Good but not great- the improvement over the other episodes this season clearly was due to Hugh Laurie having writing input- I doubt this year’s writers all of a sudden got better. Borat is a God, but his bit was merely a rehash of previous bits for uninitiated Americans. I agree any bits playing off Lauries previous Britcoms would have been met with a collective ??? from the average viewer, but they could have had at least one sketch for us fans- maybe instead of the interview one?
And did anyone else catch Borat kissing Hugh’s penis at the end?
See, I’ve heard some hype about Borat. It didn’t occur to me until the end that THAT was Borat.
I thought it was Fred Armisen. It would have been funny as an SNL sketch done by SNL performers, but as a movie, I think it’s going to be a large, dense, sucky thing.
The map? Made me laugh my ass off, given the latest US Map put out by National Geographic.
The national anthem? I shook my head sadly, living in Baltimore and being exposed to such SUCK music all the time.
If the movie reviews quoted in the Borat preview during SNL are real, it looks to be the best reviewed comedy in a loooong time. I think they said Entertainment Weekly, notoriously stingy with good reviews, called it maybe the funniest movie ever?
Well, I liked the monologue, and was so disappointed when the Bottom joke fell flat, though he recovered well from it. And the protest song was great…I was very impressed, since I had no idea he could play guitar and harmonica at the same time. He proved his talent with the glasses fumble in the Queen sketch, though the whole thing was badly written…could have been soooo much funnier. The National Anthem thing was good, though too long, and the Hardball thing was funny, but needed better delivery and tighter timing…it was like they were just giving it a first read-through. Beck…well, I’m not a Beck fan, and the big red bow was quite distracting, and since I never watch SNL anymore I didn’t know if the marionettes were a recurring bit, or a Beck thing. Anyhow, I fell asleep during the silverware song, and didn’t wake up until halfway through Showtime at the Apollo, so it can’t rate as one of the better SNL’s of all time. What a waste of Laurie’s truly great comedic talent.
I missed this - out of curiousity - did Hugh Laurie do his monologue with his normal English accent, or did he do something to tool with many Americans, like start out with his House voice and change it later?
I don’t understand all the love for the protest song. If that wasn’t a one-joke sketch, I don’t know what is.
Anyway, I taped the show and just now got around to watching it. The only thing I’ve seen Hugh Laurie in before was a couple episodes of House. I really liked his opening monologue; that came close to making me a fan right there.
I’d only seen Borat before in a movie trailer, and from that I found him creepy, annoying, unfunny, and stupid, and I planned to stay as far away from the movie as possible. Seeing him tonight, I still find him creepy and annoying, but I’m willing to reconsider the “unfunny” part.
Beck was the most visually interesting musical guest they’ve had on in a long time.
I laughed harder at Tim Calhoun than at anything else that’s been on SNL recently.
Everything else ranged from amusing to meh.
Did Don Pardo really announce “On Monday. November 11th: Alec Baldwin”?
On the subject of Tim Calhoun: I love the character more after I learned that Will Forte’s performance incorporates just about every “do not” of public speaking that there is. I appreciate that kind of completeness.
Borat: “Schving” & “Live from New York – home of the Jew – it’s Saturday Night!”
Monologue: funny. Note to anyone who thinks that his Shakespeare joke wasn’t specifically designed to go over the audience’s head: it went over YOUR head. He was all set with his comeback line. He didn’t write that joke to make the audience leaugh. He wrote it so that no one would laugh and he could then say, “All right. Now I know where we stand.” Jesus, he followed it up with. . .
The fart sketch: great skit. What is people’s complaint with this? That a fart sketch is *below * your great British comedian? In the long tradition of silly jokes that are beat into the ground, this one was perfectly designed for it. The infrared was great payoff.
The preparing for the queen sketch seemed totally British, and totally funny. Great timing, and well written. Nice mash up of real requests, borderline stuff, and absurd stuff.
Tim Calhoun was funny. But, how about the Jersey mobsters? “When I saw him pummeling this jamook’s face with his fists, I wished that was my face. And that his fists were tiny little kisses.”
I was looking forward to this (I love Hugh Laurie in House) but I was disappointed for the most part.
What I liked:
The Queen sketch
The protest song
The monologue
The Beck piece with everybody doing percussion on the table
What I didn’t like:
Pretty much everything else.
If Hugh Laurie isn’t enough to save SNL for me (I haven’t watched it in probably 15 years, maybe longer) then I don’t think I’ll be checking back in for more. I had saved the episode on my DVR in case it was so good I just had to watch it again. When the show was over, I looked at the spouse, said, “Mind if I trash it?” When he shook his head emphatically, I deleted it without regret.
Even though I’m not a big fart joke guy, I thought that sketch was very funny. The queen sketch was great, especially the payoff to the guy who cleans out the safe.
The Jersey guys were a good idea, but I thought they didn’t play the characters that well. Too over the top with the yelling. It’s one thing to be a stereotype, it’s another to ratchet it up to annoying levels, when the joke isn’t about how annoying they are.
The Queen sketch was funny, especially the flub with the glasses and the ad lib.
Overall, the show was better than the others this season, but still mostly sucked. I only enjoyed 3 bits, but that’s about 2 or 3 more than usual.
Oh, and the Borat movie ad was waaaaaayyy too long.
You know, that was the first sketch in which blackguywhatshisname was actually almost funny. The only thing that ruined it was his constant grin through the sketch (which he always does and is very annoying).
I didn’t feel that pang of self-hatred I often feel when watching the show because I have once again given into the sheer force of habit (only to be bitterly disappointed). So I guess I would say it was fairly decent.
