Yes, I'm getting back on track now; I've seen two live shows in a row. Plus,
I'm going to have this review sent in on Monday so I'll give myself a pat on
the back. My ultimate goal is to have a review in on Sunday, but it's tough
to do since I try to watch each sketch more than once (unless it's a really
bad sketch) and it takes me a couple hours to write a review. I love to
analyze and pick apart sketches, so that's why my reviews tend to be long. I
also try to be fair and unbiased. For instance, I love Jimmy Fallon like
crazy, but frankly, he's been blowin' chunks so far this year, so I won't
commend him for shoddy work. I should have written all this in my first
review, but now everyone who reads this will know how my reviews work. "Hi!"
to the two hands waving out there!

PRE-SHOW THOUGHTS

Hugh Jackman is another host this year that I'm completely unfamiliar with.
I have not seen "X-Men", so if that's the only high-profile production he's
been in, I don't feel so much like a dork. Thank goodness I know who Mick
Jagger is, even though I'm not very familiar with his or the Rolling Stones'
music. I know, I've lived a sheltered life, but he was before my time. The
only pre-show expectation was that I'd find Hugh Jackman to be a seasoned
70-something actor. I couldn't have been more wrong, haha.

COLD OPENING - BUSH INTERRUPTED

I've never noticed this in the past, but every opening skit this season has
been politically-based, or more specifically, based on the war on terrorism
in some way. I forget if this is the norm in past seasons, too. I would
love to see a cold opening about something else for a change, but the
political humor does draw in viewers who might otherwise be watching the real
Hardball or The Capital Gang. What I found very cool here was that the bulk
of this sketch focused on the election issue of 2000. I remember how
annoying that got last season, but it's almost refreshing seeing it brought
up again more than a year later. It was a clever idea to bring Gore into the
picture and have him practically begging George to give him a chance to be
like him. I was trying to figure out what portion of this sketch was taped.
I thought the action going on in the meeting was live, but now I believe that
was taped because I doubt the "Live From New York..." that Darrel delivered
would be taped.

Grade: B

MONOLOGUE - HUGH JACKMAN SINGS

This week's monologue is a 180 from last week's. Derek Jeter hitting foul
balls into the audience was hilarious and kind of crude, but seeing Hugh (who
is not near 70) sing Christmas carols was heartwarming and sentimental.
Tracy got his five seconds of time and he said "hilarious"(I love the way he
says that). I was convinced Hugh was lip synching at first, until he
actually said, "It's genuine". What is this guy doing wasting his time
acting? He's got an incredible voice that's hard to find these days. Amy
looked uncomfortable doing backup harmony, as would I if I were in her shoes.
Tina, where were you? She would have fit nicely into this since she has a
nice voice and I think she sang backup for Christopher Walken last season.
It was good overall.

Grade: B-

COMMERCIAL - LOOSE BEAR

This new (yes, new!) commercial is tied with the EPT one as my favorites of
the year, and probably last year, too. Very creative and hilarious. I loved
how Ana said she hadn't "gone" for weeks; I think she would died of toxic
shock by then.

Grade: A

SKETCH - JARRET'S ROOM

These sketches are really growing on me now; they seem to get funnier with
each new one. Horatio is fantastic as Gobi, who creeps me out. The guy is
more messed up than anyone I encountered in college, but hey, anyone would be
after smoking plastic mistletoe. I laughed throughout this sketch more than
I did the rest of the show altogether. Everything from Johnathan Feinstein's
cheesy "Grandma Got Runover By A Reindeer" mix, to Jeff sniffing his (Gobi's)
tighty-whities, to Hugh playing the part of Stanley, the stereotypical geek.
A couple mishaps I caught were Jimmy losing the keyboard for a moment and, of
course, Jimmy laughing. Luckily, this is the type of skit in which he can
get away with laughing uncontrollably, so it wasn't a problem here. It was
good to see Jeff making another appearance.

Grade: A+

SKETCH - ROBERT GOULET'S ALL HOLIDAY SPECIAL

Someone over at the SNL camp has a thing for this guy, I reckon. All I know
about him is that he does exist, I just found that out a few months ago, and
that he does indeed sing. Whoa, am I a genius or what! Okay, I have no clue
about this guy, so I didn't get this sketch or the one from last year where
he was singing with a bunch of rappers in a car. Both sketches included very
fake-looking animal statues, so maybe that's a Goulet trademark? The little
comedy sketch with Sherlock and Watson finding Monica Lewinsky's underwear
was the best part of the sketch. I wonder if the laughing was spontaneous or
planned. If it was spontaneous, I applaud Will and Darrel's improv skills.
Again, Hugh was able to display his vocal talent and outdo Robert. Not a bad
sketch considering I don't have any knowledge of its source.

Grade: B-

SKETCH - FORMER DRUG ADDICT PHOTOGRAPHERS WORKING AT SEARS

Just the concept of this sketch was enough to bring back childhood memories I
don't mind so much anymore. My mom loved dragging my brothers and I to the
old-fashioned Sears in suburban Cleveland to get our pictures taken whenever
she got one of those free 8x10 coupons in the Sunday paper. The only thing
that didn't work for me with this sketch was the former French "Vogue"
photographers. Their techniques, especially them taking grandma (Rachel) out
of the picture and making Chris put his hands over his face, were hilarious.
Besides that, I didn't find the two very funny. The twin boys did an
excellent job of not overacting or looking at the camera. I kind of cringe a
bit when I see kids on the show, but these two handled it well. I liked how
the photographers ended up putting a fake mom, dad and grandma into the final
print. Best quote was from Rachel: "Should I also take off my sweater?" to
which the photographers yelled, "Nooo!"

Grade: A-

MUSICAL GUEST - MICK JAGGER

Since I'd rather not make a fool of myself, I'll refrain from posting any
comments about Mick or his music. I think I'll just stay far away from this
one.

Grade: N/A

WEEKLY UPDATE

It had to happen sometime I guess. This is probably the weakest update of
the season and even though it's still my favorite part of the show, I won't
be able to give it an "A". Why, oh why, god!? Okay, I'm done. Honestly, it
wasn't a bad update at all, but it was rather short and it only had one
guest, Jeff as a drunk woman. Why not just use a female cast member here? I
had to endure seeing three guys in drag last week. At least Jeff did a good
job with it and had the mannerisms about right. My favorite joke was the one
about the new, fastest roller coaster in Japan with only six people being
tall enough to ride it. I love Japan, but that was so funny.

Grade: B-

SKETCH - HELLO DOLLY

I've never been a big fan of these, but I like how they poke fun at those
creepy doll show hosts. Tonight's was funny and disturbing at the same time,
which isn't exactly good, but it didn't completely turn me off. Vincent's
line about wanting a woman between 1-25 [years old] was odd. All the humor I
found here was in the dolls themselves, especially the last one called "Just
Discoverin'". Ain't that the truth about little boys, haha!

Grade: C

SKETCH - MICK AND HIS REFLECTION

Again, I'd rather stay far away from this because all the humor was based off
of Mick's stage actions which I know nothing about. Jimmy has redeemed
himself by going back to what made him a hit on SNL - his great impressions.
Naturally, he laughed out of character a bit, but what can you do about that.
Mick did a fine job here, too. Too bad I couldn't really get the
references; I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more.

Grade: C+

SKETCH - SUPERMAN "FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE"

All I gotta say about this is WTF? I have no clue what the problem was with
this sketch, but Hugh really blew it. It ticks me off how successful actors
make it in the biz without knowing a damn thing about improvisation. Was he
going off of memory and forgot, or did the cue card man go over on his break
time. Thank goodness Will has a clue of what to do in these situations. I
liked how he turned the whole thing over to Maya as it was floundering. I'll
give Will and Maya some credit here, even though the whole tanked. And
Rachel got to play a grandmother again, so that was cool.

Grade: D+

MUSICAL GUEST - MICK JAGGER

Another thing I couldn't enjoy.

Grade: N/A

SKETCH - DONATELLA VERSACE SHOW

I really liked this sketch in the premier, but it sucked this time. This was
a nice idea the first time around, but there's not enough substance to turn
this into a recurring bit. I only laughed whenever Maya's eyes crossed when
she was yelling. Another funny thing to see was Jimmy playing the part of
the effeminate fashion designer which is the type of role Chris would play
most of the time. Nice job, Jimmy; I take back the comment about you blowin'
chunks this season now. Mick makes another cameo which I could care less
about.

Grade: D

SKETCH - AUSTRALIAN CHRISTMAS KANGAROO

I'm at a loss for words on how to describe what I felt about this one. It
was funny, yet extremely disgusting at the same time. The audience got a big
kick out of it, so that's all that matters. I liked seeing the age
progression of the characters and how Sean ultimately kicked the kangaroo's
derriere in the end. I don't find beastiality very humorous, but I did find
a few laughs here.

Grade : C

POST-SHOW THOUGHTS

This week's show seemed empty to me, whereas last week's was full of great
stuff. It's probably because 1/3 or 1/4 of the show was dedicated to Mick
Jagger. I was so glad that another installment of "The Big Thick Novel" (I
will NEVER get that name committed to memory) wasn't included in this show.
It's a time-waster at best. Hugh was an average host, nothing special except
his singing voice. His best sketch was "Jarret's Room" and his worst...well,
it's kind of obvious. Note to writers: Please dump the Donatella Versace
bit. It was great the first time, don't ruin it any further. My Male Player
of the Night award goes to Jimmy who acquitted himself well on tonight's
show. The Female Player of the Night award is a tough one since they all did
a fine job. It's a toss-up between Rachel and Ana. Hopefully, next week's
show will fill the gap I felt in this one. Signing off 'til next week!

Show's Overall Grade: B-/C+

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