It’s HL’s second appearance on the show. He used to do a lot of sketch comedy, so I hope they give him some good material.
I’ve just been watching a lot of Blackadder and falling in love with him, so I went to IMDB and thought “wait, HE’S HOUSE?!” Knock me over with a feather. He has a fantastic American accent (or, I’ve only seen House a couple of times but this character as HL totally surprised me).
I watched it early, expecting a Blago bit. Plus the news.
I was not disappointed.
I love Hugh Laurie, & I think he tried - but I thought the show stunk tonight. The writing was lazy. I can’t think of a single skit that was really funny. What a waste. Just my 2 cents.
The monologue was surprisingly underwhelming. I gave up seconds into the “Bronx Beat” sketch; any episode that is front-loaded with THAT steaming pile of unfunny is bound to disappoint me.
I’m about to shove that Autotune up Kanye West’s ass. Shut the fuck up man, and rap. At least Nice & Smooth knew their singing sucked.
Hugh was wasted in this episode. I did like the passive aggressive/aggressive family skit. It was good to see Maya Rudolph back but not for the Bronx Beat skit, which is patently boring.
Fred Armisen’s David Patterson impersonation was completely unfunny and tacky.
I was surprised he used an American accent for most of the sketches; he’s usually pretty reluctant to use it outside of “House.”
I don’t recall what his 2006 appearance was like.
I just saw the Arminsen bit on Weekend Update. I thought it was hilarious and (thus far) the highlight of the show.
Why? Because you thought it wasn’t a good impression, or because he was making fun of a blind guy? You don’t get to play the sympathy card if you choose to go into politics.
I thought it was one of the best parts of an otherwise mediocre episode, especially Gov. Patterson’s interruption of Amy’s Shocking Announcement at the end.
“Yeah. Fiddy dollars worth of circus tickets…”
I actually laughed loudly at Bronx Beat. When they were gushing over Hugh’s accent and saying they wished they had accents, Laurie actually cracked up. Poeler and Rudolph must consider that a major accomplishment.
I’m sad to hear that Amy’s leaving. Somehow, I hadn’t heard that this would be her last show until she said it on Update. The show will take a while to recover from her loss–she has been central to almost all of their best stuff for years now.
As soon as I typed about the Patterson impression I knew that ensured that someone would like it.
I don’t have any sympathy for him one way or the other. I’m not a huge fan of things that appear to be cheap shots. It’s not like Patterson can uncross his eyes or anything like that. It sort of reeks of the kind of thing the jerk in the sixth grade classroom does when the teacher’s not looking.
Are you familiar with Paterson’s backstory? The fact that he’s blind and has a wonky eye is about the sixth thing down on the list of things to make fun of him for, as Arminsen clearly showed in the bit.
Mind you, I do agree that the writing on SNL has sucked this season, and most of it has been sixth grade stupid humor … but this one made me laugh. Especially when he was wandering into camera range and on the phone saying “Did you hear me crap all over Jersey?”
The Patterson bit is the only part of the show that made me laugh, and only when he was wandering in and out of frame. I ended up watching old digital shorts on hulu just to pass the time. That meant I missed one skit entirely, some sort of office-based thing of which I just caught the very end, but it didn’t seem like I missed much.
I liked Kanye’s animated backgrounds, but that didn’t much make up for the fact he can’t sing.
Kanye West’s singing was downright embarrassing. I don’t understand how he doesn’t realize that and go back to what he’s good at.
I also wish there had been a House skit. I didn’t think good use was made of Hugh Laurie at all.
Amy Poehler will be missed. I shudder to think what the show will be like without her.
Or when he was trying to buy “circus tickets.”
Bronx Beat cribbed a sketch from a Jeremy Irons episode years ago…American women go nuts for a British guy saying anything…it was neat to see Maya again though.
The Patterson bit was the highlight of the night for me, I especially liked how he “interrupted” Amy’s tearful farewell.
Doesn’t Kanye West know that rap was invented so that people who can’t sing could get recording contracts?
Laurie was given better stuff his first time on the show. Still, I liked the “Say it in British” bit and the Christmas letter from the dead cat.
I thought this episode wasn’t bad. Admittedly, I don’t watch SNL too often. I had to watch it when Palin guest starred and I heard that Hugh Laurie was guest starring so I watched this weeks episode as well. It was weird seeing him without a bad leg and without an American accent but his skits all made me laugh. What more can I ask for?