Weekend Update - As usual for this season, WU was solid but not a standout. I enjoyed Amy Poehler lighting up and smoking a cellphone after hearing that they do not cause cancer, just for the audacity of the visual gag. Darrell Hammond was decent as Al Gore delineating his meeting with Lindsay Lohan. Forte's song protesting gay marriage was helped by his "normal" placards of people with long heterosexual marriages being replaced by placards of Pamela Anderson/Kid Rock, Liza Minnelli/David Gest and Mike Tyson/Robin Givens. The political slant of the Forte segment was obvious, but it wasn't insulting and was the best part of WU.
"Monster Underneath the Bed" - A lot of people feel that this was sketch of the night. I'm not inclined to disagree, although I'm not as fond of it as others are. Forte and Bening play parents who take their daughter's fear of a monster under the bed very seriously. The dialogue made this, as did Forte and Bening pulling out guns and the punchline, which I will not spoil except to say that the guns aren't incidental to the sketch. These are the sketches that appear on year-end best-ofs.
Valtrex - Commercial repeated from the Alec Baldwin episode earlier in the year. Not bad.
Man, I love those bumpers of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center! Honestly, those are classy-looking shots. I've honestly never seen that tree look that good on SNL. Kudos to Don Roy King for those shots.
"Introverts' Night Out" - These characters first appeared on an episode of SNL last season. The formula is simple - three introverts get drunk by various means, then lamely talk about doing lewd sexual acts to each other. After the previous sketches it paled by comparison. I seriously don't see any potential in this recurring any further on SNL since this sketch was unexceptional, but Bening got some mileage out of the word "buttmessed."
Akon MG Segment - Not a bad song, per se, but I'm not going out and buying Konvicted because of Akon's performance. I'm surprised this show had two musical guests. All the same, Akon should have been sole musical guest this week since his song outstripped Stefani's.
Article comments
1 - Czar of Entertainment
I don't what you are thinking about here - the headline about this SNL is that Annette Benning knows how to read - she was so focussed on reading her cue cards that if another actor dropped dead during a sketch she would have never noticed. Her acting was so bad, I thought she was doing a Kristin Wiig parody.
As per usual Weekend Update was a HUGE disappointment. Perhaps SNL should copy This Week with George Stephanapoulos and air the Saturday funnies using highlights from Stewart and Colbert. Amy Poulin continues to be way over her head here.
It's hard to believe that this show is spiraling the drain so quickly.
2 - Cameron A.
Who's Amy Poulin? Is that someone I should know?
3 - Dave
4 - Tzuriel
He means Amy Poehler
5 - Col. Mustard
"For some reason I just like bad gags."
Apparently, if you sit through the whole show.
"Most of the monologue was about Bening's real estate character in American Beauty and felt dated"
That's because it was dated. The movie is seven years old. You left out the best part was Baldwin saying she looked good naked in The Grifters.
"A lot of people feel that this was sketch of the night." "a lot of people have pointed out her over-reliance on cue cards"
Who exactly? I don't believe "a lot of people" are talking about this show.
6 - susan
I think Ms Bening had to rely on cue cards because things were changed considerably in the last minutes....the ads throughout the week featured Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisan dressed as recurring characters from another planet, whose names escape me, (are spelled the same but pronounced differently?) which did not appear in the live show. That and the fact that a sketch had to be cut for time suggests last minute cuts and additions took place, rendering it impossible to memorize lines....replacement sketches were likely kicking around for some time, so the cast was familiar with it, but not the host - I don't know, that's what Studio 60 taught me.
7 - Lono
There is something that happened that night that I don't think I have EVER seen, and I haven't missed SNL much in the last 20 years.
What was the deal with two completely different musical guests?
btw, Gwen Stefani sucked major eggs. She used to be hot, talented, and interesting. Now, she is none of the above... just a joke. My god how horrible that music was. I made the deadly mistake of watching the show in real time (instead of on DVR delay) so I couldn't fast forward.
8 - saharat
Lono, I agree Gwen was less than great, but really, Akon? Talk about sucking - that performance looked like it should have been the losing act at a high school talent contest
9 - Gina R.
While it is difficult for different hosts to come in late and learn all their lines, no one has ever botched the job more than Annette Bening last week. Some effort to turn her head, use hand gestures, or attempt to ACT would have been helpful.
10 - Princess Consuelo
I love saturday night live! i watch it every saturday. i love the weekend update with Amy Poehler. she is so awesome. i wonder if Amy has ever seen the shows Friends, and Charmed. they are my two favorite shows. Amy you rock. i can't wait to see the SNL episode with Jake Gylennhaal. he is sooooo hot!! Reese Witherspoon has good taste in men.I was wonderin if any one knows the answer to this question. Don't ya think that after Reese and Ryan Philipi got a divorce, that Reese wouldn't want to think about Ryan or date anyone who looks like him? I think Jake Gylennhaal looks a little like Ryan, i mean they both have blue eyes and facial hair.So, i guess Reese likes the guys with blue eyes and facial hair. ok, well i better go. see ya! once again Amy Rules!!!