Elton John ... Eric Sandrews Taran Killam ... Dale Eberheart Nasim Pedrad ... Vanessa Anne Hudgens
Nasim's impression is just filler as Taran plays the gay man against Elton John. Definitely amusing. What do you think?
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Sketch - Knights of the Realm
Elton John Tom Hanks ... Michael Caine Fred Armisen ... Ringo Starr Paul Brittain ... Barnaby Xavier St. Hidgens III Bill Hader ... Richard Branson Taran Killam ... Ian McKellen Seth Meyers ... announcer (voice) Bobby Moynihan ... shopkeeper Andy Samberg ... Bono Kenan Thompson ... Sir Mix-A-Lot Kristen Wiig ... Diedre
When a dragon attacks London, England's most recognizable knights devise a plan to stop it.
Taran also appears as Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Amusing behavior, but not overly funny.
Paul is also on briefly as a British anchorman.
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Overall
1. Taran Killam - Playing a gay lead opposite Elton John and acting like Gandalf will get Taran the top spot this week. Taran was also a butler in the Royal Engagement and a cowboy, totaling four skits.
2. Nasim Pedrad - Nasim was in the Lawrence Welk cold open and appeared as Vanessa Hudgins in Silver Screen. Not huge roles, but they were good enough to land her the #2 featured player spot this week.
3. Paul Brittain - Paul only played a British news anchor in Knights of the Realm. He barely tops Vanessa this week.
4. Vanessa Bayer - Vanessa was only in the Lawrence Welk cold open. And she got that role cuz there's only four women on SNL this week, and the gag is that Dooneese has 3 sisters (who have never been the same 3 people, by the way).
5. Jay Pharoah - Jay wasn't on this week. However, judging from this tweet earlier this week, Jay is still on the show:
Impressions that I want to get on @nbcsnl Richard Pryor,Tupac,Nick Cage,Idris Elba,Danny Glover, Black Charlie Sheen(wait that's a Character
Miley Cyrus ... Justin Bieber Vanessa Bayer ... Miley Cyrus Taran Killam ... Bebop Jason Sudeikis ... Billy Ray Cyrus
Miley does her best Charlie Sheen impression and welcomes Justin Bieber to her show.
I don't know. It's hard to see Miley as a boy. Especially with makeup on. =^)
So the weird thing here is I guess Miley is supposed to be Justin and slipping into herself as Miley being frustrated with Vanessa's impression of Miley or slipping into saying "Pretty Cool" as if Miley actually says that (which she started to start say in real life after she saw Vanessa's impression). Hmmmm. It didn't work very well. I would have preferred it if Miley just tried to stick with a Justin Bieber impression.
So what do you do when a host (or guest) comes on when someone on the show is doing an impression of them? That question has come up a lot on SNL. For Robert Deniro and Joe Pesci, it meant Joe Pesci beating Jim Breur with a baseball bat (while Jim was playing Joe on his Joe Pesci Show).
For Dave Matthews, it meant Dave playing Ozzy Osbourne while Bill Hader played him on Andy Samberg's Mello Show (where Andy plays Jack Johnson). For Sarah Palin, it meant Tina Fey hears that Sarah's coming, and she runs away as Sarah walks up. For Hilary Clinton, it means that Amy Poehler is doing her Hilary Clinton impression in front of Hilary Clinton as they talk candidly about Hilary (definitely the most entertaining).
Overall, this was a good episode of the Miley Cyrus Show, which was starting to get a little old, mostly because they've done it four times this season now (that's crazy). I think Vanessa knows it's the best thing she's got, and it's a fast way to get accepted by the audience. So it's actually pretty smart of her to do it as much as she can, but she needs to be consistently funny in other roles too.
Show - Our Time!
Miley Cyrus ... Fergie Abby Elliott ... Khloé Kardashian Jay Pharoah ... Will.i.am Jay Pharoah ... announcer (voice) Andy Samberg ... Taboo Kenan Thompson ... apl.de.ap
You've seen those other two guys from the Black Eyed Peas, and now they have their own show.
Hahahaha. These are new impressions. Kenan's first time as apl.de.ap, but Finesse Mitchell did him once. Andy's first time as Taboo, but Jon Heder played him once on SNL. Jay Pharoah's first time as Will.i.am, but Kenan played him once. And Amy Poehler played Fergie last time (it was on 10/8/05).
Abby has done Khloe 4 times now, but this is the first time without her sisters. I think Abby can definitely hold her own without the Kardashian sisters.
I didn't find Jay's dancing particularly funny. At one point, Jay said something random and the audience laughed. He should have said something random each time before he left.
OVERALL
1. Vanessa Bayer - Vanessa takes the Featured Player cake, with her Miley Cyrus impression (yet again). Having the real Miley Cyrus helps, of course. Vanessa also supported in three other skits.
2. Taran Killam - Taran Killam was in seven skits, but none were terribly amazing. He just had a few funny moments. However, he played Francois for the second time (they need to make that into a video clip).
3. Paul Brittain - Paul was in four skits. His piano player on the cruise ship had an amusing joke. He also got to play Marius in the French skit (for the second time).
4. Jay Pharoah - Jay was only in one skit, playing the voice and Will.i.am in Our Time. His dancing and looks weren't overly funny. He made the audience laugh once, though.
5. . Nasim Pedrad - Nasim supported in four skits, including playing the Witch in Beastly.
Taran Killam rocks Eminem. Jay supports well as Lil Wayne. Vanessa tries in Livin Single (and doesn't too well), Nasim supports decently well, and Paul plays bit roles.
Weekend Update Taran Killam ... Eminem Jay Pharoah ... Lil Wayne
Rap icons Lil' Wayne and Eminem stop by Weekend Update to drop their edgy Valentine's Day song.
Hahahaha! Taran kills as Eminem! Listen to the audience! The audience loves his impression, and it's obvious why. He sounds like a great parody of Eminem and the gag comes across clear. Let's see more of his Eminem!
Sketch - Royal Taster Russell Brand ... King Reginald Bill Hader ... chef Taran Killam ... taster Michael Patrick O'Brien ... servant Kristen Wiig ... narrator (voice)
It's not easy to taste all of a king's food for poison when the royal figure is a volatile person.
Taran is cute as the scared taste tester.
Show - Livin' Single Russell Brand ... Damian Cryer Vanessa Bayer ... Dina D'Angelo Abby Elliott ... audience member Taran Killam ... DJ Terry Kristen Wiig ... audience member
Super single host Dina DeAngelos gets extra friendly with her guest much to the dismay of her friend, DJ Terry.
Is Vanessa funny? Hmm. In her Miley Cyrus skit, but I don't really think so in this one. Taran can't help, but Brand saves her a little.
OVERALL: Here is our rank of how well I think they did overall...
1. Taran Killam - His Eminem was hilarious. The audience was dying whenever he opened his mouth, and it got to where they were laughing just when they looked at him nodding and staring stone faced. He also was in 5 other skits that night, the most of any cast member. He played a pretty good straight man as the concerned taste tester for the king. But he couldn't save Vanessa's Livin Single skit (luckily Brand saved it from being completely painful).
I think this is a huge step for Taran. This will hopefully prove that he should come back next year. Now it's a question of whether or not he can leverage this and deliver more funny. An easy way to do that is to bring this impression back the way Jay has brought his Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, and Denzel Washington back (and in different ways, each time).
2.Jay Pharoah - He played an amusing Lil Wayne, opposite Taran's Eminem on Weekend Update. Jay tweeted that Taran's Eminem really showed up his Wayne impression, but he promised to get them next time. Jay also supported in the Spider-man lawsuit commercial. Another Spider-man musical joke? Don't they have movies or other events to make fun of? Why does SNL have to be about current events?
I still think Jay should follow up his Denzel Washington skit with a sequel where Denzel is driving a taxi cab to prepare for a movie.
3. Nasim Pedrad - Sure Nasim didn't lead in any skits, but she was funny supporting in Bill Hader's English movie trailer, so I give her the edge over Vanessa, who starred in her own skit but still had less laughs than Nasim. Nasim supported in three skits this episode.
4. Vanessa Bayer - Vanessa starred in the Livin Single skit and she supported in the Spider-man commercial (a lot of the cast did). She wasn't overly funny, but at least she was featured on this show, which is more than we can say about...
5. Paul Brittain - Paul supports in two skits. Unfortunately nothing funny came from him this episode. After his James Franco impression, we're hoping he can keep proving himself. I still think there's a chance that he might not be back next season.
To start us off, Jay Pharoah pulls out an impression that's better than those from Fred Armisen, Dana Carvey, and Bill Hader (which begins to show where Jay is headed as the future star of SNL).
Dana Carvey ... Mickey Rooney Fred Armisen ... Ice-T Paul Brittain ... caller Abby Elliott ... Anna Faris Bill Hader ... Alan Alda Steve Higgins ... announcer (voice) Taran Killam ... caller Nasim Pedrad ... caller Jay Pharoah ... Eddie Murphy Kenan Thompson ... caller Kristen Wiig ... caller
A new VH1 show features celebrities who answer calls for a teen crisis line and attempt to offer help.
Hahahaha. The crew take turns slamming their impressions in. Billy's Alan Alda was #1 (maybe #2 behind Jon Hamm's Robin Williams) in the Back to the Future DVD gauntlet of impressions, but here Bill's Alda doesn't stack up to the humor of the others.
Likewise, Dana Carvey's Mickey Roony just isn't all that funny in comparison to these other impressions. Of course, Jay Pharoah's Murphy stands out the most.
Here's how I'd rank them (just in how entertaining they are): 1. Jay Pharoah - Eddie Murphy 2. Abby Elliott - Anna Farris 3. Fred Armisen - Ice T 4. Dana Carvey - Mickey Roony 5. Bill Hader - Alan Alda
Paul Brittain is James Franco
Oscar host and best actor nominee James Franco stops by to talk about the multitude of projects he's working on right now.
Hahahaha. Paul nails this James Franco impression. Hilarious! I love that bit at the end about the news. Honestly, this has to be my favorite "skit" from Paul Brittain yet.
Show - Church Chat
First up is Nasim Pedrad, who busts out Kim Kardashian (and sisters) to contront the Church Lady (interestingly, Nasim brought new life into her Kim impression when she brought in Abby and Vanessa to play her sisters).
Dana Carvey ... Church Lady Justin Bieber Vanessa Bayer ... Kourtney Kardashian Abby Elliott ... Khloé Kardashian Bill Hader ... Father Sabatino Phil Hartman ... announcer (voice) Bobby Moynihan ... Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi Nasim Pedrad ... Kim Kardashian Jason Sudeikis ... Jesus (voice)
The church lady welcomes the Kardashian sisters, Snooki and Justin Bieber, who has a profound effect on her.
Bonus that they used old Phil Hartman (who is deceased) recordings to announce Wayne's World and Church Chat.
Nasim Pedrad does her Kim Kardashian to perfection here again. Abby also gets one good joke in with, "I'm third."
Sketch - Sports Bar
Next up, Taran Killam is in a supporting role, but his dancing at the end shows up Fred Armisen and Dana Carvey.
Dana Carvey ... musician Fred Armisen ... musician Paul Brittain ... musician Bill Hader ... musician Taran Killam ... Patrick Bobby Moynihan ... patron Jason Sudeikis ... patron Kenan Thompson ... patron
It's Super Bowl weekend and 'The Fingerlings' annoy all the patrons of a Green Bay Packers bar with their song choice.
So Dana and Bobby are hilarious here, but the song itself isn't overly funny. This was obviously out of Fred's head. Fred actually came from the music industry before he was a comedian, so he finds ways to integrate his music into the show.
Taran Killam comes on at the end and outdances Dana Carvey. Wow Taran. You need to write yourself into the show so that people can see what you can do.
OVERALL:
So how would I rank the featured players this week?
1. Paul Brittain - I never thought Paul would make it to the top of one of my lists like this, but here he is. Paul's James Franco impression was hilarious, and he also had 3 supporting roles this week. That's enough to give him a slight edge over Jay Pharoah.
2. Jay Pharoah - With his Eddie Murphy impression and supporting roles in two commercials, Jay proves that he'll be the star of SNL a few years from now!
3. Nasim Pedrad - With her Kim Kardashian and Kelly Ripa, and 3 more supporting roles, Nasim proves that she's going to be bumped up to regular cast member next year.
4. Taran Killam - Dancing in the Sports Bar sketch, on Regis and Kelly, and another two supporting roles, I've got to give it to Taran for the awesome dancing!
5. Vanessa Bayer - Vanessa also had a good show with her Kourtney Kardashian, an amusing little girl beauty pageant model, and one more supporting role.
So Taran Killam was not in this episode of SNL. Did his skits get cut, did he have to be absent, or did he get an early axe? My guess is his skits got cut. Time will tell. He definitely didn't get fired, because he's been tweeting this week about how excited he is to work with Dana Carvey.
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NASIM PEDRAD
Show - Mr. Wizard's World
Jesse Eisenberg ... Chris Abby Elliott ... Lauren Bill Hader ... Don Herbert, Mr. Wizard Nasim Pedrad ... Claudette Kenan Thompson ... kid Kristen Wiig ... announcer (voice)
A science experiment gets risque when two of the students start experimenting on their own.
Hahahaha. Nasim is hilarious! Totally her skit here.
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JAY PHAROAH
Show - The Essentials: Bride of Blackenstein
Jesse Eisenberg ... Igor Nicki Minaj ... bride Bill Hader ... townsperson Steve Higgins ... announcer (voice) Jay Pharoah ... scientist Jason Sudeikis ... Robert Osborne Kenan Thompson ... Blackenstein Kristen Wiig ... townsperson
Everyone is familiar with 'Frankenstein' - but you probably never saw the tale of 'Bride of Blackenstein.'
Jay's pretty funny here as the scientist. Kristen's got a nice straight and flat joke.
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Here's how the featured players did...
1. Nasim Pedrad - 3 skits this week, including playing lead with Jesse in Mr. Wizard's World and being one of the sexy 12-year olds in Skins. 2. Jay Pharoah - only 1 skit this week, but it was as the mad scientist in Dr. Blackenstein. Funny enough to score him second place! 3. Paul Brittain - 2 skits. Paul was featured well in the Estro-Maxx commercial and as one of the Skins kids. 3. Vanessa Bayer - 2 skits. She just supported in Spa Talk and El Shrinko. 4. Taran Killam - He was absent. Likely that his skits got cut or nobody wrote him in.
Taran Killam swept up on 1/8/11, showing he's got some skills...
Robot skills (he outstages Jim Carrey at physical comedy, which is quite impressive):
He played an interesting fish character opposite Andy Samberg (kudos to Andy for helping push a featured player):
He and Paul play Bro-Botix in the "Worst of Soul Train" skit. What's really interesting is if you watch this, you'll see that Taran out performs Paul here. There's a good chance that if the writers see what Taran is capable of, they might make good use of him. Check it out:
And even in Black Swan, you can see him cause a good laugh by feeding Jim Carrey some bread crumbs:
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Nasim Pedrad did her fair share on 1/8/10. She was featured in the Black Swan sketch (mostly playing it straight and showing her genuine dance skills), and she played Ricky, having an amusing line in the Worst of Soul Train skit.
Jay Pharoah only had one role as Shooting Starr in the Soul Train skit. The writers really aren't using Jay well. He's mostly pitching himself every two weeks or so. That's what's keeping him busy.
January 8, 2011 (Jim Carrey) 1. Taran Killam plays Brad Pitt on Weekend Update. I think the audience mostly gave courtesy laughs here. Taran also supports in two small roles, totaling 4 skits. 2. Nasim Pedrad was featured in the Black Swan sketch (mostly playing it straight and showing her genuine dance skills), and she played Ricky, having an amusing line in the Worst of Soul Train skit. She played supporting roles in two other skits, totaling 4 skits. 3. Vanessa Bayer played straight roles in three skits. 4. Jay Pharoah does only Shooting Starr on Soul Train. 5. Paul Brittain does two supporting roles.
Taran takes the prize for best performance from a featured player this week. Hopefully this will help the writers see how valuable he could be to the show. Plus Taran really needs to go out there and turn in his own skits and materials (and sell writers on his stuff).
That one got me the best. Nasim had the best jokes here; obviously she put this together.
Since this is Nasim's second season as a featured player, she's most likely going to be promoted to repertory player next year (following a similar path of two years as a featured player that Abby and Bobby took--also done by Fred Armisen, Seth Meyers, Kenan Thompson, and Jason Sudeikis).
Nasim of course followed this skit up last week with a similar one. It's a good idea, since not only is it funny, but it also makes good use of her co-talent, and that's pretty easy to sell to the writers and producers.
A Holiday Message from The Kardashians
Kim, Kourtney and Khloe are wishing everyone happy holidays and share what they're thankful for.
The Christmas/Hanukkah/Quanza joke was hilarious! For those who don't know, the Kardashians like them some black men. =^)
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Sketch - Holiday Jam
Paul Rudd ... Mr. Griggs Jay Pharoah ... Daniel Frey Kenan Thompson ... Steve Kane
A school's "Holiday Jam" is riddled with announcements from the very breathy principal.
Next, two weeks ago, Jay brought us his first character to lead a skit. Kenan also had a nice interruption, but the crowd basically wanted to applaud after Jay's first interruption. So that's quite an accomplishment.
I think this character is very interesting, but he's not exactly going to cause much buzz. But kudos go to Jay for not relying only on his amazing impressions!
This was also Jay's only appearance that week. I like Jay's plan. He just tries to get a starring role in every other week (at the least) and then fills in when needed. That will keep him in the audience's mind as the season progresses. It will probably also get him promoted to repertory player next year.
Speaking of Jay, Denzel Washington praises him here...
This kind of publicity further helps Jay's chances of getting promoted for next season.
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Taran Killam led his first skit with a Brad Pitt impression on Weekend Update.
Brad Pitt talks about the recent cold weather blasting the Midwest.
Hmmm. Taran's mannerisms remind me of Brad, but what and how he says it just doesn't have the sting of other impressions. I think the audience would have preferred to see Abby rock her Angelina Jolie in a full skit instead. Sorry Taran, but this isn't as great as your Pee Wee Herman. You should have done Pee Wee as a weatherman. =^)
Taran's first Brad impression. Also portrayed by David Spade once. This is Abby's fourth appearance as Angelina Jolie, all four on Weekend Update. Molly Shannon also did Angelina twice and Kelly Ripa did her once, but Abby owns this impression. I don't see Taran's Brad Pitt achieving the same popularity.
There's a good chance that Taran won't return to SNL next season (at this current rate).
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The normal route is to be a featured player for two years. Cast members to pull off this trick (to go to repertory player after only one year as a featured player) were Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig (in 2006), Will Forte (2003), Amy Poehler (2002), Tina Fey (2001), Chris Parnell, Jimmy Fallon, and Horatio Sanz (1999), Chris Kattan (1996), Molly Shannon (1995), Norm MacDonald (1994), Chris Farley, Julia Sweeney, and Chris Rock (1991), Mike Meyers (1989), Kevin Nealon (1987).
Those unlucky enough to go three years as a featured player (I'm listing their year they graduated to repertory player) include Jay Mohr (1996; Jay was actually kept on the show as a featured player a third year, but he quit when learning that he wasn't graduating to repertory player), Tim Meadows, David Spade, and Adam Sandler (1993).
Cast members to have no years as a featured player (went right to repertory player) include Ana Gasteyer and Tracy Morgan (1996), Darrell Hammond, Cheri Oteri, Jim Breuer, and Will Ferrell (1995), Mark McKinney (he was in Kids in the Hall; 1994), Chris Elliott and Janeane Garofalo (1994), Michael McKean (1993), Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and Phil Hartman (1986), Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, and Dennis Miller (1985). (I won't go earlier than 1985 because that's when featured players were more likely just writers that Lorne put on camera a lot, and they were never meant to become repertory players.)
And that brings us back around to the list of who's doing the best of the current featured players. My overall list remains unchanged...
(1) Nasim Pedrad (2) Jay Pharoah (3) Vanessa Bayer (4) Paul Brittain (5) Taran Killam
It's looking that Nasim and Jay will graduate to repertory players next season, Vanessa will get a second season as a featured player, and Paul and Taran might get the axe. (Paul and Taran need to step it up!) The only reason why I give Paul the edge over Taran is that Paul has already said "Live from New York," he's filling important impressions (though not funny yet), and he has had one original character (Sex Ed). That's more than what Taran has done so far (although Taran did his Brad Pitt on SNL and his PeeWee Herman is hilarious).
Taran's only skit last week was a hilarious gay character's line in Meryl Streep on Ice (an otherwise dull commercial). Other than a hilarious bit as Pee Wee Herman in a Back to the Future DVD bit, Taran hasn't really even shown why he's on SNL. I know why he's on the show (his characters and impressions are great). However, he doesn't seem to be fighting to get his best impressions and characters out there the way that Jay Pharoah and Vanessa Bayer are (and the only thing that Vanessa has done well is Miley Cyrus).
So here's how the featured players stacked up lately, per episode...
November 13, 2010 (Scarlett Johansson): 1. Jay Pharoah does his second Denzel Washington in the Unstoppable trailer, and he does perfect impressions of Nick Cannon and Kanye West. 2. Vanessa Bayer does her Candace character on Millionaire Matchmaker, she does Laura Parsons the child star, and she does the senior cruise ship woman on Weekend Update. 3. Nasim Pedrad reprised her Japanese translator. 4. Taran Killam does Chris Pine in Unstoppable. 5. Paul Brittain does two supporting roles.
November 20, 2010 (Anne Hathaway) 1. Vanessa Bayer does Miley Cyrus and a small role. 2. Jay Pharoah does his Thanksgiving raps on Weekend Update. 3. Taran Killam does Tin Man and two small roles. 4. Nasim Pedrad does four small roles. 5. Paul Brittain does two supporting roles.
December 4, 2010 (Robert DeNiro) 1. Nasim Pedrad does Kim Kardashian on Weekend Update, Keith's mom Denise on Little Fockers, and four small roles. See the Kim Kardashian video above. 2. Vanessa Bayer does Kourtney Kardashian on Weekend Update, an unimpressive Hilary Clinton (it's hard to beat Amy Poehler), and two small roles. 3. Jay Pharoah does a non-speaking impression of Charles Latibeaudiere and one small role. 4. Taran Killam gets shot in a deer costume and does three other small roles. 5. Paul Brittain does five supporting roles.
December 11, 2010 (Paul Rudd) 1. Jay Pharoah does only the Principal Daniel Frey character (see that video above). His first original character to lead a skit, and the audience loves it! 2. Vanessa Bayer does the girlfriend Amanda in The Vogelchecks, Carolyn on What's That Name, and three small roles. 3. Nasim Pedrad does four small roles. 4. Paul Brittain does four supporting roles. 5. Taran Killam plays a funny gay man supporting in one role.
December 18, 2010 (Jeff Bridges) 1. Vanessa Bayer nails the Miley Cyrus show an amazing third time this season (three times in the first half of her first season on SNL?), supports Fred's Obama with her Hilary Clinton, supports Nasim's Kim Kardashian with her Kourtney Kardashian, and she helps open the Old West gift wrap sketch. 2. Nasim Pedrad brings us her most popular impression yet again, Kim Kardashian. She also gives us Lil Blaster again and another supporting role (Zuzu in Wonderful Life). 3. Taran Killam plays Brad Pitt on Weekend Update. I think the audience mostly gave courtesy laughs here. Taran also supports in two small roles. 4. Jay Pharoah does only MC George Castanza on Crunkmas Karnival. 5. Paul Brittain does three supporting roles.
Nasim might slip behind Jay in the overall ranking pretty soon here. In the last four weeks, her most memorable contribution was bringing back her Kim Kardashian impression twice that she did last year. Meanwhile, Jay gave us Denzel, raps, Kanye, and his principal Daniel Frey. Even Vanessa has shown more effort with Miley Cyrus, her hopeless online dater Candace, her child star Laura, Kourtney Kardashian, and Hilary Clinton. The only thing that's keeping Nasim higher is another year's worth of characters and impressions. So that will keep her higher than Vanessa on the overall list, but Jay's catching up!
Interestingly, this last episode (hosted by Scarlett Johansson) was mostly a stinker. Kristen tries a new character that doesn't go over well. A bunch of repeat skits that aren't original enough to be funny, a lot of the actors didn't seem to be hitting the marks on their jokes, and Vanessa led three bits.
In Stars of Tomorrow, Vanessa played a little girl actress who did adult roles. The skit came across as dry and a little too annoying to me:
Vanessa had a funny gag on the MTV commercial (and Jay did a good job with Nick Cannon):
This Weekend Update gag got me at the end (it wasn't funny until the end):
But I attribute the humor more to Seth and Fred than Vanessa (although she set them up well enough).
And Vanessa headlined this dating game show (but it also wasn't overly funny):
Oh my gawsh! No way! Do you guys see it??? This is Vanessa Bayer's way of getting back (by poking fun at herself and acknowledging what happened).
You see, Vanessa had her old online Dating video leaked a few weeks back, and it makes her look a little boring...
So... this skit starts out with a similar video and heads to the next step. Coincidence, or Vanessa "fighting back?"
Other bits that connect... She basically received a lot of hateful comments, including talking about her frizzy hair, so for this character she made the frizzy hair a lot more extreme. And then people asked who the heck would go for her from that video... and the answer in this skit is Taran's version of the same annoying and boring person (but in guy form).
Meanwhile, Jay does a fun Kanye impression:
But he really knocked it out of the park with his second take on his Denzel Washington impression:
I still want to see Jay bust out his Eddie Murphy on Weekend Update and feature his Will Smith in a skit a little better.
Jay is definitely the next Will Ferrell or Eddie Murphy. He is blowing the audience away with his impressions (Kanye, Nick Cannon in this episode was also genius, Denzel Washington was done a second time in this episode in a different way, Eddie Murphy, and Will Smith on Weekend Update in his first episode). Jay needs to continue to strike every other episode like he is, but he also needs to try out a character or two in between his impresions (Will Ferrell had his George Bush and Alex Trebek, but it was his characters that made him famous). Jay also did Chris Tucker on SNL once, but I missed that, and he's obviously poised to take over Obama from Fred, since he does a great Obama impression (next season is my guess).
Nasim needs to strike some more this season, but I feel like she's making a little progress already: 1st, she tried out Henry on episode 2 (Bryan Cranston) of this season (which I think flopped). 2nd, she did a great Gloria Allred during episode 3 (Jane Lynch). 3rd, on episode 4 (Emma Stone), she did her great Barbara Walters on The View and then blew me away as Morgan with her team up with Andy Samberg in "My Brother Knows Everything." In the last two episodes, she has mostly been stagnant (in this past episode 5 she followed up her hilarious Chinese translator from last season with a stangnant reincarnation). So I don't think she's been doing nothing this season (especially with the new and great Gloria Allred and My Brother Knows Best), but she defintely has a ways to go before she can match what she gave us last season (Mahmud's wife, Kim Kardashian multiple times, 2 Bedelia skits, the Chinese translator, and the girlfriend sketch with Andy and Taylor Swift).
So here's the Featured Player rank...
1. Nasim Pedrad - The Cold Opening wasn't much special, but she's got an extra year under her belt, and Gloria Allred and My Brother Knows Best were great steps in the right direction this season (but nothing the last two episodes).
2. Jay Pharoah - Jay will probably get bumped up to Regular Player next season. He's hitting hard every other episode, and it's leaving an impression. This episode, he was the MVP with Denzel Washington, Kanye West, and Nick Cannon (so the boring offerings from the other cast members only served to make Jay look better this episode). He still needs to bust out characters to win more people over though.
3. Vanessa Bayer - She mostly fell flat with her three leads this episode (the dating game bit, the child actress bit, and the cruise ship passenger--her part was stale), which makes me wonder about her talents. Her Miley Cyrus in episode 2 was amazing, but if she continues at the level that she was at during this episode, she might not be back next season. If she can put out material as great as the Miley Cyrus Show a few more times, she'll at least make it to her second season as a featured player (which is what Bobby, Abby, Nasim, and most successful players do; I think Adam Sandler was featured for 3 seasons before he won over the audience and graduated to regular player).
4. Paul Brittain - Paul has already said "Live From New York" and had the Sex Ed character. But Paul needs more impressions and characters quick. He hasn't done enough to warrant a second season yet. Paul has only led in 2 skits in 1 episode.
5. Taran Killam - Unfortunately that puts Taran in last place, even though he rocked our world with his Pee Wee Herman (Back to the Future DVD). Taran is filling in roles well, but he needs to headline some skits quick, or he won't come back next season. I'm a big Taran fan (from Scrubs and other efforts), and I think he can do great impressions and characters, but he needs to get in there and go big spon (and often).
And here is how I'd rank the Featured Players in this episode:
1. Jay Pharoah - Denzel Washington, Kanye West, and Nick Cannon. Jay was the night's MVP, even more so than Andy, Kristen, and the others.
2. Vanessa Bayer - Although her three attempts at leading mostly fell flat, she had a few good jokes like setting up the Cruise Ship joke (for Seth and Fred) and the cribs joke (on the MTV commercial). The episode was so bad that these little jokes still added up for more humor than the other featured players achieved.
3. Taran Killam - Dancing security guard on Manuel Ortiz, and he played Chris Pine opposite Jay's Denzel. I think being associated with Jay's Denzel gave him the boost in this episode, but it's not enough and he was still overshadowed by Jay's performance.
4. Nasim Pedrad - Her second go at the Chinese translator, and she was a girlfriend on the Manuel Ortiz show.
5. Paul Brittain - Just a little support this episode.
It's the fourth episode of the season, and Paul Brittain finally gets to lead a skit... he leads two skits and he gets to say the coveted, "Live from New York..." bit. I think it took Andy a few seasons to get in on that, and often it takes over 1 season to do that solo. So this is quite an accomplishment.
First, Paul was in the Cold Open, playing Harry Reid:
Fred Armisen ... Barack Obama Vanessa Bayer ... supporter Paul Brittain ... Harry Reid Jim Downey ... announcer (voice) Jay Pharoah ... supporter
Jim writes most of these political cold opens (makes sense that he's the announcer). I found it smile-worthy, but the joke didn't go anywhere, and the impressions weren't very funny on their own.
What do you think?
Near the end of the episode, Paul got to lead with his first original character:
Commercial - "Sex" Ed Vincent's Sex Symposium
Emma Stone ... girl Paul Brittain ... Ed Vincent Steve Higgins ... announcer (voice)
Sign up for the three day Sex Symposium to broaden your sexual horizon.
Wow. I think he finally had me near the end with Emma Stone's bit. This actually reminds me of the kind of stuff that Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey used to do.
It's hard to compete against the other SNL Featured Players, but here's how I think they're stacking up...
1. Nasim Pedrad... In this 4th episode, she follows up her Bedilia character (and great impressions like Kim Kardashian) with her Morgan and Erik characters in "My Brother Knows Everything" (teaming with Andy Samberg... any excuse to see more Andy is a great one). I think Nasim is going to graduate as a regular next season.
2. Jay Pharoah... Jay hit hard his very first episode this season with his amazing Will Smith impression. He followed it up in the third episode with his Denzel Washington. We need to see an original character, and I'm waiting for his Eddie Murphy (and he's being primed to take over Obama). If Jay can continue to lead a skit every two episodes, there's a good chance that he'll graduate as a regular next season. That would be only one season as a featured player, a trick that was last done in the 05-06 season by Kristen Wiig (less than a full season), Andy Samberg, and Bill Hader.
3. Vanessa Bayer... Vanessa strikes in her second episode with an amazing Miley Cyrus impression. Let's see what else she's got coming. Vanessa is definitely coming back next season, but at this rate she'll probably have two years as a featured player.
4. Paul Brittain... Paul finally strikes with a good impression, but it's not funny. Similarly, Paul had a good impression of Johnny Depp in the Miley Cyrus bit during the second season, but it also wasn't funny. Paul needs to up his game and make his impressions funny. The clencher that got Paul in the #4 spot is his Sex Ed original character. Not hilarious, but it's funny and original enough to bump him up. He still hasn't proven that he'll be back next season.
5. Taran Killam... Taran has lost no time in filling Will Forte's shoes and becoming a normal face in many skits. However, he has yet to headline a skit, and he isn't living up to his potential of his Scrub work. That said, his Michael Cera impression was spot on. He should lead a skit with that impression or one of his many other impressions and characters. Time is ticking, Taran. He still hasn't proven that he'll be back next season.
Based on this episode alone, I would stack it like this...
1. Nasim Pedrad (loved My Brother Knows Everything)
2. Paul Brittain (got to give him props for Sex Ed)
3. Taran Killam (great Michael Cera impression)
4. Tie to Vanessa Bayer and Jay Pharoah (5 appearances by Vanessa and 4 by Jay, but nothing noteworthy)
Jay's one skit this week, and he KNOCKS IT OUT OF THE PARK by busting out his Denzel impression.
Sketch - Returns & Exchanges
Jane Lynch ... customer Vanessa Bayer ... customer Bobby Moynihan ... employee Jay Pharoah ... Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington takes a job at a department store to prepare for his next role.
Jay Pharoah is amazing and Bobby supports him well!
I can see this as a recurring skit as Denzel does research in all sorts of jobs (like a taxi driver for example).
Also, Jay has gotten to headline two skits in his first three episodes, and he has busted out his perfect Denzel and Will Smith impressions. Next he's gotta bust out his Eddie Murphy impression. After that, he needs to come up with new impressions (he'll eventually take over Obama) and some original characters before he can be the next Eddie Murphy. So far Eddie's the only #1 breakout black SNL star (SNL has always had black stars, but he was the only one to break out like that).
Also, this clearly puts Jay into the second MVP spot for Featured Players. I think it currently stands...
(1) Nasim Pedrad - only because she's had a full season on Jay and has a few characters (like Bedelia) in addition to impressions like Kim Kardashian.
(2) Jay Pharoah - perfect Will Smith and Denzel Washington.
(3) Vanessa Bayer - perfect Miley Cyrus.
(4) Taran Killam - nothing yet, but he's filling in Will Forte's roles as the every-man. Taran needs a reason to come back next season. I'm a little disappointed that he hasn't headlined anything yet (especially after his hilarious gags and impressions in Scrubs), but we'll see.
(5) Paul Brittain - nothing that would bring him back next season.
Bryan Cranston ... Billy Ray Cyrus Vanessa Bayer ... Miley Cyrus Paul Brittain ... Johnny Depp Bobby Moynihan ... drummer Andy Samberg ... actor
On the first episode of Miley's new show, Johnny Depp drops by.
So we get to see here why Vanessa Bayer got picked up for the show (meaning that this was probably in her audition). Andy helps support her gags. Not impressed with Paul's Depp, even though he actually did a decent job. His Depp impression just wasn't funny, even if it was accurate.
Did you like this Miley Show? I'm curious to see what else Vanessa has up her sleeves. I wonder if she has any interesting characters.
So far, two different actresses have portrayed Hoda Kotb opposite Kristen Wiig as Kathie Lee on Saturday Night Live. Both of those actresses were given the axe after one year on the show. So, in what was an usual turn of events for the 17th hour of The Today Show, Kathie Lee posed an insightful question:
Is there a "Hoda Curse" on the show?
Hmm. We think it's certainly possible, but maybe if the next actress commits more to the role, they'll stay around longer. We suggest three bottles of Stoli before rehearsals and an extra one for right before show time. That should get whoever it is into character right quick!
And for those of you still reading. Here is her famous SNL F-bomb:
And Seth hugged her at the closing of the show, to show that he and the SNL leadership forgave her for that slip:
We wish you well, Jenny Slate.
You can probably tell that Gabe and Jenny are hilarious together. So naturally SNL thought they could leverage Jenny's talents. But I think she needs to do things with Gabe in order to really shine. So they didn't find the right pitches and sell them the way Kristen has been able to.
Jenny, I hope you find something else to make use of your talents.
So I see the theme in Paul's humor here: violence and pure meanness. I think there's definitely a value there, espeically since David Spade's snarky, mean attitude was so valuable to SNL and helped him launch a TV sitcom and movie career.
What do you think of Paul? Do you think he will make it and stick around?
We called it, but it was painfully obvious... Jenny Slate didn't prove her value to the show, and according to this article, she's out.
We'll miss her funny commercials, but really? That's it? Bobby, Nasim, and Abby have been busting out the impressions and characters and Jenny just wasn't keeping up and staying competitive. Yes, it is a competion; because they're only showing so many skits, so the players need killer material to get their air time, because the writers are going to concentrate on the known elements and bits that they know the players can do. Here's the article...
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Jenny Slate, who recently completed her first season at “Saturday Night Live,” will not be returning to the show.
“Saturday Night Live” has finalized its cast for the coming 36th season of the NBC late-night sketch series, hiring four new featured players while dropping a performer who was added to its ensemble last year. The information was provided by a person with firsthand knowledge of planning at “Saturday Night Live” but who was not given permission by NBC to speak on the matter.
Jenny Slate, who finished her freshman year at “Saturday Night Live” in the spring, will not have her contract picked up for a second season, the source said. Ms. Slate, a veteran of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, had a bit of a trial by fire at “S.N.L.” when she accidentally used an obscene word during the first episode of the 2009 season. But after settling in at the show, Ms. Slate went on to portray quirky characters like the television pitchwoman Tina-Tina Chaneuse. She also appears in the HBO comedy “Bored to Death,” and recently had a hit viral video with “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” a stop-motion animated short that she wrote with its director, Dean Fleischer-Camp, and for which she provided the voice of the title character.
This is interesting, because essentially Nasim and Abby get the blessing, and Vanessa Bayer replaces Jenny. With females getting let go two years in a row now, Vanessa has to hit the ground running.
We found this one, but thanks also to Becca for mentioning it!
For a little while now, Kenan Thompson has been the only African American SNL cast member, but it looks like that may not be true for much longer. The Comic’s Comic, a blog dedicated to everything related to stand-up/sketch comedy (and the site who actually appears to have broken the news of the previous new cast additions), says Jay Pharoah, a young stand-up comedian from Virginia’s Tidewater, may be joining the cast. Aside from the increase in racial diversity, even more exciting is the fact that Pharoah may bring a new take on President Barack Obama to the table. Though Fred Armisen has done a decent job with the impersonation, he can only do so much with a man who doesn’t really have many outstanding mannerisms or speech characteristics to embellish.
Apparently Pharoah’s casting is pretty much a done deal. (Let’s hope so after being flown to NYC twice for screen tests and meetings with Lorne Michaels.) So this coming season will bring a whole slew of new talent. Below you can check out Pharoah’s comedic stylings, including quite an array of impressions — Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Denzel Washington, Barack Obama, Katt Williams and literally dozens more.
Jay does Denzel Washington and Will Smith complaining about each other (documentary style):
Jay does Eddie Murphy and Charlie Murphy complaining about each other:
Jay's standup (he strings together his impressions):
Good Smoegel impression. Check out his Barack Obama at 3:18. Fred has just been replaced.
I think the coolest thing about his impressions is that the dude plays himself so loose and goofy that he literally transforms into a character. I haven't seen someone do that so well since Andy Kaufman.
It seems that those writers SNL hired were performers who might not have made the cut to perform on SNL (maybe they auditioned or Lorne just liked their material). However, SNL still offered them jobs as writers, and, because they have common sense, they took the gigs. That said, in the rounds that Lorne and Kristen Wiig have been making (and probably others), SNL did select three new performers to replace Will Forte. More of my opinions after the news story...
Three comedians — Paul Brittain, Vanessa Bayer, and Taran Killam — are rumored to join the cast of Saturday Night Live for its 36th season.
According to The Comic’s Comic, Brittain is a Chicago-based improviser and sketch comedian, Bayer is a Cleveland native who also performs throughout Chicago, and Killam has been on-air with MADtv and Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out.
FYI: Yesterday, it was announced that Will Forte decided to call it quits after eight seasons on SNL.
Here are video clips of Bayer and Killam…
Vanessa Bayer: Blue Shield of California Commercial
Thanks to Rishabh for the scoop! You can check out Rishabh's Adventures of Billy the Worm blog here: http://billyworm.blogspot.com/
So Killam is more of a progressive step, since he's already been doing his comedy on TV for awhile (similar to how Amy Poehler and Kenan Thompson both were doing comedy on other shows before SNL). (I'm actually surprised Killam would take this gig, because he would probably be offered his own sitcom otherwise.) And Bayer and Brittain are more of the "finds." So we'll continue to check these three out and let you know what we think.
Brittain and Bayer were both confirmed through their improv organization, the Improv Olympics. Taran has not yet been confirmed through a direct source (SNL, The Groundlings, or Killam).
If you find more videos of these three in action, send them our way!
