[OPENING] Gore Phones Bush
With: Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, Maya Rudolph, Dean Edwards, Seth Meyers.
Sorry for the lame sketch title, but I'm in a rush and can't think of a better name. Not bad, sort of a nice change from the usual openings. Too bad we didn't get to hear how Dean would have done Colin Powell, the face he had on the whole time was quite funny and he looked alot like him, it had to be better than Tim Meadows impression who made him sound more like Bryant Gumble. This sketch really showed how much trouble SNL will be in for once Darrell leaves; they seem way too dependent on Darrell for almost all political impressions. Though, it was nice seeing Darrell bring back his Gore impression, but it was definitely a weird time to bring him back seeing as how nothing going on in the news really applies to him anymore, although it was funny hearing how hes spent his free time since the election ended. Some of the pre-taped stuff came in kinda late, making it seem kind of obvious that Will and Darrell were waiting for them to cut to the videos afew times, but I guess thats what happens when you do every impression on the show, remember Dana Carvey during his last few seasons? Anyway, this was funny and a nice step away from the numerous national address openers they keep doing, afew slow spots here and there but not awful.
Grade: B
Funny lines: "If your too busy you can send me a picture of yourself and I can simply put us together using Adobe Photoshop and release it with your full approval." -- Darrell Hammond as Al Gore

[MONOLOGUE] Hugh Jackman
With: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Dratch, Tracy Morgan, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph.
Nothing that special, though Hugh seems like a talented guy and it'll be interesting to see what kind of stuff he'll do later tonight, his interaction with some of the obnoxious audience members was pretty funny too, and is hopefully a good indication of his sense of humor. Rachel's part in the beginning was pretty funny having her come off a stalker, making attempts at pitching ideas in for a sketch where she makes out with him. Also, Tracy's part was good too, and he seemed to make the most out of his only part in the show tonight (can't they find anything to do with him?) and I found his fake pose with Hugh funny too. It was pretty funny, and let me also say, Hugh can sing! Pretty impressive. Though his monologue was a bit too reminiscent of Christopher Walken's singing monologues, especially having all the female castmembers (sans Tina Fey) join him in the end.
Grade: B-

[COMMERCIAL] LooseBear
With: Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Jeff Richards.
About time they gave us a new commercial parody. This was probably one of the better ones to come out of this season too, as most of them have been pretty weak so far. Let's just hope they don't run it into the ground by the end of the season. The idea of using a hallucinogen to cure constipation is a pretty funny idea in itself. If another show took the same concept, they'd probably go the sophomoric route with it, so at least they kept it original. I liked it, but not as good as last season's hallucinogenic themed commercial with Will Ferrell; Cracklin' Oat Flakes. By the way, has the "Craklin" ad appeared in any of the now syndicated on Comedy Central 00-01 episodes? I don't remember seeing it since it aired on NBC, it would be a shame if they took that one out.
Grade: B
Funny lines: "Side effects may include uncontrollable pissing and heart failure"

[SKETCH] Jarret's Room
With: Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Hugh Jackman, Seth Meyers, Jeff Richards.
This sketch seems to get increasingly funnier each time they do it. It's weird, last season I really didn't like this sketch all that much, but so far this season I'd have to say it's one of the funnier new recurring things to come in awhile. Once again, Horatio steals the sketch as Fallon's perpetually stoned friend. His entrance was great too, just watching Horatio in this sketch makes me wonder if that bong is from his personal collection. The part where they played White Room over Santa Claus is Coming to Town seemed pretty random, but I always enjoy hearing that song, speaking of which; they should get Eric Clapton on the show again someday. Hugh Jackman was also pretty funny, even if he didn't get to do too much. I didn't know the new Spiderman movie was made by Sam Raimi (the same guy who directed the Evil Dead movies). I guess thats one positive thing that movie has going for it, but then again Sam hasn't made anything that great since he sold out to Hollywood to make crap like For the Love of the Game, although A Simple Plan was quite good. Another interesting fact, Peter Jackson, the director of the new Lord of the Rings movie, also made some pretty odd movies before he became more well-known back in the late 80s-early 90s, like Meet the Feebles (any fan of TV Funhouse will appreciate this movie- though its kind of a hard movie to find) and Bad Taste. He also did Dead Alive, which is probably the goriest movie ever released in America, though it is a very enjoyable movie and any movie that has a kung-fu fighting zombie priest is okay in my book. I'm a fan of Peter's newer stuff too though, like The Frightners and Heavenly Creatures. Alright, how did I get so off topic? Also notable in this sketch, was that Seth Meyers and Jeff Richards are the first of the new players to get recurring characters, even if they are pretty minor characters. The clips with Jeff were pretty amusing, though the audience really seemed to be over-reacting to the laundry sniffing stuff. Pretty funny sketch, a good sketch to start the show, I can't believe I'll actually be looking forward for this sketch to come back again.
Grade: B+
Funny lines: "Your parents got you a bong for Christmas?" "No. They gave me money and told me to get some books." -- Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz .. "Dude, it totally looked like Ronald McDonald was playing the drums." -- Horatio Sanz

[SKETCH] Robert Goulet All-Holiday Special
With: Will Ferrell, Hugh Jackman, Darrell Hammond, Chris Kattan.
I was glad to finally see this sketch I've been hearing about for the past few weeks that keeps getting cut out. Though, not as funny as the past Goulet sketches, it was still quite funny. There's just something about Will's impression and delivery that cracks me up every time. Hugh also showed great singing ability in this sketch too. Who played his part during the other times they did this sketch in dress rehearsal? I couldn't really see someone like Billy Bob or Jeter doing it. Goulet's exchange with the bighorn was funny still too. Although I still prefer the Coconut Banger's Ball over all the Goulet sketches. Still not too bad though, I guess my expectations were just too high as it still left something to be desired.
Grade: B
Funny lines: "Oh boy, this special is doomed." -- Will Ferrell

[SKETCH] Sears Photographers
With: Seth Meyers, Hugh Jackman, Horatio Sanz, Ana Gasteyer, Chris Kattan, Rachel Dratch.
For some reason I kind of liked this sketch, it did seem more odd than funny most of the time, but it had some funny moments, like their stereotypical "eccentric art-EEEST" type entrance, and other moments like Hugh Jackman bitch-slapping Chris Kattan and the way Seth said "NOOOO!" when the grandmother asked about unbuttoning her shirt. Hugh Jackman and Seth Meyers gave good performances too, I can see this as a recurring character for Seth in future with the role of his sidekick rotated depending on the host, it could work again with a good rewrite. The constant coke references got alittle old after awhile, plus these guys seemed to act more like snippy flamboyant photographers than ex-cocaine addicts anyway, but I guess it was supposed to be like that. Also, did anyone else notice how Horatio was delivering his lines in the same strange manner he did in the "patriotic shorts" sketch from earlier this season. Maybe thats the voice he uses once his high (from getting in character for Jarret's Room) starts to wear off, seeing as how both of those episodes also featured a Jarret's Room sketch. I'm kidding, but Horatio seriously seems like hes high sometimes.
Grade: B

[WEEKEND UPDATE] with Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey
With: Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Jeff Richards, Chris Kattan.
While Update was quite good this week, it just seemed kinda of forgettable to me this week for some reason, I don't know, maybe it was just that it was much shorter than usual. But they still managed to get alot of solid jokes in despite the shortened time. I really liked Jimmy's joke about the fastest rollercoaster opening in Japan that only 8 people were tall enough to ride on. Other good ones included the jokes about the "IT", Siegfried and Roy, and the White House tree search engine results. Damn, when Jimmy introduced Jeff's character "Drunk Girl" I was hoping it would be Amy's hilarious character that she did many times on UCB with a similar name (Drunk Lady) but no such luck. I'm all for seeing Jeff get more airtime, but his character wasn't all that funny, it seemed like something that would have worked much better in a sketch. Though I do give him credit for his dead on impression of many drunken moronic girls, his delivery and facial expressions were good too, but the lines just weren't that funny. Another thing I wanted to mention was that the dress rehearsal clips they show on NBC about an hour before the show briefly played a clip of Will Ferrell on WU as Harry Carey, too bad that was cut, I always enjoyed when he did that.
Grade: B

[SKETCH] Hello Dolly
With: Ana Gasteyer, Hugh Jackman.
Really not one of my favorites sketches, the first few were good, but after a while it became quite clear that each one would basically have the same joke and wear alittle thin after awhile; which is probably why they only seem to do this sketch once a year. The dolls are always amusing though, and this time they even seemed more amusing than the actual sketch. I'm always amazed that someone actually extended the effort to make all those goofy dolls for what it is basically a 3-4 minute sketch. Pretty so-so, and I still think the first one done with Kelsey Grammar was the best.
Grade: C

[SKETCH] Jagger Consults Mirror for Advise
With: Mick Jagger, Jimmy Fallon.
Wow, why was this in the show so late? Fallon did a good job here and you can tell Mick was even amused by the impression. Pretty accurate, but I still think Myers did a much better Jagger, Fallon even seemed to be using some of Myers' old mannerisms in this sketch. But really, this was a great bit, but the likeness to Myers' impression was just a bit too obvious. Other than that, it was pretty damn good.
Grade: B+

[SKETCH] Superman
With: Hugh Jackman, Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch.
Pretty funny once it got moving along, alittle slow-paced but other than that it was quite funny. Superman's conversation with Will and Maya cracked me up, if only for the sheer inventiveness of the idea. Though the sketch kind of petered out by the end. Awkward pauses can be funny, but this sketch had way too many and relied on them to the extent of anything else. But other than being alittle overlong, it was quite good because the pacing was brisk enough. Rachel's part in the end seemed pretty pointless though.
Grade: B-

[SKETCH] Versace
With: Maya Rudolph, Hugh Jackman, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Fallon.
I'm glad Maya has a new recurring impression now. So far I like these sketches, Maya's got the fashion-oriented celebrity burnout impression down pat. And I liked how she constantly crossed her eyes when shouting this time, it added a very cartoonish feel to the impression. Fallon and Jackman also gave good performances, as did Jagger. Maya's reaction to Jagger throwing the hair dryer in the bathtub was quite funny too. Let's just hope they don't run this one into the ground.
Grade: B

[SKETCH] Christmas Kangaroo
With: Hugh Jackman, Will Ferrell, Seth Meyers, Rachel Dratch.
This was really funny for the last sketch of the night. Why did they save it for so late in the show anyway? They could have possibly been waiting for the kiddies to go to bed. The image of the guy in the Kangaroo outfit humping Will in front of those young kids was quite a funny image, although something like that is bound to scar those kids for life. All the bits with Ferrell taking more of a "liking" to the Kangaroo more and more each Christmas was also quite funny, especially how Will's outfit would became increasingly fruitier each Christmas. Hugh did a good job narrating the whole bit and was a good sport for doing it.
Grade: B+
Funny lines: "Now sure, all the Australian girls and boys may no longer get toys, at least they were from then on spared the horror of watching a giant marsupial taking their old man to brown town." -- Hugh Jackson

[OVERALL]
Very enjoyable show for the most part. Almost as good as the Goodman episode. I've been pleased with the increased number of original sketches we've gotten so far for most of this season. Not on par with some past episodes from this season, but it was still a good quality show, and Hugh was good, and saved alot of otherwise average sketches with his good performances.

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