S44.E09: Matt Damon / Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus

[yellowjacket]

It occurred to me that Sean Lennon might be a good person for Pete Davidson to know.

Miley looked fab and sounded great. She knew her stickey tape would hold.

I wasn't going to watch because Matt was sketchy during the #Metoo stuff when it first started, but I'm glad I did, great show.  Who knew that the best Leslie Jones performance this year would be about WEEZER?

Edited December 16, 2018 by yellowjacket
spelling!

[wonderwoman]

2 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

It seems like Donald caught last night's opening and wants the law to make sketches like that stop:

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny-news-saturday-night-live-trump-courts-legal-20181216-story.html

God in Heaven it really feels like we're living in some kind of bizzaro-world, alternate reality now.

2 hours ago, helenamonster said:

two years ago, all i wanted for christmas was for him to read the damn constitution before he to the oath of office promising to 'uphold, protect and defend' it. read the fucking 1st amendment!

Edited December 16, 2018 by wonderwoman

[VCRTracking]

27 minutes ago, yellowjacket said:

I wasn't going to watch because Matt was sketchy during the #Metoo stuff when it first started, but I'm glad I did, great show.  Who knew that the best Leslie Jones performance this year would be about WEEZER?

"I know River better than he knows himself!"

[freddi]

14 hours ago, Mystery said:

I always have my Tivo go an extra few minutes on SNL, and it was cut off by the show. I don't think the later rerun will have it. But we'll see I guess!

You were right — I watched the West Coast airing and it was cut off at the same mid-sentence.  

[Growsonwalls]

Matt Damon was a great host. He's always been IMO underrated. For one, he does creepy better than most Hollywood leading men. His portrayals in Talented Mr. Ripley and The Departed were amazing in that respect. I knew he'd be great after his Brett Kavanaugh stint and wasn't disappointed. WIth that being said the cold opening and Westminster Dad were far and away the best sketches. Everything else was good but the bar was set so high with those two sketches that everything afterwards seemed like a letdown.

[One Imaginary Girl]

6 hours ago, helenamonster said:

It's been said before but Heidi's Allison Janney is something else. It's an impression that I don't think anybody realized they wanted and then she just showed up with it and it was like, oh that's what's been missing in my life.

I immediately thought, "Ooh, Academy. Here's your host, " with or without Tequila Jones.

[JZL]

Astronomers at Cal Tech have now calculated the exact distance between each of Miley Cyrus' boobs by employing the parallax method. 

[mtlchick]

Matt Damon is one of those where it's "he's only hosted ONCE before?!"  I still remember his Mike Tyson impression and his opening monologue that consisted of him playing Justin Timberlake preparing for a dance off with Britney Spears.  I do overall like him (though his very awkward part in the #metoo movement was something I hoped he learned) and I did tear up over his monologue. 

Westminister Daddy show sort of needs to be an annual thing in real life. 

 

The Weezer sketch was so bizarre that it was sublime.  

Matt Damon is one of those where it's "he's only hosted ONCE before?!"  I still remember his Mike Tyson impression and his opening monologue that consisted of him playing Justin Timberlake preparing for a dance off with Britney Spears.  I do overall like him (though his very awkward part in the #metoo movement was something I hoped he learned) and I did tear up over his monologue. 

Westminister Daddy show sort of needs to be an annual thing in real life. 

 

The Weezer sketch was so bizarre that it was sublime.  

[Jody]

22 hours ago, possibilities said:

Westminster Daddy Show was fantastic. If you have never watched the Westminster Dog Show, it was funny. But if you have? Even better.

I liked Weezer and Cecily's Jingle Bells. Also, Aidy as Hannah Gadsby during the Oscars auditions-- fantastic. A lot of the impressions were surprising and excellent, but HG was my favorite.

I don't really like Matt Damon, but he did a good job. The show seemed very dude-heavy, though, which seems odd and was disappointing, when the female cast is so strong. I feel like blaming Damon, for some reason.

When I heard Mark Ronson was sharing an act with Miley Cyrus, I subbed Jon Ronson in what I was picturing in my head-- I knew it had to be a mistake, because he's not a musician. But it gave me some really funny moments.

The thing I like about Miley Cyrus is that she's one of the minority of singers who, when they sing, I can actually make out what the words are. Most of the time I have to look up the lyrics to any song because either singers don't enunciate or my hearing is crap.

               Hello Possibilities. The women all had their moments. I think the men can have a sketch. Mark Ronson also was with Bruno Mars on Uptown Funk so I think he is a Musician. I DO think that Bruno Mars AND Miley Cyrus can be by them selves and don't Need to have Mark Ronson ! !

[Winston Wolfe]

4 hours ago, JZL said:

Astronomers at Cal Tech have now calculated the exact distance between each of Miley Cyrus' boobs by employing the parallax method.

Funny.  For a small girl with seemingly natural boobs, there was a tremendous amount of space between them, wasn't there?

9 hours ago, yellowjacket said:

It occurred to me that Sean Lennon might be a good person for Pete Davidson to know.

Hadn't seen Sean in a long time before last night.  Visually he's the perfect amalgam of both parents, and definitely has his dad's playing chops.

This was the first complete episode of SNL I've seen in quite a while.  I was very surprised at the overall quality, even the weaker sketches were alright.  This one had a late 80s, early 90s feel to it, when it was still consistently good from week to week.

Edited December 17, 2018 by Winston Wolfe

[Jody]

22 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

It sounds ridiculous to me, and then I remember my brother saying that Rachel Green from "Friends" is not a good person and I practically turn psycho

Agree.  That was an amazing use of Aidy and her impression was great.  It was like she came alive again.

Totally.  I thought the same.  The passion was very believable, even though you could tell both Leslie and Matt had to sneak a look at the cue cards.  It's so relatable because there are definitely Weezer fans who felt like that after the Green album.  1994 is the year where all my pop culture likes were crystalized (see Rachel Green mention above).  It's hard to see these amazing bands from the 90s change their music so drastically, but then I just have to remember the alternative is one of the bandmembers dying (like my heroes Kurt and Dolores, then we have Biggie and 2Pac and on and on) and I'd vastly prefer the sell out and continue to live thing.

I cannot believe Alec is still on this freaking show.  I feel like I'm barely a fan of the show these days,  especially if you combine my hate of Alec with my feelings on Jost and Che lately.  The best part of the show was that I watched it late and I could fast forward through the cold open, the Cecily sketch, and that sketch at the end with Alec and the bar.  Ugh.  

At least this episode was pretty good.  I'm no Matt Damon fan but this episode was better than Jason Momoa's and Momoa's was better than Claire Foy's.

 

          I wonder why people are not fans of Matt Damon? Do they think he is not a good actor OR do they think people go on and on about how fabulous Matt Damon is and they think he is not any better than any body else !

 

14 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

That was a few weeks ago.

It's a reference to The Shawshank Redemption.

Agreed. I only know the songs "Buddy Holly" and "Beverly Hills" but anyone who's passionate about a singer or group can relate to having strong opinions about what their best album is and has gotten into arguments with other die-hard fans. And not just music but it can be about movies, TV shows, books and sports. Leslie Jones and Matt Damon's performances really make that sketch. Not only did Leslie not flub a line but in that skit you really believe she feels so strongly about Weezer!

Loved seeing Damon as "Tommy" Angel's boyfriend!

 

It's a reference to Shawshank Redemption. New prisoners are called "fresh fish" by the inmates because they try to fish for the one who will crack first their first night.

 

 

              I think Fish in this sketch is that the drunk Santa drinks like a fish because the sketch had nothing to do with The Shawshank Redemption and it was not a prison sketch ! !

[LuvMyShows]

23 hours ago, SHD said:

Where did THAT Leslie Jones come from? Usually if she has more than two lines, she falters. She was spitting out some detailed dialogue without missing a beat or timing.

Seriously.  I never saw her look at the cue cards, she didn't mess up any lines, and refreshingly the character wasn't as one-dimensional as her usual angry/shouting woman characters.

[Jody]

20 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

The cold open missed the very obvious joke about how a President Hilary Clinton would have resulted in the Dems being wiped out in this year's midterms along with a very dreary outlook for 2020.  The GOP would have been partying because of that, not because they didn't have to deal with the Trump White House.

              Usually, the Republicans would be Partying if Hillary was the President, but that is not the Joke or what the Sketch is about ! ! The Sketch is A Take Off of It's A Wonderful Life about a man wishing he had never been Born so they had it where every body is Better Off with Donald Trump not being the President ! Hillary is not even in the sketch ! Kate is Kelly Ann Conway and Kate is not Hillary !

[Robert Lynch]

38 minutes ago, Jody said:

              Usually, the Republicans would be Partying if Hillary was the President, but that is not the Joke or what the Sketch is about ! ! The Sketch is A Take Off of It's A Wonderful Life about a man wishing he had never been Born so they had it where every body is Better Off with Donald Trump not being the President ! Hillary is not even in the sketch ! Kate is Kelly Ann Conway and Kate is not Hillary !

We have to remember that Trump is very thin-skinned about insults. 

[Milburn Stone]

On 12/16/2018 at 1:14 AM, SHD said:

Where did THAT Leslie Jones come from? Usually if she has more than two lines, she falters. She was spitting out some detailed dialogue without missing a beat or timing.

I know, right? This gave her a chance to play something other than a stereotype--she was not an "angry black woman," she was an angry woman--and she did well. Not only didn't she flub anything, she created a believable character that made the comedy work.

[Ottis]

On 12/15/2018 at 11:01 PM, Galileo908 said:

DJ Pence was probably my favorite.

I thought that was Putin at first. Which, come to think of it, still would work.

This was a good episode, but I thought the audience was low key. Not many reactions besides the directed applause screams. Sometimes it seemed like the timing wasn't quite right on the lines. The ale house with the cops seemed awkward instead of funny, because of the hesitant timing of some lines.

Loved the cold open ... if only it were real. And the skit about worst/best Christmas is pretty much a universal experience if you have kids. And I liked the back-of-the-tree skit a lot. 

Didn't care for the Jungle Bells skit, but I never like the swarmy hotel act skits. 

Westminster Daddy. Sigh. Wonder what the reaction would have been if it had been a Westminster Mommy skit? 

[justjen]

10 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

Funny.  For a small girl with seemingly natural boobs, there was a tremendous amount of space between them, wasn't there?

That's the magic of Tit Tape. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

12 hours ago, Jody said:

          I wonder why people are not fans of Matt Damon? Do they think he is not a good actor OR do they think people go on and on about how fabulous Matt Damon is and they think he is not any better than any body else !

It's his public statements.

He corrected a Black female director named Effie Brown on what diversity in film is.  He famously stated diversity is simply hiring actors of different races - but not letting them work behind the camera.  That sent off a huge meme on the internet called Damonsplaining.

He made horrible comments about the #MeToo movement defending Harvey Weinstein.
Now it's like every time he speaks in public I just recoil.  The man thinks he knows everything and speaks as if he does, but frankly he is extremely ignorant.  Just because he speaks with a lot of arrogance and gravitas doesn't mean he's right.

(This is all just my opinion.)

12 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

Hadn't seen Sean in a long time before last night.  Visually he's the perfect amalgam of both parents, and definitely has his dad's playing chops.

Yes, I think he's quite beautiful

Edited December 17, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[Boilergal]

I don't watch SNL sat night live, I wait and watch it on Hulu the next day- get to skip the dumb stuff - didn't skip anything last night.

The Matt and Cecily piano bar (?) reminded me of the Marty and Bobbi Culp skits (Ferrell and Gasteyer)  

Earlier in the day I had heard Pentatonix do that version and Jingle Bells, and thought it super weird and cool at the same time.  

Loved Colin and Michael try to embarrass each other.  Michael won.

[Hanahope]

I enjoyed this episode.  All the skits were pretty good.  I wasn't completely with the Weezer one, but I guess its because I don't know the band except for a few songs here and there.  But I could substitute other bands and get the gist.  And the ale house one was kindof 'meh.'  But I loved all the other ones.  I really liked all the impressions and Jingle Bells, oh and of course the cold open, sigh.  And yeah, that is completely why I don't have alexa or echo in my house.

I ff through Miley, she's just not my thing.

[Machiabelly]

17 hours ago, Jody said:

 

              I think Fish in this sketch is that the drunk Santa drinks like a fish because the sketch had nothing to do with The Shawshank Redemption and it was not a prison sketch ! !

The back of the tree is kind of a prison. They kept referring to being stuck there. And he was the new guy. I think it was that kind of fish. YMMV of course.

[Tdoc72]

On 12/17/2018 at 12:33 AM, Jody said:

               Hello Possibilities. The women all had their moments. I think the men can have a sketch. Mark Ronson also was with Bruno Mars on Uptown Funk so I think he is a Musician. I DO think that Bruno Mars AND Miley Cyrus can be by them selves and don't Need to have Mark Ronson ! !

He was also on w/Lady Gaga one time. 

[Ottis]

8 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

Mark Ronson also was with Bruno Mars on Uptown Funk so I think he is a Musician. I DO think that Bruno Mars AND Miley Cyrus can be by them selves and don't Need to have Mark Ronson ! !

Who the hell is Mark Ronson? The guitar player? is he in-house?

18 hours ago, Boilergal said:

Loved Colin and Michael try to embarrass each other.  Michael won.

Probably. But Michael's jokes were all one-note - all trying to get Colin to say something embarrassing for a white guy to say. Colin's jokes for Michael varied more. Also, I think it's interesting that a white guy can say certain things if a black guy writes them for him and that's acknowledged. Aren't some things considered "unacceptable" no matter who says them? It's so confusing. I laughed, though, which makes me bad I guess.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Ottis

[Delphi]

1 hour ago, Ottis said:

Who the hell is Mark Ronson? The guitar player? is he in-house?

Probably. But Michael's jokes were all one-note - all trying to get Colin to say something embarrassing for a white guy to say. Colin's jokes for Michael varied more. Also, I think it's interesting that a white guy can say certain things if a black guy writes them for him and that's acknowledged. Aren't some things considered "unacceptable" no matter who says them? It's so confusing. I laughed, though, which makes me bad I guess.

 Mark Ronson is a British musician, who honestly has gotten a bigger name though producing for other artists, Adele,  Miley,  Bruno mars.   Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk is actually Mark's song,  featuring Bruno. 

 

And you're right,  it's a strange time to try to be PC when a black guy writes racist jokes for a white guy to say... I don't have anywhere to go with this other than to say that SNL has always been an acception, and I laughed as well,  so I'm terrible to.

[OpalNightstream]

I didn’t care for Miley’s “happy Xmas (war is over” and on a shallow note I thought Sean was a bit of a mess physically (and I say this as a huge Beatles fan and the same age as Sean.) I think he’s a great musician, I just prefer him cleaned up. I don’t “get” Miley. 

[possibilities]

What I was saying is that JON Ronson is not a musician, and when I heard that Miley and Ronson were the musical guests, my brain subbed in JON for Mark, which made a really funny picture in my head. Jon Ronson has done a bunch of stories for This American Life, and is totally from a different galaxy than Miley Cyrus. That's why it was so weird in my head.

[rejnel]

Heidi Gardner can be very funny, but I'm way over her two go-to characters--Angel and now Allison Janney. Boxer movies aren't enough of a cultural presence to need to go there so frequently, and it's basically a one-joke character. (Granted, funny to bring Matt Damon into it, but now it's time to retire it.) And the Allison Janney impression is generic and pointless. If it had come up once as a throwaway in an awards sketch or something, fine, but they have been making way too much of it. Give that time to Melissa and her array of terrific impressions.

Speaking of which, Aidy's Hannah Gadsby was uncanny! 

[Ciarrai]

11 hours ago, Ottis said:

Who the hell is Mark Ronson? The guitar player? is he in-house?

Probably. But Michael's jokes were all one-note - all trying to get Colin to say something embarrassing for a white guy to say. Colin's jokes for Michael varied more. Also, I think it's interesting that a white guy can say certain things if a black guy writes them for him and that's acknowledged. Aren't some things considered "unacceptable" no matter who says them? It's so confusing. I laughed, though, which makes me bad I guess.

 

Never mind, already answered!

Edited December 19, 2018 by Ciarrai

[Miss Scarlet]

SNL really should start calling this the "holiday" show instead of the Christmas show. It's 2018 - maybe it's time to try being inclusive. But yes, I realize this a lot to ask of the show that had to be basically coerced into hiring a more diverse cast. 

Anyway, I thought this was a great episode. Matt Damon was an amazing host. He reminded me a lot of Chris Pine when he hosted, both just fit right in. I hope each of them hosts again soon. I think Matt will become a regular in the rotation - maybe like a Melissa McCarthy.

The writing was really clever - like the throwback to Good Will Hunting and Westminster Daddy Show, especially the ending. It was funny too because I noticed as they were describing the "Daddy" characteristics that they were basically describing Matt. SNL has been criticized a lot over the years for sketches not having real endings and they've really improved on that.

I loved Cecily's Jingle Bells and the banter between her and Matt. The fact that this is actually a real song is hilarious. Cecily also had a hilarious Instagram post about the sketch and how excited she was about it and gave a shout out to the sequin beret. 

The Weezer sketch reminded me of the sketch with Sterling K. Brown where he's obsessed with Shrek and gets into a fight about it with his girlfriend's dad. I loved both of these sketches because they actually seem like something that would happen in real life. I was thinking "Oh, this is probably a fight that the writers had with each other."  I wonder if this will become a recurring theme, like "host gets absurd over random pop culture thing and freaks out on dinner guests." I'm totally here for that. 

[Fostersmom]

Cecily and Matt's Jingle Bells sketch made me think of The Scintas, which would be my personal hell on earth to have to sit thru. But I've heard about them for pretty much my whole life since I live not too far from Akron, Ohio where they were and are still extremely popular. Until I just Googled them, I didn't realize they actually played regularly in Vegas. I honestly thought they just played in Akron! LOL! I used to work with a woman who just saw them, probably in Akron, and she was very exited, as where her FB friends all chiming in about how they had seen them. Yeah, she's a good 10 years older than me and honestly, I feel like she's like 20 years too young to see the show. 

[Quickbeam]

On 12/22/2018 at 4:58 PM, Fostersmom said:

Cecily and Matt's Jingle Bells sketch made me think of The Scintas

OMG that’s so awful. It’s so over the top corny. I’d chew my own foot off to get out of that show. 

I liked the Jingle Bell sketch though. I think it skewered “song stylings”. 

[blueray]

I just caught this episode yesterday on repeat.  It was surprisingly a good episode. I actually stayed awake and watched the whole show.  Count me in the group of people who were shocked to learn that Matt Damon had only hosted once before.

Anyhow, my favorite sketch was the "Best Christmas Ever." I'm Jewish but honestly you substituted one of our holiday's in there and it would have still played out the same.  Last year at a family holiday dinner, my cousin insisted her daughter wasn't sick but she totally had a cold (so I got a kick out of when the showed the sick kid). Anyhow, it was relatable with I think is what really worked for this skit. And the ending was cute.

Also I thought Matt Damon nailed Chris Hemsworth's mannerisms in the one skit.

Edited March 17, 2019 by blueray

[Dr.OO7]

Any idea why this didn't end on the skating rink like the Christmas episode usually does?