Last night I had the privilege of attending my second live taping of Saturday Night Live, and though I certainly enjoyed myself, this experience paled in comparison to my first. Last time, about four years ago, I attended the show as a guest of Halle Berry, the host for that evening. I was given the V.I.P. treatment, whisked into the center balcony, and enjoyed a great program with some hilarious sketches (anybody remember Horatio Sans as Don Zimmer?) and a great performance from musical guest Christina Aguilera.
This time around, I was a guest of Amy Poehler, which I guess is significantly less lustrous than being a guest of the host, for I found myself waiting in several long, motionless lines as I was hoarded into studio 8H. My friend and I were seated in the far right balcony, where I was promptly reprimanded for putting my coat on the railing and for using my cell phone. When the show ended, I was quickly rushed out of the studio and within minutes found myself on 49th street.
Nonetheless, a taping of SNL is always a great time. Lenny Pickett and the SNL Band are fantastic musicians, keeping the audience happily occupied during commercial breaks. We were also treated to a private performance from Maya Rudolph (who didn’t appear in a single sketch), Fred Armisen (who was in one sketch with no lines) and the band performing some 80’s pop song about Toys (“ohweeoh”). Furthermore, seeing comedy sketches performed live by some truly talented actors is always fun, even if the writing is weak (which this episode’s certainly was).
As for the show itself, last night’s program was easily one of the season’s worst. Jeremy Piven was a terrible host. People seem to forget that unless he’s Ari Gold, the part he was born to play, he’s a pretty boring comedian. His funniest moments were when the sketches afforded him the opportunity to slip into some Ari-esque bubbling anger, such as when he played an adoption agency worker opposite Jason Sudeikis’s and Kristin Wiig’s “Two A-holes” (one of the night’s funniest sketches, and also one of the only repeating sketches still left on the show).
My favorite portion of the show was the three “MacGruber” videos shown throughout the telecast. The premise, a MacGyver rip-off, was very funny, as was the show’s ridiculous theme song ("MacGruber! Making life-saving inventions out of household materials!"). Will Forte was hilarious as MacGruber, and Maya Rudolph and Jeremy Piven were very funny as his sidekicks, KC and JoJo (get it?). The worst sketch of the night was the NFL on CBS sketch featuring Piven, Sudekis and Andy Samberg (by far the most-overrated cast member in my opinion. Does anyone actually think this guy is funny in anything other than his digital shorts?)
The musical guest, A.F.I., was atrocious. They are one of the most untalented bands I have ever had the misfortune of seeing live. The singer was off-key, whiny and weird. His band mates were invisible and boring. I’m getting pretty sick of all these eye-shadowed, punk hair, emo bands who are horrible live having hit records (see: Panic! At the Disco, The All-American Rejects). If you can’t play live, you shouldn’t be a band. End of story.
Taking only the show itself into consideration, in light of the horrendous musical performance, weak host, and total lack of funny sketches, I rate it a C-.
Favorite scene: Macgruber #1 (the one with the doggie doo)
Favorite line: "Even my dumbest high school friends know to throw their weed away at the airport and they have no money and love weed." - Seth Myers, on the stupidity of Michael Vick being caught with weed at an airport
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