God, that was the best opening I’ve seen in ages. Gore comes on (it was really him) saying what a great 6 years he’s had a president.
The digs he made at Bush and everything he’s done are so excellent.
He rocks.
Good god, SNL’s obligatory political sketches are so not funny it hurts.
So far, so good. The homeless man sketch was funny, and the morning news show too. I am stunned.
The morning news show made me laugh out loud until I couldn’t breathe. I just found it to be extremely hilarious. If I tried to explain it to someone who hadn’t seen it, I don’t think I could make them understand why it was funny, but when the intro music started playing again… whew.
Lots of good skits in tonight’s episode, including the opener with Al Gore. “Of course, that won’t be a problem thanks to the anti-tornado-and-hurricane machine I invented.”
Also thought Weekend Update was pretty good. My favorite joke was the one about how Rumsfeld told the troops it was a good thing they thought the new body armor looked goofy, “because we only bought seven.” Finesse did an okay job with his standup bit; was lackluster in parts, but I laughed at the bit about how if you are wearing a top hat, white gloves, cape, and cane you aren’t cool or a pimp: you’re a magician.
A few mostly unfunny skits, but their hit/miss ratio was pretty damn good this week.
“This is a weird chair.”
Horatio was good in that one.
The Morning Show sketch and the My Space sketch were hilarious.
My favorite part was Al Gore saying that the economy is doing good because all our money is in a lock box.
and a Happy 72 Birthday to Stan!
Al Gore raising his public presence. Interesting.
Gore = way funnier than South Park was most of this season, especially their “cereal” episode. Methinks that when the target for their increasingly dull and meanspirited without being funny show is far better at making fun of himself than they are, they need to do some re-thinking and go back to the drawing board.
Well crap. The one week I didn’t tune in hopefully, and it sounds like I missed a pretty decent show. 
Gore’s last appearance on SNL (shortly after the 2000 election, I think) was also great. It had a skit where Gore was the practical accoutant type hired by Willi Wonka to help put his Chocolate factory in the black. When he’s not running for office, Gore is suprisingly charsimatic.
I’ve slammed SNL pretty hard here, so it’s only fair to say that this was the best show I’ve seen in years.
Gore’s opener was hilarious. (Did you catch in the closing credits the line “Additional skits by Katrina Gore?” Could she have written that?) It put himself down gently while slamming the administration; just the right combo of tone and texture. Even his global warming debate with Amy was good if not nearly as funny.
The MySpace skit was painfully funny. SNL usually tries to make fun of whatever controversy is going on by making light of the whole problem, but for once they got the it right. Of course, having a whole cast full of sleazy-looking guys is a big help. 
And Paul Simon’s songs are the strongest stuff from him since the Graceland album. Powerful music that sounded great.
Good show all around. Props.
Al Gore is a strange guy. When campaigning, he always came across as the stiffest, most humorless guy imaginable. But every time he’s tried a bit of comedy, he’s been brilliant. I liked his appearances on SNL, and I liked his Futurama stuff. He’s got good timing and good delivery. Better than any other politician I’ve seen, I think.
If he had shown more of this side of himself in 2000, he would have been elected.
The rest of the show was pretty good. I loved the morning news show skit (although it wasn’t as good as the classic Wil Ferrel/Nancy Walls “Wake up and Smile”, where the teleprompter breaks and they immediately devolve until Wil Ferrel cuts off the head of the weatherman to establish dominance…). The Myspace skit was deadly accurate, but the joke was obvious and it maybe went on a little too long.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus was pretty good, but that could be expected since she was a veteran SNL player (and man, was she smokin’ hot back then - and she still looks great considering it was almost 25 years ago that she was on the show). I loved the scene with Jason Alexander, and having Jerry Seinfeld attempting to kill her was a very nice touch.
Good show.
I really liked the music, and lo and behold, turns out my husband has the piece on a CD :D. It’s called Mr. Ghost Goes To Town by the John Buzon Trio - he thinks it came out in the mid-to-late sixties.
I thought last night was pretty good - but when was the last time any middle-aged woman, former cast member or not, hosted this show?
E.
I was watching this & was struck by how good it was.
Gore’s opener – great
Julia’s opening – sharp
The “Tech Pack” fake ad – cute punch line
The crazy homeless guy – well done
The morning show – brilliant
Weekend Update – all right
MySpace – a bit uncomfortable, but sharp & true
“Charades” game show – eh, but at least they stuck it at the back
Paul Simon – wow.
About halfway through the show, I decided I was dead. Other people see a light, I see the perfect SNL. I mean, it’s never this good.
Oh, & who played David Blaine in Weekend Update? Was that Samberg with short hair?
Yep.
I did like Andy Samberg for awhile, but after last night, save the David Blaine impression and his digital shorts - he’s really terrible. He spent the majority of the MySpace sketch reading off of the cue cards and it was horribly obvious. He’s cute, but I expect a cast member not to spend an entire sketch reading cue cards.
On the positive side, ElzaHub and I both agree that this was the best SNL we’ve seen in a very long time. I’m highly impressed.
E.
I think he may have just been playing blasé hipster.
I, too, was shocked by how not unfunny (that’s on par with ‘less shame’) last night’s episode was, especially compared to the coke-fuelled trainwreck that was Lindsay Lohan’s last hosting gig.
I meant to link to a bit of Samberg’s stand-up. Not the absolute best, but you get a feel for his regular comedic voice.
I saw the Weekend Update, but I really wish I’d seen the earlier stuff.
It’s a very strange thing, and his stiff public persona may actually make him funnier when he abandons it. I would actually have to give him a second look if he ever ran for President again, and his sense of humor is helping him.
Sorry if I’m telling everybody something they already know, but Gore’s daughter Kristin was a writer for Futurama (hence his appearances on that show) and apparently, also for SNL.