Saturday Night Live: January Johnoes!
If there is one thing that this weekend's episode of SNL reminded us of, it is that January Jones has one of the best faces in the game right now. Great face! Excellent, excellent face. Unfortunately, she might have to keep it closed. I mean, did you see that? She could barely get through her lines (what few lines she even had) without stumbling or giggling, and even then she stumbled and giggled with low energy and zero affect. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a Saturday Night Live host who was so blatantly propped up in a corner so that he/she wouldn't be in the way of the cast putting on an actual show. It was so rough that I started to wonder what Henry Francis even sees in her!
But the thing about great, beautiful faces is that if the face is good enough, then you can still probably get something decent out of having them around, and that is what happened.
Like, this was funny. And it was pretaped, so you could edit out all of the unnecessary giggling and the parts where her energy was so low that you couldn't actually hear her lines (actual thing that was happening).
And this sketch from the end of the episode really blew the lid off of what we will put up with from a January Jones face, which is a lot. We will sit through a nightmare picnic, or even watch an entire episode of her fumbling!
But this was probably my favorite sketch of the night. January didn't have to do much, so that helped.
All in all it was a decent enough episode. Even if January Jones wasn't very funny, or even very good at providing a celebrity foil for other people to be funny around, there were some bright moments (see above). And obviously, you can't take her face away from her, and it has always been her strongest asset. Besides, the Black Eyed Peas provided plenty of laffs. What is wrong with them? It is as if their eyes finally stopped working (after their ears gave out on them years ago), and now they just blindly dress in garbage from the Velcro Scraps Factory before getting up on stage and making terrible sounds come out of their silly bodies. "We're gonna finally win this year's Talent Show over at 1998's Concept Of The Future High School For Troubled Adults, in space." Sure you are.
Posted by Gabe at 9:30 AM in Sitcoms
Tags: Black Eyed Peas | January Jones | Saturday Night Live
Man, that Black Eyed Peas performance was weird. It looked like they hadn't rehearsed in the slightest - I think at one point Fergie actually grabbed that one dude and pushed him into the choreography.
As for January Jones...when does "Mad Men" come back?
Score = 2
Does anyone remember the Black Eyed Peas before fergie? They were kinda good.
But yeah, Jennie Slate needs more speaking roles, amifuckingrite?
Score = 4
I second this. Whenever "That's the Joint, That's the Jam" comes on my ipod I'm always shocked to see that was The Black Eyed Peas. Every time they performed on the show, I kept asking loudly (to no one) "what in the fuck happened to you guys?!"
Anyone else going through Mad Men withdrawl? I tried to watch "The Prisoner" to fill in the void. Didn't work, that shit was too much like Lost or The Island (there's a third reference I can't think of...it's with all the misfits on the island and they go by numbers for names...) for my taste....
Score = 0
Yea, I tried the same thing with The Prisoner. At about 4pm on Sunday I thought to myself "whoopee, Mad Men tonight!" Then I remembered that it was over and everything came crashing down.
Pseudo-Celebrity Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew was a poor substitute.
Score = 0
Hey now, let's show a bit of respect for the original 1967-68 Prisoner. I don't have cable so I haven't seen this remake, but you know how Lost is the poor man's Twin Peaks? Well Twin Peaks was the poor man's The Prisoner (again, I'm talking about the original). So dismissing The Prisoner because it's too similar to Lost is like dismissing Radiohead because they're too similar to Coldplay. You gotta recognize who's ripping off who. Are there any sci-fi nerd monsters out there that can back me up on this?
Score = 3
I got your back. If it wasn't for the Prisoner(original) there would be no Lost. Netflix it if you haven't seen it. Also just got released on Blu-Ray or will be in the very near future.
Score = 0
In '99 my college put on an ill-advised concert headlined by Smashmouth, with the BEP and Reel Big Fish supporting. It lost tons of money, because ska fans don't tend to like hiphop and vice versa, and neither of them really want to see mainstream pop, but I do remember the BEP being decent. I also remember that the printers spelled it "Realting Fish" on the tickets.
Oh, and that "Request Line" song they did with Macy Gray was pretty good. Basically, everything before they added Stacy from "Kids Incorporated" was probably good.
Score = 4
Sounds like you went to Long Beach State and could be referring to the infamously lame "Beach Blast!" It's a small worldgum after all.
Score = 0
Haha, yes! Class of '03. I think they lost like $60,000 on what I had forgotten was entitled "Beach Blast!"
Score = 0
Hey, I live in Lakewood. Is it just us and Australians here?
Score = 0
Fuck you negative nellies, I swear to gold...
Score = -2
January Jones made me miss Taylor Swift's comedic genius.
Score = 18
The show was terrible. January in a skit, January not in a skit. Just plain bad.
Score = 6
The only redeemable part was Weekend Update. The rest was so bad it made me uncomfortable.
Score = 3
Basically. "Said a nearby child, 'It smells like uncles!'" I love Seth. Though Jon Bovi got old after 30 seconds.
Score = 4
The supportive cast and crew of Mad Men watching January Jones' SNL hosting job couldn't help but get pieces of Fail all over themselves.
Score = 10
I've seen most of SNL's cast and writers perform improv, stand up, and even sketch comedy live and they are very, very funny people. Get them in a room with deadlines and advertising restrictions and they lose all of their funny. WTF.
Also - that DQ sketch presents one of the biggest problems with SNL. A funny joke that is only funny for maybe 45 seconds that lasts 3 minutes on the show. They should just have a thing at the end where they use funny 45 second clips of cut sketches.
Score = 6
"Let's face each other in the dark!" was my favorite line of the night.
And completely on-topic, I agree with Gabe's assessment 100%. The three linked videos are the 3 videos I would've posted if I wrote this article, and yes, January jones has a great face.
I felt just like Jason Sudeikis in the picnic skit about the whole night with Ms. Jones.
Score = 9
"Yeah, I'm gonna go through with this."
- Guy on date with January Jones/ Me deciding to watch this week's SNL after the "Today" skit
Score = 6
i WIZ not that into seeing movies. ::giggle::
nightmare.
Score = 3
I second this. Whenever "That's the Joint, That's the Jam" comes on my ipod I'm always shocked to see that was The Black Eyed Peas. Every time they performed on the show, I kept asking loudly (to no one) "what in the fuck happened to you guys?!"
Anyone else going through Mad Men withdrawl? I tried to watch "The Prisoner" to fill in the void. Didn't work, that shit was too much like Lost or The Island (there's a third reference I can't think of...it's with all the misfits on the island and they go by numbers for names...) for my taste....
Score = 1
Ugh again?!
Score = 3
they made an ashton kutcher punked reference in a janurary scene. hmmm, i see what you're trying to do there snl....
Score = 4
Maybe it's because I'm one of those rare breeds of women who hates other women, but I just don't see what's so pretty about January Jones. I think she looks like every other pretty blond woman. There's nothing spectacular about her at all.
Score = 4
I'm very much with you. She's pretty, but she's not as pretty as people seem to describe her!
Score = 1
and would you mind posting a picture of yourself so that we can critique you based on nothing but your physical appearance and witty comments, and then decide that there is nothing spectacular about you either?
Score = -6
Great face?
Did you see the cover of GQ?
Score = 3
I can't tell if January was trying to be a nervously quiet good sport about clearly being shoved to the side and blatantly made fun of (without she herself being part of the joke), or if she really was completely clueless. I want to say former, because she's Betty Draper, but I don't think so.
It's not her fault it was a terrible episode, but she didn't help either.
Score = 2
I saw her on Jimmy Fallon last week, and it was a painfully awkward interview. Jimmy was asking her about Pirate Radio, which she is in, and she's like, "Oh, that came out months ago." And Jimmy looked confused and said, "It comes out Friday." And she responded with, "Oh, well it came out months ago in the UK." And then seemed confused when Jimmy continued to ask her about it, and he finally said, "Well, since we are in the United States, and it comes out here on Friday, I thought we'd talk about it."
Ultimate talk show promotional fail.
She also described the early meetings with the SNL writers about throwing ideas out, and basically said she wanted to do a "Superfans" sketch, and when they turned that down she didn't have any more ideas so she just sat there and "watched them work."
Score = 7
Which means I'm going with clueless. But pretty!
Score = 0
I bet she was disappointed that she didn't get to meet Phil Hartman.
Score = 2
Or John Belushi.
Score = 1
I just wanted to pat her on the head after that and say, "There there, go home and put your curlers in."
Score = 1
"Take a pill and lie down."
Score = 0
"She could barely get through her lines (what few lines she even had) without stumbling or giggling, and even then she stumbled and giggled with low energy and zero affect."
Jimmy Fallon did this every week, and then he got his own late-night talk show.
Score = 11
Well, I wouldn't describe Fallon's personal brand of stumbling and giggling as low energy and lacking affect. Fallon had a more "hyena on a meth binge" method of ruining sketches. January just gave me chills down my spine, cause looking at her face was like looking a vast expanse of whiteness and nothingness, extending forever to the horizon. I felt very cold and like no happiness or life would ever occur again. It was a lot like Montreal in January.
Score = 13
Relax with the JJ-defensiveness over here. This post was not about Jimmy Fallon, it was about January Jones. And just because you mentioned him, I will say that I think Jimmy really is naturally funny and charismatic even though he's a bit mumbly and giggly. I actually really love his talk show. Besides, January Jones is not offended by any of these comments because she cannot read.
Score = 6
I feel bad continuing the January Jones disappointment parade (y'know, cuz Mad Men) but I totally understand why the producers of American Wedding didn't bring her back for American Pie Presents: Band Camp.
Score = 9
January Jones is the Jimmy Fallon of SNL
Score = 4
They should have went with Bobby Barrett
Score = 0
The Black Eyed Peas really did have that "talent show" vibe. There also seemed to be a complete misunderstanding as to where the camera was. Did anybody else catch this? They were always looking at the wrong camera. And the "other" two Peas looked as if they'd never been on TV before. I know it's been firmly established that they're the worst - but they really demonstrated their worst-itude on SNL.
Score = 2
I'm moving to Reno for six weeks, so I can legally get a divorce from SNL.
Score = 8
January Jones made this the most unfunny but cutest episode, but then the Black Eyed Peas showed up and everything got creepy and terrible.
Score = 5
Jon Bovi?? Glaze of Blory? No? Come ooonnnn....
http://www.hulu.com/watch/109037/saturday-night-live-update-jon-bovi
Score = 0
I'm with you. I thought it was hilarious if a bit too long. "So, in your head, the letter B is the opposite of the letter G?" "Yeah, Booble it!"
Score = 1
I'm thinking about applying for a writing job at SNL, here's my pitch: So January Jones is hot but maybe not so smart. How about we write some scenes about her being hot but also maybe not being smart? WHERE'S MY EMMY!
Score = 5
They should just change the SNL's name to "Kristen and Jason Do Characters" because they are carrying the entire show. Two other things I noticed: 1. I'm glad they brought back Wiig's Kathy Lee because it cracks me up. However, I found it slightly upsetting that BEP were so enthusiastic when beating the shit out of her. Take it easy, apl.de.ap! 2. WTF with that "Rear Window" sketch? January Jones as Grace Kelly farting for five minutes? Really?!
Score = 4
the best part of the episode was fred armisen's little one-liner about liking peggy better than betty. that's my engagement.
Score = 7
I feel like last week you were too harsh on Taylor Swift and this week you're too forgiving for January Jones' lazy job.
Score = 5
can anyone be a pal and tell me which sketches Abby Elliott was involved in this week?i plan on watching those and only those.
Score = 0
Hi. Long time lurker, first time commenter. I'd just like to say I'm a sucker for a fart sketch, so I give it a 3/4 of an erection on the Hustler rating scale. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
Score = 0