S44.E15: Idris Elba / Khalid

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Hosted by Idris Elba. Musical performance by Khalid.

 

Airing Saturday, March 9, 2019.

[Pete Martell]

[formerlyfreedom]

I *may* have snorted a bit of adult beverage out my nose while watching Kenan's take on R. Kelly.  Twice.

[GoldenGirl90]

I just knew they’d do the R. Kelly/Gayle King interview first. Was not disappointed. 😂

[SoMuchTV]

2 minutes ago, Alexis2291 said:

I just knew they’d do the R. Kelly/Gayle King interview first. Was not disappointed. 😂

I’ve gotta say, it didn’t seem more bizarre than the actual interview 

[Mockingbird]

KATE NO. 

I was talking on the phone, had the tv muted, and looked up to see the Momo comparison. WHY. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by Mockingbird
Edited for context

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I miss last week.

[Dr.OO7]

I KNEW there was going to be a James Bond reference the minute I saw the title of the skit "Can I Play That?".

Last week was better, but what a pleasant surprise to see that Idris Elba is a decent comedian (so many hosts have been sorely disappointing on that front).

[Ms Blue Jay]

Poor Idris.

This is unfair, and cruel, and unusual punishment.

So unfair, and I don't want him to get blamed for it.

Thank god the Netflix generation knows that he can do comedy because I'm sure they've all watched "The Office" 100 times.

The one bright spot of this show was Pete Davidson defending Kate Beckinsale for dating someone 20 years younger. 

Idris's PROMOS were great.  It's just that the writers of his skits did a horrible job.  I promise, the man is so talented.  Ugh!!

Edited March 10, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: We open with R. Kelly. Yes. Kenan was perfect here. "Robert." "Please call me 'Victim.'" "No." My favorite joke was probably him commenting on the cameras, being out in the open like that. Kenan going "Live from New York" into the plant was the best.

"So you not the Jail King? Then what am I doing here?!"

Monologue: Idris Elba is awesome. I really liked that this was an actual monologue, and no gimmicks like songs or castmembers interrupting him. Way shorter than last week, to boot (but then again, I would've liked to have seen Idris Elba give THAT monologue).

Can I Play That?: Oh no, Film Twitter running a game show. Of course it sucks and it's cringeworthy. I got a laugh out of "SECRETLY Mexican?" and Rami Malek playing Michael Jackson's Ghost (in the Michael Jackson Ghost Movie. On Lifetime). Can Idris Elba play James Bond? I see what you did there. I just felt like the audience simply died after a while.

Bok Bok's: Was not expecting Momo AT ALL. This was great. Just give Emmys to Kate and the makeup team right now, it was that good. This was the perfect amount of creepy.

Powerpoint: Making Powerpoint jokes in 2019. But hell, I was sucker for this one. Aidy and Kate played the exact kind of people that would've done that. "We were so arrogant!"

corn bread

and "pie chart" with the clocks and the undo page were so great.

The Impossible Hulk: Idris Elba turning into a white lady on a cellphone when he gets mad? This was a good misdirect.

The Gold Diggers of the WNBA: Worth it just for the suits. The crowd was not feeling this AT ALL.

WU: The news is just nuts. Trump signed BIBLES, and that's barely a blip on the insanity radar in the past week. And what a time for product placement, they brought in Gwyneth Paltrow to shill for Goop. And after that, the jokes just went at it, and I just loved it. Ash Wednesday is where white people pay tribute to 21 Savage was just the perfect 180 after that Goop bit. I liked the Pete Davidson bit. too, and Leslie Jones planning her funeral.

Sky Sports: There were jokes, it seemed. But not a lot of laughs from me. There's lots of good material that you could mine from football, but I didn't feel it here.

Rudolpho: Leslie wearing the knee brace was a great detail, I just loved her commitment to this.. Was not expecting the twist of the sketch to be Kenan trying to kill his wife. This sketch was a bit of a mess.

Auditioning: This was...okay? I feel like there was going to be a punchline after Beck did the karate, but it was 12:59 so they had to cut it off.

Man, what the hell happened? Idris Elba is funny, but weak material and a weak audience led to a really disappointing show. Sandra Oh hosts March 30th!

Edited March 10, 2019 by Galileo908

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 minute ago, Galileo908 said:

Man, what the hell happened? Idris Elba is funny, but weak material and a weak audience led to a really disappointing show. Sandra Oh hosts March 30th!

Yeah.

And I love Tame Impala too!

I made a joke that the Sandra Oh / Tame Impala connection is a Twitter wet dream.

[vb68]

I think the show has just been alright. Granted there's no way it could had lived up to last week and nothing has been outright bad. It's just been alright.

More than anything, I would like to know why Leslie was sitting on Che's side during Update. Did she and Colin have a fight or something? It was weird. Her chemistry with Colin is what works so well. This was her weakest segment by far. In a fairly mediocre show, that's what I'm focused on.

And Pete, buddy we are going down that road again talking about your relationship? Really? And I wouldn't call out Mark Wahlberg, either. That won't end well.

I  actually thought the cold open was fairly weak. It didn't come close to the clips I saw on the news. Kenan needed to up the hysterical shrieking by 110%.

My favorite thing was probably the meta James Bond lines. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by vb68

[Galileo908]

Just now, vb68 said:

I  actually thought the cold open was fairly weak. It didn't come close to the clips I saw on the news. Kenan needed to up the hysterical shrieking by 110%.

Yeah if anything Kenan's R. Kelly seemed SANE.

[callmebetty]

My problem with Pete Davidson and Kate Beckinsale's age difference isn't the same as what Pete thinks. It's that her kid is only 5 years younger than he is. I have problems dealing with that with other people too. Paul Walker was one of them too.

Plus I think Kate wouldn't have given him the time of day or known who he was if not for his relationship with Ariana Grande.

That being said Idris Elba did a good job. I liked most of the skits.

[Pete Martell]

4 minutes ago, vb68 said:

I think the show has just been alright. Granted there's no way it could had lived up to last week and nothing has been outright bad. It's just been alright.

More than anything, I would like to know why Leslie was sitting on Che's side during Update. Did she and Colin have a fight or something? It was weird. Her chemistry with Colin is what works so well. This was her weakest segment by far. In a fairly mediocre show, that's what I'm focused on.

And Pete, buddy we are going down that road again talking about your relationship? Really? And I wouldn't call out Mark Wahlberg, either. That won't end well.

I  actually thought the cold open was fairly weak. It didn't come close to the clips I saw on the news. Kenan needed to up the hysterical shrieking by 110%.

My favorite thing was probably the meta James Bond lines. 

The R Kelly interview is low-hanging fruit - too low. You can't compare to the insanity of the real thing. Mad TV could have, at their most IDGAF, but SNL isn't that type of show and hasn't been in a long time. I'd rather not see R Kelly get any more publicity along these lines anyway because, similar to when Kenan played Bill Cosby in the Seth Meyers episode early this season, I think it unintentionally humanizes depraved behavior. 

I think the Catholic comments may get the most notice with Pete, but it has always seemed a bit odd to me how Mark Wahlberg got such a free pass for his actions because...people liked how he wore a pair of boxer briefs, I guess?

I like Pete well enough but he mostly seems to be there to say controversial things and to talk about his love life. After this all got very ugly late last year I thought they may have learned their lesson, but apparently not.

[Trini]

This was pretty solid for me. The only clunkers were the last one, and the WNBA one. I skipped the BokBok chicken one.

"Can I play that" was the best. Sponsored by Twitter? - ha! Perfect.

[Ms Blue Jay]

18 minutes ago, callmebetty said:

My problem with Pete Davidson and Kate Beckinsale's age difference isn't the same as what Pete thinks. It's that her kid is only 5 years younger than he is. I have problems dealing with that with other people too. Paul Walker was one of them too.

Plus I think Kate wouldn't have given him the time of day or known who he was if not for his relationship with Ariana Grande.

Um, so?  I think Pete's point is that millions of men do what Kate did every day..... and.....people very rarely comment aside from congratulating the guy for nabbing the hot young woman.  And of course Kate wouldn't have known Pete if not for Ariana... and what?  LOL?  So what?  I really don't know how people can manage to pay attention to other people's private business that closely to worry about Kate's kids' ages and to compare those ages to Pete's.  Questioning this stuff is like questioning Kate's ability to be a Mom and I find that really weird.  There's no way anyone has enough information to do that.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[nowandlater]

16 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

The R Kelly interview is low-hanging fruit - too low. You can't compare to the insanity of the real thing. Mad TV could have, at their most IDGAF, but SNL isn't that type of show and hasn't been in a long time. I'd rather not see R Kelly get any more publicity along these lines anyway because, similar to when Kenan played Bill Cosby in the Seth Meyers episode early this season, I think it unintentionally humanizes depraved behavior. 

I think the Catholic comments may get the most notice with Pete, but it has always seemed a bit odd to me how Mark Wahlberg got such a free pass for his actions because...people liked how he wore a pair of boxer briefs, I guess?

I like Pete well enough but he mostly seems to be there to say controversial things and to talk about his love life. After this all got very ugly late last year I thought they may have learned their lesson, but apparently not.

There was an article in Slate yesterday on how decades of jokes about Michael Jackson on SNL and Leno, etc, have helped normalize his behavior and laugh it off.

I kind of got the same vibe with the opening sketch...it seemed like R. Kelly was just trying to act crazy to move the news away from the allegations (kind of like Brett Kavanaugh), and SNL was kind of abetting that.

https://slate.com/culture/2019/03/michael-jackson-jokes-snl-chappelle-katt-williams.html

[madpsych78]

I've had to do a bunch of Powerpoint presentations, so I was absolutely dying during the Powerpoint sketch.

[Ms Blue Jay]

29 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Sky Sports: There were jokes, it seemed. But not a lot of laughs from me. There's lots of good material that you could mine from football, but I didn't feel it here.

in a *rough* episode I actually liked this, because I feel like Idris got to mine comedy from a world he's very familiar with (football), so I think he was really happy and comfortable with a skit, for once.

20 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

I think the Catholic comments may get the most notice with Pete, but it has always seemed a bit odd to me how Mark Wahlberg got such a free pass for his actions because...people liked how he wore a pair of boxer briefs, I guess?

I can't really disagree with Pete on the Catholic comments.

And yeah, Mark Wahlberg is a violent, racist, asshole and this is public knowledge.

Will Ferrell breaks my heart in working with Mark AND Mel Gibson.  He very clearly does not have to do that yet chooses to.

[Pete Martell]

1 minute ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

in a *rough* episode I actually liked this, because I feel like Idris got to mine comedy from a world he's very familiar with (football), so I think he was really happy and comfortable with a skit, for once.

They must have liked Idris because I think with hosts they aren't fond of they just kind of have them get out of the way.

[VCRTracking]

20 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

The R Kelly interview is low-hanging fruit - too low. You can't compare to the insanity of the real thing.

True, but I LOL'd at Kenan saying "I gave you Trapped in the Closet, Feelin On Yo Booty, Age ain't Nothing But a Number, and so many other clues!"

[Ms Blue Jay]

22 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

I like Pete well enough but he mostly seems to be there to say controversial things and to talk about his love life. After this all got very ugly late last year I thought they may have learned their lesson, but apparently not.

I get what you're saying but I think it's a really feminist point to defend Kate on this and I really liked it.  Equal opportunity.

[Pete Martell]

2 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I can't really disagree with Pete on the Catholic comments.

And yeah, Mark Wahlberg is a violent, racist, asshole and this is public knowledge.

Will Ferrell breaks my heart in working with Mark AND Mel Gibson.  He very clearly does not have to do that yet chooses to.

I guess that's Hollywood for you - so many support predators in one way or another. I will admit I'm very biased about Will Ferrell, especially since he's repeatedly been in movies or sketches that tell us how hilarious it is if men are raped. 

1 minute ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I get what you're saying but I think it's a really feminist point to defend Kate on this and I really liked it.  Equal opportunity.

Oh I don't mind him defending her. I just feel like SNL zeroes in so much on his personal life and I don't think it's a very healthy idea in the long run. 

[vb68]

I liked the idea of The Impossible Hulk, but the execution could have been a lot better.

When the Baskin John segment started, I was already seeing Gwyneth appear with her in mind. I just thought we were still a few appearances away from that.

27 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

I think the Catholic comments may get the most notice with Pete, but it has always seemed a bit odd to me how Mark Wahlberg got such a free pass for his actions because...people liked how he wore a pair of boxer briefs, I guess?

The thing I was getting at with Wahlberg was that I had a flashback to Andy Samberg doing the "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" sketch and Wahlberg allegedly being mega pissed and showing up the next week to beat up Andy. I never believed it was completely a joke, and Wahlberg doesn't seem like he has much humor about about himself.  It's fine.  I could see him confronting Pete, though. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by vb68

[Ms Blue Jay]

@Pete Martell

You're probably right.  Off the top of my head Get Hard and Wedding Crashers.  That's too bad.  It's sad because he's definitely a hero of mine and I love him.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Pete Martell]

7 minutes ago, vb68 said:

The thing I was getting at with Wahlberg was that I had a flashback to Andy Samberg doing the "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" sketch and Wahlberg allegedly being mega pissed and showing up the next week to beat up Andy. I never believed it was completely a joke, and Wahlberg doesn't seem like he has much humor about about himself.  It's fine.  I could see him confronting Pete, though. 

Oh. I wasn't really watching much in those years so my memories of this are minimal. I think I remember it now. Sorry. Yeah that makes sense. 

How anyone could ever be mad at Andy Samberg makes no sense to me.

[callmebetty]

18 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Um, so?  I think Pete's point is that millions of men do what Kate did every day..... and.....people very rarely comment aside from congratulating the guy for nabbing the hot young woman.  And of course Kate wouldn't have known Pete if not for Ariana... and what?  LOL?  So what?  I really don't know how people can manage to pay attention to other people's private business that closely to worry about Kate's kids' ages and to compare those ages to Pete's.  Questioning this stuff is like questioning Kate's ability to be a Mom and I find that really weird.  There's no way anyone has enough information to do that.

I don't want to get off topic.  But I wasn't questioning Kate's ability to be a mom.

And yes men have been applauded for getting younger women. And yes I do side eye non celebrities who date people close to their children's age when they are in their teens and early 20's.

That being said, what it comes down to is I really don't care who Pete Davidson dates and really don't need for that to be his thing on SNL. 

Good for Kate Beckinsale she can date whoever she wants.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I fell asleep after the WNBA the first time around and again fell asleep before WU the second time around (mind you this was trying to get through an 8:30pm show, being on the west coast and all), so I'm going to give it a third rewatch try tomorrow to get through the whole show (or maybe at least just to WU which is what I usually care about most). Clearly this episode was not very riveting to me.

 

Also, I don't really care about Kate/Pete, but what I could live without is seeing any more pictures of the two of them sucking face because it literally looks like they're sucking face instead of kissing, and it's the least attractive image ever.

[nowandlater]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

The thing I was getting at with Wahlberg was that I had a flashback to Andy Samberg doing the "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" sketch and Wahlberg allegedly being mega pissed and showing up the next week to beat up Andy. I never believed it was completely a joke, and Wahlberg doesn't seem like he has much humor about about himself.  It's fine.  I could see him confronting Pete, though. 

I totally got your reference because I remember Wahlberg going on Kimmel pretending to be upset, setting up his cameo days later.

[Pete Martell]

You have to laugh at the irony (and if this was done deliberately then I will laugh even more).

[Dee]

Che's Conrad Murray joke cracked me up.

[Pete Martell]

5 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Cold Open: We open with R. Kelly. Yes. Kenan was perfect here. "Robert." "Please call me 'Victim.'" "No." My favorite joke was probably him commenting on the cameras, being out in the open like that. Kenan going "Live from New York" into the plant was the best.

"So you not the Jail King? Then what am I doing here?!"

Monologue: Idris Elba is awesome. I really liked that this was an actual monologue, and no gimmicks like songs or castmembers interrupting him. Way shorter than last week, to boot (but then again, I would've liked to have seen Idris Elba give THAT monologue).

Can I Play That?: Oh no, Film Twitter running a game show. Of course it sucks and it's cringeworthy. I got a laugh out of "SECRETLY Mexican?" and Rami Malek playing Michael Jackson's Ghost (in the Michael Jackson Ghost Movie. On Lifetime). Can Idris Elba play James Bond? I see what you did there. I just felt like the audience simply died after a while.

Bok Bok's: Was not expecting Momo AT ALL. This was great. Just give Emmys to Kate and the makeup team right now, it was that good. This was the perfect amount of creepy.

Powerpoint: Making Powerpoint jokes in 2019. But hell, I was sucker for this one. Aidy and Kate played the exact kind of people that would've done that. "We were so arrogant!"

corn bread

and "pie chart" with the clocks and the undo page were so great.

The Impossible Hulk: Idris Elba turning into a white lady on a cellphone when he gets mad? This was a good misdirect.

The Gold Diggers of the WNBA: Worth it just for the suits. The crowd was not feeling this AT ALL.

WU: The news is just nuts. Trump signed BIBLES, and that's barely a blip on the insanity radar in the past week. And what a time for product placement, they brought in Gwyneth Paltrow to shill for Goop. And after that, the jokes just went at it, and I just loved it. Ash Wednesday is where white people pay tribute to 21 Savage was just the perfect 180 after that Goop bit. I liked the Pete Davidson bit. too, and Leslie Jones planning her funeral.

Sky Sports: There were jokes, it seemed. But not a lot of laughs from me. There's lots of good material that you could mine from football, but I didn't feel it here.

Rudolpho: Leslie wearing the knee brace was a great detail, I just loved her commitment to this.. Was not expecting the twist of the sketch to be Kenan trying to kill his wife. This sketch was a bit of a mess.

Auditioning: This was...okay? I feel like there was going to be a punchline after Beck did the karate, but it was 12:59 so they had to cut it off.

Man, what the hell happened? Idris Elba is funny, but weak material and a weak audience led to a really disappointing show. Sandra Oh hosts March 30th!

I tried to watch most of the show  (I skipped WU outside of the guests) for the first time in a while after enjoying it last week - is the audience always this dead? The WNBA and Rudolpho sketches were real dead zones. 

It didn't help that the Rudolpho and "friend got an acting job" sketches had the whiff of the Jean Doumanian era. Completely incoherent and amateurish.

I did enjoy the Sky Sports sketch. Mikey Day's accent helped, but it was also just a clear, silly, fun idea with some good lines (I laughed when Idris kept talking about all the women he'd bang, then praised his wife for being faithful...and when he said the player had a big knob for a white guy).

Gwyneth Paltrow popping in for some damage control on her Goop controversies was very modern SNL (sadly), but if she'd been funnier I wouldn't have minded. Heidi Gardner was much better - very reminiscent of Victoria Jackson in these types of WU pieces. I wish they'd just let her do the piece herself. It was hard for me to laugh at Leslie Jones talking about her funeral when she's spoken so much about her depression - the Fantasia lines were good though. Other than being perpetually uneasy with his love life being SNL fodder I liked Pete Davidson's spot more than I thought I would - he seems to have become more confident in his delivery, which was long overdue, and helped me to ignore the whole "all artists are awful people...how dare you get upset" routine that is often used to excuse abuse. 

I actually agree with the idea of the Can I Play That? sketch as I hate cancel culture, but it just went on too long and lost its focus. 

The Powerpoint sketch also went on too long as they veered between the joke about older people not knowing how to work computers and grossout humor, but I did enjoy it. Aidy Bryant is just great in these types of pieces. 

The Impossible Hulk film was yet another that could have easily lost at least one segment and would have been stronger, although Cecily Strong was great. 

The mono/bok bok film was the one that was best paced, as it only ran a minute and a half and that was all the time needed.

[Ms Blue Jay]

14 hours ago, callmebetty said:

That being said, what it comes down to is I really don't care who Pete Davidson dates and really don't need for that to be his thing on SNL. 

Honestly, I don't think it's a good idea either.  I wonder if it's people on SNL writing staff, or Lorne, or Lorne adjacent head writers who push Pete into sharing this stuff week after week where it would never initially be his idea.  And he's young, and maybe he's easily influenced that way?  Or maybe I'm not giving him enough credit?  It's like they're using Pete's uberfamous love life for ratings, and I think that's stupid, treating him like a sideshow or something.  But hey maybe Pete is totally into it and nobody's taking advantage.  

 

12 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

You have to laugh at the irony (and if this was done deliberately then I will laugh even more).

I wish SNL made these available to people outside of the U.S.

[mansfolly]

7 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

You have to laugh at the irony (and if this was done deliberately then I will laugh even more).

I found this hysterical. I love awkward Mooney.

Love Aidy's line....."Bitch!".

[helenamonster]

I guess Momo is a real thing? I don't really ever venture to that corner of the interwebz.

How, in that entire Impossible Hulk sketch, did they not have Cecily demand at least once to speak to the manager?

Michael literally said out loud "That was funny" after not one but two WU jokes. Don't do that.

I didn't think we needed the return of Baskin Johns...and I especially didn't think we needed it as an excuse for SNL to help Gwyneth Paltrow with Goop's evergreen PR nightmares.

Yes, let's keep making Pete's ever-confounding love life a part of his persona on the show. Cuz that worked out so well the last time. (On a more personal/shallow note, Kate Beckinsale can do better, age gap or no.)

The soccer sketch was probably my favorite of the night and only one I really enjoyed start to finish. Mostly because I'm a sucker for British people saying "innit."

I knew it was gonna be a rough letdown after a Mulaney episode, but yikes. Cautiously optimistic for Sandra Oh but skeptical the show will do right by her.

10 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Rudolpho: Leslie wearing the knee brace was a great detail, I just loved her commitment to this.. Was not expecting the twist of the sketch to be Kenan trying to kill his wife. This sketch was a bit of a mess.

I think that's her real knee brace--she's talked about having trouble with her knee and I've seen her wear it in pics before. It was a good detail for the sketch but I also wonder if with all the physicality she felt she needed it.

10 hours ago, vb68 said:

And I wouldn't call out Mark Wahlberg, either. That won't end well.

Say hi to your mother for me.

[Thalia]

9 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

You have to laugh at the irony (and if this was done deliberately then I will laugh even more).

Was Kyle in any of the sketches last night?  I even looked for him (or Adam Zeekman) on the stage during the closing.  

[Joimiaroxeu]

As a big fan of Idris Elba's, I thought he did fine for the most part. He seemed game to let himself look silly and I appreciated the subtle dig he was willing to make about the James Bond rumors.

(Though I don't think the question is whether he can play Bond, it's more than the producers won't let him. In fact, I think they've held onto to Daniel Craig longer they might've in order to let Idris age out of the role. At this point they're going to want a guy in his 30s who they can easily get several sequels out of. Elba is only a few years younger than Craig.)

Not sure Idris will get asked back any time soon though. He was a little too self-conscious, IMO.

Quote

maybe Pete is totally into it and nobody's taking advantage.  

Maybe not taking advantage but they are making fun of him in a "can you believe Pete is getting so and so?" way. Even if he's also kind of amazed by it it's still a dig at his self-esteem. He's got widely known issues on that score so I don't see how using it for SNL fodder can be helpful to him in the long run.

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, helenamonster said:

How, in that entire Impossible Hulk sketch, did they not have Cecily demand at least once to speak to the manager?

She hilariously demanded to speak to the manager of the apartment playing the loud music.

12 hours ago, vb68 said:

More than anything, I would like to know why Leslie was sitting on Che's side during Update. Did she and Colin have a fight or something? It was weird. Her chemistry with Colin is what works so well. This was her weakest segment by far. In a fairly mediocre show, that's what I'm focused on.

Although I enjoyed the conceit that Leslie refused to be on first-name terms with Che, I can't really believe that there is a real personal reason why she did this bit with him instead of Colin. It might have been that because discussing her funeral was a bit dark it worked better with Che so she could leave out the sexual flirting without making an issue of it in the bit.

For some reason I noticed in the Can I Play That sketch that the introductions matched the nameplates of David (Idris), Jackie (Cecily), and Lawrence (Beck), but by the 10-second round where each contestant had to list parts they could play, Beck had become David and Idris was called Derek.

1 hour ago, helenamonster said:

The soccer sketch was probably my favorite of the night and only one I really enjoyed start to finish. Mostly because I'm a sucker for British people saying "innit."

It didn't build up to much, but I enjoyed both the "if you were the coach" section and his inappropriate discussion of the women in the stands.

[Ms Blue Jay]

38 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

As a big fan of Idris Elba's, I thought he did fine for the most part. He seemed game to let himself look silly and I appreciated the subtle dig he was willing to make about the James Bond rumors.

(Though I don't think the question is whether he can play Bond, it's more than the producers won't let him. In fact, I think they've held onto to Daniel Craig longer they might've in order to let Idris age out of the role. At this point they're going to want a guy in his 30s who they can easily get several sequels out of. Elba is only a few years younger than Craig.)

Ahhhhhhhhh.  That makes me so mad.

[ombelico]

4 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

17 hours ago, vb68 said:

More than anything, I would like to know why Leslie was sitting on Che's side during Update. Did she and Colin have a fight or something? It was weird. Her chemistry with Colin is what works so well. This was her weakest segment by far. In a fairly mediocre show, that's what I'm focused on.

Although I enjoyed the conceit that Leslie refused to be on first-name terms with Che, I can't really believe that there is a real personal reason why she did this bit with him instead of Colin. It might have been that because discussing her funeral was a bit dark it worked better with Che so she could leave out the sexual flirting without making an issue of it in the bit.

I think it was just a camera blocking issue. Pete was on Colin's side when he was on (and I think he usually is when on WU), so it was more expedient to put Leslie on Che's side when she came on soon after.

Edited March 10, 2019 by ombelico

[Growsonwalls]

I don't know why the audience wasn't more into the WNBA Gold Diggers sketch. That was the only one that had me on my sides the entire time. The R Kelly cold open was good but it didn't approach the weirdness of the real thing. I think with cases like the R Kelly interview or the Donald Trump Rose Garden conference the real-time thing was so weird that a 4 minute sketch can only scratch the surface of how surreal it is.

[possibilities]

2 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I noticed in the Can I Play That sketch that the introductions matched the nameplates of David (Idris), Jackie (Cecily), and Lawrence (Beck), but by the 10-second round where each contestant had to list parts they could play, Beck had become David and Idris was called Derek.

Ha! I didn't notice that.

[Ceindreadh]

14 hours ago, vb68 said:

I liked the idea of The Impossible Hulk, but the execution could have been a lot better.

Agreed.  I mean, they do a sketch where Idris Elba's clothes are getting all ripped up and we don't get to see any skin?  Shame on them!  😉

[Galileo908]

12 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

You have to laugh at the irony (and if this was done deliberately then I will laugh even more).

Through reading Reddit, the last sketch was indeed missing its punchline: Kyle was supposed to come into the bar as Jerry Bruckheimer and give Beck a CSI job because he was so impressed by his karate skills.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Galileo908

[ombelico]

[Ms Blue Jay]

48 minutes ago, Ceindreadh said:

Agreed.  I mean, they do a sketch where Idris Elba's clothes are getting all ripped up and we don't get to see any skin?  Shame on them!  😉

Is it weird that I wanted some skits about how incredibly hot Idris Elba is?  I mean he's a pop culture phenomenon.  Everyone was so angry when Blake Shelton was People's Sexiest Man Alive and when they corrected this year and gave it to Idris, well, I've never seen so many people happy and in agreement about a decision.

And if I couldn't have THAT, and if I couldn't have GOOD SKITS, then why did he have to wear that green suit in the monologue?  At least put him in something sexy? I feel like I was kind of punished for watching.  The writers really let me down.

[Pete Martell]

2 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Is it weird that I wanted some skits about how incredibly hot Idris Elba is?  I mean he's a pop culture phenomenon.  Everyone was so angry when Blake Shelton was People's Sexiest Man Alive and when they corrected this year and gave it to Idris, well, I've never seen so many people happy and in agreement about a decision.

And if I couldn't have THAT, and if I couldn't have GOOD SKITS, then why did he have to wear that green suit in the monologue?  At least put him in something sexy? I feel like I was kind of punished for watching.  The writers really let me down.

I wonder if it may have been his choice to not be sexualized, since that already happens quite a bit. 

[Trini]

Well I thought he looked really good in that green suit!

[Racj82]

5 hours ago, Growsonwalls said:

I don't know why the audience wasn't more into the WNBA Gold Diggers sketch. That was the only one that had me on my sides the entire time. The R Kelly cold open was good but it didn't approach the weirdness of the real thing. I think with cases like the R Kelly interview or the Donald Trump Rose Garden conference the real-time thing was so weird that a 4 minute sketch can only scratch the surface of how surreal it is.

The gold digger sketch was super unfunny with a weak punchline. I assume that's why the audience wasn't into it.