Sunday, February 15, 2009

Alec Baldwin/Jonas Brothers Review

Republican Meeting Cold Open - I actually enjoyed this. It was clever and subtle, and moved along at a nice pace. And any appearance from Dan Aykroyd is a winner for me.
7/10


Monologue - Great monologue! I love when actors are in character for the monologues, and Baldwin did an incredible job. Kudos to Jack McBrayer also, who not only was adorable and looked so excited to be there, but was also funny!
8/10


New Jonas Brother -Loved it, loved it, loved it. The Jonas Brothers just went up in my estimation. Alec Baldwin was, as usual, hilarious. "Gary" was a genius creation, and the Jo.Bros did a great job. I didn't think they had it in them to be funny, but the proved me wrong!
"My name's not Gary. It's Alec." Gold!
9/10


Cougar Den - I love these sketches so much. And while this was not as funny as the one from James Franco's show, I still really enjoyed it. Cougay, "thick pamphlet" and Facebook break = hilarity. Really well-written and well-executed. And KiKi DeMoray never fails to make me laugh.
8/10

DS - Ask the Wizard - As if it were possible, the Jo.Bros gain more respect from me. I really enjoyed this, particularly the brevity of the songs, and Andy trying to shove the VHS tape into the DVD player. Only qualm is that it ended a little too abruptly, but aside from that I really enjoyed it.
8/10

Sir Mix-a-Lot's Photo Shop - This was amusing, and Kenan did a particularly good job. Only, his rapping skills are no match for The Lonely Island. I loved Casey Wilson's bit - "My butt is so big, and I love it!"
7/10

Musical Performance - The Jonas Brothers may be adept at comedy, but I will not listen to their music.


Weekend Update - Last week, I said that WU was the only consistently funny part of the show. This week, it still retained its funniness and such, but some of the jokes were a little lacklustre. Why did they have to bring Oscar Rogers back? It is not a funny character, and shouting lines doesn't make them any funnier. Don't bring him back. Ever.
Angelina Jolie was great, as was the Salma Hayek joke that prefaced it.
I want to profess my love for Michaela Watkins' "Bitch Please" character. So seedy and creepy, but frickin' hysterical! That is a character that needs to come back. Jason's Joaquin Phoenix impression was good too, but hard to extract any real jokes from it. I did enjoy the 8lbs 10oz under par joke though.
8/10

Vincent Price's Valentines Day Special - Best sketch of the night in my opinion. Always really well written, and the impressions are sublime, as are Liberace's innuendos. Kristen's Carol Channing was inspired. "Where's the hand Carol?" "I'll never tell!"
10/10


Carol, Hold My Calls - Don't like these characters, but this was at least better than the Fartface sketch from Josh Brolin's show. Some funny lines, but not enough to sustain or merit the sketch.
6/10

Jonas Brothers Performance 2 - Skipped it.

Wii Game - I can see why people would enjoy it, but these sorts of innuendo-filled sketches aren't up my alley. It was clever and all, but I'd take Vincent Price Valentine's Day Special any day of the week.
6/10


Chewable Pampers - I didn't like it the first time, but I actually enjoyed it more the second time. Still don't know why they showed it though.


Virgiana Horsen's Hot Air Balloons - While I was a little peeved at the fact that there were two old taped sketches in a row, I actually love this sketch and character so much. Hadn't seen it in a long time, so it was a welcome repeat.


Alec Baldwin's Acting Techniques for Actors - A little thin on the concept, but I quite liked it. It really annoys me in movies, how characters will make a big fuss over a tiny cough, and then the character dies. So while it may have been thin, it was also pretty clever.
7/10


Overall:
Alec Baldwin once again delivers an above average show, filled to the brim with guests. I have to commend the Jonas Brothers for being game, and doing a great job in their sketches. I know there was a lot of moaning and groaning about their appearance, but I for one really enjoyed it.
Good to see a show that featured a sufficient amount of Bill Hader, and not an overdose of Kristen Wiig. Would have liked to see more of some of the other cast members, but it's all good. Overall, this was an awesome show, and certainly the best since NPH's. Good to see SNL back on track, and hopefully it stays that way.

8.5/10

Stray Observations:
-Who wants to see Jack McBrayer host? I do! Also, I loved his quip about not hosting too many times.
-Michaela Watkins brought her A-game with that genius WU character. Keep it up!
-Did anyone notice on one of Alec Baldwin's bumper photos that he was holding a heart that says AB (Alec Baldwin) loves IB (Ireland Baldwin). I think he's forgiven for the infamous phone message incident.
-Abby Elliott was wearing the most lovely dress at the goodbyes!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Amy, great review of the show. I came here by googling AB loves IB cause i was wondering who IB was. I didn't even remember some people tried to make a big deal about Alec Baldwin being mad at his daughter. That didn't make him dislike him because he's doing such a great job in 30Rock and was awesome in Madagascar 2 as well!
He did a good job at hosting SNL. Looks like the writer's had some blockage going on though as this was one short episode. They had so many fillers in them like longer band in-/outros, a way-long good-bye, two re-broadcasts!
I Ask: Is everyone alright in the production department?