Saturday Night Live: Mick Jagger (5/19/12)

by Brendan Wahl

(Season 37, Episode 22)

The Show:

1. Cold Opening: The Lawrence Welk Show (5:01)

It’s time once again for Lawrence Welk (Armisen) to introduce another musical number from the sisters hailing from the Fingerlakes (Elliott, Pedrad, & Bayer) and their deformed sibling Dooneese (Wiig) as they attempt to seduce an Italian lothario (Jon Hamm!).

- A good choice for a cold open on Kristen Wiig’s final SNL. Everything worked here from Fred’s dependable Lawrence Welk, Jon Hamm’s surprise cameo and hilarious Italian accent, Kate McKinnon’s quick role, and of course Kristen as the gross deformed sister.
- I really liked Fred’s fingering joke at the beginning.
- The ending was perfect with Wiig finally finding her true love in Hamm’s character. I laughed a whole lot at Hamm sucking on her strange, disgusting hands. I think it almost made Kristen crack up as well.
Rating: *** 1/2

2. Monologue (3:10)

Mick answers some questions that he frequently receives from people every day.

- Jagger proved right away that he would be a fun host with his laid-back demeanour and funny delivery. His charisma really helped carry this otherwise-alright monologue.
- My favourite question that he answered was regarding the “I can’t hear you!” line that rock singers typically yell out at concerts.
Rating: ***

3. Secret Word (4:57)

Another round of the popular 60′s gameshow sees returning player Mindy Gracin (Wiig) and her teammate (Bayer) go up against “macho” film star Chaz Bragman (Jagger) and his teammate (Killam).

- Pretty strong Secret Word sketch for Kristen to finish off her amazing tenure on the show. Kristen had lots of great moments here (I particularly loved the canal/anal mix-up) but I thought Mick Jagger’s performance was very strong as well. Loved the voice he chose for the character.
- Hader’s birth control line was hilarious.
-  The “soft” secret word part was predictable but hilarious because of Jagger’s performance and Killam’s reactions.
Rating: *** 1/2

4. Karaoke Night (5:00)

A number of bar patrons (Jagger, Armisen, Moynihan, Wiig, Bayer, & Killam) witness each other attempt their best Jagger impressions while performing some of his hits, while one of them (Jagger) doesn’t feel that the over-the-top characterizations are that accurate.

- Funny sketch with another very fun performance from Jagger and a really, really good Mick Jagger impression from Fred Armisen in particular. This was a very good example of a simple premise executed really well
- The patrons thinking that Bobby Moynihan sleeping on the microphone was part of the impression was hilarious.
- Moynihan actually singing “Sympathy for the Devil” as part of the lyrics was great as well.
- I liked the ending with Mick’s soft singing.
Rating: *** 1/2

5. Digital Short: Lazy Sunday 2 (2:06)

Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell are back, this time rapping about the new Sister Act: The Musical on Broadway.

- Much like last week, I was blown away by the digital short. It was so fucking awesome that they did a sequel to the original hit as a way to say goodbye to one of the most beloved features of SNL for the last seven years.
- The best part about this sequel is that they didn’t repeat the first one but rather brought a new spin to this thing and the bit with Andy and Chris doing the new rap segment was terrific.
- “On these New York streets, I honed my fake rap penmanship; that’s how it began and that’s how I’m-a finish it!” was an absolutely perfect way for the digital shorts to come to an end. Absolutely brilliant.
Rating: *****

6. Politics Nation (4:16)

Al Sharpton (Thompson) brings on J.P. Morgan representative Colin McKechnie (Jagger), New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg (Armisen), and Peter Panache (Sudeikis) to discuss a huge financial loss for J.P. Morgan and job availability in the US.

- I was in the minority of really enjoying the first one of these sketches back on the Katy Perry episode and I enjoyed this one as well just as much as the first one. It was one of the highlights of the night actually.
- Mick looked like he was on the verge of cracking up at the end of his segment.
- Armisen announcing the available jobs for New Yorkers was a funny bit.
- The “salmon canary” mix-up was hilarious.
Rating: ****

7. Mick Jagger & Arcade Fire perform “The Last Time” (4:09)

- This was an awesome performance. Simply fantastic. Mick and Arcade Fire were a really unexpectedly great combination.

8. Weekend Update with Seth Meyers (8:43)
Guest: Stefon

Best Jokes: Obama: first gay president; Bloomberg commencement speech; anti-Obama Super-PAC; man candles; unsafe fish treatment; text message study

- Not much to say about the fantastic segment of Update this week. Stefon was the only guest and he was great like usual. Of course, he cracked up at one point and recovered somewhat and then continued on with his insane commentary. The highlights this time were the D-Bag Chopra, build-a-bear, roaming draggers, and human R2D2 comments.
Rating: **** 1/2

9. So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival (4:01)

Dave Matthews (Hader) hosts a series in which people attempt to dance to songs at an outdoor music festival while guest judges Carlos Santana (Armisen), Jewel (Elliott), and Steven Tyler (Jagger) look on.

- Funny sketch. I love the music and the dancing was fairly accurate but Moynihan was easily the highlight. Then again, Killam’s segment was quite funny as well.
- I love Hader’s Dave Matthews impression. I also really enjoyed the appearances by Abby as Jewel, Fred as Santana, and Mick as Steven Tyler.
- The crowd seemed to REALLY like this sketch.
Rating: ***

10. Mick Jagger and the Foo Fighters perform “19th Nervous Breakdown” & “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll” (5:56)

- Another fantastic musical performance, this time of a medley involving two great Stones songs.
- Jagger is clearly the best musical guest of the season and there has been a lot of good ones this year.

11. The Californians (5:49)

More melodrama, convoluted driving directions, and strange character twists from this stereotypical batch of Californian residents.

- Much like Politics Nation, I was happy to see this come back and I know barely anyone else felt the same way.
- My favourite moments in this sketch came from Mick’s strange and slow-paced Californian accent, Kristen nearly coming to laughs when questioning Fred having a father, and the great appearance by Steve Martin as an amnesiac.
- Steve Martin’s cameo was hilarious and totally unexpected. He got a great reaction upon his entrance as well.
Rating: ***

12. Mick Jagger and Jeff Beck perform “Tea Party” (3:07)

- A wicked original song written about the 2012 election. Something tells me that if Jagger could vote, he probably wouldn’t cast one for Mitt Romney.
- Jagger dropped an S-bomb.

13. She’s a Rainbow (4:20)

Mick introduces Kristen Wiig as a “graduating” castmember while “She’s a Rainbow” and “Ruby Tuesday” play to honour her legacy on the show. All the castmembers dance with Kristen as well as she waves to everyone in the audience and the goodnights immediately follow.

- This was one of the classiest send-offs that any castmember has ever received on the show and a hell of a way to end the season. Say what you want about Kristen but she left a legacy that will be hard to follow and she was one of the best female castmembers of all time.
- The Lorne Michaels dance almost made me cry. That was an extremely nice gesture on Lorne’s part and it was a sweet moment.
- Hader, Moynihan, and Sudeikis looked particularly upset at the departure of Kristen Wiig.
- It was awesome to have Martin, Parnell and Hamm come back and that Chris Kattan, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and Will Forte came back to send off Kristen.
Rating: *****

 

OVERALL: What a season finale. Mick Jagger was a terrific host & musical guest and Arcade Fire and the Foo Fighters were excellent accompaniment as well. To say that I will miss Kristen Wiig is putting it lightly and I can’t state enough how much of a wonderful contribution she has made to the program over the last seven years. Excellent season-closer. I will have my year-end statistics posted tomorrow.

 

BREAKDOWN:

HOST: MICK JAGGER – 7 segments (Monologue; Secret Word; Karaoke Night; Politics Nation; So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)

CAMEOS: RACHEL DRATCH – 1 segment (She’s a Rainbow)
WILL FORTE – 1 segment (She’s a Rainbow)
JON HAMM – 2 segments (The Lawrence Welk Show; She’s a Rainbow)
CHRIS KATTAN – 1 segment (She’s a Rainbow)
STEVE MARTIN – 2 segments (The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)
CHRIS PARNELL – 2 segments (Lazy Sunday 2; She’s a Rainbow)
AMY POEHLER – 1 segment (She’s a Rainbow)

FRED ARMISEN – 6 segments (The Lawrence Welk Show; Karaoke Night; Politics Nation; So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)
ABBY ELLIOTT – 4 segments (The Lawrence Welk Show; So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)
BILL HADER – 5 segments (Secret Word; Weekend Update; So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)
SETH MEYERS – 2 segments (Weekend Update; She’s a Rainbow)
BOBBY MOYNIHAN – 3 segments (Karaoke Night; So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival; She’s a Rainbow)
NASIM PEDRAD – 2 segments (The Lawrence Welk Show; She’s a Rainbow)
ANDY SAMBERG – 3 segments (Lazy Sunday 2; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)
JASON SUDEIKIS – 2 segments (Politics Nation; She’s a Rainbow)
KENAN THOMPSON – 3 segments (Politics Nation; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)
KRISTEN WIIG – 6 segments (The Lawrence Welk Show; Secret Word; Karaoke Night; So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)

VANESSA BAYER – 5 segments (The Lawrence Welk Show; Secret Word; Karaoke Night; The Californians; She’s a Rainbow)
TARAN KILLAM – 4 segments (Secret Word; Karaoke Night; So You Think You Can Dance at an Outdoor Music Festival; She’s a Rainbow)
KATE MCKINNON – 2 segments (The Lawrence Welk Show; She’s a Rainbow)
JAY PHAROAH – 1 segments (She’s a Rainbow)

EPISODE MVPs: Mick Jagger/Kristen Wiig/Andy Samberg

Saturday Night Live: Maya Rudolph/Sleigh Bells (2/18/12)

by Brendan Wahl

(Season 37, Episode 15)

 

The Show:

1. New York Sports Now (4:33)

A number of sportscasters (Hader, Thompson, Pharoah, & Killam) are caught up in the hysteria of basketball player Jeremy Lin and “Linsanity” that they keep resorting to making puns about how much they love the guy while one caster (Killam) goes a little too far with the racial epiphets.

- I’ll be honest: I don’t follow sports at all so I was a little confused when this sketch started. However, I soon realized what the joke was here and suffice to say, I was definitely along for the ride.
- Once again, Taran was the highlight here. His over-the-top racial comments were hilarious as were Kenan and Jay’s annoyed reactions. The real bite to these comments came from the fact that the Jeremy Lin comments were already borderline-racist, harmless as they may appear.
- The New York Post really said “Amasian”? Wow.
- The Jackie Robinson tribute video was hilarious too with the “Tolerant” line at the end and the gong hit by Pharoah following the segment.
- The absolute best part here though was definitely Bill Hader dubbing an interview with Jeremy Lin.
Rating: **** 1/2

2. Monologue (4:38)

Maya talks about all her lovin’ with the cast when she was on the show and then spends the rest of the monologue singing around the studio while finding all her former flings, including Lorne, Paul Simon (!!!), & Stefon (Hader).

- Much better monologue than I was expecting from Maya and you just KNEW she was going to sing.
- It looks like there was a technical glitch there where Maya was supposed to wink after seeing Stefon but the sound effect only came in just after she left. Still, it was great to see Lorne, Paul, and Stefon all standing together. What a funny visual!
- Having all the dancers on-stage at the beginning reminded me of the beginning of Melissa McCarthy’s monologue (before Kristen replaced the female dancers) earlier this season.
- The gong playing for Seth Meyers was so strange but funny nonetheless.
Rating: ****

3. Bronx Beat (8:08)

Betty (Amy Poehler!) and Jodi (Rudolph) host another edition of their catty talk show after a “15-month hiatus.” After making some chit-chat about Valentine’s Day and their personal lives, they welcome their guests, two members of the crew (Justin Timberlake! Samberg!), that resemble the hosts quite a bit.

- I usually don’t care for this sketch at all but it was nice to see it again after a long hiatus and it was a bit more creative than usual, especially when it came to the guests themselves.
- I actually really enjoyed the pre-guest banter between Maya and Amy this time with the highlights being the discussion about “Hoarders,” Jennifer Lopez dating a younger guy, and the fake-out with Maya explaining what romantic things her husband did for her.
- Looks like they both had a bit of a crack-up at one point.
- The appearance by Justin Timberlake was completely unexpected and it was pretty funny. Combining him with Samberg was a good idea.
Rating: *** 1/2

4. Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Laughs! (2:25)

Maya Angelou (Rudolph) hosts her own prank show much in the same style of Betty White’s new show in which she does “nasty” pranks on her friends like Morgan Freeman (Pharoah), Cornel West (Thompson), and Stephen King (Hader). Of course, after every one of these “harsh” pranks, Maya reveals herself and shares an emotional moment with her victims.

- This was pretty funny and I did enjoy Rudolph’s Maya Angelou impression, which was well-utilized here.
- Jay debuts another awesome impression here with Morgan Freeman.
- I thought for sure that Maya had done this impression on the show before but I was surprised to learn that she had not.
Rating: *** 1/2

5. Baby Blue Ivy (6:51)

Jay Z (Pharoah) and Beyonce (Rudolph) celebrate the birth of their new baby and receive visits from several celebrities including Prince (Armisen), Nicki Minaj (Pedrad), LL Cool J (Thompson), Taylor Swift (Wiig), Brad Pitt (Killam) & Angelina Jolie (Elliott), and Justin Vernon (Timberlake) of Bon Iver fame.

- I was not expecting this to evolve in a multi-impression sketch and as soon as Fred’s Prince impression showed up, I thought for sure that it would be framed much like the Prince Show sketches back a few years ago (they DID repeat the joke about Prince getting scared and hiding). Still, this was funny due to the performances involved.
- Andy as “white butler” was a funny joke.
- The Good: Rudolph/Beyonce; Pharoah/Jay Z; Armisen/Prince; Pedrad/Nicki Minaj; Killam/Brad Pitt; Elliott/Angelina Jolie; Timberlake/Justin Vernon
- The Average: Wiig/Taylor Swift
- The Bad: Kenan/LL Cool J
- So as you can see, I enjoyed most of the impressions. I’d say Pitt, Jolie, and Vernon were my ultimate favourites. This is the third time (I think) that the show has poked fun at a musical guest from the same season.
- The ending seemed miscued and awkward as Rudolph said “bye” twice.
Rating: *** 1/2

6. Sleigh Bells perform “Comeback Kid” (2:52)

- Unique is the best word I can use to describe this performance but I don’t mean it in a bad way. Not a bad little tune though. I liked it.

7. Weekend Update with Seth Meyers & Amy Poehler (6:51)

Best Jokes: Obama’s approval rating; CBS/Republican candidates; Shakira attacked; Valentine’s Day; Subway benches

- We get a Really!?! segment on the birth control hearing that did not have any women invited to the proceedings. The return of Amy was great and Seth & Amy had some pretty cutting remarks regarding the situation. The best one was the comment on Catholics.
- I like how Seth asked Amy to stick around and tell jokes.
- No guests this week? Surprising.
Rating: ****

8. What Up With That? (7:28)

Diondre Cole (Thompson) welcomes guests Bill O’Reilly, Kate Upton, and of course, Lindsey Buckingham (Hader), who gets cut off like usual.

- I didn’t expect this to come back after the one last season seemed like the swan song. I do enjoy this sketch but I really felt like the one last year should’ve been the finale as it was awesome, had great cameos, and told more about the characters involved on the show. This was good but certainly not one of the better ones.
- Crazy to see Bill O’Reilly there. I don’t like him at all but he did a good enough job by just plugging his book and looking annoyed at Kenan’s interruptions. I don’t think he stuck around for the goodnights though.
- Oops, a rare line flub for Taran at the beginning there!
- Maya’s character was pretty good and I did like her silly accent. Also, what the heck was Abby Elliott doing?
Rating: ***

9. Super Showcase (4:10)

A contestant (Bayer) gets the final question wrong and so the host (Hader) shows her what she would’ve won had she been right with the assistance of Shonda (Rudolph) and Vonda (Wiig).

- This was pretty terrible and reminded my of why I used to find Rudolph so damn grating back in the day. Combined with a hammy Wiig character, this died a slow death (and I like Wiig!).
- The only redeeming value of this sketch was Rudolph, Wiig, and Hader all cracking up throughout the sketch. Bayer came close as well.
Rating: * 1/2

10. The Obama Show (4:11)

In order to spread awareness of childhood obesity, Michelle Obama (Rudolph) presents a very Cosby-esque program revolving around the Obamas and the crazy misadventures they find themselves getting into.

- This was very silly but very funny and I especially liked the design of the opening credits with things like Joe Jamal-Biden dancing around. Much like the Beyonce/Jay Z sketch, they swerved me again though as I thought this was just going to be a Michelle Obama-addresses-the-nation opening rather than the full-fledged sketch we got here.
- Fred doing his Obama voice like Theo Huxtable was terrific and it breathed some life into the impression.
- Sudeikis as Joe Biden was the highlight here, especially when he showed up and took the blame for the hoagie in exchange for borrowing the car.
- Loved the “next week preview” with Amy returning as Hillary Clinton.
Rating: ****

11. Sleigh Bells perform “End of the Line” (3:41)

- The vocals seemed to be mixed pretty low for this performance but otherwise, it was just as good as the first.

12. How’s He Doing? (4:54)

The host (Thompson) of an African-American political discussion show fields questions to his two guests (Rudolph & Pharoah) about how Barack Obama is doing as the president and what it would take for them to not vote for him in the upcoming election.

- A fairly funny concept with a good performance from Pharoah in particular.
- The best part was the “what would it take?” segment with Maya and Jay consistently backing Barack Obama no matter what he did including a love affair with Ke$ha.
Rating: *** 1/2

13. Goodnights

 

OVERALL: Way better than any Maya Rudolph-hosted show had any right to be. She didn’t annoy me at all tonight except for maybe the gameshow sketch but the corpsing prevented that a bit anyway. There was some really good writing tonight and even Bronx Beat was good, which is definitely a great sign of an enjoyable episode! As for the cast, I have to give it up to Jay Pharoah for doing an awesome job tonight and he even managed to get some solid airtime with cameos out the ying-yang on top of that.

BREAKDOWN:

HOST: MAYA RUDOLPH – 8 segments (Monologue; Bronx Beat; Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Laughs!; Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?; Super Showcase; The Obama Show; How’s He Doing?)

CAMEOS: BILL O’REILLY – 1 segment (What Up With That?)
AMY POEHLER – 3 segments (Bronx Beat; Weekend Update; The Obama Show)
PAUL SIMON – 1 segment (Monologue)
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – 2 segments (Bronx Beat; Baby Blue Ivy)
KATE UPTON – 1 segment (What Up With That?)

FRED ARMISEN – 4 segments (Monologue; Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?; The Obama Show)
ABBY ELLIOTT – 2 segments (Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?)
BILL HADER – 5 segments (New York Sports Now; Monologue; Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Laughs!; What Up With That?; Super Showcase)
SETH MEYERS – 2 segments (Monologue; Weekend Update)
BOBBY MOYNIHAN – 1 segment (What Up With That?)
NASIM PEDRAD – 2 segments (Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?)
ANDY SAMBERG – 4 segments (Monologue; Bronx Beat; Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?)
JASON SUDEIKIS – 3 segments (Monologue; What Up With That?; The Obama Show)
KENAN THOMPSON – 6 segments (New York Sports Now; Monologue; Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Laughs!; Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?; How’s He Doing?)
KRISTEN WIIG – 3 segments (Monologue; Baby Blue Ivy; Super Showcase)

VANESSA BAYER – 2 segments (What Up With That?; Super Showcase)
TARAN KILLAM – 4 segments (New York Sports Now; Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?; The Obama Show)
JAY PHAROAH – 5 segments (New York Sports Now; Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Laughs!; Baby Blue Ivy; What Up With That?; How’s He Doing?)

EPISODE MVP: Jay Pharoah

Saturday Night Live: Jimmy Fallon/Michael Buble (12/17/11)

by Brendan Wahl

(Season 37, Episode 10)

The Show:

1. Winter Formal (5:07)

The Boston Teens are back! Sully (Fallon) and Denise (Rachel Dratch!) wait to get into a formal and also interact with their friend, Patrice Donovan (Amy Poehler!) and then a man (Killam) that turns out to be a huge fan of their antics.

- It’s weird that I totally forgot about these recurring characters being brought back when it comes to Jimmy Fallon characters that he did while on the show. Absence makes the heart grow fonder though I guess because I really enjoyed seeing them back again.
- Amy Poehler was a huge surprise here, actually. She had a pretty funny small part though.
- I loved all the “retawded” moments the best and the moment where Fallon grabbed Amy’s boob was pretty damn funny.
- It looks like the picture quality was off. I’ve noticed before that whenever SNL does a fuzzy screen and cuts to someone, the picture looks a bit blurry but they usually seem to fix it quickly. This just seemed to linger. It wasn’t a huge mistake and it wasn’t super annoying or anything, but I did notice it.
- Awesome, super-energetic LFNY delivery from Fallon.
Rating: *** 1/2

2. Monologue (3:04)

Jimmy talks about how thankful he is to be back on the show, talks about all the sketches that he ruined by laughing the whole way through them, and then goes backstage and sings a Christmas song while the entire cast dances around him.

- Excellent stuff. Jimmy going around the whole studio and talking about the sketches he ruined by laughing was great, but I also loved him saying that Buble was doing cocaine and the final big dance number with him and all the castmembers on the stage except for Seth Meyers of course.
- Wow, Jimmy looks really, really happy to be there. He had a really infectious energy.
- Lorne’s first appearance of the season.
Rating: *****

3. Today (4:51)

Hoda Kotb (Pedrad) must deal with Kathie Lee’s (Wiig) antics and drunken behaviour on another episode of the morning gab-fest. Before things get too crazy though, Regis Philbin (Fallon) interrupts the show and joins Kathie Lee in bashing Hoda before ultimately taking her spot at the desk.

- It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen this sketch and I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Kristen seemed to tone down the mugging and obnoxious behaviour that she usually uses during these sketches. I personally never really found it annoying but I guess some people do.
- I think Nasim is definitely the best Hoda Kotb we’ve seen in this sketch so far.
- I never knew Jimmy Fallon could pull off a Regis Philbin impression but he did a pretty damn good job and reminded me of what a great impressionist he was while he was on the show.
Rating: *** 1/2

4. Michael Buble Christmas Duets (2:52)

After the success of Buble’s Christmas album, he releases another one featuring duets with other celebrities/singers including the girl from MIA (Pedrad), Sting (Fallon), Thom Yorke (Armisen), Ke$ha (Elliott), Russell Brand (Fallon again), Taylor Swift (Wiig), Scott McCreery (Killam), and Justin Bieber (Fallon yet again!).

- They’ve been doing a lot of these ensemble sketches lately and this was another terrific one. Buble played a great straight man to all the insanity going on around him.
- My favourite impressions were the three from Jimmy Fallon (he’s a house of fire tonight!), Fred’s insane Thom Yorke impression, Taran as Scott McCreery, and Pharoah as Kanye West.
- Although Kristen didn’t do an actual impression of Taylor Swift, her facial expressions were pretty damn accurate.
Rating: ****

5. Mirror Chat (3:26)

Jimmy waits for the next sketch in his dressing room and begins to talk to his reflection (Samberg) about what he should do throughout the night to keep the show moving along at a great pace. His reflection suggests old tried-and-true methods and some of which are not really of interest to Jimmy.

- This was hilarious and very reminiscent of the Mick Jagger/Jimmy Fallon mirror sketch from Year 27. This seems like it’ll probably be a future classic with a good impression of Fallon by Andy and great performances with twice.
- My favourite parts were Jimmy and Andy talking about how sad a certain song was, Andy telling Jimmy to do another impression other than Seinfeld because he couldn’t do one, and the part where they were both pressed up against the mirror.
Rating: **** 1/2

6. 1920′s Holiday Party (4:55)

Lilia (Wiig) begs fellow partygoers not to force her to have to sing even though all they’re concerned with is getting Maxwell (Samberg) to play them a piano song. Meanwhile, another man (Fallon) begs them not to force him to dance as well.

- I was going to dismiss this as an unnecessary sequel to this sketch from two years ago, but they did shake this up a bit with the addition of Jimmy Fallon’s character.
- I really liked the part with Jimmy dancing on top of the piano and a few of the times when Kristen missed her cue to sing along with Andy playing the piano. Andy’s deadpan delivery when saying that the song is over was pretty funny too.
- The ending with the raccoons was kinda dumb.
Rating: ***

7. Tommy Palmese (2:42)

An ad is shown for a new one-man show featuring Tommy Palmese (Armisen) telling his life story with a whole lot of neuroses much to the chagrin of anyone watching it.

- I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. Fred always does well playing these quirky types of roles.
- Bill Hader’s discomfort during the scene with Fred in his face was hilarious and probably my favourite part. I also liked Vanessa Bayer running out of the theatre.
Rating: *** 1/2

8. Season’s Greetings (2:15)

Jimmy, Horatio Sanz, Chris Kattan, and Tracy Morgan perform their old classic “Christmastime is Here”  for the very enthusiastic SNL audience that just eats it right up.

- I can’t really rate this but it was awesome to see these four doing their Christmas song again. A lot of people said Tracy seemed pissed off here but based on his smiles during the goodnights, I think this was just part of his character.
- Kattan sticking his head into the frame was hilarious.

9. Michael Buble sings “Holly Jolly Christmas” (2:02)

- Buble did a pretty good job here and it was nice to hear a nice traditional Christmas song with the audience clapping along as well for a while.

10. Weekend Update with Seth Meyers (9:23)
Guests: Nicolas Cage with Jude Law (and a director) and Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, & Amy Poehler

Best Jokes: the two Trump debate jokes; Romney attack; radioactive monkeys; Wolf Dad; toy drive

- The ‘Get in the Cage’ segment with Andy was pretty much the same as the other two that he did but I still love his Nic Cage impression. I really like his reasons why it was silly that he wasn’t included in the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Paul Brittain as the director was a good little addition. Not bad overall.
- The appearance of Jimmy Fallon was somewhat expected but certainly not Tina Fey! Amy also joins in and the two co-anchor teams go at it with a Joke-Off. My favourites were Jimmy’s joke about the crumpled-up $20 bill and “unlike the strippers, the toys must NOT be damaged.” Great segment that the crowd really dug.
Rating: ****

11. Beethoven’s Orchestra (5:52)

After a performance of Symphony No. 9, Beethoven (Fallon) takes the time to introduce each individual member of his orchestra much like an energetic bandleader might do between sets at a modern-day concert.

- This was a piece controlled by a nice steady performance by Jimmy as the charismatic Beethoven not even attempting to do a German accent, which made me laugh quite a bit.
- The Hitler joke was hilarious and Paul Brittain had a great moment with it.
- Wow, Andy has been dominating a lot tonight. He’s probably having one of his best nights performance-wise as well.
- Nice to see Horatio Sanz and Chris Kattan making another appearance, this time in a proper sketch. Kattan blowing on a jug was funny as was Horatio playing a Mozart song and then laughing about it.
- Random appearance by Wiig as Triangle Sally! That was awesome. Kenan as B.B. King was out of nowhere too.
Rating: *** 1/2

12. War Horse (4:39)

Two patrons (Hader & Wiig) get ready to watch a play with rave reviews called “War Horse,” but then quickly learn that the usual horse puppet has been replaced by a man (Fallon) doing a very unconvincing job. Halfway through the play, the boy (Samberg) is also replaced by a hand puppet.

- Wow, talk about a strange sketch but still highly enjoyable.
- There were many great parts here including Jimmy inexplicably dancing as the horse, Jason Sudeikis appearing at random points singing strange little musical interludes, the intermission starting after about a minute and ending almost as quickly, Kenan using a hand puppet in Andy’s role after the intermission, and the random “USA” chants to end the play.
- The bits with Hader & Wiig could’ve been trimmed down a bit as it seemed that they were just there to explain the joke for us as if we didn’t already get it ourselves.
Rating: ****

13. Michael Buble sings “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (3:45)

- Another traditional Christmas song makes for another happy viewer, indeed. Buble did another great job here too.

14. Jesus Visits the Denver Broncos (4:00)

Tim Tebow (Killam), Matt Prater (Samberg), and co. (Thompson, Pharoah, & extras) receive a visit from Jesus (Sudeikis) who tells them that he helped them win the last six games but that they have to at least make an effort in the first half of the game so as to not make it look like a random miracle.

- Funny premise for a sketch and Jason turns in another fun performance here, this time as Jesus. Very funny execution.
- Special mention to Killam, who does a great job as Tebow and his constant overbearing love for Sudeikis was really funny and probably one of his best performances on the show so far. I’ve been so impressed with Taran for the little time that he’s been on the show.
- Surprised Jimmy wasn’t in this sketch but it wasn’t a damper or anything because it was a well-written and very well-acted sketch.
- Loved the mormon line at the end.
Rating: ****

15. Goodnights

- Rockefeller ice rink goodnights?! AWESOME! When’s the last time they did those? Like 2005 with Jack Black, I believe.

OVERALL: Another super-awesome show with a lot of great sketches and a fantastic host in Jimmy Fallon. I noticed that he didn’t break character at all during the entire show (he’s come a long way since 2003/2004) and his performances throughout the episode were more than stellar. Add to that two impressive performances by Michael Buble and a great Christmasy feel to the whole thing made this one a true winner. What an absolutely fantastic season we’ve had so far… and it’s only half-over.

BREAKDOWN:

HOST: JIMMY FALLON – 10 segments (Winter Formal; Monologue; Today; Michael Buble Christmas Duets [3 roles]; Mirror Chat; 1920′s Holiday Party; Season’s Greetings; Weekend Update; Beethoven’s Orchestra; War Horse)
MUSICAL GUEST: MICHAEL BUBLE – 2 segments (Monologue; Michael Buble Christmas Duets)

CAMEOS: RACHEL DRATCH – 1 segment (Winter Formal)
TINA FEY – 1 segment (Weekend Update)
CHRIS KATTAN – 2 segments (Season’s Greetings; Beethoven’s Orchestra)
JUDE LAW – 1 segment (Weekend Update)
TRACY MORGAN – 1 segment (Season’s Greetings)
AMY POEHLER – 2 segments (Winter Formal; Weekend Update)
HORATIO SANZ – 2 segments (Season’s Greetings; Beethoven’s Orchestra)

FRED ARMISEN – 5 segments (Monologue; Michael Buble Christmas Duets; 1920′s Holiday Party; Tommy Palmese; Beethoven’s Orchestra)
ABBY ELLIOTT – 5 segments (Winter Formal; Monologue; Michael Buble Christmas Duets; 1920′s Holiday Party; Beethoven’s Orchestra)
BILL HADER – 5 segments (Monologue; 1920′s Holiday Party; Tommy Palmese; Beethoven’s Orchestra; War Horse)
SETH MEYERS – 1 segment (Weekend Update)
BOBBY MOYNIHAN – 5 segments (Winter Formal; Monologue; Today; Tommy Palmese; Beethoven’s Orchestra)
NASIM PEDRAD – 4 segments (Monologue; Today; Michael Buble Christmas Duets; Beethoven’s Orchestra)
ANDY SAMBERG – 7 segments (Monologue; Mirror Chat; 1920′s Holiday Party; Weekend Update; Beethoven’s Orchestra; War Horse; Jesus Visits the Denver Broncos)
JASON SUDEIKIS – 4 segments (Monologue; Beethoven’s Orchestra; War Horse; Jesus Visits the Denver Broncos)
KENAN THOMPSON – 4 segments (Monologue; Beethoven’s Orchestra; War Horse; Jesus Visits the Denver Broncos)
KRISTEN WIIG – 6 segments (Monologue; Today; Michael Buble Christmas Duets; 1920′s Holiday Party; Beethoven’s Orchestra; War Horse)

VANESSA BAYER – 3 segments (Monologue; Tommy Palmese; Beethoven’s Orchestra)
PAUL BRITTAIN – 3 segments (Monologue; Weekend Update; Beethoven’s Orchestra)
TARAN KILLAM – 6 segments (Winter Formal; Monologue; Michael Buble Christmas Duets; Beethoven’s Orchestra; War Horse; Jesus Visits the Denver Broncos)
JAY PHAROAH – 3 segments (Monologue; Michael Buble Christmas Duets; Jesus Visits the Denver Broncos)

EPISODE MVPs: Jimmy Fallon/Andy Samberg