I just realized, I haven't been doing my Monday morning quarterbacking analysis of Saturday Night Live, and I'm sure you're really missing this (maybe you are– I actually do sort through the whole show and give you the clips that are worth watching, thus saving you approximately 87 minutes of your precious life moments). I have to tell you, I have been so consistently disappointed in this show for the past couple of years, I was almost afraid to start watching again, but I thought "Hey, Jane Lynch did improv– this one might be good," so I started up again with her episode (the watching and note taking, I mean. I did actually watch parts of Amy Poehler's episode as well).
Here is my play-by-play of the Jane Lynch episode:
Cold open: Nassim Pedrad as Gloria Allred. I get what they're going for, but the series of questions, each more inflammatory, is totally unsophisticated. OK, so the point is that Gloria Allred is a terrible person, or we're supposed to think she is? Deep. As usual, this sketch goes on too long.
Monolog– I have to commend Jane Lynch for doing the whole monolog herself and not learning on the cast. She can actually sing, too, which is pretty impressive. She even sounds a little like Patti Smith. Who knew? They should let her sing more on Glee.
"Mom on Facebook" software commercial. Super funny. I will display here:
Glee sketch– I suppose they had to get it out of the way, but I hear the SNL class has failed to capture the quirky cuteness of the show. To top this off, they have to interject the insipid Gilly character? Please, please retire this character. It is ridiculous– a sketch based on a facial expression of Kristen Wiig's that someone found funny. I keep hoping that if I ignore this character enough it will go away, much like a bad smell. As a side note, the cast sounded pretty good in the beginning, but then they were all off pitch.
New Boyfriend Talk Show. Another winner! Here is that one:
Christine O'Donnell commercial: funny, but what happened to her wig from two weeks ago? It was way more realistic. I did like the background opening up into a big spooky sky though.
Secret Word: I almost didn't even bother to write this one up because again, I am so sick of Kristen Wiig mugging and doing the same stuff over and over again (note to comedy writers– repetition doesn't make things funny that weren't funny to begin with), but Jane Lynch's "ode to Phyllis Diller" was noteworthy. The fact that this whole sketch is (again) built around a mugging character of Wiig's aggravates me though. Oh, and in case you think I'm picking on Kristen Wiig, I am totally not. We actually saw Kristen Wiig perform in L.A. when she was still at The Groundlings before she got her SNL job, and I promise you she is much funnier than they let her be on the show. I think it has something to do with writing and directing for easy laughs, and it's bringing the show down.
Digital Short: Funny, if a little disturbing. "And also– I'm there."
Is that her real body at the end, or was that part of some joke I didn't get? She seems thinner.
Next up: apparently the new cast member does a KILLER Denzel Washington impression. I don't think I would choose to build a whole sketch around this and I thought it went on a little too long, but I allow. That kid is funny, and I'm glad they let a new cast member have a whole sketch!
NFL/ Faith Hill sendup– it's true, that Faith Hill intro for Sunday Night Football is totally absurd and deserves to be made fun of. Faith Hill strikes me as the ultimate mean girl, I don't get what her singing in a cornfield has to go with football, and I will embrace any opportunity to make fun of her.
I'm not even going to mention Tax Masters or the Suze Orman sketch, because again, PLEASE STOP BUILDING SKETCH COMEDY OFF OF ONE FUNNY REFERENCE AND/ OR KRISTEN WIIG MUGGING. Actually, the fact that Jane Lynch has actual improv/ sketch comedy experience sent me into consideration of another factor that might be dragging SNL down, and something that they might want to consider— it's possible that the writers of SNL now have such short attention spans that they think a catchy idea warrants an entire 3-minute sketch, and this is why they are no longer funny. Discuss.