SNL: Season 40 Ep. 12

Well, it was a good run while it lasted. Blake Shelton hosted this week, and lets just say.....it was rather bland. But just how poor of an episode was it? Lets check out the review.

The cold open was of course, Deflategate. It opened with Beck Bennett as Coach Belichick, who pulled off the "grumpy" persona well (however limited his time was). The majority of the time was focused on Taran Killam as Brady, who pulled him off well, displaying how innocent he tried to appear. However Kate McKinnon and Bobby Moynihan stole the sketch playing a reporter and equipment manager (respectively), shouting at each other for the truth. All in all, they could have done a lot more with this (and it certainly could have used more Belichick and Brady), but it was alright considering.

Blake Shelton's monologue turned into an episode of Hee-Haw, with cast members not sure what to do (turning it into a roast of Blake Shelton). Leslie Jones was great here, just displaying how uncomfortable she was with it all. This was one of the lone bright spots of the night. 

The first skit was a Bachelor parody, "Farm Hunk". This was used as a female ensemble skit. At first it started off slow, but as it kept going, a theme started to emerge (especially with Aidy Bryant)....but then it kept on going, and going, and going 

You get the picture. It was a decent concept, but it just lost its luster after a while.

Next up was one of the most bizarre segments I've seen on SNL (and SNL has had a lot of bizarre stuff over the years...even just this season). It was a country music video for "Wishing Boots". It was that kind of weirdness that faded in and out. It wasn't brilliant by any stretch, but it was humorous in its weirdness.

Should have known that we would see this style of skit this week, Family Feud: The Voice vs. American Idol. The only bright spot here was Kate McKinnon's Keith Urban impression. Everything else about this was just stale (especially the long intros of each guest). And a sidenote, why was Nicki Minaj (Zamata) and Steven Tyler (Mooney) featured? Could no one on the cast do a JLO, or Seacrest impression??

Finally we arrived to Weekend Update (which was extended, given how short it was last week). Colin Jost just seemed like he wasn't in it, just going through the motions. To be honest, I'm kind of done with him. Michael Che at least tried, and still has potential, especially with one guest in particular.

The first Update guest was Che's college friend, Riblet (Moynihan). He thought he could do his job better than Che, so he takes over for a bit. This kind of character is Moynihan at his best (mic drop included). 

Riblet

Pete Davidson made his return. He was supposed to talk about password safety...but went on about how he isn't gay despite his search history. Was it as good as his prior appearances? No, but still good none the less (especially this week considering the host). 

Pete Davidson

And finally we had Sasheer Zamata as Che's ex-girlfriend. It was another "meh" Update appearance for Zamata, although her back and forth with Che was pretty good (as was the reveal...her new boyfriend, Riblet).


The post Update skit was a Shawshank-style parole hearing featuring Kenan Thompson. The actual parole board (Shelton, Cecily Strong, Moynihan) was kind of hit and miss, Kenan really sold the heck out of this though. It turns out.....he's a cannibal, naive in thinking he's going to get released. If Kenan leaves after this season (which all signs point to yes), he's really going to be missed. He's had a steady, veteran presence this season.


Next was a local tv show skit, Topeka Today. It featured Taran as an old man, who wrote a song about his deceased wife, sung by, you guessed it, Blake Shelton (a singer playing a singer, what range). This was a good concept in thinking, but it was just bland. Blake just plodded along as each verse went more and more in depth (bashing the late wife).


The show oddly closed out (with about 5-6 minutes to spare), with a magic show skit (again, featuring Taran), being heckled by a guest (Blake). Blake wants to "get rich", and "make me go down on myself". This got annoying really quick, with Blake just repeating the same thing again and again.........and again.......

(hey, I only featured 3 segments, so got to get some other content up in this review, hahaha)

So that was that. I must admit, the cast did the best they could here, but Blake Shelton was just an incredibly poor host. At least with Chris Rock, it was poor content that he had to play up to. Blake often faded into the background (and for good measure, as he wasn't able to deliver in starring skits). 

And being that Blake has a rivalry with Adam Levine....point Adam (in terms of hosting SNL).

Avg. Score: 6.60 (each segment was scored out of 10, and averaged, including the musical act).

Bill Hader - 8.06

Martin Freeman - 7.56

Kevin Hart - 7.51
Chris Pratt - 7.50

Woody Harrelson - 7.42

Amy Adams - 7.19
Sarah Silverman - 7.15

James Franco - 7.07

Jim Carrey - 7.01

Cameron Diaz - 6.81

Blake Shelton - 6.60

Chris Rock - 6.52