To call my feelings for Seth MacFarlane conflicted would be an understatement, like that time I invited Tony Clifton and a tit mouse over for a Quinceañera. [eyes glaze over for 20 seconds] On one hand, MacFarlane, who occasionally seems like the kind of Boston transplant who you'd want to dunk in a pool of green beer and rotten cabbage, is the creator of Family Guy, a once-quality series that has, with one or two exceptions a season (like "Back to Pilot"), become one of the laziest shows on TV.
On the other, he's also the guy who gave us the woefully underrated American Dad!, and more specifically, Steve and Roger. I wasn't sure which MacFarlane would show up hosting SNL, though I was 100% sure The Cleveland Show would not be mentioned.
Much to my surprise, and general happiness, the (mostly) good MacFarlane showed up. SNL's season premiere (its 38th!) wasn't a classic, but it wasn't a dud, either; as per usual, there were three or four solid sketches surrounded by mediocrity. Nothing was brilliant (though Bill Hader speaking about his days as a solider via a puppet was close), only one was awful — even that late "Look, I'm like..." bit had Nasim Pedrad, which is always a good thing. Plus, hey, there wasn't a single sketch involving a talking bear! Consider it a success.
It's just nice to see a black guy playing our black president, y'know? Those Armisen-as-Obama days already seem like a long-ago nightmare. Anyway, this was a strong start to the season, with Jay Pharoah unsurprisingly nailing all of Obama's mannerisms and Jason Sudeikis's Mitt Romney extolling the virtues of that snappy new song, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."
The surest bet of the night: MacFarlane singing during the cold open. But why didn't he impersonate Roger?
"Please go out with me, Farrah Fawcett?"
WHY WAS THIS THE FIRST REAL SKETCH OF THE NIGHT? YOU HAD AN ENTIRE SUMMER TO THINK OF A STELLAR IDEA, AND THIS WAS THE BEST YOU COULD COME UP WITH, SNL? RODGER BRUSH WASN'T FUNNY THE FIRST FOUR TIMES YOU USED THE CHARACTER. I was wondering how long it'd take for me to get into my first all-caps rant. I should have known the answer would involve Fred Armisen and anti-comedy. He's my Kenan.
Eastwood and Chair > Trouble With the Curve, which I'm convinced was written after a debate between two white guys in their 50s, with the one white guy betting $10,000 that the other white guy couldn't write an entire movie in which every line of a dialogue is a cliché or sports metaphor. After shaking hands, they then had a circle jerk session over a Mitch Albom book.
Best of the night. Thank you, Bill Hader.
This isn't a knock on "Gangnam Style," which is fantastic and will now be in your head for another 18 days, but...I dunno, this sketch felt kind of pointless. It was SNL pandering to the Internet crowd, without actually crafting a good joke around the cultural phenomenon that was being covered. So, Psy — being played by decidedly non-Asian Bobby Moynihan — makes people happy? Yes, and? Relevant.
Now this is how you cover a sensation: by mocking the sh*t out of it. MacFarlane was in fine form all episode, but this was an impersonation masterpiece. He nailed Ryan Lochte's proud dimness and never broke character; “Oh man, it feels so weird to be dry" was a personal favorite. If only Ryan's lovely sister had been brought out, too.
When reached for comment, Mama Boo Boo responded:
But seriously, good job, Vanessa Bayer, who's presumably being groomed to be the next Kristen Wiig.
More impressive than funny, MacFarlane pulled off a character — a stuttering drill sergeant — that most other guests wouldn't have been able to. One note: why was there such a lack of Taran Killam, who many expect big things from this season, in the episode? Was it because MacFarlane was playing the roles he'd usually get?
WE DEMAND MORE NASIM PEDRAD AND LESS GIGGITYS.
Yup, channel ORANGE, still very good.
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It was awful. Except the puppet. Also, no Stefon? Screw you, Seth.
I’m so mad that they made us sit through that unoriginal Latina thing instead of Stefon.
He better be there next week.
The latina chic reminded me of the character Sweet Dee played on Its Always Sunny. I say that to say this: Green Man blasting her in the face with a volleyball would’ve really done wonders for that bit.
I didn’t think it was bad at all. Then again I’m one of the last McFarlane is brilliant types out there.
I watched it again, and I’m scaling it back to “It was okay.” Basically, my main problem with every episode is that it started off strong and then just went flat. The second half is always so damn lazy. Also, I don’t hate Seth as much as some people, because he has produced some great comedy. I just hate his laziness (See: Stewie voice at the Pam Anderson roast.).
But also, if I were getting paid hundreds of millions to shlep out low-hanging fruit, I’d do it, too.
I was hoping for a Summer Hiatus Stefon recap too.
He did do Roger, it was just a quick statement about a nervous alien who might be gay.
It wasn’t awful, it was decent. Which on the sliding scale of SNL appreciation means it was worthy of a Golden Globe dipped in butterscotch and topped with candied habaneros.
For the record, I’m going to say that every episode is awful until they make John Mulaney the head writer.
At the very least, they should let Mulaney do more WU appearances.
I love it!
What Burnsy said!
Watching it right now. Currently at Seth’s monologue, he’s already doing the voices. This should be an easy ride.
Family Guy has been awful, just awful for years. But I blame the writers, not Seth. Although I partially blame Seth for employing them.
That puppet workshop sketch was the hardest I’ve laughed at an SNL sketch for a long time. Props to Bill Hader.
I read an interview once where MacFarlane said he was ready to end Family Guy, but it was Fox that made them continue it. I think, if he had his way he’d end it and concentrate more on getting Ameican Dad the accolades it deserves.
And I totally agree with you about the puppet sketch, I haven’t laughed that hard at SNL in years.
Bill Hader is so key for SNL now. Could Bill Hader be the next Phil Hartman? The always reliable guy who has the chops to kick the laughs to the next level? I really miss Phil Hartman.
Random thoughts:
1. Once again, Bill Hader is MVP, and Fred Armisen needs to just go already.
2. It’s disappointing that there are no more Digital Shorts, because I’m guessing they could’ve done something much better with Psy.
3. Best line of the night: “I was… America in… Olympics.”
I hadn’t heard Gangnam Style until this episode. I feel like I was happier before.
I’d been deliberately going out of my way to avoid finding out what Gangnam Style was, so thanks for that, SNL.
I passed over it like a month ago and was very disappointed I did. (The YouTube screen-cap thing was a cartoon, so it looked dumb.)
It’s probably my favorite thing ever. The sketch using it was horrible though, it basically was just like “HEY, GANGNAM STYLE IS A THING! Here’s Psy.”
Searching Youtube for Deadpool vs. Gangnam Style might redeem it a bit.
The Amish Wooden Spoon skit at the ass end of the show killed it. It’s under a minute and has MacFarlane knocking it out of the park.
[www.nbc.com]
I laughed for an inappropriate length of time at “River what took my son” and the sad face.
The puppet sketch was the clear winner last night. the drill sargeant sketch was pretty good too. They seemed to keep the skits pretty short, not running the premise of the joke completely into the ground. All in all, not a bad show.
Also, Frank Ocean was pretty boring. I kept waiting for the songs to go somewhere and they didnt. Pretty dissapointing
Also, while I thought Jay Pharoah’s Obama was better than Armisen’s, I thought at times he was going to drift into his Denzel impression. He needs to tighten it up a bit.
The voice-box thing at the end of his second song kinda made me think he was the black Bon Iver.
And it took me a solid 10 seconds to realize the guitar-solo guy was John Mayer.
Thats because he was lurking in the shadows for most of the time. Typical John Mayer.
Ryan Lochte sure likes those NBC shows.
American Dad is the best. Also, why arent they showing more Nasim?! That girl is hilarious but they’re totally ignoring her and putting Vanessa in every skit.
Not sure if you know how SNL really works, but the main cast writes and pitches their ideas, then the ones that get the most momentum make it on the show. Perhaps Nasim just wasn’t ‘on’ this week and Vanessa was. I love them both so wasn’t disappointed.
Who the hell is Frank Ocean and when is SNL going to invite a musical guest who matters?
So I’m guessing you only decide to come out of that rock you live under to watch SNL every saturday?
It’s not my fault that 95% of modern music sucks.
Billy Ocean would like you to step into his car.
Yes, modern music sucks. All hail Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix because they are the only ones who made good music ever.
Classic music elitists are about as bad as hipsters.
Yeah, I’m a snob and I’m not the least bit ashamed of that.
@KevinW your parents (I’m assuming you are a kid of the 60′s/70′s) probably said the same thing about your taste in music. Get over it man. Good music is good music.
Nope, born in 1990. I just hate my generation.
News flash: everyone hates your generation. Welcome to the party.
Hooray! Where are the drinks?
Frank Ocean is damn good music. “Nostalgia, Ultra” is a bit better than “Channel Orange” but dude’s like the new less punchable Kanye.
.gif of Psy doing the “DAT ASSS” on Nasim Pedrad in 3…2…1….
someone, pretty please..
Just a few more Mitt Romney jokes and SNL will completely turn off everyone outside of NY or LA if they haven’t already.
Haha cry more.
Everyone who likes Mitt Romney is too busy watching someone make “If your mama is your sister, you might be a redneck” jokes to care about any other form of comedy.
That’s funny, I’m a conservative Republican who despises that kind of comedy. Nice broadbrushing flamebait there, chief.
There’s an election coming up in two months and political humor and impressions have been SNL’s bread and butter for nearly four decades now. Not sure how one would have missed that. Maybe you’re actually watching reruns of Fridays?
Ok, mattyj2001, now point out where they made fun of Obama outside of some goofy mannerisms.
in the weekend update.
If you’re a conservative Republican, then you probably don’t like Mitt Romney. Anyhoo . . .
SNL’s political stuff has been stale for a decade and a half, why change now?
Not quite a decade and a half. The 2000 debate parodies were funny.
Dear Mr. Self-Righteous Republican Victim (Gordon Freeman, not KevinW, I’m starting to warm up to the ‘Hawks fan), in the past four years, SNL has relentlessly made fun of Joe Biden more than any other politician.
The way these things work is during an administration, there’s nobody to parody but those who are in office. Then when elections come around, there’s new blood in the water so the humor strikes and strikes hard. Refer back to the Gore or Kerry compaigns. It was relentless. Just because you Republicans are in an up-cycle, comedy-wise, does not make you the poor victim. It makes you, specifically, a shrill little girl.
Vanessa is much better suited to being the naive, straight woman in sketches. I will forever be impressed that she was the only person who didn’t break in the Shonda and Vonda sketch when Maya Rudolph hosted.
I thought it was a really solid episode considering how terrible SNL usually is. I find it hard not to like MacFarlane despite the fact I want to hate him. That puppet sketch was gold.
Judging by your avatar though I’m going to guess you’re biased towards puppet sketches.
(It was hilarious though, in all honesty)
Actually that was a stuffed Fox in Germany dressed up like a German mountain stereotype.
I wonder how much of SNL’s audience consists of people who continually say it’s terrible on the Internet. You’d think they’d have stopped watching by now.
Weeds Finale = no titties
I thought the show was pretty good. And I think it’s actually going to pick up some momentum with my boy right there JGL hosting next week. I have a good feeling about this season. I loved the puppet skit.I’m going to enjoy it while I can because by the end of the season, when that character has been done at least 15 times and will routinely be brought back until Hader leaves.
Josh, Seth did the Roger voice in the opening monologue. He referred to him as the possibly gay alien.I credit SNL for trying to make Internet fads funny. We all know if they didn’t, people would be calling them out of touch. They just need to be funnier in their jokes.
“Sasha and Mahlia go to bed.”
According to the audience outburst, he really nailed that line.
I don’t expect anything from Taran Killam. As far as I’m concerned, everyone involved with MadTV should be hiding out in South America for their crimes against comedy.
True story,
When in Afghanistan 09-10, or squadron commander’s fire support sergeant had a major stuttering problem. It took me 9 months to meet him in person and figure out that it wasn’t just the horrible state of military radio communications that made our conversations take 4 times as long as they should have, and i was so much more scared of having a round drop on my position those last three months.