S43.E03: Kumail Nanjiani / P!nk

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Kumail Nanjiani is the host, and P!ink is the musical guest.

[JZL]

I hope this is appropriate here, but to anyone who has not yet seen The Big Sick, it's probably one of the best movies of the year-- and now it's out on DVD!

[Milburn Stone]

I saw him interviewed on Build about something or other, and he's very quick and funny even without any prepared material. I see him being unafraid to tell the writers their material sucks when it sucks. So I have a mild degree of optimism about tonight's show.

[vb68]

Hate to predict it, but I'm hoping for a David S Pumpkins appearance.

Any Questions? ;) 

[Phishbulb]

This week would be the perfect time for Taran Killam to make a cameo and do his (great) Eminem impression. I wonder what the relationship between him and the show is now though- it doesn't seem like he left the show willingly, and there may still be bad blood between Lorne and him about that.

[formerlyfreedom]

Well, I am thoroughly charmed by Kumail's monologue! I'm looking forward to the rest of the show!

[Oldtimesnlfan]

Googd show so far. This is my first post. New here.

They are going after harvy. Um.

[Sader87]

This show so needs strong/funny guys.....the women are so much funnier/better than the guys in the cast right now.

Jesus......this is awful....a nursing home/sex scandal? Really?

[Oldtimesnlfan]

I kinda liked the Granny VD skit. A bit dark I agree. 

Not to wade into a battle of the sexes discussion, I do agree that the guys gotta step up.  I’ve long admired the ladies on SNL as great. 

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: We're starting with Trump yet again, because they couldn't afford not to. I did like Trump not being happy that Starbucks doesn't have Merry Christmas cups yet. Beck running away as Mike Pence was just great to watch. Really, I feel the best way to write for Trump is the way Frank Caliendo impersonates John Madden, just spitting out total word salads. This is getting there, but not quite.

Monologue: I've been waiting so long for a host like Kumail. He's another great standup host, so of course his monologue was gonna be good.

Bank Breakers: Kumail rivals Kenan in the reaction faces department. He also just oozes shame so well. It's something I love about his role as Dinesh on Silicon Valley. It's like Dinesh was on a game show, that was great.

Anderson Cooper: Kellyanne Conway as Pennywise! This is great. now THIS is how you take her on, even taking the form of Hillary to lure Anderson Cooper down the sewer? That's just MEAN.

Costume Party: You had me at Kenan dressed as Mario. Who else thought the staff was getting fired? Everyone having Hep A came out of left field, and it was better for it. Wasn't a fan of the bits where Beck couldn't understand anyone, but I think it's just because it hits too close to home.

Women's Round Table: Yes! Bringing back Debette Goldry was the best way to cover the Harvey Weinstein stuff. "In his defense, I was very blonde at the time." That, and being in the moon landing cast were my favorite parts.

WU: Once again no fucks are being given and I thank Colin & Che for it. Since Cecily came in as Ivana Trump, can we safely assume she'll play all of Trump's wives and daughters?

Hotel: Really liked Kumail in this. He does roles like that so well, like on Portlandia. Every single time he said "Staaaargaazer Lounge" I imagine every hotel receptionist in America doing the exact same thing.

Nursing Home: Kate does not need to say a word to be the best part of this. That makeup crew is godly. Also, Kumail was great again.

Call Center: The twist that Melania kept calling was a great touch. This was pretty sweet.

This was a pretty decent episode. Not the best thing ever, but I liked it. The show returns November 4th with...Larry David?! I'm hyped already. His kids were fans of Hannah Montana, which explains why Miley Cyrus is joining him.

Also, really liked that footage of the cue card people during one of the commercial breaks. I really had no idea they wrote the cue cards down during the show itself.

[Oldtimesnlfan]

Well, I was gonna try my hand at writing a blog type review but the one above wraps it up well. I was gonna ad an old guys perpective or such as I’m lost on pop culture.  I agree on Thr Trump skits as it reminds me of the OJ days. I enjoyed tonight. Not Doritos spilling, cough out loud funny but I enjoyed as I hope you all did.

[opus]

Anyone catch what Kumail yelled out right at the end of the goodnights? We missed it.

[vb68]

There was a lot I liked in this one and a few things I didn't think worked.

The Cold Open, especially Mike Pence jumping and leaving on command, the monologue, game show. and Kellyanne as Pennywise were all great.   The Game Show did make me miss Vanessa Bayer, though, as that was the type of character she just owned.

I was scratching my head as to what was suppose to be funny in the Office on Halloween sketch. The costumes?  It was almost like a semi-horror/nightmare thing people dread happening in the office. That's fine, but I didn't think it was funny.   I also thought Cecily's Ivana just kinda laid there. Not her best impression.  And lastly on my negative portion, since Gal Gadot got called out on the cue cards, Kumail looked like he was he was just  standing there reading in the nursing home sketch. Just saying.

But again, I thought the show started off really strong, especially. My favorite line of the night might be "Big Tobacco for the steal." Hee.     

Edited October 15, 2017 by vb68

[Oldtimesnlfan]

On the question opus posted, I couldn’t catch that either. I wound it back a few times. 

[Peace 47]

8 minutes ago, vb68 said:

But again, I thought the show started off really strong, especially. My favorite line of the night might be "Big Tobacco for the steal." Hee.     

That was such a great sketch.  Mikey Day does the "impeccably smooth game show host who is secretly judging you" (which Bill Hader also used to do) so well.  So funny when he noted that Cecily's character had spent more time in Pakistan than Kumail's.

Weekend Update was fantastic, other than Ivana, which was pretty awful.  Poor Che had a cold, I think, but his "all holidays matter" rant was perfect.

I actually liked the Halloween party sketch:  the speakerphone comprehension problem is something that I deal with all that time at work, and the juxtaposition of that with the something as awful as discussing hep A worked.

The nursing home sketch was awful, mostly because I just read a CNN.com expose on nursing home sexual abuse a couple of months back and that was all I could think of.  (Insert Debbie Downer noise here I guess.)

Leslie is looking amazing these days--last week in the Wonder Woman costume and this week in that lovely yellow dress when she was playing Viola Davis.  She just glows.

[Robert Lynch]

Didn't Kate looked exactly like Margot Robbie in some shots? I thought the Kellywise sketch was ingenious, though. Probably Bill Skarsgard will host this season or next? 

[Ms Blue Jay]

58 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

This was a pretty decent episode. Not the best thing ever, but I liked it. The show returns November 4th with...Larry David?! I'm hyped already. His kids were fans of Hannah Montana, which explains why Miley Cyrus is joining him.

This isn't a rerun?  Thank God

[vb68]

I forgot to mention that I really enjoyed the final sketch.  It was just the right amount of off-kilter, yet I really can imagine Melania picking a totally random person as a confidant.   

[meowmommy]

49 minutes ago, Oldtimesnlfan said:

such as I’m lost on pop culture

I'm totally oblivious to pop culture (but in my defense, I saw the very first SNL, as a college student in 1975), so I never heard of tonight's host.  That said, I thought he did a great job. 

[Oldtimesnlfan]

Meow mommy, I understand. I have to look up the references at times to get the joke. I guess this has been the only constant as I went thru the times. I still love ke.

[JakeyJokes]

That "It" video was genius, and not because the movie scared the ever loving crap out of me (and that make-up and teeth were GOOD! For the uninitiated, that's pretty much what the first scene of the book and movie is. And yes, my dude-friend was conveniently getting popcorn during it and I was thisclose to moving over to the gay couple next to me as moral support -- surely they would understand?)

Of course Kate as HRC is a big story -- she even thanked her when winning the Emmy -- but I think Kate as Kellyanne was a surprise act of genius. I read in The Hollywood Reporter that she wanted to play Ann Coulter and the writers were like, "Ann is a caricature now, but here's this relevant woman we can do sketches about." Unlike her petulant boss, Conway herself doesn't seem to hate it (although things are too toxic now and we'll never have a Palin/Fey moment).

Good on them for going after Weinstein after last week's backlash. Is this the first time actress roundtable got placed before Weekend Update?

I love an old-school stand-up monologue!

[possibilities]

Is there any chance we could get back the writers we had last season? Why did they leave? I thought this episode was weak as hell. They have a fabulous cast and they had a potentially fabulous host, and yet I was bored. Last year, almost every episode was great, and so far this season they've all been meh.

I wonder if being live in all time zones means they are pulling punches? If it airs at 8:30 pm on the West Coast, they're going to be way more cautious than if it airs at 11:30. Everything seems to bland to me. It's not just the political content, either.

Edited October 15, 2017 by possibilities

[Oldtimesnlfan]

Well, here goes. 

 Cold open.  Trump again. It is funny but tutu much. (Remember the OJ days)  I may be in the minority and slough I enjoy Baldwin’s take, I prefer Hammond.

monologue. Don’t know much about him but enjoyed it.

Game show. Good skit I always enjoy those.

Anderson Cooper and II. Very funny. She is great st those takes on Conway.

Costume party. It was ok. Maybe a redo in order. 

Womens Roundtable. Well done. Made a point in a comedy sketch. I’m glad to see them take this on. 

WU. I really like this team and characters who visit. Scale back on chasing Trump. Otherwise great.

Granny with VD.  Kinda dark but funny. I enjoy seeing SNL test the edge.

Call Center. Another Trump bit but with a twist. 

 Pink was outstanding. I’m more country and rock that pop but she is a strong artist. 

 My player of the week would be Cecile Strong. Her performance tonight was a well done as ever. 

     WELL, HERE IT IS. MY FIRST CRACK AT A REVIRW. I hope this isn’t imposing and would welcome any feed back. This is just a hobby I’ve wanted to try. Having followed SNL for so long I figured it would be fun. Be easy and keep the “get lost bozo” comments to a minimum please. Thanks, mb

[dcalley]

4 hours ago, opus said:

Anyone catch what Kumail yelled out right at the end of the goodnights? We missed it.

Believe women!

[Spartan Girl]

Kumail's monologue was the best one so far this season. While I'm revolted by all the racist trolling he got after The Big Sick, it is awesome that he gave it right back to them

"Kellywise" was a stroke of genius. The woman makes my skin crawl, so it wasn't that much of a stretch. But I wasn't expecting the return of Hillary to bait Anderson down there. Yikes.

[SomeTameGazelle]

I thought they could have been sharper with the Mike-Pence-scurries-away-from-events bits. The Starbucks made me laugh but I thought the wedding was weak. Why would they be at a wedding at the same time as they had planned to be at a sporting event? If part of the joke was that they had planned to be offended and leave there should have been a reference to how his engagements were planned. Also, who attends a wedding without knowing who is getting married? If the point was that they knew what to expect going in and just went in order to make a show of protesting, that wasn't clear. I have to admit I was also disappointed because I assumed that issue with the wedding was also going to be kneeling. But I guess they weren't going for hypocrisy, just obeying Trump.

[wknt3]

7 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I'm totally oblivious to pop culture (but in my defense, I saw the very first SNL, as a college student in 1975), so I never heard of tonight's host.  That said, I thought he did a great job. 

You totally should check out his movie "The Big Sick" if you liked what you saw tonight. It really is a great film and can be appreciated without knowing anything about pop culture as long as you like smart comedy. And I agree that he did a great job. I've heard it said by many SNL types that the key to success as a host is to focus on creating a great monologue and be willing to go along with the writers on the rest of the show. Which seems to be accurate. As a viewer it seems that the next step up is being able to work with the writers to put your own stamp on a sketch or two (which doesn't mean just spoofing whatever big role landed you the hosting gig, but bringing your own style or POV) and Kumail seemed to pull that off this week. I hope he returns.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Kumail was a good host.  When I posted that Gal Gadot was reading the cue cards so obviously and it was really distracting, and I got about 54 responses saying that no, that was actually awesome for some reason, Kumail is a very naturally funny actor that could read cue cards but make it look like he was acting in the sketch, and also inject humour into what he was doing.  However, someone tweeted that the scripts were lacking this week and I agree.  You would think these writers would be inspired by Kumail's ability.  Also, I've never enjoyed or needed Baldwin's Trump after like the second appearance.  I can't believe how often they do this.  

[theredhead77]

I want P!NK's top / jacket combo from the first song. Anyone know where that is from (and where I can find a money tree to fund it)

Edited October 15, 2017 by theredhead77

[wonderwoman]

4 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

I want P!NK's top / jacket combo. Anyone know where that is from (and where I can find a money tree to fund it)

I loved the puffy, hot pink top, as well. But WHAT was she wearing beneath? It looked like a flag. And the red and yellow clashed violently with the pink, at least to these eyes. 

[theredhead77]

1 minute ago, wonderwoman said:

I loved the puffy, hot pink top, as well. But WHAT was she wearing beneath? It looked like a flag. And the red and yellow clashed violently with the pink, at least to these eyes. 

From the first song. I'm editing my post to clarify.

[hendersonrocks]

All Holidays Matter is pure gold.

I am still finding Alec's Trump to consistently be the weakest part of any episode. I don't know if it's just too close to real life or what, but there isn't humor in it for me. Kellywise, on the other hand, was pitch perfect.

Pink is so, so good. I loved her performances.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Pics of Pink's jacket for @theredhead77

[Tiggertoo]

1 hour ago, theredhead77 said:

I want P!NK's top / jacket combo from the first song. Anyone know where that is from (and where I can find a money tree to fund it)

Me too.  That caught my eye.  Hated the second outfit.

 

I thought the Pennywise skit was the highlight, of course Kate was great but the guy who played Anderson Coopy was very good too.  

 

I’m a fan of Kumail from Silicon Valley and The Big Sick, but I found the show a bit underwhelming.

 

I didn’t like the Melania Trump piece just because it seemed very sympathicand I don’t find her sympathic.

[Inquisitionist]

17 minutes ago, Tiggertoo said:

but the guy who played Anderson Coopy was very good too.  

Was that Alex Moffat?  He seems to have a pretty good range of  impressions.

[vb68]

1 hour ago, Inquisitionist said:

Was that Alex Moffat?  He seems to have a pretty good range of  impressions.

That was him. I'm more and more impressed by him all the time. His Anderson Cooper is such an improvement on the last guy's-- Jon Rudnitsky. (Always have to look up the spelling on that name.)  I think Moffat is turning into one of the real stars of the show.

 

10 hours ago, possibilities said:

I wonder if being live in all time zones means they are pulling punches? If it airs at 8:30 pm on the West Coast, they're going to be way more cautious than if it airs at 11:30.

I have been worried about exactly that. I'm happy people on the West Coast can see it live, but there is a trade off. It's not really a late night show technically. I was thinking about the nursing home sketch in the last half hour.  I guess it was risque enough, but I have a feeling it would have gone further if it wasn't airing in primetime out west.  

Edited October 15, 2017 by vb68

[possibilities]

Pink is a dead ringer for Busy Phillips. She has a strong voice but I was totally distracted by the resemblance.

One thing I like about The Big Sick is that the conflict and the compatibility are legitimate. So many movies like this hinge on one of the people being obnoxious/immature for no reason other than contrivance and the other one loving them/forgiving them for no real reason.

I do think Che has improved dramatically over the summer-- both his material and his delivery.

[Prairie Fire]

Kumail's monologue was similar to Aziz Ansari's in that it touched on some of the same themes - but even though Aziz appears to be far more popular, I thought Kumail's was much funnier and less annoying. I too hope to see Kumail again on SNL.

[Fabricationary]

Cecily's Ivana Trump sounded like she was channeling Alex Bornstein's Miss Swan from Mad TV (RIP), at least phonetically.

[Inquisitionist]

15 hours ago, Sader87 said:

This show so needs strong/funny guys.....the women are so much funnier/better than the guys in the cast right now.

Were Kyle Mooney or Pete Davidson in any sketches last night?  If so, they didn't make an impression on me.  "Featured Players" Mikey Day and Alex Moffat seem to be getting much more air-time.

[VCRTracking]

I thought Kumail was okay. The nursing home sketch was the one he was best in, although two sketches where Kate plays an old lady was a bit much.

Cecily was the cast MVP this week. I loved her Ivana Trump and Melania in the short.

[opus]

38 minutes ago, Inquisitionist said:

Were Kyle Mooney or Pete Davidson in any sketches last night?  If so, they didn't make an impression on me.  "Featured Players" Mikey Day and Alex Moffat seem to be getting much more air-time.

I remember Pete showed up (if only briefly), but I'm blanking on when.

[Galileo908]

5 minutes ago, opus said:

I remember Pete showed up (if only briefly), but I'm blanking on when.

Pete was Kumail's roommate wearing the "LOSER --->" shirt in the game show sketch.

[slasherboy]

I've loved Kumail ever since I discovered him several years ago.  I enjoyed "The Big Sick" a lot and wish I could see more of him.

That said, not the best episode of SNL but I stuck it out because of KN.

[Galileo908]

47 minutes ago, slasherboy said:

I've loved Kumail ever since I discovered him several years ago.  I enjoyed "The Big Sick" a lot and wish I could see more of him.

There's three seasons of Silicon Valley to enjoy, lots of him in that show. There's also his various podcasts he was on, plus The Meltdown with Jonah & Kumail was on Comedy Central for a few seasons.

Edited October 15, 2017 by Galileo908

[slasherboy]

13 hours ago, dcalley said:

Believe women!

I didn't mean to quote the above but don't want to be rude so, YAY dcalley!

 

38 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

There's three seasons of Silicon Valley to enjoy, lots of him in that show. There's also his various podcasts he was on, plus The Meltdown with Jonah & Kumail was on Comedy Central for a few seasons.

 I knew he was on "Silicon Valley" but I just can't get into that show.  Thanks for all the info about the other stuff though!

[Mystery]

I haven't seen Silicon Valley or his movie but I thought that Kumail was great, especially in his monologue: so personable and funny. I'll go watch those other things now. 

I thought the show was kind of slow but it didn't occur to me to wonder about the "prime time" West Coast airing. I bet that has something to do with it. 

I loved Kelly Conway as "It" not only for the lampooning of her, but because it also lampooned the media. 

Thanks for answering what Kumail said at the end of the show, as I also couldn't make it out. 

[TheGreenKnight]

Kellywise Conway was the best part of the episode. The moment where I burst out laughing was when Rachel Maddow appeared, and I was rolling by the time she conjured up Hillary and her book.

[vb68]

Kate was one of the co-writers on Kellywise.

[peeayebee]

22 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Hotel: Really liked Kumail in this. He does roles like that so well, like on Portlandia. Every single time he said "Staaaargaazer Lounge" I imagine every hotel receptionist in America doing the exact same thing.

I immediately thought of him in Portlandia when we first see him at the desk. Why is he so good at them? I loved this. And anyone who hasn't seen him in Portlandia should do so. Here's a sampling of his work.

 

22 hours ago, vb68 said:

I was scratching my head as to what was suppose to be funny in the Office on Halloween sketch.

I was wondering about this too. I did like it, but it was definitely a different sort of humor than the show usually does. Odd sketch, but I didn't think it was bad.

 

Quote

I also thought Cecily's Ivana just kinda laid there. Not her best impression.

Right off the bat I want to ask if she was wearing a nose prosthetic. It wasn't exaggerated, but it didn't seem quite like her own nose. Anyway, this just didn't work. The audience wasn't into it either. Honestly, I hadn't paid any attention to the news about the interview she gave, but I did wonder if her comment about being the First Lady was meant to be a joke. This made me kind of like the bit where she kept repeating it to make the same joke, but it just didn't work well.

 

13 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I thought they could have been sharper with the Mike-Pence-scurries-away-from-events bits. The Starbucks made me laugh but I thought the wedding was weak. Why would they be at a wedding at the same time as they had planned to be at a sporting event? If part of the joke was that they had planned to be offended and leave there should have been a reference to how his engagements were planned. Also, who attends a wedding without knowing who is getting married? If the point was that they knew what to expect going in and just went in order to make a show of protesting, that wasn't clear. I have to admit I was also disappointed because I assumed that issue with the wedding was also going to be kneeling. But I guess they weren't going for hypocrisy, just obeying Trump.

I liked the weirdness of it all. We know they went from the stadium to the plane, not to a Starbucks, so that was a funny bit of business. And then to go to an apparently random wedding was just wacky. I really liked it. I also LOVED how Beck quickly scurried away whenever Trump barked. Awesome.

In WU, Che bit that saying "Happy Holiday" was like All Holidays Matter was PERFECT! Whoever came up with that gets a standing ovation.

Loved the thing with Godzilla's tweet. Another favorite bit was when Che said Trump had forgotten to sign the Executive Order until "Good ol' Mike Pence was there to remind the teacher that she forgot to assign homework."

I think my favorite sketch was the last one with Kumail and Melania Trump. Very good.