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Well, Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live. On the one hand, come on, Saturday Night Live. It feels like Tina Fey has been on SNL more this season then she was when she was hosting Weekend Update, and it’s not like Hollywood is short on pregnant celebrities who would jump at the chance to make this episode more relevant to all the moms out there who would totally flip out, I’m so sure, if SNL ignored their big day. On the other hand, what are you going to do? Complain about seeing Tina Fey on SNL? You probably would and sometimes, I just don’t get you.
Confession. Now and then, I start to associate Tina Fey so closely with Liz Lemon that I forget how smart, self-assured, and courageous Tina Fey really is. That’s because I’m a total idiot, and this episode set me straight. Tina Fey is an incredible woman who’s absolutely earned every inch of her pioneering, living legend-y, almost Yoda-like status. I know how many feathers I’m ruffling out there, but I don’t mind voicing this controversial opinion to keep things interesting while Gabe’s gone.
In any case, it’s a good thing Tina Fey was there, because without her, this would have been a pretty mediocre episode. Even with her, it wasn’t off the charts. The writers must have pulled a few scripts out of the Meh Pile, figuring that if anyone could mine solid gLOLd out of these scripts, she could. And she did, but you could tell the effort nearly BROKE HER WATER. The “Mermaid” sketch, for example, seemed to need a little direction. But she sold it!
The sketch that has the streets talking was the Birthing Class sketch, and why not? Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig are a dream team, and I think Abby Elliott has a bright future ahead of her, one for which I would definitely be a loving and supportive companion.
I’ll echo Gabe’s sentiment about the political cold opens just needing to go. That a comedian of Fred Armisen’s caliber has to captain these sinking ships every single week just makes me about as mad as a weekly sketch comedy television show can make a person. THAT SAID, Fred Armisen just killed it later on with that Gaddafi’s Best Friends Growing Up sketch. That was almost the highlight of the night.
The GOP Presidential Candidate sketch was really only worth it for the very welcome Sarah Palin impersonation, which is every bit as sharp and relevant as it was in 2008. (Two thousand and eight! A.D!)
The Digital Short had its moments. Fake rap or no fake rap, I think the Lonely Island’s particular brand of self-effacing parody that also subtly satirizes their audience is a lot sharper than the low-brow goofiness they try to play it off as.
And, wow, it seems like the Law of Averages would dictate that one of these Stefon sketches will misfire sooner or later, but that day was NOT last Saturday! Better luck next time, Human Kites!
Congratulations, Tina Fey! Love you, Mom!
Next week, Ed Helms!
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Tina first….
Tina FAIL.
Shut up, Stingray.
My sister is pregnant and taking a birthing class. She basically described this video they watched in class to me…and it sounded exactly like this.
Personally, I refuse to watch any birthing video that doesn’t resemble a clip for the new Nine Inch Nails single. (NSFW, forever, obviously.)
THAT WAS NOT THE NINE INCH NAILS CLIP I WAS HOPING FOR.
I thought Bolton killed it. I really liked the digital short this week.
I giggled like an idiot on Sunday morning watching it. I regret nothing.
Oh man, the part where he was standing by himself dancing was THE CREEPIEST.
I thought that was the best sketch. Not really that creative, but it made laugh really hard.
The whole creepy dancing/shouting thing always does it for me.
Wait was any of this in this week’s SNL? I don’t remember any of it…
When Michael Bolton dressed up as Erin Brockovich, I first thought it was Jenna Maroney. And I’m not saying that Jane Krakowski looks like a man. She’s beautiful! All I’m saying is that Michael Bolton can easily look like a woman when more than the normal amount of makeup that he uses is applied.
i think the top of a bra sticking out of her shirt is signature to the erin brokovich look. that shirt only has one button open.
I felt the episode was just ok, and that there were good bits and lines and jokes peppered in throughout the sketches.
But MAN! Boy oh boy. Gaddafi’s Best Friends and Stefon were a double-barreled shotgun blast of gut-busting enjoyment! EXPLOJO!
Vanessa Bayer and Nasim Pedrad are my favorite new cast members. Definitely keepers!
When I saw this bumper I was like, “Oh, that BETTER be a gif on Monday.”
OH! And I also thought, “I wonder if they locked the wheels or something due to the pregnancy. What’re the rules on pregnant women and roller skates anyway?”
Considering the otherworldliness of those legs, I imagine they used the same cutting-edge CGI technology one finds on the nation’s boardwalks:
We have pregnant women that skate on roller skates all the time. In derby the rule is no contact with pregnant ladies… but in the first two trimesters that baby is pretty snuggled in there and safe. Third trimester not so much.
It makes some people nervous to be skating by pregnant women, but it’s really a personal choice
was there a movie or tv show where a pregnant chick is on skates and she falls on her stomach and she’s screaming violently as she just aborted her fetus? I remember this distinctly but dont remember if it was supposed to be funny or serious
You’re thinking of the Harmony Korine classic Julien Donkey-boy
AAAHHH! OF COURSE!!!! Thanks “Jonee” I knew it was something
I can never look at Abby Elliot the same way again after realizing she looks like an exact female (albeit very beautiful) clone of her dad.
What you’ve said here makes no sense.
wait seriously they’re related?
Father/daughter, yep.
Wow I love her even more now.
I still don’t really get who Ellie Goulding is or why she was on that show. I skipped over her performances, though, because Who Cares? and I bet that didn’t help me.
Sounds like someone isn’t very Starry Eyed (Monsieur Adi Remix)! #loooooveher
I welcome any Tina Fey-hosted episode because it usually means a Bedelia sketch is coming my way. Bedelia sketches are definitely S.I.L.F.s (Sketches I’d Like to Friend).
this made me die a little. It was the most adorable thing ever.
Excuse me, while I just lose myself in this gif.
Agreed. I just watched it like 10 times. It’s mesmerizing.
GREAT job today Huckabeast!
i was so hoping SNL would still be covered by guest bloggers and was so happy to see this post (but that is not the only reason why you are doing great, there are many).
But I completely agree about the MEH factor with SNL this weekend.
The baby duet monologue was just annoying and weird. Pregnancy is not that funny, inherently, I don’t think, or maybe the idea of the juxtaposition of ‘you are precious’/ ‘we had sex’ was actually doomed to be stale no matter how much you like those two actresses.
And the Under the Sea was fine but a missed opportunity. they seemed to just be saying random facebook stuff people said about osama while being the little mermaid and that was like ‘ok, but….’
I needed them to do something more with it. something funny maybe?
The Gaddafi friends sketch was really one of the few I got any pleasure from, and even then, what I felt was shy of delight.
Overall pretty darned disappointing. And I enjoy current day SNL and really don’t have high expectations, I don’t think, although maybe Fey’s presence got me a bit more excited than normal.
agreed this was not the funniest episode. also total missed opportunity with the pregnant issue, they could have done a rad little homage to David Cronenberg’s movie Brood, where this chick has fetuses growing on the outside of her body and she bites in to one of the baby sacks and all this black blood stuff starts oozing out and apparently she licks it clean in an uncensored version. Imagine a Tina Fey skit referencing that noise
Definitely a rare oversight.
I was thinking the EXACT SAME THING!
Just kidding. I wasn’t.
Bro you gotta forge your own style. You write like Gabe, and as much as that is a very complimentary and respectable thing to do, you need to carve out your own niche in this scary world. (See what I did there?)