on his forehead, then cast members started showing up throughout the evening with band-aids on their faces.  No one ever said anything about it, which was what made it work.  I think a teddy bear showed up with a bank-aid by the end. 

[Lizzing]

The first thing I recall seeing Octavia Spencer in was a short lived Comedy Central series called Halfway Home, about a bunch of ex cons living in a halfway house with their earnest but clueless counselor.  That show always struck me as a part improv show and the entire cast was great and hilarious (and there should have been more seasons IMO).  So why SNL decided to drop the ball and write utter crap for Spencer is beyond me.  This was the laziest written show I've seen in a long time; there were no middles or ends to most sketches.  The writers must have been stranded on Premise Beach.

[Spartan Girl]

5 hours ago, ebk57 said:

Kate as Kellyanne kneeling with the phone throughout was the best part of the show.  

I know people blew that incident out of proportion but I have no pity in my heart for Kellyanne so I'm glad SNL mocked it.

The opening made me laugh, especially when Octavia showed up as Minny and her special pie. Hee hee. I can think of several other people she ought to give it to...

[Mumbles]

"March is Women's History Month, and April is a lot of backed up dishes." I can't stand Michael Che. 

TBD sketch had the most teeth, everything else was lame.

The joke about the drug names is a cliche "black people have funny names" sketch that was done better by Chris Rock and Ellen Cleghorne in the early 1990s. And Leslie stepped on one of Octavia's lines in a bad way but I'm not complaining because I'm sure it wasn't great.

(Small voice) I like Father John Misty.

[Pete Martell]

SNL's bubble and its cheap and easy political policy means that they still hear a Southern accent and assume it means a hilarious hick...which just underestimates Sessions. Between that and the need to dust off the latest version of the nasty old jokes about black people and funny names (which have been around, in various ugly forms, for an eternity - http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.asp/), I'm reminded yet again how conservative at heart the show is and how unwarranted the overhype and praise for Alec Baldwin jutting out his lips and "lol, women are dressed like men, Trump can't take it" is. 

Edited March 5, 2017 by Pete Martell

[possibilities]

I think Octavia Spencer is funny and I also like her.

I loved the TBD sketch, and the cold open (I don't think they're relying on the southern accent here; Sessions has been claiming ignorance and acting like a clueless dummy who's supposedly soooo likable despite his bad behavior, so any Gump comparisons are his own fault).

I was fine with the monologue, liked the premise of the Spencer's Gifts sketch (Octavia Spencer owns it) but thought the actual writing was weak (though the visual gag of her with the glasses on was funny), felt the same way about the chess thing (decent idea that was only so-so in execution), enjoyed the hell out of Zoo-opolis (some of those impressions were really great!), and I liked "Girl in a Bar".

WU had a good week, too.

Sticky Bun was meh, but not terrible, for me. I have dealt with a ridiculous number of job applicants who clearly live in some kind of bizarroland where their incompetence and lack of self-awareness is either a deliberate act to sabotage reality itself, or possibly they are aliens from outer space who just haven't been oriented to earth yet. So when they said they would usually recommend more training, I laughed-- it's an easy job, but they usually need more weeks of training? And they're hiring them anyway because... it's the airport (and so who the hell cares?)-- it was a slog to watch, but kind of funny because of how weirdly true it is. If you haven't dealt with this particular type of job applicant, I can see it would have been a completely annoying sketch. But I do wonder sometimes how people so incompetent keep their jobs, and this sketch kind of answered that question: no one else wants to do it and management has given up. I can kind of buy that, in a terrible way.

I thought it was a pretty good episode. Not transcendently fabulous but I was pleased enough to have stayed awake to watch.

[Phishbulb]

10 minutes ago, possibilities said:

 liked the premise of the Spencer's Gifts sketch (Octavia Spencer owns it) but thought the actual writing was weak (though the visual gag of her with the glasses on was funny)

It was funny when she stopped to take a sip of coffee and her coffee mug said "I (HEART) TO FART" too. There was a lot of potential with this idea; it's too bad the sketch was kind of rushed and stuck in as the last sketch of the night. 

[Primetimer]

SNL writers had plenty of time to keep the streak going. They didn't.

View the full article

[Quickbeam]

Weak ep. I'm going to hell but I laughed at the Women's History Month/backed up dishes joke. Because it is still true and it bites. 

[peeayebee]

5 hours ago, Lizzing said:

This was the laziest written show I've seen in a long time; there were no middles or ends to most sketches.  The writers must have been stranded on Premise Beach.

Yup. They really have a hard time ending sketches. I particularly HATED that the ending to Girl in a Bar with Aidy's character coming on to Cecily's, with the 'bitch' topper. 

So, there were great, good, so-so, and bad things about the ep. I'm very disappointed the writers couldn't have come up with something better for Octavia. The best part written for her, imo, was the head of Spencer's Gifts. I've got to admit, however, that it took me a while to connect "Octavia Spencer" with the store. Duh. I thought she had misspoken.

The Cold Open was great. I loved putting Sessions in the Forrest Gump role. Octavia appearing as Minnie at the end with the pie was a good ending.

I thought the monologue was good, too. Nothing extravagant, no one else involved, just Octavia being appealing and wonderful. Liked her line about "resting nurse face."

The TBD Story was perfect.

Zoo-topolis was enjoyable for the impressions, but there was nothing else there. The thing with the janitor was a weak attempt at an ending. Still, I'm impressed by whatshername's impressions. Her Kate and Kristine ones were esp surprising.

Youngblood was a good idea, but I agree with whoever here said it wasn't executed well.

I really enjoyed WU. The line about the SOTU speech and holding Trump to the same standards as a bar mitzvah boy was spot-on. I also liked when Che said Trump was comparing the "depleted military" to the Death Star.

But, OMG, the highlight, probably of the entire show, was when Eric and Donald Trump Jr, showed up. I was cracking up just looking at them before they even spoke.

I like Laura Parsons. Of course, Vanessa is fantastic whatever she does. "And a seaside handjob!" "The govt wants to lift up your skirt and check for ding-dongs!" "When you look down at your privates and say, 'Why I oughta.'" "The prank was murder!"  "You might want to google it before Nana gets raped!"

The airport Sticky-Bun sketch was ok. Love the line "Will you eat?"

The bar sketch with Joad (or Jode) could have been better. I liked the idea. It had teeth, but the execution didn't.

The office sketch with Steve just didn't quite work. Beck is great, and you'd think him playing a bizarre character would be funny, but I didn't like it.

The musical guest? I wish instead of Father John Misty it was Father Guido Sarducci.

Edited March 5, 2017 by peeayebee

[ebk57]

19 minutes ago, Quickbeam said:

Weak ep. I'm going to hell but I laughed at the Women's History Month/backed up dishes joke. Because it is still true and it bites. 

I also laughed for the same reason.  And also because I get the feeling the Che just figures at this point...gotta keep the streak going.  I'd guess there will be a joke during each WU this month like this.

[saber5055]

The cold open was genius and locks Kate in as my favorite person ever for all time. I paid attention to the Spenser's Gifts skit because I remembered I bought the same glasses in Vegas and I couldn't stop thinking about where they are now. I turned the channel during the so-called "musical guest" portion so missed his Elaine dancing, thank god. The rest of the show was not worth staying up for and I was disappointed I did. Thanks Kate for not making this episode a total and complete flop. I guess one golden nugget is better than none.

[potatoradio]

I admit - I judge the political humor not only by how much it makes me laugh or think, but by how much I think it'll cheese off the current administration. And so, on both of those scales, I give the cold open a stone cold B. But I thought the random shots of KAC kneeling over her phone, even though I was mad that they faked out a sketch, were A material. Hysterical that she kept inserting herself randomly into the camera shots in what she must believe to be a totes adorbs pose. Mockery at its finest. And I would guess Che's "feeling bad" for her would rankle the current admin as well, so props to all political humor as usual.

When Kyle Mooney slicks his hair down straight and plays an everyday dude (at the bus stop or in the press pool for the Spicer skits), I do a double take because he's a dead ringer for NYT/MSNBC reporter Jeremy Peters and I always wonder for a second why they selected Peters of all people to impersonate and then I realize the doppleganger effect is unintentional. But it is uncanny and it gets me every time.

Which leads me to my likely unpopular opinion that I prefer Kyle's everyday straight man character to his deliberate weird persona. 

Otherwise...um...whole lotta nuttin'. Boo.

Waste of Spencer. Waste. That's embarassing.

Though I did like, during the chocolate sketch, "Bitch, we've been listening to you for the last half hour." I howled at that - because it kinda broke the fourth wall. Yes, we've been listening to that guy sell his character for what seems like eons and it's not. working.

The "TBD" not being Paul Ryan? Also funny. 

[Milburn Stone]

Just me, maybe, but I didn't perceive the Kneeling Kate moments as faking out a sketch, rather as simply a fresh way to go in and out of commercial breaks. The structure of the show is pretty stale and I admired their being willing to experiment with it a bit.

[ChromaKelly]

I really can't believe they went with a black names are crazy sketch, and they did it as the first one after the monologue. Really? It's so tired.
Forrest Sessions and TBD were the standouts, along with Laura Parsons on WU. I love her. I start laughing before she even says anything. I don't know how Vanessa gets through it without laughing.

[Uncle Benzene]

My take on Kate/Kellyanne this week is that it was a deliberate (if subtle) reference to how marginalized she's been lately, and how despite that, she's still providing material. Clearly she's been put in timeout by the administration, serving her time and paying her penance and whatnot. And as a result, that one image of her in that dress, in that position on the Oval Office couch, looking at her phone, is pretty much all we've seen of her lately (and we've heard absolutely nothing.) And yet, that one teeny tiny little thing we did get from her over the last two weeks, even though it was just a single still frame image, was still mockable as all hell. Perhaps I'm giving SNL too much credit, but I took it as a deliberate reference to Kellyanne's current... uh... situation. No words, no "here's the latest batshit thing she said this week" or anything, because she hasn't been allowed to say anything lately. All we have is just that one image. And yet, even that is worthy of mention on SNL. Because, much like Trump just can't help but to step on his own dick on a daily basis, we learned this week that Kellyanne doesn't even have to say anything to create an embarrassing moment worthy of lampooning. That's what amused me about it, anyway. I thought it was brilliant, by far the best thing about this week's particularly weak episode.

ETA: Also, Father John Misty just absolutely has to be a Jason Sudeikis character, right? I mean, it's the only plausible explanation.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Uncle Benzene

[vb68]

Quote

(I don't think they're relying on the southern accent here; Sessions has been claiming ignorance and acting like a clueless dummy who's supposedly soooo likable despite his bad behavior, so any Gump comparisons are his own fault).

If anything, I thought the accent was turned way down from the preceding episode last month where she played him during Melissa''s Spicer press conference. It was so OTT there I couldn't understand what she was saying. Sessions does indeed have a pronounced Southern drawl, so that will be part of any impression for better or worse.  I thought it worked in this sketch and didn't overly rely on it.

Edited March 5, 2017 by vb68

[fastiller]

I know it's a old-ish song, but I was hoping FJM would've played Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) .

I must admit: I laughed heartily at the "pro-Bono" U2 joke.  I love wordplay like that though.  I also liked Che's "at least your ancestors had a choice."

[WhosThatGirl]

I'm kind of bummed the Kellyanne thing was just a commercial bump.

This episode was.. something. I feel bad for Octavia she tried but it seemed weak on sketches which in all honestly it shouldn't have been. But I don't know.

I liked Girl At A Bar until the end with Aidy. That wasn't needed.

My favorite of the night was TBD because it's way too truthful and it's scary.

[Princess Sparkle]

Well, this episode was....something. The sketches that hit were fantastic - the cold open, WU, TBD, and Girl at a Bar - but the ones that didn't were terrible. I don't think I laughed once at the Spencer's sketch, and I was bummed that Bobby was wasted on that stupid chocolate sketch. None of this was Octavia's fault, who gave it all in even the dumbest sketches (I felt embarrassed for everyone in the Joad sketch). 

I will continue to be a one woman fan club for Alex Moffat. His Eric Trump had me on the floor, and I was in tears when he was battling with the Capri Sun.

Weirdly, I totally liked Father John Misty and I can't put my finger on why. And I was oddly charmed at how enthusiastically he hugged Octavia Spencer in the goodbyes and then started dancing in happiness. 

[Fostersmom]

Was it just my local affiliate that cut off the beginning of Update? It started in the middle of a Che joke. I rewound thinking I had just fast forwarded too much since I DVRd it last night. But nope, just mid joke. I have no idea what I missed. The rest of the show, other than the open, and the filmed bits, just came off as too try hard. Not sure what try hard means? See the musical guest. What the fuck was that? 

[Temperance]

6 hours ago, Uncle Benzene said:

My take on Kate/Kellyanne this week is that it was a deliberate (if subtle) reference to how marginalized she's been lately, and how despite that, she's still providing material. Clearly she's been put in timeout by the administration, serving her time and paying her penance and whatnot. And as a result, that one image of her in that dress, in that position on the Oval Office couch, looking at her phone, is pretty much all we've seen of her lately (and we've heard absolutely nothing.) And yet, that one teeny tiny little thing we did get from her over the last two weeks, even though it was just a single still frame image, was still mockable as all hell. Perhaps I'm giving SNL too much credit, but I took it as a deliberate reference to Kellyanne's current... uh... situation. No words, no "here's the latest batshit thing she said this week" or anything, because she hasn't been allowed to say anything lately. All we have is just that one image. And yet, even that is worthy of mention on SNL. Because, much like Trump just can't help but to step on his own dick on a daily basis, we learned this week that Kellyanne doesn't even have to say anything to create an embarrassing moment worthy of lampooning. That's what amused me about it, anyway. I thought it was brilliant, by far the best thing about this week's particularly weak episode.

Nailed it! This is absolutely what I thought and explained better than I could.

I will say I think both Conway and Sessions are more spiteful than they are portrayed on SNL. Heck, Putin might also fall into that category. Still I was glad there was no longer sketch featuring Kellyanne. TBD was much better imo, and I like that they went after Ryan a little. 

Edited March 6, 2017 by Temperance

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, Uncle Benzene said:

My take on Kate/Kellyanne this week is that it was a deliberate (if subtle) reference to how marginalized she's been lately, and how despite that, she's still providing material.

Interesting take. I really love how we simply see her as we go to commercial (and come back?). Just an awesome and inspired way of bringing it up.

Quote

Clearly she's been put in timeout by the administration, serving her time and paying her penance and whatnot.

BTW, CBS Sunday Morning did a story on her -- blech -- and she said you'd see less of her now so she can spend time with her family. Riiiiiiight.

 

Quote

Because, much like Trump just can't help but to step on his own dick on a daily basis...

I don't know about that, small hands and all.

 

2 hours ago, fastiller said:

I must admit: I laughed heartily at the "pro-Bono" U2 joke.  I love wordplay like that though. 

I loved that too! It's a groaner joke, but I love groaner jokes. 

Edited March 5, 2017 by peeayebee

[cpcathy]

I thought Octavia was the weak link. She seemed a little too hesitant during the sketches.

I thought the Kellyanne bit was inspired.

Cold open was downright brilliant, Kate is a godsend.

If I were Lorne, I'd bring Mikey and Alex into my office and give them instant passes for next season. The Trump boys bit was hysterical.

[ottoDbusdriver]

In the pharmaceutical sketch, I thought it was even funnier that Seasonique's middle name was Boniva, and Lunestra's middle name was Crestor.
They not only had their first names exploited, but their middle names too.

There were way too many flubs in this sketch -- almost like they have never rehearsed it even once.

[AdorkableSars]

4 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

I will continue to be a one woman fan club for Alex Moffat. His Eric Trump had me on the floor, and I was in tears when he was battling with the Capri Sun.

Can it be a two woman fan club? He is fast becoming one of my favorites. His Eric Trump was incredible. Had me laughing the whole time, with the physical comedy and childlike mannerisms/speaking. And his British/Hugh Grant accent made me feel things. He has impressed me all season!

4 hours ago, fastiller said:

I must admit: I laughed heartily at the "pro-Bono" U2 joke.  I love wordplay like that though.  I also liked Che's "at least your ancestors had a choice."

I laughed heartily as well...might've been my favorite joke on an Update that was all pretty good. And I always love Laura Parsons. Vanessa is so amazing playing her. Loved the La La Land singing she did too!

Octavia Spencer was great as a host! Father John Misty was startling. That is all

[Milburn Stone]

I look forward to everything Melissa Villaseñor does.

[JZL]

This was the weakest or second-weakest show this year, the last third was horrid, but this year has been so good it was still a decent show. 

A couple confessions . . .

The first time Kate did the Kellyanne bit I was sitting there going, "Man, she's a seasoned vet now to the point she can sit on stage and calmly do phone-texting right in the middle of a show."  I didn't get it til the second time.

I also admit I too was bowled over by Alex's business with his face buried in the Capri Sun pouch.  Why was that so hilarious?  That he was committing so strongly to something so inconsequential?  (Re committing to a bit-- watch and learn, Michael Che-- it's one of the primary rules of comedy)

Hopefully this was Melissa's break-out show.  She was great for the whole Zoo-Opolis sketch but her impression of Kate was priceless!  She and Alex wee the real diamonds in the rough this week. 

I'll continue my bitch-fest about the MG's this year.  LORNE-- remember a little thing called ROCK AND ROLL!?  You remember, the music that was a big deal when you started SNL?  It didn't go anywhere, but apparently you and Father John Whoozit did.  What the EFFF!?

[WendyCR72]

As far as the musical guests go, I'm only early to mid 40s, but I feel like I have descended into "GET OFF MY LAWN!!!" territory as - for the most part - I have absolutely no idea who half (or more!) of these people are. And I promise I don't live under a rock. But, yeah, totally out of the loop.

I do agree I miss actual rock on SNL. I remember the grunge days of yore when both Nirvana and Pearl Jam had appearances. (I read the former was asked by Victoria Jackson, of all people, if her friend, Weird Al Yankovic, could do a parody and that's how "Smells Like Nirvana" came to be! With the same-style video - and same people who appeared in both.)

Also loved U2 appearing, especially since Bono kept saying they were LIVE. They appeared a week or so after the Ashlee Simpson debacle.

It's ironic: In one of those oral history SNL books, it was said how the show was created because NBC/Lorne Michaels thought the late-night scene was too staid/old...and now Lorne Michaels is acting his own age (70s). Time marches on, I guess.

[Thumper]

Loved the Trump Brothers.  They  cracked me up.

[MakeMeLaugh]

Trump Brothers: 10. Almost everything else: 4. Pharmaceutical names are funny just like black people's names: -2

[heatherchandler]

8 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

 

I will continue to be a one woman fan club for Alex Moffat. His Eric Trump had me on the floor, and I was in tears when he was battling with the Capri Sun.

Weirdly, I totally liked Father John Misty and I can't put my finger on why. And I was oddly charmed at how enthusiastically he hugged Octavia Spencer in the goodbyes and then started dancing in happiness. 

Oh I'm in your Alex Moffat fan club!  He's funny!  I'm glad he's been in more stuff.

I find Father John Misty oddly charming as well.  His hip-sway dancing is so crazy, I love it!  I don't know why but I love him.  I know he's THE mega-hipster so it's weird that I like him so much.  The songs were good.  One has been in my head all day.

 

6 hours ago, cpcathy said:

I thought Octavia was the weak link. She seemed a little too hesitant during the sketches.

She was absolutely the weak link, pretty awful.  I could tell she was reading from cue cards the whole time.  I usually like her.  I guess live comedy is not her thing.

[helenamonster]

"Hi, you don't know me. I'm from a different movie."

"You ain't go no legs, Kellyanne." I shrieked.

I thought Octavia really shined in her monologue (unfortunately not during the rest of the show; more on that later), and this is the kind of monologue I wish they'd let hosts do more often, especially if they're capable. No more dumb singing monologues or audience questions...just let the host riff on whatever's relevant/the movie they're pushing.

TBD was inspired and now I desperately want this movie to be real, Bradley Whitford and all (he's my early 2000s tv boyfriend; even when I was six and couldn't understand a word anyone on The West Wing said, I knew Josh was where it was at). When they actually have someone to make the movie about, of course (it won't be Paul Ryan!).

Girl at a Bar was a great summary of 99% of the conversations I've had on Tinder.

While I enjoyed the impressions in Zoo-opolis, I missed the premise of the sketch. Was it that the movie was so low budget that they couldn't afford the real actors and had to hire impressionists instead.

I agree that this show, for the most part, was way off the the writing was really weak. Also, it felt like wayyyy too much product placement, which could explain things: Spencer's, Sticky Bun (why does this need product placement? people only to to a Sticky Bun when their flight is delayed five hours and they know it's gonna be cancelled but they just can't get themselves to leave the airport just yet), and a bunch of pharmaceuticals. The writers just did not give Octavia the right stuff to work with. I wouldn't mind having her come back on a better week.

I missed both of Father John Misty's performances because just his stage name screamed "you should take a snack break" to me but it sounds like I didn't miss anything! I look forward to Lorde's own weird dancing next episode (seriously, I love her, weird dancing and all).

23 hours ago, Shaynaa said:

Unless I missed something, there was no actual Kellyanne kneeling skit?  I'm so confused.  I saw her when the show went to break and assumed that would be coming up.  This was really not a good episode.  The Jess Sessions skit was funny but it just seemed to go downhill.  The "nice guy" feminists in the bar was pretty good.  The rest?  I have never heard of Father John Misty and couldn't figure out if his terrible dancing was supposed to be a joke.  Then he was dancing again while the end credits rolled.  What was that?
 

Kate doing the Kellyanne thing wasn't supposed to be a full sketch, just a little fun thing to do between set changes/commercial breaks. Honestly, I think it was a stronger choice to just keep it simple; any fullblown sketch they might have tried to do around it would have fallen flat, I think.

16 hours ago, Mumbles said:

"March is Women's History Month, and April is a lot of backed up dishes." I can't stand Michael Che. 

He is the actual worst. His Kellyanne apologizing was just bizarre. "She's just the airline employee you yell at when your luggage is lost." Not even close, you fucking moron. He has really turned "missing the point" into an Olympic sport.

8 hours ago, peeayebee said:

BTW, CBS Sunday Morning did a story on her -- blech -- and she said you'd see less of her now so she can spend time with her family. Riiiiiiight.

Might have to move this to the media thread, but I saw this (uggghhhh) and she talked about the Fatal Attraction sketch from a few weeks ago and said it wasn't accurate or somesuch. Oh, so you didn't break into Jake Tapper's apartment and seductively plead to be on the news before falling out the window to your death and reanimating? Color me shocked!