A strange thing has happened over at 30 Rockefeller Plaza during this season of Saturday Night Live: Bill Hader has usurped Kristen Wiig as SNL's go-to cast member. Oh, sure, Wiig has had her fair share of sketches this season, but it's becoming increasingly evident that the Man Who Plays Stefon has put the show on his back. Hader wasn't number one on the Revelancy Poll this weekend, however, but it's a rare week when he does not appear in the top-five. For reference, this is not one of those weeks.
The NRFPTP Relevancy Poll is driven by a proprietary algorithm involving such factors as quality airtime and this week, the ability to get a sketch on the air when there are four musical segments. If your results differ, let's hear about it.
At times I think Samberg does the Digital Shorts too often. I know they're not aired in every episode, but there are too many forgettable entries to go along with the ones that have become -- or border on -- iconic. Then, out of the blue, something so weird (and at the same time goofy) like "Stumblin'" will come along and make me think, Yeah, I'm glad he keeps trying.
As stated, Hader has become the new go-to cast member. What's strange, though, is that while it has many Kristen Wiig characters we see week to week,it hasn't seemed to hurt her as much as it's hurt Jason Sudeikis. Regardless, Hader was in pretty much every sketch this week.
Meyers got a chance to imitate Prince Charles while Paul McCartney sat alongside him imitating Camilla. Nice week for Meyers.
True, I wasn't a huge fan of Pharoah's impression of his high school teacher, but the fact he got something on the air that's not a celebrity impression is a huge step for Pharoah.
"Wait," you may be thinking, "I don't remember any sketches involving Brittain." Well, he did give Meryl Streep praise for her ice skating abilities and had a part in "The Kissing Family," but, more important, his name happened to be Paul. Say what you will, but the fact that Brittain got to charge out on stage with Paul Rudd and Paul McCartney during the monologue and announce his name to America was a huge honor for a featured player.
I wish I could take back my panning of Armisen's Roger Brush sketch from this past week. I re-watched it and, compared to the other Roger Brush sketches, it had some good lines in it. Sure, as I said, it was the same shtick, but Moynihan's dejected husband with the small penis was legitimately funny. Also, even though it was awful, he still led off as Obama in the cold open.
It's about time Elliott got something of substance to do during an episode. Not just of substance, she was pretty great in the "Meryl Streep on Ice" sketch. Even more impressive considering that Streep isn't exactly in the news these days.
Not a huge night for Kenan, but his Norman the Doorman was excellent. Actually, I hope they somehow make a recurring character out of him.
Bayer is an interesting case these days. She's not suffering for airtime, so that's good news. But other than "The Miley Cyrus Show" (which may have been ripe for satire this week) she plays a lot of supporting roles like in "What's the Name?" and "The Kissing Family." But she does play them well.
Poor Jason Sudeikis. It's fitting that the majority of his airtime this past week was spent in the rafters behind the spotlight, because that's really a metaphor for his entire season. It has been mentioned before that perhaps the loss of Forte hurt Sudeikis more than we realized, but, seriously, he needs to snap out of it. America needs Jason Sudeikis!
it's not a huge surprise that Wiig had a fairly quiet night considering Paul Rudd's comedy style wouldn't 100 percent mesh with Wiig's more eccentric characters. Still, other than a role in "The Kissing Family" and a walk on as Mary on "What's the Name?," it was a really quiet night.
Moynihan has been on fire in recent weeks, but not much this week as he falls ten spots. As mentioned, though, his dejected husband character during the Roger Brush show was great without even saying a word.
