Saturday Night Live: Channing Tatum/Bon Iver (2/4/12)

by Brendan Wahl

(Season 37, Episode 13)

The Show:

1. Newt Gingrich: Moon President (4:08)

It is the year 2014 and Newt Gingrich (Moynihan) reigns supreme as president of the moon along with his assistant, the Reagatron 3000 (Hader) and his Vice Admiral Herman Cain (Thompson).

- Very creative way to open the show and a good way to try and make us forget that tremendously dull opening from last week.
- The highlights were Bill as the Reagatron 3000, Bobby’s line about how not all of America is as forward-thinking as South Carolina, Sudeikis showing up as a stowaway Mitt Romney in drag, Kenan as Herman Cain with his obvious sexual innuendos, and Bill asking Jason if he is his robot father.
- Did they use a farting sound effect when the earth fell apart? That was a pretty amusing moment.
- Why did Bobby’s Newt voice sound so much different?
Rating: **** 1/2

2. Monologue (3:29)

Channing talks about his start in showbusiness as a male stripper and then begins to recognize several familiar faces in the crowd.

- Right off the bat, Channing seemed happy to be there and showed that he would at least be a competent host and not one of those stiff dramatic actor type hosts.
- Pretty funny monologue, especially with Kenan as the bodyguard, Taran and Vanessa as the couple, and Fred as the audience member who tries not to let it show that he enjoys Channing’s dancing.
- I also enjoyed the quick bit with Channing calling out Andy’s doctor character as a former customer.
Rating: ***

3. It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green! (5:46)

Cee Lo (Thompson) tries once again to help a young couple with their sexual life, this time a lesbian duo (Pedrad & Bayer). He is not without assistance though as Matthew McConnaughey (Tatum) and the reliable Colonel Nasty (Hader) stop by as well to lend some advice.

- You had to know that THIS would become recurring. Still, I liked this edition of the sketch just as much as I enjoyed the first one.
- There was a lot of interaction with the Atlanta Horns band, which were some of my favourite parts actually.
- Channing pulled off a pretty damn good McConnaughey impression. He’s no Justin Long, but it was still real good.
- Was I the only one praying for a kiss between Nasim and Vanessa? Yes, I know. I’m a guy.
Rating: *** 1/2

4. Downton Abbey (2:04)

Now coming to SPIKE TV, a new show about debonairs and olden times-style living with a promo done pretty much in the same style as if it were any other overblown show on SPIKE.

- This was pretty clever. Hard to explain why I liked it but I guess just the juxtaposition of the announcer’s typical annoying SPIKE voice combined with a show that obviously does not fit in with the network’s typical fare.
Rating: ****

5. Superbowl Promo Shoot (3:03)

Several correspondents (Tatum, Hader, Sudeikis, Thompson, & Pharoah) get together to film the promos advertising the Superbowl but end up making it look a little strange and then begin to bring up some very odd conversation points.

- I wasn’t the biggest fan of this sketch at all. The looks they gave the camera were pretty amusing for the most part but it just seemed like they just ran the same joke into the ground. It actually kinda reminded me of that stupid Taylor Lautner sketch where he kept making weird faces at the camera.
- The weird comments meant well but not a lot of them were all that funny.
- The end with them drinking was pretty funny.
Rating: * 1/2

6. Secret Word (5:08)

Mindy Gracin (Wiig) is back for another round of the 60s gameshow. This time, she goes up against former astronaut Buster Allright (Tatum), who seems to be anything but.

- I’m honestly not tired of this sketch at all. I may be the only one who likes it as a recurring piece. Bill is great as the host, they always make a great opponent character for Kristen, and yes, I also like Kristen’s wacky performance every time.
- Tatum was a good addition to the sketch and I liked his attempt to give hints for the word “Probe” and just ended up having visions of space and being captured.
- I especially liked Kristen sliding the secret word over to her non-celebrity partner.
- Best line: “I’m on no pills and I miss them.”
Rating: *** 1/2

7. Bon Iver performs “Holocene” (5:06)

- So I had no clue who this band was before the show but I had definitely heard this song before. They are a very mellow-sounding band and I really enjoyed this. It was a breath of fresh air after the disastrous musical guest during the previous episode.

8. Weekend Update with Seth Meyers (9:54)
Guests: Guy Fieri and Lana Del Rey

Best Jokes: Mitt Romney/47%; Indiana Creationism bill; phones/sex survey; Pfizer recall

- The first commentary is from Bobby as Guy Fieri, an impression we haven’t seen in a little while. I’ve always enjoyed this particular impression from Bobby and this was a good way to bring him back by having him comment on Superbowl snacks. I particularly liked Bobby “cooking” a hot dog over his “shirt flames,” the visual joke of an Ug boot filled with hot dogs, and the bucket of mussels representing the Madonna halftime show. The ridiculous dish at the end was also good for a chuckle.
-  YES! YES! I was really hoping they would address the Lana Del Rey fiasco and Kristen Wiig did a perfect impression of her. I also love how they did the running joke with Seth starting a joke about tree frogs and getting interrupted. They also made some good points about no musicians changing their real name and how she didn’t live up to other “greats” on SNL like Bubba Sparxxx, the Baha Men, and Shaggy.
Rating: *** 1/2

9. Bat Mitzvah (3:57)

At a young lady’s (Pedrad) bat mitzvah, she performs a dance routine with her friend (Tatum) as choreographed by her mother (Wiig) and less-than-moral sister (Elliott).

- This was all essentially one-joke and boiled down to the humour involved with the dancing and the reaction shots. It worked though thanks to the enjoyable performances by Channing and Nasim.
- Abby and Kristen were also good here with their respective reactions and lines throughout the dance.
- Kenan made me laugh as the Billy OCean impersonator.
Rating: ***

10. Ruby Tuesday (3:49)

Tom Brady (Tatum) sits at a bar stool and is approached by an older lady named Janet Peckinpaugh (Moynihan), who begins to aggressively hit on him and slowly starts to win him over.

- It was interesting to see Bobby with a new character. He had a few funny lines but ultimately this didn’t really go anywhere. Still, it wasn’t awful.
- I loved the line about Bobby having ruined Katy Perry’s marriage.
- The dance at the end was kinda lame until Bobby did his tumble.
Rating: ** 1/2

11. Go-Techs Flex (1:57)

The new exercise fad features a device that puts pulse readers on your thumbs and makes sure you don’t get overworked. It takes a little getting used to though.

- Very absurd sketch with a number of healthy laughs mostly due to Kristen’s strange performance, although I did like Channing here as well.
- The part with the honeycomb was very, very odd.
Rating: ***

12. Bon Iver performs “Beth/Rest” (4:57)

- This tune sounded like it had a bit of a jazz-fusion influence and I enjoyed it just as much as the first performance.

13. Bongo’s Clown Room (6:18)

On his last night on the job (again?), Tommy (Sudeikis) emcees ladies’ night at Bongo’s with Keith Wide (Pharoah), Dumb Dick (Moynihan), Chief Pumps (Moynihan), and Nick Erswet (Tatum) briefly performing on-stage.

- Jason was great here much like he was the first time they did this sketch and it didn’t hurt that he was given some great lines.
- It wasn’t quite as great as the first one though just for the sole reason that the actual dancing was not as funny. It also lacked an ending like the one they did with Dave Grohl the first time.
- Channing has danced in almost every sketch. I will admit I found that a bit annoying.
Rating: *** 1/2

14. Goodnights

OVERALL: A relatively solid show with only two sketches that didn’t really work for me and a couple of standouts this week with the cold open and the SPIKE TV piece. Channing Tatum was a surprisingly good host even if his constant need to dance in every sketch eventually started to get grating. I’d probably put this one just above the Radcliffe episode.

BREAKDOWN:

HOST: CHANNING TATUM – 8 segments (Monologue; It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Superbowl Promo Shoot; Secret Word; Bat Mitzvah; Ruby Tuesday; Go-Techs Flex; Bongo’s Clown Room)

FRED ARMISEN – 3 segments (Monologue; It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Bat Mitzvah)
ABBY ELLIOTT – 1 segment (Bat Mitzvah)
BILL HADER – 4 segments (Newt Gingrich: Moon President; It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Superbowl Promo Shoot; Secret Word)
SETH MEYERS – 1 segment (Weekend Update)
BOBBY MOYNIHAN – 6 segments (Newt Gingrich: Moon President; It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Superbowl Promo Shoot; Weekend Update; Ruby Tuesday; Bongo’s Clown Room)
NASIM PEDRAD – 3 segments (It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Secret Word; Bat Mitzvah)
ANDY SAMBERG – 3 segments (Monologue; Secret Word; Bat Mitzvah)
JASON SUDEIKIS – 3 segments (Newt Gingrich: Moon President; Superbowl Promo Shoot; Bongo’s Clown Room)
KENAN THOMPSON – 5 segments (Newt Gingrich: Moon President; Monologue; It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Superbowl Promo Shoot; Bat Mitzvah)
KRISTEN WIIG – 6 segments (Newt Gingrich: Moon President; Monologue; Secret Word; Weekend Update; Bat Mitzvah; Go-Techs Flex)

VANESSA BAYER – 3 segments (Monologue; It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Bat Mitzvah)
TARAN KILLAM – 4 segments (Newt Gingrich: Moon President; Monologue; Bat Mitzvah; Bongo’s Clown Room)
JAY PHAROAH – 5 segments (Newt Gingrich: Moon President; It’s Getting Freaky with Cee Lo Green!; Superbowl Promo Shoot; Ruby Tuesday; Bongo’s Clown Room)

EPISODE MVPs: Bobby Moynihan/Kristen Wiig

Saturday Night Live: Daniel Radcliffe/Lana Del Rey (1/14/12)

by Brendan Wahl

(Season 37, Episode 12)

The Show:

1. Romney: Believe in America (4:01)

Mitt Romney (Sudeikis) tries to save face about some recent comments he made regarding not being able to fire people and says those words were taken completely out of context. He then orders his food at Jim Bob’s Diner while the waitress (Elliott) has to suffer through his interminable dullness.

- This wasn’t as good as the “Raw and Unleashed” opening from Jason Segel/Florence + The Machine and it was actually really, really dull aside from a couple of funny lines like Romney’s “five human sons” and his quick comment that they have people to do their chores for them.
- Okay, how long are they going to relegate Abby to these nothing roles? Seriously, I can probably name all the memorable things she’s done since 2008 on one hand and I think I would even have fingers left over. It’s not her fault. I’d just really like to see her push a lot more and get better and bigger roles on the show.
Rating: * 1/2

2. Monologue (2:59)

Daniel talks about how he begged Lorne for no Harry Potter parodies tonight all the while various castmembers portray things like Harry Pothead (Brittain) and Jersey Shore: Hogwarts (Hader & Moynihan) before being dismissed as ridiculous and stupid ideas.

- Funny stuff and it showed Daniel was pretty calm, cool, and collected to start off the night on a good foot after that lousy cold opening. I especially liked Daniel mentioning some other film being the one that he will be most remembered for.
- My favourite background appearances were from Hader and Moynihan as The Situation and Snooki, respectively, but Paul was also pretty amusing as Harry Pothead for a quick visual joke.
Rating: *** 1/2

3. Ricky Gervais Promos (1:51)

A commercial for the Golden Globes and various other awards shows featuring host Ricky Gervais (Sudeikis) being his most biting and “edgy” self while insulting various celebrities.

- It’s good to see them utilizing Sudeikis’ Ricky Gervais impression a lot more these days after his one appearance three seasons ago. That being said, this was quite funny.
- My favourite part was the Kids Choice Awards and the “I Shihtzu not” line.
Rating: *** 1/2

4. Target (4:55)

The Target Lady (Wiig) is back and this time she deals with a ponytailed stockboy (Radcliffe) and her creepy manager (Hader), who keeps making strange advances on the young man.

- Wow, I never in a million years expected to see this sketch back again. I did quite enjoy this edition though because it was quite different from some of the past editions.
- Daniel was pretty good here but Bill Hader took the cake as the super-creepy manager who kept taking huge bites of his hot dog and slowly walking away.
- Loved the “brown racing stripe” line.
- What was up with Kenan’s facial expression joke? It didn’t really make much sense.
Rating: *** 1/2

5. You Can Do Anything! (4:26)

An independant filmmaker (Hader) and a photo-blogger (Bayer) host a show in which several Youtube celebrities are interviewed about their determination in life despite being horribly untalented at everything they do.

- This was my favourite sketch of the night despite a lot of other reviews calling this too “on-the-nose” but I loved this.
- Taran as the “juggler” was my favourite part, especially how he talked about his website and Bayer commenting that he was so self-promotional “and I love that.”
- Sudeikis was great here too with saying that he is “Twitter famous” (meaning not famous) and his song/poem was hilariously pathetic.
- I almost shit my pants laughing at Daniel Radcliffe dancing around while doing Chinese caligraphy. That was an awesome visual combined with the fact that Dan can actually dance.
Rating: **** 1/2

6. Film: Spin the Bottle (2:16)

A young man (Radcliffe) really wants to kiss a girl (Elliott) during a game of Spin the Bottle, but the bottle keeps landing on strange homeless men (Armisen, Hader, Moynihan, Thompson, & Pharoah), who he has to kiss instead.

- This was absurd but still funny and I’m really surprised this wasn’t a digital short unless they forgot to include the title card at the beginning.
- Bobby Moynihan was definitely the funniest hobo but I loved the bit with Fred applying deodorant to his tongue to “freshen up.”
Rating: ***

7. Delaware Fellas (3:04)

Since “Jersey Boys” is usually sold out, why not check out Delaware Fellas (Radcliffe, Thompson, Wiig, & Killam) with their vaguely Italian accents and all the excitement of Delaware will be explored!

- I liked the concept and I probably liked the sketch a bit more than some but it definitely did drag on a little bit too long.
- Kenan’s Italian accent was the funniest part but I also really liked Jason Sudeikis coming back as Joe Biden.
Rating: ***

8. Hogwarts Academy: 2020 (4:00)

Ten years after graduation, Harry Potter (Radcliffe of course!) continues to hang around Hogwarts and brag about his accomplishments in front of a new group of students.

- This was a very funny sketch but I will be the first to admit that I have not seen the Harry Potter films at all. Not a single one. That being said, some of the references were lost on me but there was enough material here to entertain and it still made for a great sketch.
- Radcliffe was great here obviously but I also really loved Bill Hader showing up as Severus Snape in the portrait. His Alan Rickman impression was really spot-on. Paul Brittain also had a very funny part here as Malfoy.
- Thought it was pretty creepy that Moynihan and Bayer’s characters were a couple but still funny nonetheless.
Rating: ****

9. Lana Del Rey sings “Video Games” (4:08)

- I didn’t know why people were so adamant about how bad this performance was until I rewatched it just now. It starts out okay but after a couple of minutes into the song, it gets really, really bad. Her voice was all over the place and she couldn’t really find her note.

10. Weekend Update with Seth Meyers (9:24)
Guests: Kim Jong Un’s two best friends from growing up and Casey Anthony’s dog

Best Jokes: The two Mitt Romney jokes; Ron Paul theme; drug-dealing son; Five-Second Raul; death of a loved one; Wal-Mart Dell bin; Miller Lite/dog beer

- Fred and Vanessa reprise their “two best friends” characters but this time, they do them in regards to Kim Jong Un. This was old hat but I do still find both of them funny in these roles and some of the whispering parts do still make me laugh. I particularly liked Seth’s bit about Lorne at the end.
- Daniel Radcliffe was great as Casey Anthony’s dog and it’s awesome to see the host on Update, which rarely happens. I really get the feeling that Samberg was going to do this piece, fell sick, and Radcliffe took over for him. Either way, this was hilarious (I loved “Dogs can be sarcastic too. It’s not just for cats”) and I even liked the cheesy “rough/ruff” joke. Another thing I really liked about this segment is that it pushed the boundary of good taste to the max.
Rating: ****

11. X27B Theater (3:47)

In the future, a number of patrons watch a play in which the actors (Radcliffe, Armisen, Hader, Pedrad, & Wiig) do a scenario set in 2012 with lots of obnoxious pop culture references that the future audience finds hilarious.

- This was the second-best piece of the night, in my opinion. It did a great job at satirizing the way movies set in the past are represented in a somewhat over-the-top manner at times.
- I’m pretty sure that in some of the laughing scenes, some of the audience members not laughing was definitely intentional. It just gave the sketch a weirder twist that only added to the absurd nature of the whole thing.
- My favourite bits were the edible Mt. Everest, the use of “Hey Ya!” by Outkast, Kristen’s line about Daniel looking at a certain naughty picture, and the bit about turning into a different race after midnight.
Rating: ****

12. Glenda Okones for Mayor 2012 (:55)

Mayoral candidate Glenda Okones (Wiig) launches an attack ad on herself.

- Wiig is on fire tonight. I liked the idea of her doing a self-attack ad and this was pretty damn amusing.
Rating: ***

13. Glenda Okones for Mayor 2012 (1:06)

Glenda (Wiig) continues the onslaught by mentioning her children and how she definitely has a favourite of the two.

- Another funny piece but I would’ve placed this after the Jay Pharoah Show so that it separated them out a bit more. It felt weird to have them come back from commercial with one of these again.
- This one was even better than the first.
Rating: *** 1/2

14. The Jay Pharoah Show (2:43)

In his debut episode of the Jay Pharoah Show, Jay welcomes his guest Daniel Radcliffe but it turns out he doesn’t know anything about him and just finds excuses to utilize his many bang-on impressions much to Radcliffe’s confusion.

- This was okay but it felt a bit awkward at times with the periods of dead silence feeling a little uncomfortable at times.
- Much like everyone else has been saying, this is definitely a slam at Jay’s knack to do impressions but not really doing a lot of sketch work other than that.
-  The concept was a good idea though with Jay not knowing what to do other than work his impressions into the interview and Radcliffe was fair game.
Rating: ** 1/2

15. Glenda Okones for Mayor 2012 (:35)

In the final installment, Glenda (Wiig) talks about roughing up her own elderly mother.

- Not bad, but not as good as the other two segments.
Rating: ** 1/2

16. Lana Del Rey sings “Blue Jeans” (3:28)

- Another dreary performance. This one may have been worse than the first. I expected her to be a real treat and I am tremendously disappointed with her overall performance thus far.

17. Exit Poll (4:25)

After voting for Mitt Romney in the New Hampshire primary, a young voter (Radcliffe) is interviewed by a woman (Wiig), whose questions eventually begin to veer off-topic a bit.

- This was classic Wiig. I don’t think anyone else in the female cast could’ve pulled this one off.
- I don’t even know what my favourite parts were because I was laughing pretty much throughout the whole thing.
- Radcliffe was a great straight man.
Rating: ****

18. Headz Up (1:07)

A new cellphone app that now warns you of upcoming traffic, doors, or corners so that you don’t end up in peril.

- Apparently this was filmed months ago and has been cut out of a number of dress rehearsals. This was also Andy’s only appearance of the whole night.
- Anyway, this was not that great. I did like Moynihan on the bull.
Rating: **

19. Goodnights

- Vanessa Bayer is wearing a shirt in tribute to Mike Enriquez. RIP.

OVERALL: A much better show than a lot of people are saying although it had more bad sketches than I’m usually accustomed to on the show this season. Daniel Radcliffe was a solid host who seemed a bit nervous but never let it get the better of him and he performed his ass off even during the sketches that failed to measure up. Lana Del Rey was a disastrous musical guest and her paired with the number of mediocre sketches will take the grade of this episode down a bit despite great pieces like You Can Do Anything!, Hogwarts Academy 2020, X27B Theater, and Exit Poll.

BREAKDOWN:

HOST: DANIEL RADCLIFFE – 10 segments (Monologue; Target; You Can Do Anything!; Spin the Bottle; Delaware Fellas; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; Weekend Update; X27B Theater; The Jay Pharoah Show; Exit Poll)

FRED ARMISEN – 3 segments (Spin the Bottle; Weekend Update; X27B Theater)
ABBY ELLIOTT – 4 segments (Romney: Believe in America; Spin the Bottle; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; X27B Theater)
BILL HADER – 6 segments (Monologue; Target; You Can Do Anything!; Spin the Bottle; Hogwarts Academy 2020; X27B Theater)
SETH MEYERS – 1 segment (Weekend Update)
BOBBY MOYNIHAN – 6 segments (Monologue; Spin the Bottle; Delaware Fellas; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; X27B Theater; Headz Up)
NASIM PEDRAD – 4 segments (Spin the Bottle; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; X27B Theater; Headz Up)
ANDY SAMBERG – 1 segment (Headz Up)
JASON SUDEIKIS – 4 segments (Romney: Believe in America; Ricky Gervais Promos; You Can Do Anything!; Delaware Fellas)
KENAN THOMPSON – 4 segments (Target; Spin the Bottle; Delaware Fellas; X27B Theater)
KRISTEN WIIG – 8 segments (Target; Delaware Fellas; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; X27B Theater; Glenda Okones for Mayor 2012 [all three segments]; Exit Poll)

VANESSA BAYER – 7 segments (Target; You Can Do Anything!; Spin the Bottle; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; Weekend Update; X27B Theater; Headz Up)
PAUL BRITTAIN – 4 segments (Monologue; Spin the Bottle; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; X27B Theater)
TARAN KILLAM – 8 segments (Monologue; Target; You Can Do Anything!; Spin the Bottle; Delaware Fellas; Hogwarts Academy: 2020; X27B Theater; Headz Up)
JAY PHAROAH – 3 segments (Spin the Bottle; X27B Theater; The Jay Pharoah Show)

EPISODE MVPs: Daniel Radcliffe/Bill Hader/Kristen Wiig