I wouldn't go so far as to say last night's "SNL," with Jonah Hill as the host and the Shins as the musical guest, was bad. More like, it was disappointing. Few people expected the Lindsay Lohan episode to be good, and it wasn't. No surprise there. But I had high hopes for last night because despite the existence of Get Him to the Greek, I like Jonah Hill (who, it must be said, gained a lot of his previously-lost weight back); his fast-talking comedic style works perfectly for "SNL," and for the most part, he did well. It's just that, like so many times before, the writing wasn't very good, with sketches dragged out for minutes longer than they should have.
What did you guys think? Am I being too harsh? I can't be TOO upset at a show that features an extended tribute to Coolio's "I'll C U When U Get There," which of course isn't "officially" online due to stupid copyright issues. But, seriously, watch it here. A+++ Just a reminder: "SNL" is away until April 7, when Sofía Vergara (!) hosts.
Reason #63,983 Why "The Daily Show" Is Better at Politics Than "SNL": they're not afraid of and relish the opportunity to DESTROY Rush Limbaugh. "SNL" had the chance, and instead came up with a pointless parody of his sponsors leaving him. (Plus, it was oddly reminiscent of Jason Sudeikis's strip club PA sketch.)
Has "SNL" had more unannounced guest stars this season than any other in recent memory? In this episode: Tom Hanks, who's done saving 9/11 or whatever that movie was about, and John McEnroe, who I'm pretty sure NBC keep in a broom closet somewhere, only to bring him out when he's needed for a brief scene. As for the monologue, itself: meh. There's nothing revelatory about someone's ego increasing after they've been nominated for an Oscar. Kristen Wiig should have responded to Jonah being a dick with, "Oh yeah, well, Allen Gregory."
This sketch is a lot funnier when you imagine Adam Grossman as a six-year-old version of Alan Shemper from "Wet Hot American Summer." I WENT TO CAMP SO LONG THAT FU*KING JESUS CHRIST WAS MY COUNSELOR! It wasn't all bad, though: Hill did a wonderful job with his delivery, and it's nice to see a guest star given an entire sketch to himself. Bill Hader and the rest had barely anything to do.
It worked on...so few levels.
I was really hoping for a sketch where Jonah Hills plays Zach Braff, and James Mercer of the Shins confronts him for giving his band the "it'll change your life" tag. Alas.
Hoombas! Catching up on "Boston Legal"! That fat Hawaiian guy nobody invited! Shaun White or Bonnie Raitt! God I love Stefon, and appreciate it that much more when it's surrounded by this crap:
NO NO NO. It's as if the writers decided the thing that was missing from Jason Segel's "Andre the Giant Gets an Ice Cream" was that it wasn't five minutes long. Seriously, did anyone like this?
Until I can find an embeddable version of the Coolio sketch, here's the "Kenan & Kel" theme song:
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![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/the-7-best-snl-season-38-musical-performances-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/snickers-affleck-150x150.gif)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/stefon-final-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/kanye-west-snl-150x150.png)
I don’t think any of you realize how happy that Coolio sketch made me.
I watched the episode slightly drunk and at 3 a.m. and in a cranky mood — and I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the whole damn thing.
FYI: I posted the video (and a sing-a-long) for “I’ll C U When U Get There” three weeks ago in the comments of this post, so someone at SNL owes me some money.
[warmingglow.uproxx.com]
that monologue video might not have been groundbreaking, but it was pretty damn funny throughout. ok episode overall. i actually thought it was the exact opposite of last week. a great host who’s game for anything given weak material as opposed to an awful host who’s possibly illiterate given great sketches. i think i just like this season much more than you do, josh
You tell him, Seth.
When they went to a commercial before the 2nd Shins performance, they cut back to the SNL band playing and showed the stagehands setting up a SportsCenter sketch, only there wasn’t a SportsCenter sketch when they came back. Strange.
Maybe they film those during dress rehearsals (I don’t know why they even bother), and that sketch got cut.
Or perhaps it’s just B-Roll. How many times/ways can you film the band playing out?
It happened last week, too. Sketches must have been TERRIBLE.
How… HOW… HOW??? did they not incorporate Taran Killam’s Brad Pitt impression?
I was certainly hoping they would have. I thought the episode was a good one minus the Liza turns off a lamp.
I’m just hoping that when Vergara hosts, they put her in that Katy Perry/ Elmo shirt.
Word.
I guess I am the only one that doesn’t find him funny. But I guess I got over the fat kid who cusses a lot bit many years ago.
that’s not an overly simplistic broad stroke of who he is or anything
Where was the black pirates of the Caribbean sketch promised in the monologue?
I wonder that same thing.
I giggled uncontrollably whenever Jonah held up his fingers and shouted, “I’M THIS MANY!”
And thank God for Stefon. Bill Hader is the WU MVP.
I wouldn’t mind if the “6 year old doing a borscht belt routine” became a recurring character.
You men to tell me that isn’t Weird Al in black face in tha banner pic!
Whilst trying to time The Shins appearances I happened across JPop American Fun Time and Lamp… and was delighted.
They both had that f*ck you if you don’t think it’s funny feel that SNL should never lose.
Having fast forwarded through the episode to watch the Shins, I confused when I saw that Coolio tag as I went to delete the episode. I was surprised how relieved I was to see the death date was in the future.
Its was perfectly cromulent. The cold open sucked, the monologue was pretty good, the 6 year old sketch was great, the Japanese-posers were amusing and I give them credit for trying, WU seemed truncated and not that great, the rest was pretty forgettable. The Shins rule though.
They need to get Yay Pharoah in more sketches too.
The Stefon bits on Weekend Update are now my favorite part of the show. The only times I don’t cringe when they have “guests” on Weekend Update are when it’s Stefon or Patterson and Spitzer and the latter pairing is long bygone.
The Japanese TV show sketch was funny to me, though could have been better if they’d pushed it a little more.
Seriously, there must be an old actor, former SNL host mailing list they use to be like “Hey, who’s in NY this weekend and wants a bit during the monologue?”
bro. snl hasnt been funny for years. dotn blame jonah
Jonah Hill is not funny. He is in some good movies, but they are good comedies in spite of him. Not because of him.
Reason #2,167 why blogs should avoid using tired, hacky Bill Simmons writing gimmicks. Name me 2,167 better reasons. You can’t.
Taran Killiam sounds like he should be the commander of his own starship.