SNL Scorecard: Did Jeff Bridges Host the Best Show of the Year, Son?
Perhaps I'm in the holiday spirit (maybe), perhaps it's the amount of wine consumed from back-to-back holiday parties (more likely), but last night's Jeff Bridges-hosted installment of Saturday Night Live was, well, quite great. Not the laugh-out-loud funniest show of the season, but, from top to bottom, there wasn't a whole lot of "bad." I mean, it was so good that the best sketch of the night was the third to last of the show. Bridges, who last co-hosted in 1983 with his brother Beau, did an admirable job as host but, more importantly, did an admirable job of not getting in the way of a cast that was obviously on a mission before they took a break for the holidays.
Also, a side note, for anyone out there who wants to take 20 years off his appearance: Seriously, just shave your beard. Bridges went from "grizzled coot" to "Hey, isn't that the guy from Starman?" with one shave. Honestly, Tron: Legacy, you could have saved a lot of money on that young, CGI enhanced Jeff Bridges if you would have just given the guy a razor and a can of Gillette Foamy. Having said that, on to the scorecard!
Sketch of the Night
"Jeff's Prank Show" (Bridges): Jeff Bridges, as he admits, loves pranks! So he stars in a new show where he pranks the likes of Sam Elliott, Billy Bob Thornton, Forest Whitaker and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Sample prank: Gyllenhall is expecting a telegram, roses show up instead. You've been Jeff'd! The only thing that I don't understand, how could this sketch air so late in the show?
Score: 9.0
The Good
"Underground Holiday Event" (Sudeikis, Pedrad, Moynihan): We finally get our sequel to Kickspit. This time featuring more bands with those crazy names, like Scrotum Fire and Third Eye Blind. Also, finally, the return of Ass Dan!
Score: 8.0
"Digital Short: I Just Had Sex" (Samberg, Taccone, Akon): Two solid weeks in a row for the crew from The Lonely Island. Jorma Taccone returns to the screen, along with Samberg and Akon, for this ode to having sex. Samberg has been a quite a run recently with his Digital Shorts; it seems the holidays always do bring out the best in this series, for whatever reason. In tone, this was more, "I'm on a Boat," though, than "D*ck in a box."
Score: 8.0
"Message from Mark Zuckerbeg" (Hader, Samberg): Mark Zuckerberg was named Time Magazine's person of the year, and now he has some things to say about that. Well, that is if Julian Assange didn't, for the third week in a row, hack the transmission to deliver another message. And the sketch has a good point: Why, in 2010, is Zuckerberg the person of the year? If _The Social Network _ was never released, would this have happened? Love him or hate him, at least Assange is currently making his mark. I mean, seriously, three sketches in three weeks based on Assange!
Score: 7.0
"Weekend Update" (Meyers, Killam, Thompson, Hader, Armisen, Moynihan): "Weekend Update" has hired a new weatherman and his name is Brad Pitt. Honestly, I can't tell is this is an accurate Brad Pitt impression or not, but, for some reason, I couldn't stop laughing. Also, even in a limited role, no "Update" is complete without Stefon. Kenan's Michael Steele, unfortunately, fell flat but... did I mention Killam's strange but funny Brad Pitt impression?
Score: 7.0
"Jeff Bridges Monologue" (Bridges): Played surprisingly straight, yes, Jeff Bridges sang a duet of "Silver Bells" with Cookie Monster. And surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. Again, it may have been the lasting effects of last night's wine, but the fact that Bridges looked like he was having the time of his life won me over. I mean, seriously, did you see that charming, unbearded fellow?
Score: 6.5
"White House Christmas Cold Open" (Armisen, Sudeikis, Wiig, Samberg, Bayer) When did it become a prerequisite that every single cold open has to be political? Regardless, this week's installment of "Fred Armisen's serviceable-at-best impression of Obama" was a fairly funny installment. Obama, Clinton, Emanuel, Pelosi and Biden all stare out of the window, imagining the the headlines they would like to see in the upcoming year. It's funny because -- including Biden's "Live Gorilla Runs on Basketball Court, Dunks" -- they are all pretty much true.
Score: 6.5
"General Store" (Bridges, Hader, Moynihan, Wiig, Sudeikis): I am an absolute sucker for the weirder last sketches of the night. And the weird has unfortunately been missing since, it seems, Will Forte's departure. I mean, when was the last time we saw something like Forte's showdown with Sudeikis over a potato chip during an interview for NASA? Regardless, this come really close: An Old West general store with a gift-wrapping department. I loved Moynihan's honest, " I do not know what that means."
Score: 6.0
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Comments
Don't worry Mike, we all have our own "Sweat Pants Boner" which haunts us from the past....
That is the funniest sentence that I've read today. Thank you.
Yes, if someone is critical of your writing and of your opinion they must have an axe to grind! Or, as stated, I think your writing is lacking. It's amusing to me that someone writing as a critic is so thin-skinned that they can't take a little criticism themselves.
Also, I don't know you and I've never heard of you until you started cluttering up Movieline with your nonsense.
Well, Kristen (or should I call you Mike?), I guess you're not clear on how comment sections work, but it's actually fine to critique someone's writing. You may be new to the internet but if you look into pretty much any comment section you'll find dissent. Even with posts written by far more talented writers than Mr Ryan.
If Mike can't handle it then he might ought to look into a new 'career'. Or, he could email me directly and discuss it offline so no one else has to get 'caught up in this'. That's what Gene Shalit would do.
It is going to take 2 years because we are shooting the whole thing in 3D, duh. Besides, Aaron Sorkin's first draft of the script isn't due until March.
Your comments sound a lot more like hating than criticism. Get a life. Or get a blog if you think you can do better.
Oh, Garry, mind your own business. And if you're making time to watch this episode of SNL a second time it would appear you're the one in need of a life.
Clearly, you are the one who needs to get a life, you commented on this post like 20 times. It sounds to me like you have a sweatpants (it's 1 word dude) boner for Mike. Why else would you spend soooo much time here? Its really quite pathetic. You sound like a 12 yr old girl complaining about her first period. Good luck with your life of negativity and unhappiness, you are definitely going to need it.
"Or, he could email me directly and discuss it offline so no one else has to get 'caught up in this'"
Ha, this really made me laugh! What a complete idiot! It's like the phrase 'let's take this outside' for pathetic, spineless, online haters. If only I had a picture of this douche, I would make a meme out of it.
If you're going to play usage police you might want to figure out the difference between "its" and "it's". And your analogy makes no sense at all. Go feed your cat.
Don't you have emails from Gene Shalit that you should be answering??
And now that is the funniest sentence that I've read today. See? Karma... Thank you, Kristen.
i didn't like the show much, buy jeff bridges as the orthodox rabbi was priceless
>Honestly, I can’t tell is this is an accurate Brad Pitt impression or not, but, for some reason, I couldn’t stop laughing.
Worst impression I have ever seen on SNL; have no idea how this skit was greenlighted. If your review is merely to bring across your own peculiar quirks when it comes to laughing at braindead humor, I'm not sure why it would be for public consumption. By any standard, this was an idiotic, failed attempt at humor.
>Honestly, I can’t tell is this is an accurate Brad Pitt impression or not, but, for some reason, I couldn’t stop laughing.
Worst impression I have ever seen on SNL; have no idea how this skit was greenlighted. If your review is merely to bring across your own peculiar quirks when it comes to laughing at braindead humor, I'm not sure why it would be for public consumption. By any standard, this was an idiotic, failed attempt at humor.
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