S43.E03: Kumail Nanjiani / P!nk

[helenamonster]

The cold open was generally in the same realm of mediocrity that it's been for awhile now, but the visual of Aidy as Karen "Mother" Pence was jarring. I don't know quite why but it was.

My favorite running bit on this show is the Kellyanne movie parodies, and It was no exception. Christ, thanks for the nightmares, SNL. Shoutout to Cecily's Maddow: "You'll float too, Anderson!"

The only thing I really liked about the office Halloween party sketch was the randomness of the guy having hep A. Like of all the infectious diseases, that was the one they went with. Do people even get that anymore? It sounds like such an old timey disease, like polio or something. But I did get a sudden urge to clean my kitchen. And my whole apartment.

"Macaroni Copacabana."

Besides "All Holidays Matter," which was genius, I thought Update was rather weak. A shame, cuz they've been a roll lately.

Kumail was a great host. I'd love for him to come back.

P!nk is a badass. I've been listening to her for what feels like my entire life, I love that she's still around. And holy crap, is she ageless or what? She has a moral obligation to share her skin care regimen with the rest of us.

13 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

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.

I think I'm just exhausted by 45 and find literally nothing funny about him anymore. We haven't just been dealing with him since January, this all started over two years ago when he announced his run. I'm tired, and wish they'd do something, anything else for the cold opens going forward.

10 hours ago, possibilities said:

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

P!nk, Busy Philipps, and Ali Larter. Has anyone ever seen any of them in a room together? I'm skeptical.

[Robert Lynch]

I actually laugh at whenever Pence goes to a place, Trump barks for them to get out of there. Beck is very good at being deadpan. I could imagine that is how Trump treats his staff. 

But Alex is becoming my favorite. He does a much better Anderson Cooper than the real Anderson Cooper. Right don't own to the speaking style.

[Peace 47]

7 hours ago, helenamonster said:

The only thing I really liked about the office Halloween party sketch was the randomness of the guy having hep A. Like of all the infectious diseases, that was the one they went with. Do people even get that anymore? It sounds like such an old timey disease, like polio or something. But I did get a sudden urge to clean my kitchen. And my whole apartment.

It's gross, but there are still hepatitis A outbreaks and scares.  There was just one at an upscale restaurant near my current work about 1.5 years ago, where a food preparer was diagnosed, and everyone who ate there while the person was sick had to get tested.  Luckily, I was not among those people!

[Ottis]

On 10/15/2017 at 6:04 AM, Spartan Girl said:

"Kellywise" was a stroke of genius. The woman makes my skin crawl, so it wasn't that much of a stretch.

In fact, this wasn't far off of being a documentary, teeth excluded. I would have liked it better without Rachel and Hillary. They needed more media in the sewer to go for the "we're all in this cesspool together" viewpoint. Hillary's presence was an odd addition. She wrote a book, but still.

No idea who Kumail was - and I've seen an episode and a half of Silicon Valley (which I found to be an uninteresting millennial wankfest). He seemed pleasant enough.

11 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Loved the thing with Godzilla's tweet.

That made me laugh. There has to be a Godzilla Twitter account now, right?

On 10/14/2017 at 11:27 PM, vb68 said:

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

Too close to reality, I think. Both the sad employees in costume in a professional office, and the tone deaf manager passing on terrible news with a "let's not blame anyone and move forward."

Edited October 16, 2017 by Ottis

[the eskimo]

3 hours ago, Ottis said:

Hillary's presence was an odd addition. She wrote a book, but still.

I took it as Kellywise impersonating Hillary to lure Anderson Cooper into the sewer...not the actual Hillary.

[peeayebee]

9 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I actually laugh at whenever Pence goes to a place, Trump barks for them to get out of there. Beck is very good at being deadpan.

I loved how he would scuttle, sideways like a crab, whenever he was leaving. And that urgent, panicked look on his face was so great.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

17 hours ago, peeayebee said:

 

On 10/15/2017 at 1:27 AM, 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.

Between that and the nursing home one, they had two sketches involving infectious diseases.

17 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I did wonder if her comment about being the First Lady was meant to be a joke.

It was definitely a joke. "Because I'm basically first Trump wife, okay?  I'm first lady, okay?"  Melania apparently did not get it.  I think someone with a sense of humor would have just smiled and maybe added, when questioned about the quote: "She raised wonderful children." Maybe the joke got lost in translation and Melania thought she meant it literally, but then someone on her staff should have explained the joke to her.

Edited October 16, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[JZL]

I apologize to the people who like P!nk but I can't figure how anyone over the age of 14 could think she has any talent, but then again, I thought last year's Swish, swish by Katie Perry (and the backpack boy) was incredible.  Rock/alt/indie music continues to be dead in the eyes of SNL so far this year. 

I'm beginning to tire of Baldwin's Trump every week but that's a big part of what got SNL high ratings last year, so it'll be a while until that tapers off.  And then WU was bogged down by more Trump (the Ivana bit sucked though kudos to Cecily for her Balkan stage laugh) and then another Trump sketch at the end was, at least, better.  Maybe a Trump v. Tillerson v. Kim Jong Un Jeopardy match would have been good.

Edited October 17, 2017 by JZL

[Princess Sparkle]

It was a pretty uneven episode (I'm feeling the loss of Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider), but Alec's "I know you hate this word Mike, but ABORT!" made me lose my shit. It got lost in the laughter, but I thought it was one of the funniest parts of the cold open.

[vb68]

On 10/16/2017 at 0:06 AM, peeayebee said:

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.

Yeah I think the audience's reaction probably affected the way I saw it.  She had the look and the accent down.  It just didn't work.  The whole thing was based on one line "I'm the first Trump wife", and that proved to be too hard to stretch out.

 

On 10/16/2017 at 1:06 AM, helenamonster said:

The only thing I really liked about the office Halloween party sketch was the randomness of the guy having hep A. Like of all the infectious diseases, that was the one they went with. Do people even get that anymore? It sounds like such an old timey disease, like polio or something. But I did get a sudden urge to clean my kitchen. And my whole apartment.

Some years ago I remember an outbreak at one of the fast food places (coughTacoBellcough) in the Southeast. So it can happen. I still think the sketch was more scary than actually funny. I guess that fits with a Halloween theme.

 

4 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

(I'm feeling the loss of Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider)

I'm right there too. It's very noticeable.

And just apropos of absolutely nothing, I thought Mikey rocked the longer hair look in the hotel sketch.  That doesn't work for every guy. Not that I would know.  

Edited October 17, 2017 by vb68

[wknt3]

20 hours ago, JZL said:

I'm beginning to tire of Baldwin's Trump every week but that's a big part of what got SNL high ratings last year, so it'll be a while until that tapers off.  And then WU was bogged down by more Trump (the Ivana bit sucked though kudos to Cecily for her Balkan stage laugh) and then another Trump sketch at the end was, at least, better.  Maybe a Trump v. Tillerson v. Kim Jong Un Jeopardy match would have been good.

Yeah it's clear that Lorne intends to ride this into the ground and that's unfortunate. They have some great impressionists in the cast at the moment and they could definitely do some topical cold opens without Trump which would keep things fresh, show off the regular cast more, and make the Trump appearances a bigger deal again. I've said it before, but Alec gives a much better performance when he's genuinely pissed off at Trump instead of just depressed and despairing. Even this week you could tell he cared more about Puerto Rico than the other nonsense. It would also help the writing if they came at things from other angles as it seems like the writers are bored/depressed too sometimes and just sort of going through the motions.

[helenamonster]

On 10/17/2017 at 4:46 PM, vb68 said:

Some years ago I remember an outbreak at one of the fast food places (coughTacoBellcough) in the Southeast. So it can happen. I still think the sketch was more scary than actually funny. I guess that fits with a Halloween theme.

I was thinking a better sketch would have been the coworkers (or maybe make them a group of friends) at a haunted house, and one of them reveals that he gave the others hep a. The rest of the friends are more scared by that than they are by the haunted house, and maybe have the haunted house workers keep trying to scare them to no avail.

And I suppose I'm not one to talk regarding old timey-sounding diseases. I've lived through two legionnaires outbreaks in as many years.

[MoreCoffeePlease]

Kumail's monologue was awesome!  He killed it with his comments about racists.  "Just because you are a racist doesn't mean you have to be ignorant. Do the research! Put in the work!"

[TV Anonymous]

My regret is that for someone as well-known as P!nk, she was not involved at all in the sketches, except only for delivering her musical scores. She was not even involved in the promotional ads. Famous musical guests (e.g. Gwen Stefani, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry) usually are involved in one or two sketches.

[Dr.OO7]

The best part about the Kellywise skit had to be her sincerely declaring with a straight face, "I toned it (her makeup) down" while sporting CLOWN makeup.