S42.E16: Scarlett Johansson / Lorde

[helenamonster]

Oh man, the Trump dog thing was excellent. I wonder if they had problems with him keeping the hat on during rehearsals because nobody skipped a beat when he started taking it off. Best exchange: "Don't you want me to have a choice over my own body?" "I don't remember you giving me a choice when you cut off my balls!"

The Olive Garden sketch was so much better than it had any right to be.

Yes @ Complicit. "She's supposed to be an advocate for women, but, like, how?"

When they announced Al Franken on Update I was really hoping the real one would come out, but I understand his reticence in returning to the show. Keep fighting the good fight in Washington, Senator.

Kate playing that fucking blobfish is just...that is her. I don't know how else to describe it. It just fully encapsulates her comic persona.

"I thought I told you to leave Charlotte. And the surrounding Charlotte area."

Lorde is 20 years old and has made more money than probably all of us will see in a lifetime. She's living her best life right now and I fully support it.

Overall, very strong show. The energy was very good, and as others have said, even the weaker sketches were supported by the momentum of the stronger ones.

On 3/12/2017 at 3:25 AM, Psychobunny said:

Loved Max and complicit but WTH was up with Lorde? She's never been the best singer but her songs were good. The first song was crap although I do hear a nugget of potential in the second one. The dancing was crazy, though. Is she on drugs? I also wanted to give props to Alex for an awesome Al Franken. Overall a fairly good show.

I saw her in concert in 2014 and she's always danced like that. She's a weird lil Kiwi and always has been.

16 hours ago, TAG42481 said:

I was shocked to realize that Scarlett Johansson joined the Five-Timers Club.  I knew she had hosted multiple times, but didn't realize it had been that often.  In addition, I couldn't believe that a fellow member of the club (Alec Baldwin) was in attendance and wasn't out there to acknowledge her addition.  I found that disappointing.  I realize he played Trump in the cold open, but I would think that he could have changed during the opening credits and beginning of the monologue.

Apparently the 45 makeup for Alec is very detailed and intensive...they can spend a lot of time on it because he usually isn't needed for the rest of the show. It's possible they just wouldn't have been able to remove it all in time for the monologue.

11 hours ago, Fostersmom said:

I died at the WU color swatch joke. So wrong, but so very dead on. The dog was adorable and I wondered if it was her dog, she was so comfortable planting the hat back on his head and then strapping his pussy hat on too. Any whining from Trump yet about picking on his grown ass daughter who has made herself part of the story? 

Cecily had a post on Instagram, and the dog is the same one they used in that Blue River Dog Food commercial sketch a while back where Cecily starts having an existential crisis about the garbage she's been feeding her dog. He's likely an "actor" and therefore easy to work with when it comes to that stuff, even if he did have a bit of a diva moment there with his helmet.

ETA: About whether 45 will comment on the Complicit sketch...idk if any of y'all have noticed, but he never bitches and moans about any portrayals besides him. I mean, we do know he hates Melissa McCarthy as Spicy because he perceives a man being played by a woman to make said man look weak, but this show has taken the piss out of his whole family multiple times (except Barron, obviously, and Tiffany has been spared as well for the most part), and he never comments on that. He is clearly only concerned with his own image.

Edited March 13, 2017 by helenamonster

[Ottis]

7 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I was shocked to realize that Scarlett Johansson joined the Five-Timers Club.  I knew she had hosted multiple times, but didn't realize it had been that often.  In addition, I couldn't believe that a fellow member of the club (Alec Baldwin) was in attendance and wasn't out there to acknowledge her addition.  I found that disappointing.  I realize he played Trump in the cold open, but I would think that he could have changed during the opening credits and beginning of the monologue.

The bar to host SNL seems lower in the past 10 years, kind of like "Behind the Music" or "A Football Life." There are people who host it who have been around for 10 minutes, and repeat hosts that are highly questionable (Drew Barrymore - 6 times).Or maybe I'm just not as easy to impress as I was as a teen. Though Deion Sanders as host was never a good thing.

Quote

ETA: About whether 45 will comment on the Complicit sketch...idk if any of y'all have noticed, but he never bitches and moans about any portrayals besides him. I mean, we do know he hates Melissa McCarthy as Spicy because he perceives a man being played by a woman to make said man look weak, but this show has taken the piss out of his whole family multiple times (except Barron, obviously, and Tiffany has been spared as well for the most part), and he never comments on that. He is clearly only concerned with his own image.

Yes, and ... this skit by implication takes many shots at 45. Now, whether he is aware enough to realize that, who knows. I do wonder what Ivanka is thinking after seeing it. She has to see the truth ... right? Or at least think about her image?

Edited March 13, 2017 by Ottis

[Phishbulb]

17 hours ago, Psychobunny said:

I wanted to clarify that I do love the songs from Lorde's first album which was why I was so disappointed. Like I said, I think that the second song has potential but she is just somebody whose talent lies more in songwriting than in pure singing with just a piano. I suspect that this song will be better with production.

The second song ("Liability") appears on the album pretty much the way she did it on the show; it's just her and a piano (which I guess is being played by the album's producer, Jack Antonoff from the band Bleachers. He was the one playing the piano during her performance). 

Antonoff really likes piano I guess, because there is that piano break in "Green Light" which he produced as well. The bombastic-ness of that song is more in line with his usual work (he cowrote "Out of the Woods" from Taylor Swift's 1989 album). 

[Milburn Stone]

The Olive Garden sketch and Pete Davidson's WU bit were the two funniest things I've seen on this show in--decades? And the rest of the show waren't too shabby, neither.

[AriAu]

The show was pretty funny the first time through, but actually stronger when I re-watched with my son on Sunday afternoon-maybe because I fast-forwarded through the day without women sketch and all of Lorde. It was just funny-a little topical, but mostly just funny. Good stuff.

[Hanahope]

Pretty decent show.  The cold opening wasn't one of the better trump bits, but had some good zingers (business interests on Zoltran 9).  Scar Jo is really great on this show, she has such good comedic timing and facial expressions.  I really think she does comedy so much better than the action stuff she puts out.

Lorde is a bit hit and miss with me, but I liked both of the songs she performed.

[wallofsound]

I agree with those of you who found Pete Davidson absolutely hilarious for the first time ever.    He was great and I've never remotely enjoyed him before on WU.    and I loved Michael Che laughing in the background the entire time.  

I enjoyed the episode and didn't dislike Scarlett in any of the sketches, although her roles could have been played by anyone else and I wouldn't  have noticed her absence.   But, I strongly disliked her in the monologue.   I don't know if her turtleneck was too tight or what, but her neck was bent back and her nose was stuck so far up in the air.    She just seemed so pleased with herself.   And her forehead seemed botoxed beyond belief.   She lost that fresh look she once had.  Now she's frozen and affected.  

[Tara Ariano]

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

Watch The Highlights From Scarlett Johansson's Fifth Appearance On Saturday Night Live

She's a surprisingly talented interpreter of deep club tracks.

[Bruinsfan]

In the Olive Garden sketch I thought the orgasm thing was funny for the sheer shock value and Leslie's surprised expression that the director took as following his instructions, then got skeevy when he gave the same direction to Scarlett, then circled around to funny again when Mikey got the same treatment.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Bruinsfan

[rmontro]

16 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Oh man, the Trump dog thing was excellent. I wonder if they had problems with him keeping the hat on during rehearsals because nobody skipped a beat when he started taking it off. Best exchange: "Don't you want me to have a choice over my own body?" "I don't remember you giving me a choice when you cut off my balls!"

I agree the dog sketch was pretty good, plus there was the added interest of seeing Scarjo improvise.  I expected them to just continue the sketch with the helmet off the dog.

Only thing is, I know every host, writer, actor, etc on the show leans to the left, but sometimes they take it a bit too far.  Is it really funny that Cecily Strong wanted to shoot the dog, just because it liked Trump?

[oakville]

13 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I agree the dog sketch was pretty good, plus there was the added interest of seeing Scarjo improvise.  I expected them to just continue the sketch with the helmet off the dog.

Only thing is, I know every host, writer, actor, etc on the show leans to the left, but sometimes they take it a bit too far.  Is it really funny that Cecily Strong wanted to shoot the dog, just because it liked Trump?

Shooting the dog was stupid. The skit was funny because it showed how emotional the scientists were getting at the pro-Trump Pug. The Pug said that SJ never brought home any African Americans.

[rmontro]

3 minutes ago, oakville said:

The Pug said that SJ never brought home any African Americans.

That was funny.  Also, when the dog said she masturbates out of boredom.

[Traveller519]

Yes, the Pug was the nuanced voice of the right/Trump supporters, which we rarely hear. Max put the scientists on the defensive, which is something the show really hasn't done in the past year with its political commentary. It was them who were reduced to soundbites. That sketch gets better the second time around.

For some reason my DVR has given up recording SNL the past two weeks, so I've been reduced to Canadian On Demand, which drops the musical performances and a couple sketches. I missed the Mansplaining one this time, which sounds like I really missed out.

[Lantern7]

On 3/12/2017 at 11:39 AM, Bruinsfan said:

So Lorde is a record company executive's daughter, right? She obviously didn't get a deal based on musical talent, and she's not that pretty.

The truth is weirder. In reality, Lorde is a middle-aged schmuck from Colorado whose vocal stylings have been greatly altered. Singing stuff like "I am Lorde! Lorde Lordy Lorde!!" can be mixed enough to produce "Royal." Also, he has a mustache. Nobody has caught on. Come on, I cannot be the only South Park fan watching the show.

Max for the win. I saw nipples, so it might have been Maxine. Definitely leaps to the top of great animal performances on SNL; up there with John Lithgow taking confessions from dogs, and the Golden Retriever that pulled on Massive Head Wound Harry's head wound.

[PatternRec]

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Max for the win. I saw nipples, so it might have been Maxine. Definitely leaps to the top of great animal performances on SNL; up there with John Lithgow taking confessions from dogs, and the Golden Retriever that pulled on Massive Head Wound Harry's head wound.

My roommate randomly asked me the other day if I remembered Toonces!

Edited March 14, 2017 by PatternRec

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

Yes, the Pug was the nuanced voice of the right/Trump supporters, which we rarely hear. Max put the scientists on the defensive, which is something the show really hasn't done in the past year with its political commentary. It was them who were reduced to soundbites. That sketch gets better the second time around.

You guys seem to be suggesting that sketch was actually sort of pro-Trump.  Can't say I agree with that, all the humans in the room were horrified at what the dog was saying.  Although I can see that the dog was actually giving voice to the other side for a change.

[RobertDeSneero]

21 hours ago, rmontro said:

Only thing is, I know every host, writer, actor, etc on the show leans to the left, but sometimes they take it a bit too far.  Is it really funny that Cecily Strong wanted to shoot the dog, just because it liked Trump?

It's funny because the dog deserved it.  Michael Che says it's also funny because (lol) women can't shoot guns.

[helenamonster]

I didn't feel like the dog sketch had anything to do with giving the pro-45 point of view a more nuanced take. If I had to guess, I would assume that the inspiration came from a thought that a lot of pet-owners have (if my dog/cat/whatever could talk, what would they say?) and then sort of evolved given the current political climate. I mean, what if our pets--who we love desperately, sometimes more than other humans--ended up holding a wildly different worldview than us, one that we found offensive? Sure, there was definitely some poking at the left (the comment about Scarlett never bringing any black people to their apartment, especially) but it seemed more about a concept than political commentary, at least to me.

This sketch also made me realize that based on how she reacts when the cat across the hall sneaks into our apartment, my cat would likely be pro-45 on his immigration policy alone.

[saber5055]

Impressed with Scarlett. I enjoyed the entire show, unlike last week, which sucked. I saw a real Olive Garden commercial last night and it made me laugh out loud. SNL has made it impossible to take OG seriously ever again.

[rmontro]

21 hours ago, RobertDeSneero said:

It's funny because the dog deserved it.

The dog deserved to be shot because it liked Trump?  What kind of message is that sending?  Are we advocating shooting people now because they have a different political opinion than we do?  I thought the sketch overall was funny, but I don't see the humor in that part of it.

[RobertDeSneero]

10 minutes ago, rmontro said:

The dog deserved to be shot because it liked Trump?  What kind of message is that sending?  Are we advocating shooting people now because they have a different political opinion than we do?  I thought the sketch overall was funny, but I don't see the humor in that part of it.

Yeah, sure.  Why not?

[rmontro]

2 minutes ago, RobertDeSneero said:

Yeah, sure.  Why not?

Okay, just clearing that up.  And that brings me back to my original comment, which was that this is where I think they take the political humor too far.  Obviously YMMV.

[RobertDeSneero]

3 hours ago, rmontro said:

Okay, just clearing that up.  And that brings me back to my original comment, which was that this is where I think they take the political humor too far.  Obviously YMMV.

I like humor that goes too far.

[formerlyfreedom]

Okay, move on.

[saber5055]

All I can say after watching the Talking Dog sketch is I'm no longer wishing that my dogs could talk. And I LOL'd when Scarlett called Max "dumbass" at the end.

[Bruinsfan]

I saw some comedy bit about a dog saying "Get the ball! Get the ball! Get the ball!" endlessly decades ago that convinced me talking dogs would not be a good thing. Also, the workers at my vet's office do not seem fond of the gray parrot in their lobby.