They should have aired Saturday Night Live in reverse order last night: What started out pretty terribly eventually turned into the second best episode of the season. While host Emma Stone was serviceable, never really taking the lead in any of the sketches in which she appeared, the surprise of the night was the ascent of Paul Brittain (more "Sex" Ed Vincent!) and Taran Killam.
These guys were everywhere -- which, of course, means don't expect to see either of them next week when Jon Hamm hosts. You can expect both of their stocks to rise in tomorrow's Not Ready For Prime Time Player Relevancy Poll here at Movieline, but first things first: Let's head to the scorecard.
Sketch of the Night
"Sex Ed Vincent" (Brittain): This one came pretty much out of nowhere near the end of the show. Paul Brittain plays "Sex" Ed Vincent, who teaches a sex symposium. What's great is that he doesn't play the character as sketchy; Vincent is more of a misguided soul who is actually trying to conduct a seminar. Favorite tips: To avoid STDs during male-on-male sex, try poking the penis against the side of another penis or try the infinite swirl. Please, watch this.
Score: 8.5
The Good
"Souping" (Hader, Stone, Pedrad): Hader plays a local investigative reporter assigned to scare parents with stories about made up things that their teenagers are supposedly doing. These activities include eating expired soup to get high, having sex on trampolines and dirty skydiving. Every major city has this type of reporter.
Score: 7.5
"Brett Favre Wrangler Commercial" (Sudeikis, Moynihan): Yeah, there was little chance we were going to get through this week's SNL without a Brett Favre reference. And yeah, they nailed it. Playing on Favre's Wrangler jeans commercials, the now controversial quarterback unveils his new line: Open-fly jeans. Meaning there is no fly and Favre throws around the pigskin with the boys in the backyard with his penis hanging out (a strange amount of penis jokes last night). Or, as Fave says, "I'm just like everyone else, I put my pants on one leg at a time, then I pull my penis out. Sometimes I take a picture of it."
Score: 7.5
"Weekend Update" (Meyers, Thmpson, Mulaney, Hader): Strange night on "Update." Something about Meyers seemed off. His direct address to awful wife Ginni Thomas about leaving a message for Anita Hill 19 years later is the sort of segment Meyers usually nails, but instead he stumbled through it. He looked like a guy fighting a cold. The three segments more than made up for Meyers' off night. Kenen as the "Rent is Too Damn High" guys was a perfect impression even if the material was a little uninspired. John Mulaney, an SNL writer, needs to be make more appearances on camera. He's been missed since his days at Best Week Ever ended. Mulaney on the AOL-Yahoo! merger: "They may not have much time left, but at least they'll have each other." And I think the only reason Meyers brings on Hader as Stefon is because Hader breaks up every single time.
Score: 7.0
"Les Jeunes de Paris" (Killam, Stone): Was that an Abby Elliott sighting in the background? This makes the good list for (A) being completely in French and (B) being so weird. More of this. Bring us more weird, even if it doesn't completely work.
Score: 6.5
"Emma Stone Monologue" (Stone, Ensemble): It's never a good sign when SNL resorts to taking questions from fake audience members in the monologue. This usually means that the writers have no idea what to do. Killam (great night for Killam, by the way, finally) and Moynihan as Michael Cera and Jonah Hill saved the day.
Score: 6.0
The Bad
"Budget Costumes" (Thompson, Stone): Pretty forgettable sketch about budget Halloween costumes. A nice save at the end with the display of costumes with a stain, in which the store will always provide an item to place in front of the stain. Examples: Yoda with a pot of chili, Wolfman with an US Weekly.
Score: 5.5
"Digital Short: I Broke My Arm" (Stone, Ensemble): Another weird but forgettable SNL Digital Short. Emma Stone breaks her arm when she slips on some spilled jelly, then in the process of announcing her broken arm, she breaks every other bone in her body. Her computer voice was actually pretty funny, but then the spilled jelly started singing and dancing. Yeah, I know, they're not all going to be "Lazy Sunday," but this season's offerings have been pretty off with the exception of "Rescue Dogs 911."
Score: 5
"Baby Spanx" (Sudeikis, Hader, Wiig): I forgot about this about three seconds after it ended. There's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing memorable. It just exists.
Score: 4.5
"My Brother Knows Everything" (Pedrad, Stone, Samberg): Another forgettable sketch. Nasim Pedrad plays a teenager (of course) who thinks her brother knows everything and relays to the Internet all of his advanced knowledge. I love Pedrad, but she plays way too many of these types of characters and they all have the exact same voice.
Score: 4.0
"The View" (Pedrad, Thompson, Stone, Wiig, Armisen): Wow, let me get this straight: In the last couple of weeks there's an incident where Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg storm off of The View while Bill O'Reilly is a guest. Now, add to the fact that SNL actually does a sketch about the View. What do we get? A Lindsay Lohan joke. Just awful, and a missed opportunity.
Score: 3.5
"Dream Home Extreme" (Wiig, Stone): Wiig plays the host for Dream Home Extreme who is upset because the winner of a new dream home, Stone, doesn't react excitedly like the past winners do (including Jay Pharoah, who of course answers the door with his penis hanging out). Basically an opportunity for Kristen Wiig to mug for the camera for a few minutes.
Score: 3.0
The Ugly
**"Obama-Harry Reid Cold Open (Armisen, Brittain): Obama joins Harry Reid at a campaign rally, Reid insults Obama in order to show the audience that they're not friends. Look, this sketch on it's own is fine, it's just that in a world that includes Christine O'Donnell and the "Rent is Too Damn High" guy, this seems like a really lame choice for the cold open. Plus, Armisen as Obama, it needs to end. SNL hires Jay Pharoah, who does an outstanding Obama, and it's going to waste. My favorite part of this sketch: Watching Pharoah in the background as an extra, just eyeing Armisen. There's no way he's not thinking, what the hell is this guy doing playing Obama?
Score: 2.0
Average Score For This Show: 5.88
Weekly Host Scorecard:
· Amy Poehler 6.04
· Emma Stone 5.88
· Bryan Cranston 5.79
· Jane Lynch 5.31