SNL 5/21/11

I think Timberlake has officially surpassed Baldwin as the best host of the modern era.

Think think it was awesome how much Lady Gaga got involved.

 

There are few shots more appealing than Abby Elliott's moment on the opening credits.

 

As already said JT is fantastic. The guy oozes charisma and is someone that both my wife and i find funny which is unusual given that we have different senses of humor. I think his fearlessness as a performer is part of what makes him so great.

Keenan Thompson has started to grow on me, enjoyed the openbing and have always liked "Whats up with That?" and his scared straight inmate routine.

 

ON the basis of his opening song, JT needs to be given a 5-year contract to host the Oscars. Pronto.

 

j-tim =sensational, per usual. still can't believe what a fan of an 'n sync' guy i've become; he had me at 'alpha dog.'

but the shocker for me is lady gaga. she was terrific. came off as smart, self-deprecating, and multi-talentede'e. on a recent thread i blew her off as nothing more than a flash-in-the-pan, madonna wannabe. whose 15 minutes would be at zero very soon. i was wrong. she strikes me as very self-aware. definitely has staying power. was glad she ended her role with 'born this way,' instead of forcing a lesser-known song down our throats.

 

It's official: I don't get it. I thought the show was marginal at best. I laughed out loud exactly once in the 1.5 hours (when he was asked what Chris Kirkpatrick's name was). Best in the last 20 years? That has to be a joke, right?

I just thought it was the same regurgitated stuff over and over again, but with newer, lamer jokes. Don't get it.

 

First you have to understand how low the bar is. He's by far the best host going today.

 

True ... compared to most of the hosts I've seen in the past 5 years. I grew up when it was great in the 1990s, when you'd have Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks and John Goodman. Ahhh, those were the good old days (yeah, I just said that ... sigh).

 

Makes you wonder about the fate of the non-Wiig women in the cast when for the second time in three weeks, a female guest who isn't the host (Gaga last night and Maya Rudolph when Tina Fey hosted) got more sketch time than any of them.
The rumors about Abby leaving have been around for a while. But Vanessa Bayer, who was getting the most air time of any of the newbs around midseason (thanks to her Miley Cyrus), has disappeared just like Jay Pharoah down the stretch.

 

Jay Pharoah, as great as he is with impressions, was awful during that first sketch. He was reading off the cards.

 

Especially if Armisen is going, it was apparent that Pharoah was being kept in the bullpen, particularly for Obama, and with an election coming up, he's a hole card they need.

One of the things that huge book taught me about the show is a lot of why someone might not be getting on has to do with their writing ability. That could also be taking time to develop in his case.

I will admit that she's not exactly irreplaceable, but I would greatly miss Elliott if she were to leave. Pedrad has been relatively useful (Lil' Blaster, for example). Hope she sticks around, too.

 

They all do that to some extent.

I understand they are rewriting and editing the script right up until minutes before the sketch goes live. But it always bothers me when a cast member - who does this every week - is locked onto the cue cards and not actually trying to interact with the other characters. The worst last night was Samberg playing Cage during Weekend Update.