Saturday Night Live' Recap - Jim Carrey & Iggy Azalea

Reviewing Saturday Night Live is a funny task, especially when you do it in real time as I do. Writing about a sketch directly after it airs and then naming the Best and Worst sketch only minutes after the show’s over can be really helpful: it lets you judge a sketch on face value without much thought.

Is it funny is the only question that really matters when dealing with SNL, right? But looking back on past reviews this knee-jerk reviewing can also lead to ratings and rankings I regret in the morning. Take the Bill Hader-hosted episode last week. The Anthony Peter Coleman made me laugh the most, so I made it the best sketch of the night. But while the Puppetry Class skit was great, it didn’t reach the level of 39 Cents, the brilliantly simple and politically astute sketch that aired earlier in the program. On face value did it contain as many laughs? No, but it was smarter, reached higher and achieved more.

That seems to happen a lot. I’ll love a sketch right after it airs and then, after a good night sleep, I’ll realize I only loved a sketch ‘cause I was grumpy from some terrible one that came before it. Or vice-versa. This isn’t to say that my recaps aren’t valid or that I’m unqualified to write about SNL, but only to say opinions change and both you and I should take my comments and rating with a grain of salt.

Anywho, onwards to Jim Carrey. Will he be hammy and overbearing or will he be able to fit into the SNL mold and relive his Living Color freshman glory days? Only time will tell.

Like I always do, I’ll be writing the recaps “live,” meaning I’ll watch a sketch and immediately write a short blurb reviewing and recapping it. For each segment, I’ll rate it on a scale of 0-5 stars. At the end of the piece, I’ll share some quick overall thoughts and the best/worst sketch of the night.

Ebola Cold Open: * *
Can SNL make Ebola funny? The answer, unfortunately, is no. In this overlong and tedious sketch (with barely a good laugh to be found), SNL tries to tackle Ebola by introducing us to Ebola Czar Ron Klain who, in the sketch’s only real funny moment, tries to use the crisis to sway voters. It’s a funny idea but after that joke is over we’re left with about five minutes of leaden sketch work.

Opening Monologue: * *
I’m not sure what to make of this monologue. Why did Jim Carrey don a Elvis/Devil costume and sing an Elvis-inspired song about pecan pie? Is it funny or original or worthy of a monologue? Why did SNL choose to throw a good amount of production value and an entire gospel choir on this?

Matthew McConaughey for Lincoln: * * * ½
It turns out Jim Carrey does a pretty good Matthew McConaughey and, while it doesn’t blaze any new trails, this commercial parody (like the Brad Pitt and Clint Eastwood ones before it) was very funny and lampooned a very deserving target.

Carrey Family Reunion: * ½
First of all, it’s great to finally see Leslie Jones in a live sketch. She’s wonderful, even in small doses. Last of all, that’s the only good thing in this god-awfully loud and dumb sketch, a carbon copy of another loud and dumb sketch that Christopher Walken did a few years back. Point proven, though, most of the cast can do an OK Jim Carrey impression. This seems like the kind of sketch really fun to perform but falls quite flat on screen.

Matthew McConaughey for Lincoln, Part II: * * * *
Yay, it’s back! I quite like when SNL does running gag sketches throughout the show and this second installment does a good job pushing the concept further and not repeating the same joke beat-for-beat.

Paul & Phil: * ½
You know who isn’t funny? Paul and Phil, Paul and Phil, Paul and Phil.

Matthew McConaughey for Lincoln, Part III: * * * *
I didn’t see this installment coming which made me like it even more. These sketches have done a great job of building on each other instead of pushing everything into one long sketch, which I think I a great format for SNL.

Weekend Update: * * * * ½
It’s great to see Vanessa Bayer have a new original character. It’s been too long. She’s great at playing an overzealous (and possibly crazy) character like rom-com expert Daisy Rose. I often feel like SNL criminally underuses her and could see Daisy coming back to the desk, especially ‘cause her report with Che was great. Speaking of guests, I kind of didn’t want to like Drunk Uncle. Like Stefon, he’s gotten a tad bit too big and overused for my liking. But damn if he didn’t win me over with great lines such as “Can you put some goji berries in my dropbox, please?” Topping off a great Update was Che’s bit comparing black people with Ebola which is probably the best piece of writing I’ve seen all season at the Update desk.

Secret Billionaire: * * * ½
I shouldn’t like this sketch, but there was something so weirdly specific about Carrey’s oddball millionaire character. His stories about throwing a party with 200 guys named Dennis and eating with “the dullards” at Applebee's were so strange, it kept me interested in what would happen next. I sort of wish the sketch had pushed his character in an even darker director (like the Malaysian Airlines subtext), but overall a funny if not unmemorable sketch.

Ghosts – Fact of Fiction: * * *
Leslie Jones is a funny lady. While this one-joke sketch seemed to go on a hair too long, she brought a great energy to the preceding as the resident skeptic on a ghost hunting TV show. I expect great things from her.

Zombie Apocalypse: *
There were good ideas buried in this skit about a zombie apocalypse but the execution was so lax and sloppy, none of those funny ideas came through. This one’s not good, y’all. Not good at all.

Office Costume Party: * * * *
There was like three parts to this sketch: an awkward and uncomfortably funny bit involving the costumes of folks coming to an office Halloween party (and one poor woman who forgot to dress up). This segued into a dance-off reminiscent of the Black Swan sketch Carrey did the last time he hosted. This was followed by a surreal romp about the SNL studio. It won be over in the first part, lost me a bit in part 2 but got me back tenfold by the end. It went out with a bang and took a risk, something that is all too unusual these days.

Geoff’s Halloween Emporium: * * *
I don’t know what to make of this one. I really don’t. I generally like weird ten-to-one sketches, but I can’t quite wrap my head around this one. My guess is that ultimately, this sketch based on a Halloween store owner possessed by the devil was skewed to a thumbs up. Thoughts?

Best Sketch: Weekend Update was, on paper, the funniest thing all night. That being said, my lasting memory of this episode a few weeks or months from now will be Carrey and McKinnon traipsing through Studio 8H in leotards and blonde bob wigs.

Worst Sketch: The one with Zombies.

Musical Guest: Iggy Azalea

Fun Fact: Iggy is a little more than a week older than me. But despite the similarities in age, I don’t really get her music. It’s forgettable and bland, mush-mouthed and uninspired. I’m not saying she’s an Australian, female version of Blizzard Man but…

Also, I’m not sure who that black-lipsticked singer is, but she was scarily flat.

Overall Thoughts:
This was a weird episode. Often it was good-weird but equally often it was weirdly unfunny. I like that it took risks, though, ‘cause often those risks were a highlight of the show. Onto next week with Chris Rock

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