SNL kept its post SNL 40 special run with Chris Hemsworth and the Zac Brown Band, but was it a better effort than Dakota Johnson last week? Lets get to the review
The cold open saw Kate McKinnon nab the role as Hillary Clinton, as she talked about her personal e-mails and her aspiration for the presidency. Now, while Amy Poehler was pretty good as Hillary, it didn't really feel like a true impersonation. I always found that her voice was all over the place. In Comparison, McKinnon was pretty spot on here, and it will just be even more refined as the 2016 election heats up in the coming year.
The monologue saw Hemsworth bring up his other 2 brothers (I never knew there was a 3rd brother), along with his "adopted" 4th brother....Kenan Thompson. From here, it followed to a typical Q&A audience bit. It was nice seeing Chris bring along his brothers, but all in all these types of monologues are just plain and boring.
Following was an American Express ad parody featuring Hemsworth of course. Hemsworth states that it took him "days" to get work in Hollywood, and that he looked too much like Thor. It was amusing, if not a little predictable, playing off of his looks.
The first skit was about a fake Disney show "brother to brother" starring Taran Killam and Hemsworth as brothers. The premise was that Killam was going to try and take a test as Hemsworth. At first this skit looked like it was going to be a dud, but it picked up as the teacher (Cecily Strong) points out all of the ways that Killam looks nothing like his "brother". Strong and Killam really sold this (along with Aidy Bryant as a student who chimed in as well, talking about Hemsworth's 'back-side' so to speak). I'll admit, I was worried that every other skit from here on out was just going to focus on Hemsworth's looks, but luckily it pretty much ended here.
Next was an Empire parody. I may be one of the few people around who hasn't seen an episode of Empire, so I didn't quite get it, but all in all this seemed fine. Chris Hemsworth was a character for "White America", as he awkwardly mulled around the office/studio. (sidenote: it would have been impossible for SNL to do this even a few seasons ago)
Following was what SNL does best, a skit straight out of left field. It was centered on a spaceship in the future, being captained by an animal that has evolved beyond humans.........chickens. Yes, there was a literal live chicken, doing chicken things....being a chicken. If there were any doubts on Chris Hemsworth as an SNL host, he threw those out with this skit, he was just brilliant. You really felt like he loved this chicken. Of course he had to ad-lib a bit when talking to the chicken.....because it's a chicken, and it'll have none of your stage directions and cues. In the end to save the ship, the chicken had to go into a microwave-like space.....and get cooked. Cecily Strong gave a strong ending line; "We're going to eat her..she smells so good....because she was such a bitch". Bravo SNL writers, bravo. These odd skits that work are what they've done best this season.
Next was the "Iggy Azalea" show, with McKinnon as Iggy. She had Azealia Banks (Sasheer Zamata) on to try and get past their feud. Then Chris Hemsworth appeared as another Australian rapper, teaching what to do when you don't really know how to rap. SNL hasn't done a lot of pop culture skits this season (going for more originality) so I was okay with this. What range from McKinnon, going from Clinton to Iggy. She truly is the MVP (she even did a better Iggy than Iggy).
Weekend Update was at its finest this season. At first it just seemed like the same-old same-old, but then Jost and Che had a brilliant joke riff on Ben Carson. Then Che got Jost to read some of his jokes to show how tough it is, and Jost had one of the best breaks/flubs on a "39 inch" line. Jost finally seemed genuine. Maybe there is hope for this team.
The first Update guest was Leslie Jones, talking about how tough it is to date....or just live in NYC during the winter. So many avenues. Jones was great, as always.
Second was Cecily Strong as "Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party", talking about Boko Haram and ISIS. This character is always fantastic.
The post Update skit was an "Action News 7" update on the Avengers defeat of Ultron's army. Bobby Moynihan went on to interview Thor (Hemsworth) who was hamming it up for the cameras (as the city was destroyed). Iron Man (Killam), The Hulk (Pete Davidson) and Captain America (Beck Bennett) also made appearances, but Thor was the center of this skit. You knew an Avengers skit was coming, but at least they did it better than when Jeremy Renner hosted a couple years back.
Next was a skit about a Soap Opera set where the director (Kenan) wanted his stars (Mckinnon/Hemsworth) to act with references to the Jeffersons during a particular dramatic scene. This was a skit that had a really good premise, but not in the right setting. It was somewhat amusing, but it felt like it took forever to reach the punchline.
Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney appeared with another short, this time a general lampooning of reality shows (basically any reality show you could think of). I've been highly critical of these Bennett/Mooney shorts, but this one was at least an improvement from their prior ones. This one more resembled one they did with Chris Pratt on 90s television.
SNL closed out this week with the return of the Porn Stars, this time trying to sell "Dolce & Gabbana". Over the past season or so, this recurring skit has gotten a little stale because the writing hasn't been as clever or subtle. That changed with this appearance. They didn't just go straight for the sexual innuendos. Also, Chris Hemsworth was pretty great here.
This was a vast improvement from last week's SNL with Dakota Johnson. It was the 1st great show of 2015 since Kevin Hart's episode. Chris Hemsworth was a fantastic 1st time host, and I imagine we'll see him again down the line (Maybe when Thor 3 comes out). There weren't any real duds, and even the weaker parts of this week weren't completely flat.
Avg. Score: 7.44 (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
Chris Pratt - 7.50
Chris Hemsworth - 7.44
Woody Harrelson - 7.42
Amy Adams - 7.19
JK Simmons - 7.18
Sarah Silverman - 7.15
James Franco - 7.07
Jim Carrey - 7.01
Dakota Johnson - 6.83
Cameron Diaz - 6.81
Blake Shelton - 6.60
Chris Rock - 6.52
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