S43.E09: Kevin Hart / Foo Fighters

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Kevin Hart hosts; Foo Fighters are the musical guests.

[Sienna]

OMG, I'm DYING at the Pandora commercial.

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Trumpy Christmas! Gotta love the failure ornaments. I still love how this show covers Mike Pence, the most prudish man in America. And yes, loved Leslie as Omarosa and Don Jr. AND I'M DEREK. And yet another quick change for Kate! First as Kellyanne and now Tiny Jeff Sessions.

Monologue: Kevin Hart is back, and that means another standup is hosting, which means another actual monologue.

Pandora: I'm a guy, and even I thought these things are lousy. Good on SNL for taking this down a peg. It's exactly how I feel when I see people getting/giving jewelry as a gift. "Sixty Dollar Whatevers" perfectly sums them up.

Meeting: Painfully relatable. I appreciated that the co-workers were accepting of Doug's problem. I loved Kevin's faces when he was trying to hold it in. Not always a fan of fart humor, but that was well timed.

Captain Shadow: Yeah, of course the African-American superheroes get pulled over by the cops. Also, he had cocaine. Chris Redd was killing me here.

Inside The NBA: A minute in, I already miss Jay Pharoah's Shaq impression. His makeup made me think of those aliens from Star Trek with the huge brains. But the reveal that he was on stilts was so great. "You're a tall man with tiny arms, you look like the letter F came to life" just killed me.

WU: Che laying down some truths about Democrats, and Colin about how shame-proof Trump is. And of course how Omarosa was "Bye, Felica"'d. And Leslie as Omarosa came back! I do, however, loved Maya's Omarosa much more (and was put through much worse on this show). Can't unsee Colin with Vacation Cornrows. Alex was really killing it as Guy Who Bought A Boat. He flubbed a few times, but he didn't break at all, that's dedication.

Nativity Play: The Backstage Llama is the star of a sketch?! This was so good and awkward. Anyone else wonder that the Llama was supposed to be angry and horny, but it was actuall kinda chill? And yeah, I want to be as excited at something as much as Leslie was excited about that llama.

Gene & Crystal: This one was weird and awkward. What the hell just happened? Leslie is an abusive wife making Kevin Hart make out with a giant stuffed bear?

Active Jack: I don't know how they pulled it off, but it looked like it was actually made in the 70s. I thought that then doing the theme song again with Old Kenan in place of Kevin Hart was genius.

The Foo Fighters were amazing, especially the Everlong/Linus & Lucy mashup at the end. They really should've kept going, the show ended two minutes early! For the best really, it was meh overall. I feel like there was another sketch but it got cut for time. Again, for the best. I do appreciate when the goodbyes are at the ice rink foe Christmas.

The show returns January 13th with Sam Rockwell. 

Edited December 17, 2017 by Galileo908

[formerlyfreedom]

Okay, so glad that we got the extended farewell - it made my heart feel good, y'all. The skaters, the non-skaters, the helpers, Beck...

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, HAVE AN AWESOME BREAK EVERYONE!

[vb68]

Damn that last Foo Fighters set was everything! Loved it! Whoever that first woman was did her best Darlene Love. I turned around thinking it was her.

And gotta say Leslie looks about as comfortable on an ice rink as I do! :)

Edited December 17, 2017 by vb68

[ebk57]

I thought overall, the show was okay.  But for some reason, I really enjoyed it.  

Love the Foos!  

Love the ice rink at the end - the skaters and Leslie and Cecily, joined by Melissa (?) standing on the board leaning on each other.  

Merry Happy everyone!!

[Dejana]

Whoever is responsible for the Donald, Jr. and Eric characterizations clearly doesn't read their Twitter accounts.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Dejana

[Lantern7]

Who are we to stop Leslie Jones from mocking Omarosa? Twice? During the Weekend Update bit, I kinda wanted "drywall" to fall on her head, but I doubt most viewers' memories go back that far.

Curious: what instrument sounds like a tea kettle boiling over? Because that was getting abused as heck at the very end.

1 hour ago, Sienna said:

OMG, I'm DYING at the Pandora commercial.

I've gotten two or three of those for my mother. I cannot stress enough that she asked me to get them for her. We're cool, right? Right???

7 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Nativity Play: The Backstage Llama is the star of a sketch?! This was so good and awkward. Anyone else wonder that the Llama was supposed to be angry and horny, but it was actuall kinda chill? And yeah, I want to be as excited at something as much as Leslie was excited about that llama.

How long have we seen that llama? Or a llama? Nobody got bit or spat upon, so the sketch counts as a win. Also, I'm certain Leslie had her picture taken with him/her, aroused or not.

[formerlyfreedom]

18 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Chris Redd was killing me here.

YES! He was so awesome in that sketch! I definitely think Chris Redd is the MVP of the new cast!

10 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

Love the ice rink at the end - the skaters and Leslie and Cecily, joined by Melissa (?) standing on the board leaning on each other.  

Was it a board? I thought it was a cardboard box flattened. I also spent way too much time trying to figure out how they got out there (stood on the box and were dragged by a zamboni? laid on the box and flippered their way over?)

[Peace 47]

3 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

The Foo Fighters were amazing, especially the Everlong/Linus & Lucy mashup at the end.

Yes!  I didn’t think that anything would top their first performance (and I love their new song).  Then they outdid themselves.  I’m not the biggest fan of the musical performances, even when it’s performers I dig, but that was killer.

Super cute goodbyes.  I wish I could have been there live to see them skating around.  The backdrop was beautiful, and they looked so happy.

My favorite sketch was Captain Shadow.  Agreed that Chris Redd was the MVP of that one.

[Gemma Violet]

10 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Gene & Crystal: This one was weird and awkward. What the hell just happened? Leslie is an abusive wife making Kevin Hart make out with a giant stuffed bear?

This was creepy and not funny in the least.  What if the roles would have been reversed with a man treating a woman like that?  People would have been up in arms and rightly so.  Abuse is abuse.

[ebk57]

1 minute ago, saoirse said:

Was it a board? I thought it was a cardboard box flattened. I also spent way too much time trying to figure out how they got out there (stood on the box and were dragged by a zamboni? laid on the box and flippered their way over?)

Could have been cardboard.  I love your theories on how they got out there.  I'm guessing someone helped them walk/slide out and then they got on the (card)board and stood there supporting each other...way more boring than flippering :-)

[vb68]

30 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

I thought overall, the show was okay.  But for some reason, I really enjoyed it.  

I really enjoyed it, too.  Maybe no homeruns, but I thought it was solid.

The cold open was marginally better than they have been lately. For some reason I really liked the joke that Mike Pence doesn't like "Deck The  Halls" because it has gay apparel. I did think Beck was confused when he came out because he sounded like he was doing the Putin voice. I'm glad Omarosa came back on Update because I didn't think the opening used her enough.

Loved the Pandora commercial. A lot of truth there.

Leslie really convinced me she was smelling something bad in the office/gotta go to the bathroom sketch.

I don't think Kevin's Shaq was very good or accurate, but it was still really funny. I have never liked Kenan's Charles Barkley, though. It's very lazy, especially with the voice. It's turrible. 

This was the best Man on a Boat.  I can see that's a hard one to pull off, getting the rhythms just right.

At first I thought Active Jack was going to get into sexual harassment, and was kinda relieved it didn't.

Kevin Hart just works for me as a host. He's really funny. 

Edited December 17, 2017 by vb68

[Trini]

30 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Meeting: Painfully relatable. I appreciated that the co-workers were accepting of Doug's problem. I loved Kevin's faces when he was trying to hold it in. Not always a fan of fart humor, but that was well timed.

This was definitely one of the better sketches of the night.

Quote

Captain Shadow: Yeah, of course the African-American superheroes get pulled over by the cops. Also, he had cocaine. Chris Redd was killing me here.

Also great, even if predictable.

Quote

Inside The NBA: A minute in, I already miss Jay Pharoah's Shaq impression.

So much. I miss it so much.

Quote

Active Jack: I don't know how they pulled it off, but it looked like it was actually made in the 70s. I thought that then doing the theme song again with Old Kenan in place of Kevin Hart was genius.

I feel like they could have gone farther with this, though. I was expecting another clip of 70s 'Active Jack'.

[teebax]

Outside of the Pandora sketch, I thought this was awful. I really hate the boat guy character, and I thought the music was awful. This episode was the worst of the season for me. 

[Galileo908]

Speaking of Active Jack, according to Kenan in an interview it was originally written for the Bruno Mars episode.

[Mystery]

2 hours ago, Sienna said:

OMG, I'm DYING at the Pandora commercial.

I know what your job is. And it's nurse. 

Loved the women comparing what *they* had gotten their partners, especially the threesome!

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Well I definitely liked this episode more than last week's, even though I dislike Kevin Hart slightly more than James Franco.

That was not a fun or entertaining monologue. I watched this twice - the first time I forgot to pay attention because it was so uninteresting, and the second time I thought, "STFU about babies already". 

Pandora: Loved it. "You wear dresses". "It's a dog". 

Captain Shadow: Chris Redd was what saved this for me. Damn he is funny AF.

WU: Guy Who Bought a Boat was my favorite part of this whole episode. Giggling the whole time. Go Alex.

Nativity Play: My second least favorite of the night. WTF was the point of this? Oh well, at least there was a llama.

Gene & Crystal: My least favorite. Awkward and not funny. 

Loooooved the Foo Fighters. I've seen them in concert a couple times and Dave Grohl just kills it. I wish they could have performed more than twice!! 

Loved the ice rink ending. I love how Michael Che was just standing near the cardboard ladies, texting or looking at his phone. Most of the guys were skating pretty well! 

[cambridgeguy]

Quote

Could have been cardboard.  I love your theories on how they got out there.  I'm guessing someone helped them walk/slide out and then they got on the (card)board and stood there supporting each other...way more boring than flippering :-)

Whenever they've done this in the past I've always wondered if the cast members who didn't already know how to skate took some basic lessons so they could at least move around a bit without falling (that's what Kevin Hart looked like).  I guess you can just stand out there on a piece of cardboard and stand very still instead!  I'd love to see how they ended up getting off the ice.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I didn't like this episode at all, except for the Foo Fighters.

I was really looking forward to it and I expected a lot, but I found Kevin so awkward!  Hard to explain - his line readings were pained and dramatic and didn't really fit the sketches.  He just wasn't funny.

There's usually at least one thing I find really funny, and the only thing that came close was Chris Redd as that superhero.  Again, Kevin was not at all funny in that sketch.

I really liked Franco's episode over that.

[Phishbulb]

5 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

Most of the guys were skating pretty well! 

Particularly Kenan "Mighty Ducks" Thompson.

[Guest]

Quote

That was not a fun or entertaining monologue. I watched this twice - the first time I forgot to pay attention because it was so uninteresting, and the second time I thought, "STFU about babies already". 

I was just happy he stayed apolitical and didn't break out into song.  

[Ottis]

This was the first SNL I have ever fast forwarded at some point  through every single skit. Didn’t care about Kevin Hart’s kids. The NBA skit was painful. So was the Christmas bear skit. And the guy with a boat. The guy who had to go to bathroom should have been funny but came across as too angry.  I did see the end of the superhero skit... not sure what the point was, even black heroes get pulled over, and they do cocaine? 

Action Jack was OK. 

Edited December 17, 2017 by Ottis

[ahisma]

2 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

Whenever they've done this in the past I've always wondered if the cast members who didn't already know how to skate took some basic lessons so they could at least move around a bit without falling (that's what Kevin Hart looked like).

Poor Kevin looked terrified to move! He should have just stood on the cardboard.

[CouchTater]

The Foo Fighters seemed to be having so much fun during the 2nd performance. I smiled through the entire performance. 

[amaranta]

Josh Lyman: "I love Foo Fighters."

Me too.  I keep watching the Christmas medley on YouTube.

40 minutes ago, CouchTater said:

The Foo Fighters seemed to be having so much fun during the 2nd performance. I smiled through the entire performance. 

Still smiling!  Geez, I needed that!

[Uncle Benzene]

1 hour ago, CouchTater said:

The Foo Fighters seemed to be having so much fun during the 2nd performance. I smiled through the entire performance. 

When is Dave Grohl ever NOT having fun? Dude's entire adult life has been one long rock & roll fantasy camp. Everyone on earth should envy his apparently unprecedented ability to enjoy and appreciate every single minute of it and not let it turn him into a jerk.

[Katmai]

8 minutes ago, Uncle Benzene said:

When is Dave Grohl ever NOT having fun? Dude's entire adult life has been one long rock & roll fantasy camp. Everyone on earth should envy his apparently unprecedented ability to enjoy and appreciate every single minute of it and not let it turn him into a jerk.

I'd LOVE to see Dave & Taylor Hawkins, the drummer, host SNL. The Foos music videos are very creative ("Learn to Fly" is a fav), Dave & Taylor play off each other very well in interviews, Dave has said he thinks of Taylor as a younger brother and helped him get off heroin...sigh...

[Mumbles]

Quote

Particularly Kenan "Mighty Ducks" Thompson.

And he had hockey skates on! (Must have been his own pair.) 

Quote

That was not a fun or entertaining monologue. I watched this twice - the first time I forgot to pay attention because it was so uninteresting, and the second time I thought, "STFU about babies already". 

Glad I wasn’t the only one! Boring!

That said, I don’t think they gave Kevin Hart a lot to work with, but he really committed to it. Like the horrible sketch where he shits his pants. He really looked like a guy who needed to take a crap, and then, a guy who just shat his pants. 

And I LOVED “Active Jack.” I’ve watched it a few times now and I laugh every time. Even Kevin’s expression on the DVD cover cracks me up. And when they cut to the memorial display for the other girl, I lose it.

I don’t know how Jost managed to snag ScarJo.  

[VCRTracking]

9 minutes ago, Mumbles said:

I don’t know how Jost managed to snag ScarJo.

She was married to Ryan Reynolds. She likes clean-cut handsome, funny boys.

I think the funniest moment was Kevin Hart trying to ice skate at Rockefeller Plaza at the end.

Edited December 17, 2017 by VCRTracking

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I don’t get all the hype about ScarJo myself.   

[vb68]

38 minutes ago, Uncle Benzene said:

When is Dave Grohl ever NOT having fun?

How many appearances is this for him on the show now?  He's probably into double digits, and I think he's earned the right to host just from that. He's definitely a friend of the show.

24 minutes ago, Mumbles said:

I don’t know how Jost managed to snag ScarJo.  

Hey now, as Pete told us, he is the sexiest joke writer. :)

[opus]

32 minutes ago, vb68 said:

How many appearances is this for him on the show now?  He's probably into double digits, and I think he's earned the right to host just from that. He's definitely a friend of the show.

Saw this mention on the Uproxx website

>>>If you include Dave Grohl’s two SNL appearances with Nirvana, as well as slots with the likes of Tom Petty and Paul McCartney, tonight’s stop by the famed NBC show was his 14th appearance as a musical guest. This includes one time where the Foos backed up guest host Mick Jagger in 2012, as well as a visit when the band had just formed in 1995.<<<

[meowmommy]

10 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

That was not a fun or entertaining monologue. I watched this twice - the first time I forgot to pay attention because it was so uninteresting, and the second time I thought, "STFU about babies already". 

Thought it was just me.  I don't know this guy, so this was my first impression of him.  It really felt like he was saying HE had the babies--um, dude, you were there for the kickoff and your wife did everything else.  And then to diss moms, because dads are cool and moms are not.  Yeah, STFU about babies, indeed. 

The I need to shit skit was ok for the first 30 seconds and then they needed to flush it.

4 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

There's usually at least one thing I find really funny, and the only thing that came close was Chris Redd as that superhero.  Again, Kevin was not at all funny in that sketch.

Agree 100%.

12 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

And yet another quick change for Kate! First as Kellyanne and now Tiny Jeff Sessions.

She does a great KAC but I'm not sold on Elf Sessions.  I feel like she presents him as cute and cuddly instead of the evil, dangerous person he is.

[Princess Sparkle]

Maybe I’m just filled with the holiday spirit, but while I always like them skating at the end of the Christmas show, I found this one extra cute - the good skaters clearly helping the not-so-great ones (I caught Kyle and Alex skating Aidy around, and I think Kyle and Beck helped Heidi up at one point), Kevin looking petrified to move and Pete attempting to help him, and Colin trying to teach Scarlett how to skate. 

I watched that second Foo performance 5 times. Loved every second of it. 

I enjoyed this episode well enough; even on some dud sketches, Kevin just gives it 110% and you can tell the cast loves working with him. 

[wonderwoman]

1 hour ago, Mumbles said:

Quote

That was not a fun or entertaining monologue. I watched this twice - the first time I forgot to pay attention because it was so uninteresting, and the second time I thought, "STFU about babies already". 

Glad I wasn’t the only one! Boring!

boring?! how about offensive, sexist, and given the current state of affairs, tone deaf.

[Mystery]

18 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

Thought it was just me.  I don't know this guy, so this was my first impression of him.  It really felt like he was saying HE had the babies--um, dude, you were there for the kickoff and your wife did everything else.  And then to diss moms, because dads are cool and moms are not.  Yeah, STFU about babies, indeed. 

He cheated on his wife while she was pregnant with this baby, and first denied it, then admitted it. He had the nerve to say, just a few days ago, that he hopes she "has the heart to where she can forgive me and understand that this is not going to be a recurring thing." Yeah, let's put the fate of this marriage on her heart and her understanding. 

There's not enough STFU in the world. 

[rmontro]

I can't believe I enjoyed another musical guest, but I like the Foo FIghters anyway.  It was nice to see them let their backup singers shine on the Christmas medley they did (which was awesome).  They did Everlong/Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)/Linus and Lucy, although the latter was close captioned as the "Peanuts theme".

I also liked the Pandora sketch, the toilet humor in Meeting, and the nostalgia of Active Jack.  Being older myself, I can relate.

[BoogieBurns]

Love seeing Chris Redd shining in sketches, especially that high kick as the superhero sidekick. I was so excited for him to join the cast last season (which fell through). He's really funny and eases the loss of Jay a bit. Alex and Mikey make me miss Taran a bit less too. I really am not sure I'll ever get sick of "and I'm Eric!" (or Derek if he overthinks it!)

[peeayebee]

16 hours ago, saoirse said:

YES! He was so awesome in that sketch! I definitely think Chris Redd is the MVP of the new cast!

I agree. He was so good in the sketch, and how did they make him look 16-yrs old?!? I've never heard of him before, but I've become a big fan since his first day on the show. He was the best part of this sketch and probably of the entire ep. 

As for the rest of the show, I was disappointed. I think Kevin Hart is pretty funny, but I didn't find him funny here. He was gung-ho in every sketch, but overall just not very funny.

The business mtg/bathroom sketch was ok. I think it could have been executed better. I did like when everyone took pity on him and pretended to get calls from his Nana. Of course it was esp funny to see Beck just pretending to hold a phone.

Inside the NBA wasn't any better, though I did like the freeform speaking "Shaq" was doing.

The nativity play with the llama was bad. 

The Gene and Crystal sketch was extra bad. I nearly FF'd thru it when Gene started to take off the bear's overalls. This was awful.

Active Jack had a promising start, but the reunion part wasn't funny. I guess they had Kenan do the old Active Jack because there wasn't enuf time to get Kevin into old-man makeup. That's unfortunate because I think the sketch would have been better w/ him instead of Kenan.

I did like the Pandora sketch, esp the faces of the women as they received their first charms.

I really liked the return of the Guy Who Just Bought a Boat. I kind of liked this the first time, but it was really good this time. Great groan-worthy wordplay. What a douche.

I stopped watching when Kevin said good night, but I guess I'll go back and watch the ice skating since everyone here said it was fun.

[theatremouse]

5 hours ago, Mumbles said:

And he had hockey skates on! (Must have been his own pair.) 

I didn't understand why they didn't put Kevin in hockey skates, given how uncomfortable he clearly was. It's sooooooo much easier to not fall over in hockey skates.

[Fabricationary]

The goodbyes on the ice rink was seriously the only funny part of the whole show.  Ouch.

[Quickbeam]

For me, just the Pandora sketch and watching people skate at the end. Oh and the musical numbers were good. Otherwise snooze fest. 

 

My husband was picking up a repair for me at a local jewelry store that has a huge Pandora collection. He’s chatty so he was asking about it. Was amazed at the prices for “that junk”.

[JZL]

1.  During the WU Omarosa bit, in the clip with the 2nd woman , what did she say and why did it get such a good laugh?

2.  For a top-tier comedian, Hart's monologue was awful for reasons stated plus waaaay too much gratuitous applause-seeking.

3.  Office Meeting sketch:  I really liked how they took a scatological premise and took it up a notch or two, what with the sympathetic co-workers and the progressively non-phone fake phone calls.  This leads me to what is probably the SNL NITPICK OF THE DECADE:

The characters kept telling Hart to go to the 5th-floor restroom, but the building shown in the little pre-and-post-sketch bumper

only had four stories.

 

4 minutes ago, JZL said:

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by JZL

[Mr. R0b0t]

I feel like it is a public service announcement to spread the word to Chris Redd fans to watch the movie Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stoppin'.  Samburg and Lonely Island are hilarious as is Redd as Hunter the Hungry.  Yes it's silly and yes it's worth it.

[RobertDeSneero]

1 hour ago, JZL said:

1.  During the WU Omarosa bit, in the clip with the 2nd woman , what did she say and why did it get such a good laugh?

 

Are you asking about Robin Roberts saying "bye, Felicia"?

[BoogieBurns]

1 hour ago, Mr. R0b0t said:

I feel like it is a public service announcement to spread the word to Chris Redd fans to watch the movie Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stoppin'.  Samburg and Lonely Island are hilarious as is Redd as Hunter the Hungry.  Yes it's silly and yes it's worth it.

Yes to this. That's when I first saw him, and I knew he was made for SNL.

[hendersonrocks]

The line “I’m Jost kidding” was the highlight of the show (besides the skating* and Foo Holiday Mashup**), which says a lot. That monologue made me actively angry in so many ways. Fuck off, Kevin.

*Kenan was killing it on the ice. Mighty Ducks Forever.

**I hope to some day love my job as much as the short haired back up singer loved hers. She was living her best life.

[heatherchandler]

11 hours ago, vb68 said:

 

Hey now, as Pete told us, he is the sexiest joke writer. :)

 

That’s like smartest horse!

I actually am jealous of Scarlet J- Colin is pretty hot.

 

Loved FF- I’ve been listening to everlong all day.

[rmontro]

I was surprised how interesting it was to watch everybody skate.  It was also surprising how many of them were actually halfway decent at it.  I would be on my butt in five seconds.  Since they have the skating rink right next door to their workplace, maybe they often go there after rehearsing or writing or whatever and practice.