This week saw Nicki Minaj and James Franco.....I put it that way because in the pair of sketches Nicki was in, she had more of a presence than Franco did. But overall, this was another consistent show.
The cold open saw Politics Nation w/ Al Sharpton (Kenan Thompson). It looked like it was going to get into Eric Garner and Ferguson...but it was still just mainly about the Al Sharpton impression. As a cold open, it was just fine, nothing special.
The monologue was really brief this week. Seth Rogen joined Franco, and they went on about the "Sony" hack, with "leaked pictures and e-mails of their own". Again, this was fine, but not memorable (despite Seth Rogen in his underwear, which, well, is kind of a common occurrence).
The first skit was about "Peter Pan Live!" which occurred this past Thursday. In place of Tinkerbell, they brought in Aidy Bryant's "Tonkerbell", which is a fun character, but gets old pretty fast. Cecily Strong did a good job as Peter Pan, really trying to point out that she's a "boy". Overall, as was the case for much of the 1st half of this week, it was just fine. They missed out on that weird/psychedelic crocodile. That would have made for a good sketch.
You knew it was coming, a Star Wars parody trailer. It mainly hit on how old the original cast is now (Franco as Old Luke Skywalker oddly kind of looked like Cristoph Waltz). It may have been simple, but it had its moments, like Bobby Moynihan as Princess Leia trying to work R2D2, and the end with "Salacious Crumb" zipping around in a wheel-chair.
Next up was "MTV Jingle Ballerz", basically a nativity scene featuring singers/rappers. It was an ensemble sketch with a lot of impressions (which can get old quick), but this one worked. The "Three Wise Men" were great, featuring Eminem (Taran Killam), Riff Raff (Franco), and Rick Ross (Kenan). Nicki Minaj also appeared as Beyonce. The best for last, though, was Kanye West "Yeezus" (Jay Pharoah).
A "Mike O'Brien" short was next. Yes, that Mike O'Brien. if you blinked last year, you may have missed him, but it was good to see him getting credit. The short was titled "Grow A Guy", and was pretty brilliant. Basically, O'Brien was getting mocked by his "friends" (mainly Beck Bennett as the main bully), so he creates James Franco. It all comes together in the end, and it truly was brilliant.
The next sketch seemed to be just a cheap "Oh look, 2 guys kissing, ha ha, laughs" sketch. It was about a troll (Franco) and a couple (Kyle Mooney/Bryant) trying to cross a bridge. Cecily Strong played some odd character tagging along with the troll. This was just horrendously bad.
Weekend Update was at its finest this week. It opened up with a real take on Eric Garner and Ferguson. Colin Jost really opened up and was at his finest throughout this week's update. Michael Che has kind of plateaued it seems, so its up in the air whether this pair will work in the long run. The jokes were really solid (especially Che on online girl scout cookies).
Update Part 1
The second-hand news man (Moynihan) returned, and he was pretty good as usual. Probably blasphemous, but I kind of like this character better than Drunk Uncle. He's just so wacky and out there.
2nd hand news man
Once more, Leslie Jones "Relationship Expert" came back. Leslie always hits this out of the park. She has a lot of chemistry with Jost (kind of like what Stefon had with Seth Meyers)
Leslie Jones
Nicki Minaj again made an appearance (this time for Update), as Kim Kardashian explaining her photos for "Paper" Magazine. It was kind of "meh", and didn't really go anywhere.
On deck was a pretty odd "pop culture" sketch, but it really worked. Its main plot was that this young guy (Pete Davidson) needed to clear his brain for a new password, so James Franco acting as the director of it set out to clear out random pop culture references (like Savage Garden, or Billy Zane from "Titanic"). Nicki Minaj appeared as an "Anaconda" music video memory, and she wasn't going away. (video unavailable)
Next was a mayoral recall ad, where Franco played a former mayor who was voted out of office by a kid. It was sort of juvenile (with Franco's rant), but more or less it was amusing (Sidenote: My mayor should enjoy "Frozen", sorry Franco).
Finally, the former "porn stars" returned (Vanessa Bayer/Strong). This time, they were pitching "Sunseeker Yachts". The way they kept on mispronouncing "yacht" was amusing enough for this last sketch. James Franco and Seth Rogen came in later on. The innuendos...aren't really innuendos for this sketch anymore, but it still works (considering it was the first time its appeared this season).
This was kind of an odd show overall. It had a lot of great elements, but it didn't really connect. As I mentioned in the beginning, James Franco was kind of overshadowed by Nicki Minaj (who would make a fine host sometime). Franco really needed that political ad sketch as a showcase. Altogether, it was a solid show, though the 2nd half out-shined the 1st.
Avg. Score: 7.07 (each segment was scored out of 10, and averaged, including the musical act).
Bill Hader - 8.06
Chris Pratt - 7.50
Chris Pratt - 7.50
Woody Harrelson - 7.42
Sarah Silverman - 7.15
Sarah Silverman - 7.15
James Franco - 7.07
Jim Carrey - 7.01
Cameron Diaz - 6.81
Chris Rock - 6.52
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