Previously: James Franco’s monologue and Nicki Minaj’s Beyonce impression
Cold Open
[protected-iframe id=”cf63bc39a1c0f996e0aab29ceebdc249-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/politics-nation-cold-open-085544107.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
Instead of saying something profound or even relevant about what happened to Eric Garner, last night’s SNL began with Al Sharpton mispronouncing words and vertical video jokes? An uneasy, limp way of beginning an episode, but it (mostly) got better from here.
Peter Pan Live
[protected-iframe id=”89716411a42ded546772f50e5aa66209-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/peter-pan-live-085157444.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
Peter Pan Live! jokes practically themselves (don’t believe me: check out all four million of them on Twitter). So, rather than straight-up parody of NBC’s boring musical production, the writers made this sketch all about Tonker Bell. It was the right call, considering the repetitiveness of Cecily Strong’s Peter insisting she’s a boy and James Franco’s sleepy Christopher Walken impression. True, the actual Walken died weeks ago and his body was being Weekend at Bernie‘d around on Thursday night, but…my point is, Weekend at Bernie’s III: Walken on Sunshine.
Grow a Guy
[protected-iframe id=”7ed6ce58e468e3a058cbd6e17694afe4-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/grow-guy-085157033.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
This was, I believe, the first time we’ve seen “A Mike O’Brien Picture,” or at least one that’s been credited that way, and now I’d like to see more. It moved deceptively slow and the punchline was about being ostracized and feeling lonely, basically (also: people exploding), but the weirder and more comically polarizing SNL gets, the better it usually is, and “Grow a Guy” was plenty weird. Plus, Franco made a good point about #hashtags.
Magic Bridge
[protected-iframe id=”d9d2b0eb734f7c351dd1c77735037135-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/magic-bridge-085158204.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
I take back what I said. “Magic Bridge” was weird, and terrible.
Weekend Update
[protected-iframe id=”bb2b7c87dff4b3448f90917a225d88fc-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/weekend-part-1-085157060.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
[protected-iframe id=”f6b6d8f5e1e811c6dec8e7cb1f13919f-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/weekend-part-2-085545843.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
I’ve been down on Weekend Update this season. So has everyone. You can’t even write it off as “growing pains,” either, unless you subscribe to the theory that Colin Jost is actually Boner’s cousin Erection, in which case, yes. But I gotta admit, Jost and Michael Che were on-point last night. Talking personally worked well for them, and the longer they kept the subject on what happened to Eric Garner, the more pissed they seemed. Good! This format change can’t happen all the time, unless something super horrible happens every week (which isn’t out of the question, actually), but it was a refreshing change of pace from the typical Update blandness.
Weekend Update: Kim Kardashian
[protected-iframe id=”f4253506f671b33332ac0b4897cd59bf-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/weekend-kim-kardashian-085544075.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
Then again, maybe they were just excited to sit next to Nicki Minaj (who was also pretty good!).
Kid Mayor
[protected-iframe id=”2b27c4d22458a05a9d19e9ec8b9fcdf5-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/kid-mayor-085156932.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
Franco must have downed seven energy drinks and a thimble full of cocaine before this sketch. He shouts every line, which works really well for the character, an agitated politician who lost the mayoral race to a four-year-old. For as slow as this episode started, it really picked up in the second half, with this sketch, the next, and Pete Davidson’s brain (which sadly isn’t available online — damn you, Savage Garden music rights) the highlights.
Sunseeker Yachts
[protected-iframe id=”3d7d135e193f668893708e5b794fac67-60970621-60062467″ info=”https://screen.yahoo.com/porn-stars-101341473.html?format=embed” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
So long as the ex-porn stars keep banging out lines like, “We’re gonna need a bigger throat” and “I lost my foot in my butt,” I’ll never want this sketch thrown away, like so many soiled tissues.
