Photos
I thought Zooey’s episode of Saturday Night Live was pretty strong, overall. I’m not sure what the current attitude is with Zooey — if people are disliking her these days, or what. I’m not even sure if I’M disliking her these days, though I think I am, but only a little bit? I don’t know. Keeping track of the list of celebrities a person doesn’t particularly like is VERY hard work. But I do know that she certainly wasn’t doing herself any favors with that opening monologue! Ugh. And I am aware that it was done in a way — having her talk about her heart dress, having her play a dumb song on ukulele — that was like, “Uh, yeah, it’s SUPPOSED to be annoying and kind of poke fun at the Zooey Deschanel character,” but really it was only annoying and the amount that it was actually poking fun at the character compared with the actual amount that it just WAS the character was way too blurred, PLUS THERE WEREN’T ANY JOKES! Just say a dang joke, that what I’m thinking. But the rest of the episode was pretty strong, for the most part having to do with the cast itself rather than Zooey’s (kind of minimal) inclusion in the sketches. Oh, plus the musical guest Karmin was VERY good. Why haven’t I heard of those guys before? So good, super made a lot of sense, totally wasn’t confused about anything about the people or the music they were making or the decision to have them play on SNL just kidding. Let’s talk about some sketches!
Bill Hader’s Clint Eastwood Chrysler Ads were very good the whole night, no duh. The first one was great and then the second and third ones were also great, probably even better than the first, which is very rarely the case for recurring commercial pieces on SNL. Usually, at least for me, after the first one they start feeling like REAL commercials. And I feel like, UGH CAN’T WE JUST FAST FORWARD OVER THESE COMMERCIALS. But not with these guys! Very good. A+.
The “Les Jeunes De Paris” sketches are always so great. I’m very happy that they exist. (Also it was the first of two recurring sketches they did with Zooey that they also did with Emma Stone, which doesn’t really mean anything, but I noticed it mainly because of how I didn’t really like “Technology Hump” this time around since there wasn’t anything new since last time around.) And also, Jean Dujardin was there! Hooray! I still haven’t seen your movie but I like you anyway!
The “Piers Morgan” sketch was mainly good just because of Taran Killam’s Piers Morgan impression. The MIA stuff was fine, I didn’t really care for the LMFAO and Madonna portions, and Zooey’s character was funny but seemed kind of like she was in there just because Zooey had to be included in the sketch somehow. But. That Piers Morgan impression! V good job, Taran Killam.
I feel kind of similarly about the newspaper sketch. The cast were all great in this one, but they really couldn’t drag Zooey along with them. Her not-old-timey character, even though I do like the idea, brought down the whole thing. Maybe it was because she said “I don’t know” WAY too many times? Like, yeah I get it, you don’t know what they’re saying. Can’t YOU say anything else? No? Just “I don’t know”? ZOOEY?!
Weekend Update’s “Get in the Cage” with the real Nic Cage was great, even though the real Nic Cage barely did anything. It would’ve been better had he been more a part of it, but — to be honest — he didn’t REALLY need to be. Just having him there was funny enough. Good job, boys!
The “Bein’ Quirky” sketch was obviously going to happen, and even though Mary Kate Olsen and Michael Cera are barely people who even exist anymore (Björk just put out an album and an iPad app, so she was actually the most relevant of the three?), I STILL LIKED IT! I thought everybody was good in it, and I especially liked Kristen Wiig as Björk. I don’t care what anybody says!!!!
And finally, Karmin, our new favorite band, performed two songs from their upcoming instant classic album. The only thing I can say about them for real that isn’t in an annoyingly heavy sarcastic voice is still equally as annoying and pointless because it is only two words and those two words are: “the fuck?” Why didn’t they just play Whitney Houston songs off of a CD in the dark? It’s absolutely crazy how much better that would have been.
Speaking of, next week Maya Rudolph will be hosting! TOO SOON!
 |
 |
You Might Also Like
 This Week In GIFs! |  This Week In GIFs! |  Slaughterhouse 90210: Stefon Forever |  Saturday Night Live: Ben Affleck And Kanye West |
Leave a Reply
Sign inSign in with FacebookYou must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.
Karmin was kind of an Internet sensation last year. You guys remember this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khCokQt–l4
So it was weird to see them on the show last night. The mugging and grinning the woman does and her faux-50′s bob (or whatever that is) seemed like such shamless affectations. Oof.
But I liked the episode as a whole! The Nicolas Cage sketch really had me laughing hard. And the Mary Kate Olsen impersonation was pretty spot-on.
There were a lot of misfires, however. The Ariana Huffington sketch? What was that about? And that final Prop 8 sketch? Not funny.
That’s your band friend: Karmin
I’m thinking, because of the Grammy’s, SNL’s band choices were limited. I agree they should have done a Whitney tribute instead. “Hey Karmin, you’re OUT! Whitney CD is in.”
“Karmin: her hair is a hat and her shirt is a bra.” – Ad campaign, probably
I really hope that Taran Killam’s Michael Cera character gets his own recurring sketch, that was brilliant.
Taran Killam’s impression could also be a pretty convincing Mickey Mouse.
Zooey Deschanel sings? This is brand new information!
“If I would have known that she could sing and play the ukelele, I would have recognized her specialness” – classmates of Zooey Deschanel
It was a pretty lousy episode (Bein’ Quirky aside), but I assume the writers are just saving all their love for Maya Rudolph.
I feel like this was a pretty successful episode. Not a lot of super LOL moments and the last half hour dragged, but my biggest laugh was Zooey’s MKOlsen’s “I’m a billionaire” deadpan. Maybe MK isn’t “topical” enough but I kind of appreciated them reaching back into the pop-culture archives and not doing every single sketch as a wink to what happened only yesterday.
The thing that stuck with me the most was that Nic Cage is better at not “breaking” during comedy bits than any of the SNL cast. Did you know he last hosted in 1992? That’s a crime. Nic Cage for SNL host. Lets do this before he’s as old as Betty White.
I would watch 1.5 hours of Get in the Cage. Throw Hader in as Alan Alda = perfection.
Karmin is a perfect example of how genuine talent…actual capacity to accomplish great things musically…used in conjunction with zero taste, and ‘look-at-me-being-great’ attitude can make truly horrifying things. Also, don’t rap in your pop song. Don’t do that. Stop doing that everybody, it’s awful.
Agreed!
I don’t care how talented you are, if you insist on making “that face” the entire time you’re performing (if you saw them, you know exactly which one I’m talking about) I can’t like you, at all.
Also, she should give Bob’s Big Boy his hair back, I am sure his head is cold.
Seriously, that face. “I am so impressed with myself right now, aren’t you also?”-face. Christ, wipe that face off your head.
I was actually enjoying the first song in a “wow, they’re not as bad as I thought they were going to be! It’s kind of fun music” UNTIL she rapped. Awful
I am not a Karmin fan (LADIES), but their style makes sense — they built their career on YouTube, a format that rewards — even requires — shouty attitudes and gimmicks. That’s what it takes to break through all the clutter out there.
Every time she start rapping she’d ease into this horribly awkward slow-squat move, which really does not look good when rapping.
I don’t think the second song was as bad because it was mostly rapping with a sung chorus as opposed to a pop song with awkward rapping thrown in, like the first song. But I agree with everyone about the presentation. That’s when you admire how hard it really is to have stage presence. Remember Jessie J’s performance? Not as good, musically, but she seemed confident with none of the awkwardness of performers like Karmin or Lana del Rey.
I cannot explain why I like “Les Jeunes De Paris” sketches, but this week I can: Jean DuJardin. Fabulous.
Yes! When I saw they were doing another Les Jeunes De Paris sketch, I wondered why SNL has to ruin every creative and funny idea they have by overusing it until it’s no longer creative or funny, but then they pulled a fast one on me by actually adding something new. You got me, SNL. I wish you’d get me every week.
I looked up the band, and the only result I found said, “Carmen was a British-American band active from 1970-1975. Their style was a fusion of rock music and flamenco music and dance.” I thought, “Well, that SORT of sounds like their musical style, but it’s about 40 years off, and this band is all dudes.” Then I discovered they spell their name KARMIN. The bio on their website begins with: “KAR•MIN [car-men] – noun, in Latin meaning ‘song,’ with altered spelling to hint ‘karma’.”
That’s all I had to read.
There’s also a subtle hint of toilet paper.
When ZD announced that Karmin was playing, I was hoping she meant this Carman:
I thought Gabe was calling a moratorium on joke rap, and then here he is, endorsing Karmin.
I thought this was the best SNL episode in a couple years.
There were some down moments (Technology Hump, hilarious the first time, felt warmed over this time; the weird British/Prop 8 sketch was horrendous), but overall, I thought the writing and performance was on-point!
I don’t generally like Les Jeunes, but it was good this time. The Quirky sketch was fantastic. Wiig’s Bjork is an all-time classic impression and I love whenever she trots it out. And Abby Elliott, who almost never contributes, did a dead-on Zooey D, while the Michael Cera impersonation was tight as well.
The Clint Eastwood stuff was funny too.
And the Nic Cage bit was absolutely hilarious.
I don’t think Kenan Thompson was in any sketches.
I enjoyed the Huffington Post lady who appeared on Weekend Update. Fine enough character! I can see that getting better if it were to recur.
All I saw while watching Carmin was that super annoying musical theater “I need attention/daddy please love me” grin that makes me want to stick my head in a wood chipper.
It’s not just the dad, they the whole school to appreciate their specialness. See: the grating qualities of Dechanel, Z.
“They need” like how I need a coffee.
If this was considered a “good” episode, I may just give up on this show
or
Man, putting Jean Dujardin on stage really reveals how everyone else on stage is not that great at dancing.
I learned a lot of things in that sketch, mostly like how many of his movies I could get from Netflix — 2!!
After the Lana Del Ray performance I thought we had reached a new low, but Karmin was all “I RAISE YOU” with that. I mean wow, that is simply some of the worst non-music I’ve ever seen on SNL. Holy shit that is garbage.