Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

S43.E10: Sam Rockwell / Halsey


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

Cold Open: We open with Morning Joe, and good lord, where do we start? We've had a scandal-worthy thing from the president every single day this week, and showing Joe & Mika in place of Alec Baldwin is a breath of fresh air. Oh and hi, Fred Armisen. Okay, how fast will the real administration comment that the Baby Races are fake? Kate, again, is great. And we finally find out who's playing Steve Bannon...holy crap it's Bill Murray. It's too flattering of a portrayal, if you ask me. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't wearing makeup to pull it off, either.

Monologue: Sam Rockwell is a great actor. As a singer...not as much. And Colin in a sketch! and he gets kicked into a wall! I may have blinked, did the Backstage Llama show up? I don't think so. Everyone looked amazing, though.

The Science Room with Mr. Science: This was fun.

"FALSE!" Dead.

I'm not the only one who heard Sam Rockwell drop the F-bomb right? It wasn't out of place, either. 

Lil Pump: This was an odd one. A rap about Stanley Tucci, another "That Guy"? Okay.

Red Carpet Rundown: And now an awkward satire on Me Too and sexism about award show fashion. Kate, again, is great as Frances McDormand. Love that the show was followed by "Fat Whores of Miami Beach." 

My Drunk Boyfriend: Oh god this is great. A LiveDoll of a drunken SO? Yeah, I've seen the boyfriend AND the girlfriend so many times, this is so dead-on.

WU: Like I said up top, where to start? AND we have "shithole!" From both of them! Yeah, it's news if Trump suddenly became tolerant. The gloves are officially off, I love it. As much as I love Leslie Jones, Maya Rudolph is the best SNL Oprah by a mile. This IS the first time we've seen a Stedman impression, right? And with all the weird crap happening to him in the news, it was about time Kenan as Lavar Ball came back.

Captain Hook: They're really getting mileage out of that Peter Pan set. Gotta love hot takes on how weird this is. And of course Kate is Peter Pan on visible strings, that was great. The sketch as a whole was pretty awkward. That was Beck as Smee? The makeup department does a hell of a job.

ATM: Really liked the twist here. We get the awkward stuff with Kenan...and then ACTUAL sketchy guys show up to rob him. Didn't see Kate as a prostitute coming, either.

Boyfriend: Ha, the dad recognizes the boyfriend through porn. That was a hell of a one-act play.

Genetics: Ha, Dog-head man. A 12:55 sketch if I ever saw one. This was so perfectly stupid, I loved it so much. The dog being adorable helped a lot.

Chantix: Perfectly illustrates how stupid medication commercials are. I wonder if Vanessa would've pulled this off better?

Well, it was nice knowing you, Sam Rockwell. Jessica Chastain is next week, and that's gonna be fun.

  • Love 10
Link to comment

Random things I liked: Bill Murray tossing an "Ozymandias" reference as Bannon, Kate's Frances McDormand being randomly bleeped like she was at the Golden Globes, and the drunk boyfriend. 

See ya, Sam Rockwell! I was hoping against hope that they'd throw in a Galaxy Quest sketch. 

  • Love 11
Link to comment
11 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

The Science Room with Mr. Science: This was fun.

"FALSE!" Dead.

I'm not the only one who heard Sam Rockwell drop the F-bomb right? It wasn't out of place, either.

Yeah, and shit like that usually goes over my head. Add one more to Fuck Club? The worst part of Fuck Club? Norm McDonald showing up in boxers, asking when the "suckin' and fuckin'" will commence. Then he tells everyone about eating a slice of Ol' Widder Hamilton's apple pie off a body part you're not supposed to eat pie from. Also: nice that we didn't get a retread of the Mr. Wizard sketches with the horned-up teenagers.

11 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Genetics: Ha, Dog-head man. A 12:55 sketch if I ever saw one. This was so perfectly stupid, I loved it so much. The dog being adorable helped a lot.

Very nice Golden Retriever . . . and he didn't break character once.

Edited by Lantern7
  • Love 5
Link to comment

Well that was interesting. Honestly I was just so shocked and excited to see Bill Murray that nothing else really mattered.

I'm not really sure what to make of the F Bomb. Jost and Che were having fun with the fact that they weren't suppose to be saying "Shitholes", and Sam didn't seemed that concerned or chagrined by it. I expected an "oops" in the goodbyes, but there wasn't at all. At any rate, it did fit the character. There's a method actor for ya, I guess.

Speaking of Update, I thought it was on fire. Lots of on point jokes, and I'm so happy Leslie actually has a good character. But it was Chris Redd who was really cracking me up. His Steadman was hysterical.

Chris had a really good episode. 

The last half hour was pretty  weird, mostly in good ways. But did something really fly out of Sam's mouth in the Peter Pan sketch?  What the hell was that? Eww.

And above all else, Bill Murray was there! I wish they could have given him some decent lines, but it was wonderful to see him.

Edited by vb68
  • Love 11
Link to comment

I'm not sure I know how to paste a tweet right, but Mike Ryan was there in the audience tonight, and he said Lorne didn't seem overly upset.

 

Quote

Right before The Look sketch Rockwell went up to Lorne and seemed really bummed out. I could see Lorne saying "it's okay." Rockwell still looked so bummed.

Edited by vb68
  • Love 5
Link to comment
Quote

The last half hour was pretty  weird, mostly in good ways. But did something really fly out of Sam's mouth in the Peter Pan sketch?  What the hell was that? Eww.

I think Rockwell was equally surprised.  It appeared to be an early and errant execution of the water effect used when the actors were going overboard.  If not, Rockwell might next tackle the role of Sylvester The Cat. Suffffferin' Succccccatash !

Quote

I forgot to ask; was that Bill Murray who got in the way of two live shots before he sat down as Bannon?

That's what I assumed. After doing live television for as long as the floor crew at SNL have, unlikely they're getting into one shot, let alone back-to-back's.

BTW - Solid show.  In some ways I think, after the preceding week, he just decided to blow off some steam and take off the gloves.  The cast seemed anxious to do so as well.  Good work.

Edited by kib
  • Love 2
Link to comment

All the "f" and "S-hole" words were bleeped in my West Coast sector -- did anyone get the unbleeped versions?  I mean, we heard "S-hole" in its fullness on all the MSNBC shows that started airing at 5:00 PM PST on Thursday, so it's not like we have not heard the word much earlier in the evening. 

Edited by jjj
Link to comment

I just have to say that the 'My Drunk Boyfriend' segment made me laugh too much... because I indeed had a boyfriend at one time who drunkenly woke up in the middle of the night and peed all over my furniture. Because you know, a piano totally looks like a toilet. 

  • Love 6
Link to comment

I'm just glad that the show never indulged Rosie's desperate attempts to be booked as Bannon. It's very fitting for SNL that they only brought in an actor to do a Bannon impersonation just as he is in his 15th minute of relevance. 

After the last week, it's difficult to be phased by someone saying "fuck," even if the word seems to be the final taboo for many. I wish that had been Sam's response to the complaining over his Golden Globes speech...

Mikey Day's in-character reaction made me laugh, which is a rarity for SNL these days.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
3 hours ago, jjj said:

All the "f" and "S-hole" words were bleeped in my West Coast sector -- did anyone get the unbleeped versions?  I mean, we hear "S-hole" in its fullness on all the MSNBC shows that started airing at 5:00 PM PST on Thursday, so it's not like we have not hear the word much earlier in the evening. 

Yep, all were unbleeped on the east coast live feed.  I guess they either stopped doing a seven second delay or the guy at the bleep button fell asleep. I'm glad it wasn't bleeped, as it was my only true LOL moment.

  • Love 4
Link to comment

That ATM sketch was a muddled mess. What’s the message, that there are “good” black people and “bad” ones? And the reveal that Kate as a prostitute didn’t make any sense either. This show doesn’t do satire on race issues very well. (I’m thinking of Eddie Murphy going undercover as a white man as a rare exception of it done well.)

  • Love 10
Link to comment

I thought there were mediocre moments and some real highs.

Frankly, I don't care about the f-bomb. It was bleeped here, but it was clear what he said. Anyway, this sketch was so hilarious that the bleep was a big nothing to me. I loved how stupid the kids were. Cecily and Mikey were absolutely perfect. Their stupidity was perfect. "What is something you can't see?" "Behind me?"

I also really enjoyed Kenan as Lavar Bell. I thought he was esp funny last night. Beets by Lavar. "They're so baller they make your dookie redder than Santa Claus!" Staying in a hotel behind a soup kitchen -- "Never not smell like cabbage." Lithuanians at the game "cheering and waving wooden spoons in the air." So many great lines.

A lot of good things in WU. I loved Che's line about Trump calling African countries shitholes being "like telling the kid you molested, 'Boy you grew up to be weird.'" That's a great analogy. 

I love Leslie's Oprah. I haven't seen Stedman speak or do anything, so I can't speak to the accuracy of Chris's impression, but that doesn't matter. He was hilarious. Colin starts to say how Oprah is already powerful, and Stedman interrupts, "Ha ha, you don't even KNOW!" And I love that bread is the only thing that can beat Oprah.

Aidy's segment was really good. I was reminded of a blog I read yesterday called I Made the Pizza Cinnamon Rolls from Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter

The dog in the gene lab sketch made it a success. I don't blame Mikey for nearly losing it when he saw the dog eating the sandwich. 

Going back to the beginning, I didn't really care for the Morning Joe sketch. I don't watch the show, so maybe that makes a difference. I did like Fred's Wolff impression and his lines. I also got a big chuckle out of the Bill Murray reveal -- and yes, he was wearing blotchy makeup -- but I didn't think he was very funny. Maybe it was the writing. It feels sacrilegious to criticize Bill Murray. 

As for the monologue, I think the only thing I liked was watching Rockwell dance.

I liked Lil Pump's Stanley Tucci song, but Rockwell's presence was unnecessary. I guess he was supposed to be Tucci.

E! The Look was great. Everyone bending over backwards to not comment on the dresses when that's what the show is about was so good. 'Puke or Barf' became 'I Respect Her Choice.' Giving thumbs down for a boy-baby then cheering that he might be gay was great. I thought Rockwell was particularly good in this.

My Drunk Boyfriend. Ahhh, the memories. Yes, I was asleep with a boyfriend when he got up and peed against the wall.

The Peter Pan sketch was a loser.

The porn star boyfriend sketch was ok. I did get a chuckle when Rockwell got up and said, "Anywho, I guess I'm getting a divorce and stepping down as pastor."

I liked the Chantix commercial. Cecily was excellent.

Halsey. After watching and listening to a minute of the beginning of each song, I FF'd thru. I was not impressed. I also thought she looked like a cross betw Pink and Dana Perino.

All in all, a pretty good show.

Edited by peeayebee
  • Love 10
Link to comment
4 hours ago, Mumbles said:

That ATM sketch was a muddled mess. What’s the message, that there are “good” black people and “bad” ones? And the reveal that Kate as a prostitute didn’t make any sense either. This show doesn’t do satire on race issues very well. (I’m thinking of Eddie Murphy going undercover as a white man as a rare exception of it done well.)

Don't judge a book by it's cover seems really obvious.

But to go further, me and my friends always joke about not trusting black dudes we don't know on streets and stuff. Me and all the friends are black. It has nothing to do with being racist. They are strangers. I don't know them or what's on their mind. I'm mostly talking about thug looking dudes though. I would feel the same way if a shifty looking white dude was walking my way at night. 

That's the point. The sketch begins with the narrative that the white guy is scared of the big black guy because he's black and they are at a ATM in the bad part of town. The black guy has done nothing but he's still scared. Then Kenan sees some hood looking dudes and he has the same reaction the white guy did because of course he does. He doesn't know them and they look suspect. But, now he was right. 

Most of us have stereotypes we believe in or fall victim to. Most of us have the same thoughts and fears regardless of race and gender but those thoughts and fears look different depending on who has them. 

It was actually pretty sharp. The prostitute stinger was pointless but it's funny that he was supposed to be a innocent in "the bad part of town" but he's only there because he's picking up prostitutes. He's just another bad or questionable person in "that part of town".

Edited by Racj82
  • Love 10
Link to comment

With all due respect, what is happening with the show this season? It has been consistently mediocre to very very not good.

The f-bomb didn't bother me, but I did kind of wince and think, "Well, it was nice of you to stop by, Sam." He wasn't all that great of a host anyway so unless he really does transition from a "Hey it's that guy!" to mega-superstar A-lister, this was probably always going to be a one-and-done.

The Tucci Gang song was bizarre. Who doesn't know who Stanley Tucci is? Haven't we all seen The Devil Wears Prada seventy bajillion times on cable?

I liked that they actually said "shithole" on Update. It's been so embarrassing seeing grown-ass journalists say "s-hole" the past couple days. It's like the Access Hollywood tape all over again. We all heard the dude say pussy. Just say pussy. Aidy's bit was great. She's obviously already well-established on the show, but I thought getting an Update segment as herself was a huge thing for her.

Star of the night was the doggo.

Why do Halsey and G-Eazy always have to be all over each other when they perform their song together? It was gross on New Year's Eve and it was gross last night. Y'all are fucking, we get it.

  • Love 5
Link to comment

Is G-Eazy really that tall or was everyone else on stage at the end just that short? He was towering over pretty much everybody.

Quote

The Tucci Gang song was bizarre. Who doesn't know who Stanley Tucci is? Haven't we all seen The Devil Wears Prada seventy bajillion times on cable?

It was a parody of an actual hip-hop song called Gucci Gang.

Edited by Joimiaroxeu
  • Love 8
Link to comment
5 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

It was a parody of an actual hip-hop song called Gucci Gang.

I know, but they prefaced it with Tucci being an under-appreciated character actor as a kind of callback to Sam's monologue. Tucci is definitely a "character actor" but I wouldn't call him under-appreciated. He's pretty firmly A-list, people know who he is.

Link to comment
4 hours ago, ABitOFluff said:

I thought Michael Wolff sounded familiar when he was doing the talk show circuit this week. He was a Fred Armisen character all along! And Bill Murray was way too charming as Bannon, but it was fun to see.

I was so sleepy, I thought 'wow he's really promoting his book if he's on SNL'. 

  • Love 6
Link to comment

I don't think an accidental f-bomb is an automatic SNL perma-ban.  The cast has dropped as many as anyone else.

I thought the show was pretty good, top to bottom.  The weakest parts of the show, imo, were the three guest parts on an otherwise solid WU, and the ATM sketch.  I even liked Halsey.  There may have been an over-reliance on pre-taped, but the Chantix thing, which was good, was prolly thrown in for time. 

I love my fucking country!  Halsey parading around in her unders for four minutes in her first song, and suggestively making out with a guy in her second song, with suggestive lyrics, is completely not a even close to being a thing, but everyone's all a-titter when the host drops an f-bomb that lasts a half second. 

  • Love 10
Link to comment
3 hours ago, helenamonster said:

With all due respect, what is happening with the show this season? It has been consistently mediocre to very very not good.

The f-bomb didn't bother me, but I did kind of wince and think, "Well, it was nice of you to stop by, Sam." He wasn't all that great of a host anyway so unless he really does transition from a "Hey it's that guy!" to mega-superstar A-lister, this was probably always going to be a one-and-done.

The Tucci Gang song was bizarre. Who doesn't know who Stanley Tucci is? Haven't we all seen The Devil Wears Prada seventy bajillion times on cable?

I liked that they actually said "shithole" on Update. It's been so embarrassing seeing grown-ass journalists say "s-hole" the past couple days. It's like the Access Hollywood tape all over again. We all heard the dude say pussy. Just say pussy. Aidy's bit was great. She's obviously already well-established on the show, but I thought getting an Update segment as herself was a huge thing for her.

Star of the night was the doggo.

Why do Halsey and G-Eazy always have to be all over each other when they perform their song together? It was gross on New Year's Eve and it was gross last night. Y'all are fucking, we get it.

There are millions of people in the world that don't know who Stanley Tucci is and will always be a "oh, it's that guy" to them. Also a large chunk of the world does not care about the devil wears Prada. Especially as a black male, I routinely see "I never heard of this person before" when non A list black people come on the show but I've known them for years and years. A lot of Black people have. The same goes in reverse. Non A list white people will just all blend together with them for the most part.

3 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I know, but they prefaced it with Tucci being an under-appreciated character actor as a kind of callback to Sam's monologue. Tucci is definitely a "character actor" but I wouldn't call him under-appreciated. He's pretty firmly A-list, people know who he is.

The man is not A list. A listers headline movies. People hire A listers to sell tickets. Character actors specifically by definition are not A listers. That would be like saying he's on the level on Tom Cruise. Not even close. Not as a movie star. Film lovers maybe. But, hardcore film lovers love character actors. Doesn't count.

Edited by Racj82
  • Love 8
Link to comment
40 minutes ago, Fostersmom said:

Even after I IMDb'd Sam Rockwell, I had no clue who the hell he was. I do know Stanley Tucci though. 

I've known Sam Rockwell since I was 8 years old and he had a small part in the first Ninja turtles movies. But, then again I know most actors. I'm a movie and tv lover. It takes a lot for me to have to look someone up. I'm the reliable friend. Give a little bit to go on, I can name the person. 

But, it's not like he's some random guy at this point. He just one a golden globe and he's on his way to a potential Oscar. With Chastain next week we seem to be highlighting the Oscar hopefuls right now. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment

I'll go against the grain: I didn't like Aidy's segment at all.  The problem with it was it was inaccurate.  Reports have stated why each actor got paid their amounts and it comes to one person had a better personal talent agent and had stipulations in writing about reshoots.  But people see the headline and are up in arms and target the wrong people in the process. 

  • Love 4
Link to comment

The first thing I think of with Sam Rockwell is Galaxy Quest. Love that movie, and he was great in it. The second is probably Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, where he played Chuck Barris (The Gong Show). I've seen him in other movies, but those are the top two that always come to my mind.

  • Love 10
Link to comment
31 minutes ago, BoogieBurns said:

The two actors have the same representation. 

Same agency. Different agents. 

I also don't care about what Walberg demanded. He has certain pay rates he works for. He wasn't trying to degrade Michelle or anything. He was working on his contract. That's all. 

Nope, the pay gap shouldn't be so generally wide but he was always going to be making more on this project anyway. He does more mainstream movies that make more bank.

Back to SNL, I hope we don't have to have a gender equality sketch quota every week now. It has nothing to do with it not being a important topic. I just don't need a sketch about it every week. Nor do I need Trump every week and I hate the guy.

Link to comment

I think the point of the Aidy sketch wasn't to skewer Wahlberg or the pay gap generally, but to comment on the socialization that tends to cause women to "try to be nice" -- like Michelle Williams presumably saying "Oh for sure" when asked to reshoot for minimum union rates -- whereas men are more likely to just be like "Uh, no" -- which is presumably what Wahlberg did. 

So I read it as kind of a 'lean in' thing, with a strong side-order of commentary on how maybe the director was depending on Michelle's niceness, or maybe implied it was expected (banking on and exploiting the socialization). Ultimately, once Wahlberg asked for what he was due, she should have been her due as well, imho.

  • Love 17
Link to comment

I was annoyed by the Tucci song primarily because he's been in a hundred movies, but the handful they chose to mention in the song were...not at all what I most associate him with. And I get that part of the point is that there are probably a solid 3-4 things that people who know who is he associate with him, and which 3-4 will likely vary...but...I wanted them to find more ways to list more of his films. Since the few they kept mentioning are not the films I first think of (except for maybe Big Night), every time they'd start listing I kept expecting them to say something else. Also not all the lyrics actually fit the song. That irks me.

 

I don't think Rockwell should be not invite back because of the f-word (I saw the west coast feed so I didn't even know this happened until I read about it here), but he was So.Off.So.Badly during the monologue song, that should be enough to not invite him back.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
4 hours ago, Racj82 said:

I've known Sam Rockwell since I was 8 years old and he had a small part in the first Ninja turtles movies. But, then again I know most actors. I'm a movie and tv lover. It takes a lot for me to have to look someone up. I'm the reliable friend. Give a little bit to go on, I can name the person. 

But, it's not like he's some random guy at this point. He just one a golden globe and he's on his way to a potential Oscar. With Chastain next week we seem to be highlighting the Oscar hopefuls right now. 

I mostly remember him for his late '90s movies, where he was the quirky leading man who took off his clothes a lot.

12 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

  don't think Rockwell should be not invite back because of the f-word (I saw the west coast feed so I didn't even know this happened until I read about it here), but he was So.Off.So.Badly during the monologue song, that should be enough to not invite him back.

I got the impression that was deliberate. 

I doubt we'll be seeing him again, but having a fresh, competent host is much better to me than them wheeling out the same overexposed and smug names we're supposed to get hot over because of how many times we've seen them smugging it up before. 

  • Love 4
Link to comment
4 hours ago, peeayebee said:

 . . . [t]he second is probably Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, where he played Chuck Barris (The Gong Show).

It may be important to add that he played Barris whose "real" identity was a Cold War CIA assasin (What do you think Barris was really doing on all those funky Dating Game trips?  Hmm?)  I loooove this movie and strongly recommend it.  Co-stars Drew Berrymore, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts yada yada.

Edited by JZL
  • Love 1
Link to comment
2 hours ago, JTM said:

I think the point of the Aidy sketch wasn't to skewer Wahlberg or the pay gap generally, but to comment on the socialization that tends to cause women to "try to be nice" -- like Michelle Williams presumably saying "Oh for sure" when asked to reshoot for minimum union rates -- whereas men are more likely to just be like "Uh, no" -- which is presumably what Wahlberg did. 

So I read it as kind of a 'lean in' thing, with a strong side-order of commentary on how maybe the director was depending on Michelle's niceness, or maybe implied it was expected (banking on and exploiting the socialization). Ultimately, once Wahlberg asked for what he was due, she should have been her due as well, imho.

This.

I only heard of Sam Rockwell at the GG Awards.  Haven't seen those other movies.  It's all part of the "awareness" as actors move into more popular movies, IMO.

Link to comment

Finally watched this.  I have nothing substantive to add, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show.  Some sketches didn't work as well as others (ATM) and I wasn't particularly fond of Halsey, but I thought Sam Rockwell was charming and totally into it.  I hope he comes back at some point, now that he's a big-time deal and all.

  • Love 8
Link to comment

I thought this was way better than most shows this season, and I have never heard of Sam Rockwell before, nor did I recognize his face. When I heard who was hosting, in my mind I was expecting Sam Richardson-- and I was happy but surprised, because I have no idea what he's doing these days. I did like his show "Detroiters" but I don't even know if it was renewed or cancelled.

ANYWAY... Aidy's comment about being offered a role of "ugly fat woman who..." was ... wow.

I love Leslie as Oprah.

RE the ATM sketch, in addition to what others have said, I thought there was also the implication that if your reaction to people is due to prejudice, it dulls your ability to actually discern who they really are, or assess whether or not they are a threat. The white guy who saw the Black guy and automatically got nervous, then over corrected by not picking up on the threatening guys he encountered next. But Kenan's character saw them for what they were, because he can tell the difference between random person and threatening person and is not relying on a faulty filter. Also, having Kate be a prostitute underlined the "don't make assumptions" message. I liked it.

RE Morning Joe sketch: I can't stand them and don't watch the show, but I've seen clips and the occasional joint appearance elsewhere, so I thought the SNL impressions were great. If you haven't seen them in action, you would probably not realize how dead on the sketch was in terms of Joe being a blowhard and Mika spluttering and acting like everything around her smells bad, plus their personal relationship is kind of gross.

Edited by possibilities
  • Love 7
Link to comment

after the large white glob of mucous or snot or whatever flew out of sam rockwells mouth and landed on his wig, i could not enjoy the rest of the show. very sickening. i don't know how the other actors could interact with him. i wanted to vomit. what the hell was that? pretty mediocre show. leslie really resembled oprah in her wig. love her.  

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...