What You Missed: Last Night’s ‘Saturday Night Live’

Can you believe it? Another week has come and gone, and we are all that much closer to our deaths. That means it’s time to watch yet another episode of Saturday Night Live! It’s like Icy-Hot salve for the soul. This week’s host? Eddie Murphy Ben Stiller! Surprise!

The cold open is kind of flat and fizzless right up until the arrival Bobby Moynihan (mugging as former presidential contender Chris Christie). The problem with making fun of Mitt Romney being boring is, it can get so boring! In the meantime, Bobby Moynihan has become such a rock-solid castmember. When did he become so reliable, even?

Grade: B-.

Here is where the opening monologue ought to have been, but I didn’t get to see it. Hulu, for some strange reason, didn’t include it in the “full episode,” and NBC.com doesn’t have it, either. (Popwatch recounts the sketch as being an uncomfortable, wince-worthy segment about Ben Stiller, Andy Samberg, and Yom Kippur. Hooohhh boy.)

Monologue grade: INCOMPLETE.

In the next sketch, Jason Sudeikis encounters Old Jason Sudeikis on a plane. Hey! Wait a minute! I was watching SNL so as not to contemplate the cruel ephemerality of life! Oh, well.

Anyway. It’s a dead-on parody of those insipid, classist Lincoln Financial “future self” commercials. But the sketch turns awkward when Old Jason Sudeikis sexually propositions present-day Jason Sudeikis right there in coach. In theory, hilarious. In practice: too weird, SNL. Much too weird. (Update: the writer at Popwatch super-duper agrees with me on this count, almost word-for-word. Validation!)

Grade: D-.

Next up: a satire of “Fox and Friends.” I haven’t seen enough of the cable morning show (sorry!) to know who anyone but Gretchen Carlson is, which may have proven detrimental to my enjoyment of the whole sketch. (I did understand the visual “corrections” gag at the end, though. Ho ho!) The sketch also features Sudeikis as Hank Williams Jr., with Ben Stiller as his spokesperson. Very topical, very current, OK.

Grade: B-.

Next! Bill Hader meets his future self on a plane. Aha! The earlier Lincoln Financial sketch just became slightly forgivable in retrospect. But Bill Hader’s doppelgaenger is fat, broke, and suicidal—he invested with Lincoln Financial, too! He got rich and then spent everything!—and when Old Bill Hader lunges at his “younger self” mouth-first, Young Bill Hader recoils in horror.

Grade: C.

And now for an SNL Digital Short. Never mind that most of the show so far has been digitally prerecorded. Hmm. I sure can’t help but wonder whether Eddie Murphy bailed from hosting the show at the last possible moment, you know?

I do love the joke here: there is no men’s fashion trend so repulsively alluring as the so-called “Deep V.” In a high-end men’s clothing store, Samberg and Stiller embark on a Zoolander-caliber fashion-off, each modeling the most daring, “deepest” V-neck T-shirts the store has to offer. The sketch is bruised by a weak finish—having Stiller arrested for exposure and escorted from the store is a pretty obvious cop-out—but the sketch gets a hearty A+++ for costume design.

Costumes: A+++.
Overall grade: B+.

The musical guest, Foster the People, puts in a strong live performance with some song I’ve never heard of (“Pumped Up Kicks”). If pressed, I would file their song under “post-new wave dance ballad,” if only that were a genre.

Musical guest grade: A-.

Weekend Update! Best punchlines:

– “Then on Wednesday, Sarah Palin announced that she would not run [for president]. Palin said she’d love to be president, but she just couldn’t handle the two-year commitment.”

– “It was reported this week that Madonna will perform during this year’s Superbowl Halftime Show. Man! Every time you think the Superbowl Halftime Show can’t top itself, you’re right!”

– “Pet costumes also provide your neighbors with the rare opportunity to see a bumblebee taking a dump.”

Stefon, Weekend Update’s “City Correspondent,” returns this week, hooray! It’s invariably my favorite segment, no matter how formulaically rote it has become; Bill Hader always sounds like he is reading the script for the very first time. But then Ben Stiller makes a “character cameo” as Derek Zoolander, which I found awkward and unbearable. Others disagree.

Weekend Update: D+. (See me after class, Seth Meyers.)

Kristin Wiig reprises “Shanna.” Honestly? Shanna is one of Wiig’s best characters, but the whole episode has been so low-energy, the result is a very slow and plodding sketch. However, I did enjoy how the whole thing culminated into the lamest fart joke I’ve ever witnessed.

Grade: D.

The running Lincoln Financial joke finally outdoes itself when Ben Stiller meets his future self on a plane, and his future self is Lady Ben Stiller. Tip of the hat, writers.

Standalone grade: F.
As the finale of a three-part sketch: A+++++.

The “Columbus Day” sketch is delightfully bizarre. Also note: this episode’s very first Jay Pharaoh Sighting! That means it’s time to take a shot! Don’t worry—you’ll come out of this drinking game sober.

Grade: B+.

Ben Stiller gives his best performance so far in the Bruce Springsteen sketch. He really nails the Boss’s “rock faces”! The sketch is another unfortunate case of Good Idea Unfulfilled, but bonus points will be administered for Stiller’s rubbery face.

Grade: B for effort.

Foster the People perform their song “Houdini.” Absolutely incredible: Kenny G makes a surprise musical cameo, and it is nuts.

Musical guest grade #2: B+.

OK, another sketch is missing. The Internet is abuzz because Hugh Jackman also made a surprise cameo in this week’s episode. But neither Hulu nor NBC will post it! What is going on?

In the sketch, Jackman played Daniel Radcliffe, while Andy Samberg played Hugh Jackman. Most recaps point to the sketch as among the evening’s highlights, while TVLine takes a harsher stance, calling the bit “underbaked” and “desperate.”

Grade: INCOMPLETE.

Finally, from the makers of Moneyball, it’s Tinyballs! This stirring True Story tells how one baseball team managed to defy the odds, thanks to steroid abuse!

Grade: A.

VERDICTS:

TVLine: “But while there seemed to be an unusually high number of pre-taped bits during Ben Stiller’s latest hosting stint, you won’t hear me complaining. Nearly every skit this week managed to score a couple of genuine laughs.”

Examiner: “And though his star’s been in decline, Stiller’s still got the juice. Good news for Stiller, to be sure. The not-so-good news? Tonight’s SNL didn’t do him any favors.”

PopWatch: “Despite some solid efforts, it all felt too little, too late. …Did Ben Stiller feel a little ho-hum to you, too? When he signed off by saying that this was “one of the craziest weeks of my life” do you think he could have been referring to something having to do with no-show Eddie Murphy?” Hmmmm.

FINAL GRADE: a solid C.