Zach Galifianakis is the 10-to-1 of comedians — the more bizarre and absurd, the better. But outside of that final sketch, that’s not the kind of humor SNL typically traffics in; there’s a clear set-up/punchline to most of the show’s jokes, and as Galifianakis admitted during his cold open, he loves the former and doesn’t always include the latter.
This was Galifianakis’s third time hosting SNL since “do I know you from The Hangover? No offense” became a common occurrence in his life, and looking back at the first two, probably his best episode of the trio. It wasn’t great by any means, and Galifianakis kept tripping over his words, but it was less reliant on already established characters than his previous appearances (i.e. no “Affectionate Family”) and the writers were wise to not suppress Galifianakis’s very particular persona. Or maybe I was just happy to see Jaime Lannister and Don Draper, I dunno.
Nothing separates this “Fox & Friends” from any of the other previous installments, outside of maybe Bobby Moynihan believing the “W” in WNBA stands for “Worse,” but the list of corrections is always amusing:
The Bangladesh one is a thing of beauty.
Good job, Internet.
I knew all the Game of Thrones questions and few of the real-life ones. I…don’t want to talk about it. The sight of Zach Galifianakis in a dragon costume was enough to make E!’s game show (???) “Game of Game of Thrones” memorable (even if there was a lot of undue hostility toward the show and its fans — haha, our grandmothers are our best friends?), but then they had to go and bring out Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and I got lost in his eyes. No clue what happened at the end of this sketch. Bill Hader threw wildfire at the audience? Probably that.
This was the first new SNL since the events in Boston last month, and the only time the episode got even vaguely political (outside of the cold open), it had nothing to do with Boston. That’s fine; I usually get mad at the show for going soft on big issues, but I don’t think anyone really wants to see a sketch knocking those Chechens down a peg. Besides, then we would have missed James Carville’s series of casino moves while discussing gun control.
It was good to see Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party, Cecily Strong’s breakout character who first appeared during one of SNL‘s Thursday night specials back in November, again, though I’m dissapointed she didn’t ask if she could say the N-word or C-word this time.
Product placement done right. Shame they couldn’t dress Racist Jim up in a Chocolate Babies costume, though.
Goddammit. Darrell’s House was a long set-up to a great joke (the constant asides to Marcus killed the momentum), but unfortunately, us next-day online folk only get the first, less funny half, not the Al Jolson/Jon Hamm pay-off. (UPDATE: never mind, silly NBC.com.)
Great theme song, though.
SNL has always been good at hyper-specific stereotypes, like how New Balance sneakers are ostensibly for athletes, but they’re only worn by overweight men in their late 30s, early 40s. I can’t wait to own a pair in a decade.
Take note of Jay Pharoah’s Dikembe Mutombo fingers. Horrifying. Anyway, this sketch started horribly slow, but as soon as Zach and Jason began snorting coke, the pace and energy picked up, and while it never hit as well as it could have, the sight of two professional jugglers with white dust on their faces was good enough this late in the episode.
So…the Lumineers but with horns and better hats? Kids today sure love their earnestness.
So, how many of you were playing along with GoGoT?
Thats a trick question. You all were.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
I’ll retreat to my grandma’s basement now.
Here’s the second half of Darrell’s House [www.myspace.com]
I thought “Is that chick in Of Monsters And Men trying to sound like Bjork?” Found out they’re from Iceland. That’s weird. Iceland must row them in pods.
Of Monsters And Men has been permanently added to the list of bands that are so vanilla they’re unbearable, joining the likes of Fun (I refuse to punctuate it their way), Lumineers, and yes, Vampire Weekend.
No mention of the Cooper/Helms cameo?
Maybe it’s the big teeth, but did anyone else think that Ed Helms in that wig looked kind of like a blonde Dave Grohl?
Am I the only one getting the “sorry, we’re unable to load a message from our sponsors” and sitting in silence for 30 seconds?
Oh. My. God. Did I just complain about not seeing a commercial?!?
If only I’d been that lucky! F’n ad for The Peeples 6 times.
Yeah, Adblockplus blocks the ads, but the video won’t start until the ad is over. Open another tab and do something else for 30 seconds, that’s my go-to move.
“(even if there was a lot of undue hostility toward the show and its fans — haha, our grandmothers are our best friends?)”
not really. it’s about time people stop acting like it’s normal and ok for you dorks to like that stupid show.
I thought it was a solid episode overall. Galifinakis is funny as hell and crazy talented, but he definitely can’t read cue cards.
Darrell’s House was spectacular though.
Of Mice And Men was just another in a long list of hack bullshit musical acts this season. How many awful folk-pop Mumford clones is this show gonna book this year?
I don’t know, I laughed pretty hard at the female GoT fan calling Jon Snow her future husband. That was pretty spot-on lady nerd behavior.
Speaking of which, I appreciate the Coster-Waldau/Cooper/Hamm trifecta of handsomeness, plus bonus adorable Ed Helms.
And they could get Zach to host every season and I wouldn’t complain.
Agreed. This may be my favorite episode of the season.
Memphis Grizzlies ftw
Name a living painter: George W. Bush
Jokes on you, New Balance. I wear Asics!
/walks up stairs to check on my kids
//breathes heavy three steps in
darrells house pay off was sublime. gallifinakis is a treat whatever the occasion.
The leader singer from Of Monsters and Men looks like Samwell Tarly’s pedophile brother.
I was thinking more like Chaz Bono. Uncanny.
The lady and I said the exact same two things. She said Samwell and I said Chaz.
Darrell’s Place was probably the best sketch of the night. the rest of the episode was bad which is a shame.
i was shocked to hear this song performed by Of Monsters and Men. I’ve been thinking this Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros the entire time
I often get that song confused with Home regarding who does which. [www.youtube.com]
And keeping with the TV theme one of the girls from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is playing Dwight’s girlfriend on this last season of the Office.
[www.imdb.com]
I never knew that Sam Tarly was a guitarist/singer in a band.
+1
“That shower sounds like a lot of fun.”
Nikolaj’s delivery made me laugh. Well done.
Of Monsters and Men sound pretty good live.
Wish they would have played something other than the two songs they always play. They have better stuff.
gotta go with whats popular if you’re playing SNL. Also…the lead male singer looks like Sam from GoT.
I was too slow on the GoGoT bit. I’d have been the guy slow on the buzzer in an actual gameshow.
I liked Racist Jim, James Carvil, and The Girl….At a Party. Not sure why that last one never gets old.
Cecily is pretty? I would like to talk to her at a party, ifyouknowwhatI’msayin’
I enjoy Zach Galifianakis’ quirky humor so I thought it was fun to see him on SNL this weekend. Like you said, I thought it was a good idea of the writers to not suppress his quirky humor. I was commuting home from work at DISH when this aired, but didn’t miss it. I watched during the train ride home, on my iPad, using the DISH Anywhere app. This app allows me to watch live and recorded shows without being at home.
So The Lumineers, Of Monsters and Men, and Edward Sharpe. Gun to my head I would not be able to tell them apart.
It would be Dylan McDermott or Dermot Mulroney all over again