October 17, 2009 - Gerard Butler/Shakira (35.4)

[Mike (Male)]

Cold Open: This sadly lacked any of the spark that the first The Rock Obama sketch had. Too many similarities here, and the thing really started to drag a few minutes in. Jason's Joe Biden didn't help. What's more, I hope SNL doesn't rely on multiple variations on this sketch just because Dwayne Johnson does a slightly better impression of the president.

Monologue: Fine, but the monologues from the last two weeks have both been stronger. When Kristen appeared with the knife, you figured it would build to something (he hits her, for example, but there were other possible outcomes). But nothing happened outside of her one outburst, and the monologue ended pretty awkwardly.

Fuquay Satin’s Grand Hoochie Skank Rose: Another good fake ad this week. Kenan's getting better at realizing what his greatest strengths are.

Game Time with Randy and Greg: Here comes another rewrite. Way too similar to the old sketch, and as a result, the plot elements that came as humorous surprises that last time around could be seen from a mile away. Bill performs what can't be an easy character, but can't save the sketch on his own.

Beauty and the Beast: The best sketch of the night. Great premise to start, and it was cute seeing the characters revealing that they had kept quiet about their fascination with large behinds. Good costuming as well.

"She Wolf": pant pant pant pant pant pant

Update: I thought Update was pretty good this week; the only thing that didn't work was the return appearance of the Gay Guys, who reprised their same schtick with different costumes. Four times is enough. The appearance of the talking balloon was cute enough to work, and Seth's Gerard Butler translation was actually funny. I'll be honest, I LIKED Kristen as the orgasm lady. Clearly she and the writers didn't want to take the easy way out with a few gratuitously loud screams, and her character's trying to stifle them made her believable. It also made Seth's unexpected "coming" line that much funnier.

300: Awful. This is a joke that played itself out a couple of years ago. Did one of the writers keep the script in storage for this long until Butler came to host? And evidently they tried to tie in politics to make this a little more topical, but it just didn't work at all.

What Up With That: I was waiting for somebody to mention "High IQ." This was nearly the same sketch, everyone! Nonsensical goofy characters in goofy costumes with goofy dance moves making their way on stage, derailing the show until time ran out and the credits had to roll. The only real differences were a celebrity cameo and Kenan's singing. The sketch worked, at least somewhat, but the idea is hardly original.

Thomas: This was one of the biggest failures of last year, if not the biggest. It sucks again this year. Next?

"Did It Again": Shakira sounds fantastic once again, with a great voice, and the Gwen Stefani Onstage Percussionists were cool. We have yet to see a bad musical guest this year-- well, wait until the next show.

Daveheart: A good idea in theory only. This got predictable too soon, only some of the Scottish accents were even close to accurate, and Jenny's French accent was horrendous. Really, all we had were those two goat lines.

Grade: C. I hate to say Megan Fox's show was better than this, but it had an equal number of strong sketches (2-3), with nothing as terrible or stupid as the 300 sketch or Thomas II. What's more, this had too many rewrites and a disappointing monologue. Gerard Butler was pretty good, especially in the game show sketch, and Shakira was solid.

[willythebest]

Daveheart: A good idea in theory only. This got predictable too soon, only some of the Scottish accents were even close to accurate, and Jenny's French accent was horrendous. Really, all we had were those two goat lines.

I was waiting for someone else to mention this. I must've missed them saying she was French, because I was scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell kind of accent she was going for. It most definitely didn't sound even close to a French accent... or close to any other existing foreign accent I've ever heard for that matter.

[mitchy23]

Sketch - What Up With That?
• And Jason’s wild dancing in the background had me on the floor! He looked hilarious and stole the whole sketch. That man really is some dancer; has anyone else noticed how many sketches he's showcased this talent in by this point? The Dancing Caveman sketch, a Deep House Dish sketch where he played a rapper, and the Sarah Palin rap are the main ones that come to mind, but I also remember an obscure Superbowl Shuffle sketch when Tom Brady hosted where Sudeikis was wildly dancing back-and-forth next to Brady while playing the cowbell. This was actually back when Jason was just a writer who occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches, a while before they added him to the cast.

Isn't Jason's sister a professional dancer.
I think he mentioned that on Conan once. Thats probably why he is so effing good and dancing.

[Mike (Male)]

I was scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell kind of accent she was going for. It most definitely didn't sound even close to a French accent... or close to any other existing foreign accent I've ever heard for that matter.

Dave proposes that the two of them switch roles, and then tries out a French accent. And I haven't seen the film in a long time, but I think that female role in Braveheart was a princess of France (?)

[VZA]

I absolutely cannot believe there are people who didn't like the What Up With That sketch. It was amazing on all levels, and the only time Gerald made me laugh the whole night, Kenan finally made me laugh after years, and everyone else just added to the amazingness.

[bl888]

so here's the situation: I've actually been posting on [[another site]] this entire time while lurking around here. but I've been thinking about coming back here. looks like you've got some nice discussion going

crossposting all reviews from Sketchcom:

I was gone last week. No torrents of the Barrymore episode until last Wednesday, but it was a good episode. Haven't seen Vinny Vedecci before but it was probably the best sketch of the night. Gilly had good performances but it was a sucky, sucky concept and shouldn't have been recurred. Regina Spektor was also okay. Hate to play devil's advocate, but her first song was actually quite good and I liked the second one too. Too bad. Can't get any lower than U2.

6/10

Getting back to this week...(stealing StopThatTicking's format)

The Rock Obama
-Pretty solid and well written if overlong.
-Is there anything Bill CAN'T do? (insert barking here)
3/5

Monologue
-I liked Ryan Reynold's monologue better than this.
-Kristen's "take your shirt off" was funny though.
2.5/5

Grand Hoochie Skank Rose
-I'd like this better if it made me laugh more than twice in a two minute commercial.
2/5

Game Time With Randy & Greg
-Dave got a name change, hehe. Bad mistake on the production crew's part
-Very good performances all around. I liked this a lot, but then again this is my first SNL season so I'm a lot more open to these recurring sketches than most of you guys.
-That ending actually scared me wtf
4/5

Beauty and the Beast
-Kristen looked great in this. I really like her better in these low-key roles than when she's playing off-the-friggin-rocker characters like a Mo Collins protege (for the record, Mo is awesome, but I'd rather not see her twice)
-Lumiere was on for 15 seconds and was still one of the funniest parts of the sketch.
-Jenny also looked awesome in this. The girl has looks, that's for sure.
-Even without that gorgeous teapot, this sketch was still the best of the night. Loved everything about it.
5/5

"She Wolf"
-awOOOOOooooOOO

Weekend Update
-Gay Couple From New Jersey was sort of overlong. Not my favorite.
-That balloon was so randomly placed that it worked. I laughed out loud on that one.
-Orgasm Woman...no. I mean, I like Kristen, but...no.
-"Thanks for coming."
-What was with that cat line? Dead silence on the audience's part. I honestly felt kind of bad for Seth.
3.5/5

300
-No friggin' way! I can't believe they would do this sketch on the night that Gerard Butler hosted! No friggin' way in friggin' hell. I fuckin saw that coming from a few miles away. (blowfish face)
-Not a bad job, writers. Pretty good ending with the back and forth between Gerard and Jason.
-Bobby was sort of annoying in this sketch, but Jason's quip sort of makes up for it.
3/5

What Up With That
-Agreed, STT, fun as hell.
-Funny as hell? Arguable. Not quite there.
-Jason's dancing is yes.
-Kenan interrupting Abby, yes.
-Kristen doing something other than playing mentally ill characters, yes.
-Bill still getting laughs out of me without even saying a line, yes. What up with that?
-James Franco? Why was he even there?
3.5/5

Trina: Cottage Cheese
-Absolutely not. Take the worst, most annoying character out of MAD's repertoire and replace it with this. It would be less annoying.
-Despite my initial indifference to this sketch, something is very very off about this. Not working for me, Kristen.
N/A (seriously, I have no idea what to rate this sketch.)

"Did It Again"
-Skipped over this/5

Daveheart
-I only saw this once. Seemed decentish. At this point it's late in the night so it's understandable that they wouldn't be throwing out 4-star sketches left and right.
-Goats are funny.
2.5/5

overall
Most consistent episode so far. Funniest? Probably not, but the writing is taking an upward spin from here on out. Thumbs up. So far, I think this season could be better than the few bits I saw out of season 34--just tighten up the cast balance and draw the line on Kristen, please. I still like her, as do most people, but that's not going to last forever. More Bill, more Will, more Jason, more of the new girls, and less of the same person in 7 sketches every fu--friggin' week! That being said, it was still a very enjoyable episode and if you keep this up, I might--might forgive America's stupid decision to take MADtv off the air.

Andy was sick? Hmm, hope he gets well soon. He always brings awesome energy to SNL. I really like him, although once again it seems like I'm playing devil's advocate. We need another "On the Ground", Andy! Get to it!

7/10

Edit by moderator: advertisements for another site go in the signature
Edit by me: whoops. sorry about that guys

[eleventhirtyfour]

The What Up Wit Dat skitch reminded of absurd comedy, like Tim and Eric, or Toilet D. Williams. good stuff.