There was something odd about last night's Jim Carrey-hosted installment of SNL. Between the promos featuring Carrey hitting on Kristen Wiig, his monologue proposal and the good-nights where Carrey emotionally thanked pretty much the entire world, it felt like the episode might have been one big Jim Carrey therapy session. The last time Carrey hosted, May 18, 1996, Carrey wasn't too far removed from being the guy walking down the street wearing an oversized cowboy hat looking for a copy of the Rhode Island Slut. Now, we have a more mature, certainly a more damaged Carrey hosting for a second time -- complicated by hosting on, well, a day that, due to current events, people did not find particularly funny. How did he do? On to the scorecard...
Sketch of the Night
"Black Swan" (Carrey, Hader, Pedrad): Yes, Carrey brought his A-game for this one. It was reminiscent of watching Carrey in his prime during the late '90s. It wasn't perfect, but it did provide the highlight for what was a surprisingly tame night. I almost enjoyed Thomas's insistence on reminding Nina how great she is as the White Swan and how terrible she is as the Black Swan more than I did Carrey's antics.
Score: 8.5
The Good
"Soul Train" (Moynihan, Ensemble): Here's your patented "excuse to sing a wide variety of funny songs" sketch that comes along every few weeks. These can really be hit or miss, and this time it hit more than missed. What pushed it over the edge: Carrey singing that he wants to "see one titty."
Score: 8.0
"Amusement Park Ride" (Carrey, Killam, Hader, Thompson, Wiig): OK, this was just plain creepy -- probably one of the creepiest sketches to ever air on SNL. I'm amazed at how convincingly Carrey and Killam transformed themselves into robotic amusement park singers. Wait, I mean, killer robotic amusement park singers.
Score: 7.5
"Psychic Medium" (Carrey, Sudeikis, Pedrad, Bayer): Jim Carrey as a former impressionist comedian who is now a psychic -- a psychic who can only "communicate" with celebrities that he can do an impression of, like Jimmy Stewart. What looked like a ho-hum, "Jim Carrey is doing his Stewart impression," sketch, all of a sudden, turned into something special. Carrey pulled out his Alan Thicke. As Sudeikis says during the sketch, "No one does a Thicke!"
Score: 6.5
The Bad
"Jim Carrey Monologue" (Carrey): Something just seemed off. The gist of the monologue was that the apocalypse was upon us and soon the rivers would be running red with blood. I don't know, it was fine, but personally I had read too many stories yesterday that involved blood. Again, the theme of the night seemed to be that Jim Carrey had a bad 2010. I think a lot of us would have liked to have his 2010. Also of note, the "Bosley Hair Restoration" commercial ran for a third time (!) this season immediately following the monologue. It won't be a part of the scorecard.
Score: 5.5
"A Taste of New York" (Carrey, Armisen, Wiig): A group of tourists who think they are going to hear a band play standards like "New York, New York" instead get an original song about life living in the East Village between Avenue B and Avenue C. I found myself waiting for a payoff that never really came.
Score: 5.5
"Finding Your Power" (Sudeikis, Samberg, Bayer, Carrey): This is one of those sketches that sound hilarious around the writer's table and, once it's performed, doesn't work quite as well as it was envisioned. It is a funny premise -- and it had a couple of funny moments -- but, for some reason, it's not a funny sketch.
Score: 5.5
"Grady Wilson's Tantric N' Tasty" (Thompson, Carrey): I thought this sketch was fairly amusing the first time I saw it. Now that it's a recurring sketch, the one note joke has been beaten into the ground. At least Carrey looked as if he was having fun.
Score: 5.0
"Weekend Update" (Meyers, Samberg, Killam, Moynihan, Hader, Wiig ): Look, I know that when a news story breaks only a few hours before airtime it's next to impossible to rewrite the entire "Update" portion, but, man, that was awkward. Considering the current crises in the U.S. House of Representatives, the multiple House jokes -- including a bit featuring Hader and Wiig as John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi - fell flat. Which is a shame considering that Hader's Boehner was stellar. Also, if Stefon can't be a part of "Update," I'll take Anthony Crispino as a consolation prize (or Nicholas Fehn!). But, yes, this is an example of how "Update" can fail. It's a comedy news sketch, but when you have to (understandably) ignore the biggest news story of the day, it casts an awkward light on the entire sketch. Especially when the attitude is taken: Let's proceed with our political jokes as normal, but we can't mention that. Also, "aflockalypse," really?
Score: 4.0
The Ugly
"Bloomberg Cold Open" (Armisen): What? Was this written two weeks ago? Because of the blizzard controversy, did they feel they just had to do a sketch on it no matter how dated it felt. I mean, the sketch consists of Bloomberg still describing a city still plagued by snow. I live in New York City; let me walk over to my window (hold on)... Nope, no snow whatsoever on the ground.
Score: 2.0
Average Score For This Show: 5.80
Weekly Host Scorecard:
· Jeff Bridges 6.21
· Amy Poehler 6.04
· Anne Hathaway 6.00
· Emma Stone 5.88
· Jon Hamm 5.86
· Paul Rudd 5.83
· Robert De Niro 5.83
· Jim Carrey 5.80
· Bryan Cranston 5.79
· Jane Lynch 5.31
· Scarlett Johansson 4.69