S44.E11: James McAvoy / Meek Mill

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Hosted by James McAvoy; musical guest, Meek Mill

[VCRTracking]

[JZL]

Ohhh, Meek Mills is the guy who got the crazy probation violation judge a couple years ago.  He has quite a rap sheet, though.

Edited January 25, 2019 by JZL

[GoldenGirl90]

LMAO Kate McKinnon can play anybody. 

And the portrayal of Jeanine Pirro as dramatic and hysterical and Tucker Carlson as always looking confused and constipated are pretty spot on, too.

[ebk57]

Wow - Steve Martin, then James McAvoy in a kilt.  Quite a lovely start. 

[SoMuchTV]

Man, that upper east side thing seemed VERY specific, but I did like that cat. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I'm not really feeling this episode.  Not feeling the humour.  I do watch The Bachelor, so that sketch hit all the marks in a kind of paint by numbers way, but wow did it seem very haphazardly thrown together and set James up to fail.

I hate Cecily's Weekend Update character.  That's what made me roll my eyes and come here to start posting.

So far, I liked the sketch about the teacher who just wanted shrooms, and Chris Redd doing a great Soulja Boy interview, so I think I'm just a big fan of Chris Redd (and to a lesser extent his frequent collaborator Pete Davidson.)

The best thing about it was that there was no Alec Baldwin thank god.

Ha!  And now to make matters worse this weird sketch with the brothers and their wet t-shirts came on?  I mean what the heck are the writers into this week?

Chris Redd (featuring Pete Davidson) was definitely the star this week.  Sorry James.  Sorry everyone else.  Not that James was bad per se but I do think the writing was.  I would have really expected a "Split"/multiple personalities sketch as that's obviously a strength of James's. He is obviously a talented mimic/impersonator and no part of this show took advantage of that.  That would have been easy entertainment right there.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: And we start with Tucker Carlson. I'm just gonna assume that they perfectly nailed these guys, this was hilarious and terrifying. And that especially goes for Kate playing Wilbur Ross (I can honestly listen to her as Wilbur just drone on about nonsense for ages). And wow, the makeup crew is definitely earning their Emmys tonight. I thought it was John Goodman and not Steve Martin as Roger Stone. I thought it was good until Roger Stone showed up, because, look, we were all wondering if that was really Steve Martin and not paying attention to what he was saying.

Monologue: James McAvoy was pretty funny. I was honestly expecting a song, but thankfully that didn't happen. I'm actually amazed that he lost his place, but was able to save himself. That certainly bodes well for the rest of the show.

Virgin Hunk: Yay, another one of these Bachelor sketches! "I'm 31 so I'm almost dead", "I'm from Rest Area, Missouri." "I'm 20 drunk years old", "I'm from before but I'm more drunk." The women were great, James was just...there. His accent kept creeping out.

Mr. H: I was waiting for the twist, and it turns out Chris sucked the SATs. And, of course, the teacher was buying from him. I laughed.

Scottish Air Traffic Control: And now here's a sketch where James McAvoy gets to speak in his real accent. Meh. I liked it when Kenan showed up. 

Upper East Side: Apparently this was a spoof of Welcome to Atlanta, but with the Upper East Side and Leslie Jones. I liked Kate's cat. That was about it.

Charmin Focus Group: You know those Charmin bears are totally white. This was fun, but I couldn't place James's accent. Just...where exactly what it was supposed to be? Southern? Philly? The Glasgow part of Philly? Kyle and Kenan were the best.

WU: All Colin can do now is shake his head at the nonsense Trump says. This is what comedy has come to today. But I loved all the Roger Stone bits. "Business Babadook" was the best, and it didn't lose that energy. Chris as Soulja Boy was great, and I loved all the video game knockoff titles. Cathy Anne was great, too. This was an all-around great Update.

Narnia: Normal women/fangirls meeting Mr. Tumnus, okay I'm on board. This was fun, but Tumnus/Edmund was a pairing I wasn't expecting.

Hose Brothers: Wow, wasn't expecting these characters to come back. Now they get a leaf blower in their face in addition to the hose. This was so amazingly stupid but I was laughing the entire time, even if it was the exact same sketch as the first one. Those Looney Tunes shirts definitely take me back.

I Talk To My Dog: And now a rap video about cute dogs. The show is going all out on animals tonight, aren't they? Don't care, I loved the dogs, and loved the bunnies even more.

Dierdre: Oh look, she's back, too. But I liked the accents here. That, Kenan, and James pretty much breaking were the only highlights.

We return February 9th with Halsey. Just...Halsey. I'm sure she'll be fine, but my low expectations after tonight have gotten lower. Tonight was...okay. I liked the second half more than the first half, and that's pretty rare since it's usually the opposite for me.

[Mystery]

Steve Martin was great as the crazed Roger Stone. I thought for a minute that it was John Goodman, who was on the Colbert show last night so I guess I had him on the brain. Kate was great as Wilbur Ross. I thought that James McAvoy was pretty good. I wonder what tartan that kilt was? Not any of the ones that come up online for McAvoy or for Johnston, which I've read that he wears for his grandfather's family.

Even some of the skits that I usually like just went on too long for me. I ended up ff'ing through the ends of The Bachelor and Soulja Boy on WU. But I love Cathy Anne, even though I know she probably gets on people's nerves like others get on mine. 

I liked the UES thing and the Scottish air traffic controller thing, especially all the details about Kylie Jenner's employees. Didn't care for the Charmin focus group. Saw the teacher coming downtown for drugs coming a mile away. 

Those boys who get hit with the hose just make me uncomfortable. I never think they're funny. 

Steve Martin stayed for the end! I always look for that. 

[ebk57]

And I liked the first half better than the second half (other than the dog rap - that was great).  I think the accent in the Charmin focus group was Philly with a little Baltimore thrown in.  I first thought Steve Martin, then thought maybe John Goodman, then knew it was Steve by the end.  It was wonderful.  Update was also wonderful.  I loved the UES rap with Leslie, especially the end - she didn't forget where she came from, she remembered. 

Overall though, it was... okay.  

[Lantern7]

With McAvoy, I would have figured Mike Myers would've been the surprise appearance. Remember the "All Things Scottish" sketches? "Welcome to All Things Scottish! If it's not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!!!!!!!!" And then we got the extended mix with So I Married An Axe Murderer.

I figured that if they would've done a bit on the crap from last weekend, Pete Davidson would've been the main douchebag kid. He seems capable of that showing that level of teen dickhead.

And yes, I thought that was John Goodman. So lame of me to need Steve to do the pointing stuff at the end to have it sink in.

Who is Halsey? I'm guessing she's a musician. Has she acted before? I'm not keeping up.

[vb68]

I thought James McAvoy was pretty great. Super focused and high energy and dare I say, charmin'as hell. He flubbed his monologue and still made it work. I don't know that he had all that much range outside of his accents but he gave 110% of what they asked from him.

And yeah, I was absolutely howling with laughter everytime he talked about the bears, gave a thumbs up, and said charmin!

Update was excellent. Cathy Ann hates penguins and had a bathroom hostage at Arbys for two days because she she wanted to hear Ving Rhames say, "Cathy Ann, we have your meats!"  Yeah, sounds about right.

I agree the second half was not as good. I wasn't feeling the return of the rowdy brothers. It went way darker without any payoff. The best thing about it was Aidy saying she and Kenan blocked out the prior meeting/sketch.

Always great to see Steve Martin. It was fun to see him make a sly nod to being "a wild and crazy guy."

[opus]

3 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Who is Halsey? I'm guessing she's a musician. Has she acted before? I'm not keeping up

Yes, musician.

And the only other thing I know about Halsey (although I don’t know why I know it) is that her stage name is an anagram of her real name Ashley.

[Galileo908]

8 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

With McAvoy, I would have figured Mike Myers would've been the surprise appearance. Remember the "All Things Scottish" sketches? "Welcome to All Things Scottish! If it's not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!!!!!!!!" And then we got the extended mix with So I Married An Axe Murderer.

I had that on my brain the entire night.

[Mystery]

How did I forget in the Narnia sketch when someone said that Neville Longbottom was "the hot one": that was totally true! He did grow up to be pretty good-looking. I read once that the studio made him wait til the movies were over to get his teeth straightened, but then they paid for it. 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Mystery

[Ms Blue Jay]

Halsey had 3 words of dialogue in A Star is Born so I guess now everyone's letting her do SNL.  I'm not at all optimistic - I don't even like her MUSIC - and to add insult to injury, there's a rerun next week.

[SHD]

11 minutes ago, opus said:

Yes, musician.

And the only other thing I know about Halsey (although I don’t know why I know it) is that her stage name is an anagram of her real name Ashley.

I know it because it was just a question on Jeopardy recently.

They hit a couple of my FF sketches - Cathy Anne and the rowdy boys who get hosed. So that was disappointing.

James must need time to practice his accents. Live, they were all over the place. But overall I thought he was excellent.

Count me in as thinking Roger Stone was John Goodman. About halfway through I thought, "Well, he's terrible at this. His impression is more Steve Martin than Roger Stone!" And then I realized.

[opus]

5 minutes ago, SHD said:

I know it because it was just a question on Jeopardy recently.

That must be where I got it from  :)

[ottoDbusdriver]

Meek Mill was .... umm, I got nothing.  At least there wasn't any auto-tune (that I could tell).  The dancers were good in the 1st song.  

I enjoyed watching James McAvoy trying to cover his laughs in the skit with the couple describing their travels to New Orleans.

[freddi]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

Always great to see Steve Martin. It was fun to see him make a sly nod to being "a wild and crazy guy."

I came here to see if anyone picked up on that!  “I’m just a normal and straightforward guy!” —coupled with the pointing gestures and pelvic thrusts was purely the bizarro  version of “We’re just two wild and crazy guys!”  Loved it!  

[Dr.OO7]

The UES bit was hilarious, as was the inevitable "unintelligible Scottish accent " skit.

[possibilities]

I need to get a cat. The thing I liked most this week was the idea of watching Netflix with Kate's cat. 2nd best: the bunnies and the dogs.

I didn't even hate the episode. But apparently I like cats more than comedy. Even I didn't know that about myself.

[Pete Martell]

Alex Moffat did a pretty good job as Tucker Carlson - he got a lot of the little details right. I laughed at him saying he's going to pretend to ask a question when he already knows the answer. Cecily Strong was funny as Pirro. Kate McKinnon was really trying as Wilbur Ross, and she had a few bits that I liked, but it just went on too long and felt a bit forced. They might have been better off having her as Roger Stone and having Steve Martin as Wilbur Ross. Don't even have him in makeup, just have him saying the out of touch ramblings Wilbur Ross so excels at. 

(speaking of makeup - Steve Martin would have looked more like Stone if he'd just had his own face; the bizarre makeup job just looked like Penguin cosplay gone wrong)

The Youtube clip lists Heidi Gardner as Ann Coulter. I didn't see her. Was she in it? If they cut her, I'm glad, as that waste of oxygen already gets enough media focus as it is.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Pete Martell

[vb68]

I was waiting to see Pelosi, too. Based on the events of the past few days, she certainly should had been included. My sense is that one is a work in progress as they struggle to find the tone.  A Pelosi that is all breathy and even semi-flirtatious with Trump isn't going to cut it. Kate was much better as Wilbur Ross tonight, anyway.

No, Ann Coulter wasn't included.   I personally have no problem with her being as thoroughly mocked as possible. There's no reason to spare her. 

I can't get over how much of a strong presence I got out of McAvoy tonight. More so than most of his movies to be honest.

Edited January 27, 2019 by vb68

[oakville]

8 hours ago, Alexis2291 said:

LMAO Kate McKinnon can play anybody. 

And the portrayal of Jeanine Pirro as dramatic and hysterical and Tucker Carlson as always looking confused and constipated are pretty spot on, too.

He sounded exactly like Tucker Carlson.

[Robert Lynch]

Alex also does a very good Anderson Cooper impression as well.

[inkworks]

As a Scot I understood every word James McAvoy said in the air traffic controller sketch. My husband and I laughed all the way through but we could tell the audience didn’t have a clue what he was saying LOL.

[Peace 47]

1 hour ago, inkworks said:

As a Scot I understood every word James McAvoy said in the air traffic controller sketch. My husband and I laughed all the way through but we could tell the audience didn’t have a clue what he was saying LOL.

The ending of that sketch was super-dark, with Heidi giving up and saying to Mikey, “Just aim for water.”  I thought it was a good sketch.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Peace 47

[khyber]

On 1/27/2019 at 5:56 AM, inkworks said:

As a Scot I understood every word James McAvoy said in the air traffic controller sketch. My husband and I laughed all the way through but we could tell the audience didn’t have a clue what he was saying LOL.

Mr. Khyber's best friend is Scottish, but he has been in the States for many years. When Mr. Khyber met the friend's dad who was over for a visit he could only understand about 50% of what he said.

Edited January 28, 2019 by khyber

[JZL]

I loved the CO but the rest was pretty average (too many many one-offs?).  In the New Orleans sketch I couldn't tell if McAvoy broke because he muffed the Jumbo/Gumbo line or because Heidi was waiving her hands in his face (or both?).  He recovered well.  I felt a little sorry for Melissa who was mostly just window-dressing.

My thought on the Bennett-Mooney boys sketch was, "They had to set up that garden hose onstage so they just as well use it again."  The leaf blower was a nice touch.  I agree it went too dark for no real pay-off.

Wow-- they went from urns to goat peen in only one week.  Gosh, what a shocking twist at the end. : rolleyes

Halsey?  Really!?  This is one of those I'm-not-watching shows, but sometimes those are good because the bar is so low. 

[helenamonster]

There was some funky editing in that Mr. H bit, especially towards the end--the sound dropped out for a second and then some cuts were too quick with overlapping dialogue.

I might have found the air traffic control bit funny if I didn't understand most of what James was saying. I'm not Scottish and have never been there but I like to google "Scottish Twitter" when I'm feeling down (trust me, it's amazing) and even just reading those phonetically spelled-out tweets has given me a pretty good handle on the accent when it's spoken.

As a current UES resident, that song is my new anthem. Wish I'd known they were filming it, looks like they really were picking people off the street to be in it and I recognized a lot of the locations.

James must have picked up that Philly accent while filming Glass. Every time he flashed the thumbs up and said "Charmin!" I lost it. Really the only laughs I had all episode.

Cathy Anne is still the only one who gets it.

"Lazy Hermione" is a whole ass mood.

"You know who would be a great host/musical guest combo? Halsey!" - Literally nobody ever. What the hell, show?

[kbfan611]

12 hours ago, ebk57 said:

I think the accent in the Charmin focus group was Philly with a little Baltimore thrown in. 

I’m from Baltimore and that’s my interpretation of that accent. 

[Giuseppe]

Yeah, I cosign with those who don't like the brothers sketch. I don't know why, but something about Beck Bennett stomping around like a kid with that child-like doofus look on his face really weirds me out. Just like those adult-baby CEO sketches he used to do.

Other than that, I liked this show. James was great, and I'm still cracking up over "Charmin"!

[cpcathy]

Agreed on the Thumbs Up, Charmin bit. I laughed pretty hard. I’m seeing a trend where really good actors are doing extraordinarily well as hosts, they seem to take the acting in the sketches pretty seriously and it’s working for them. 

Disappointed in Halsey hosting. She’s a gorgeous lady, but is she funny? I foresee a lot of cue card staring.

[SoMuchTV]

14 hours ago, Mystery said:

Steve Martin was great as the crazed Roger Stone. I thought for a minute that it was John Goodman, who was on the Colbert show last night so I guess I had him on the brain.

Every time Robert De Niro cameos, I think, hey, that's John Goodman.  So this time, I think, not fooling me again; that's not Goodman, it's De Niro.  Doooh!

[Sesquipedalia]

11 hours ago, vb68 said:

I was waiting to see Pelosi, too. Based on the events of the past few days, she certainly should had been included. My sense is that one is a work in progress as they struggle to find the tone.  A Pelosi that is all breathy and even semi-flirtatious with Trump isn't going to cut it. Kate was much better as Wilbur Ross tonight, anyway.

I was also looking for a Pelosi sketch but agree that, based on last week, they haven't found the right tone for her. They'd better get on that.

As a New Orleanian I found the New Orleans tourist sketch pretty funny. 

[Mystery]

8 hours ago, inkworks said:

As a Scot I understood every word James McAvoy said in the air traffic controller sketch. My husband and I laughed all the way through but we could tell the audience didn’t have a clue what he was saying LOL.

I understood most of what he was saying, too, just look for the indicator that looks like an Oreo! I wondered if it was easier because I was looking at him instead of just listening. 

 

3 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I might have found the air traffic control bit funny if I didn't understand most of what James was saying. I'm not Scottish and have never been there but I like to google "Scottish Twitter" when I'm feeling down (trust me, it's amazing) and even just reading those phonetically spelled-out tweets has given me a pretty good handle on the accent when it's spoken.

I am googling for this right away. 

[DXD526]

For a second I, too, thought it was John Goodman, then realized it was Steve Martin. Always great to see him, and nice to get a 'wild and crazy guy' callback. Almost no one in the audience seemed to get it, though, which was depressing.

The opening sketch was great, but the episode was spotty after that. Cecily was hilarious and spot-on as the annoying Pirro. And Kate, once again, proving she can do just about anybody. The writing was great, too: yeah, why can't all the government workers not getting paid just sell off some of their artwork? Even a lesser Picasso will bring in enough for a week or two of yacht maintenance!

[SomeTameGazelle]

5 hours ago, JZL said:

In the New Orleans sketch I couldn't tell if McAvoy broke because he muffed the Jumbo/Gumbo line or because Heidi was waiving her hands in his face (or both?).

He started laughing well before the jumbo line -- I thought he was reacting to Kenan's reaction to Heidi saying that the topless woman had one boob pointing straight up. And I didn't think he flubbed the gumbo/jambalaya line, I think the spoonerism was the joke. 

[rmontro]

I thought it was a fairly weak episode.  I probably liked the air traffic controllers with the accents the best.  Too bad too, because I like James McAvoy.

 

17 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

WU: All Colin can do now is shake his head at the nonsense Trump says.

I've said repeatedly that a lot of the time, they don't even bother to write a joke, they just make a political statement.  I think it's lazy writing, or at best misguided.

 

41 minutes ago, DXD526 said:

For a second I, too, thought it was John Goodman, then realized it was Steve Martin.

Funny how so many of us had similar experiences.  My first thought was "Hey, that's John Goodman.  No wait, it's Robert DeNiro!  Nope, it's Steve Martin".

I thought Steve was looking a little frail at the end of the show, hard to believe he's 73 now.  Looks great for his age though.

[Racj82]

I'm legitimately confused as to how so many people thought Steve Martin was John Goodman. I was half sleep without my glasses on and never thought it was anyone else but Martin. 

Somehow, that is my biggest takeaway from last night's episode.

If anyone wants to see what sparked the soulja boy segment on weekend update

[RobertDeSneero]

I knew it wasn't John Goodman, even though that was my first instinct, but didn't realize it was Steve Martin until I saw him at the end of the show.

I'm optimistic about Halsey as a host.  The track record for musicians hosting is decent.  She can be Pete Davidson's next girlfriend.

[Racj82]

What did halsey do to you to put that in the air?

[Irlandesa]

The show wasn't as good as last week but I actually liked it quite a bit.

Some of my favorite skits included Leslie's UES bit.  I also loved the Scottish air controller bit because I was Keenan when I went to Scotland.  When I was around the tour guides or people used to communicating with people outside of Scotland, I had no problem understanding the accent but when I was asking a security guard about a statue of a dog in Edinburgh---yeah, I was totally lost.

The buying shrooms but was obvious but I still liked how Chris and Alex (Or was that Beck?) played it. 

[Pike Ludwell]

I think the guy imitated Tucker Carlson well in terms of voice and some mannerisms. But the writing was really way to kind to him. He actually came across better than in real life. I remember how they destroyed Joe and Mika ... and then this complimentary thing on Tucker?

[saber5055]

20 hours ago, opus said:

And the only other thing I know about Halsey (although I don’t know why I know it) is that her stage name is an anagram of her real name Ashley.

Maybe because that was a clue/answer on Jeopardy?

ETA: Oh, nuts, @SHD beat me to it. Serves me right for reading from the bottom up.

Edited January 28, 2019 by saber5055

[One Imaginary Girl]

It looks like the Philadelphia accent in the Charmin sketch got a mixed reception on Twitter, where it was discussed a lot. I thought it was one of the better ones I've ever heard. Tina Fey and Bradley Cooper are the undeniable greats, but of course they have an advantage. Nick Kroll is pretty good as well.

Edited January 28, 2019 by One Imaginary Girl

[Joimiaroxeu]

I suspect they got the Sicario joke in the cold open from reddit. People over there have been drawing that parallel (scenes from the Sicario movies versus things being claimed as fact in speeches) in for over a week now.

How does Halsey rate being both host and musical guest?

I don't know what a Philly accent sounds like and as I was watching I thought they should've gone with him as a Bears fan instead.

But then I realized, Philly was probably for Meek Mill.

Quote

What did halsey do to you to put that in the air?

Right? She might as well go back to G-Eazy.

[opus]

29 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Maybe because that was a clue/answer on Jeopardy?

ETA: Oh, nuts, @SHD beat me to it. Serves me right for reading from the bottom up.

Yup. Everything I know I learned from Jeopardy. That how I know the penis mightier than the sword.

[ChiCricket]

5 hours ago, Mystery said:

I understood most of what he was saying, too, just look for the indicator that looks like an Oreo! I wondered if it was easier because I was looking at him instead of just listening. 

 

I am googling for this right away. 

Great...I'm now addicted to Scottish Twitter.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukebailey/scottish-twitter-round-2

Edited January 28, 2019 by ChiCricket