Monday, March 16, 2009

Tracy Morgan/Kelly Clarkson Review

Cold Open: Funny, energetic, silly, stupid - perfect opening to a show hosted by Tracy Morgan.
Nice cameo from writer Simon Rich also!
7/10

Monologue: Funny stuff. I particularly enjoyed where he was looking at the headlines about the recent fire in his apartment. "Why is it a crib? That's my home!"
8/10

Chewable Pampers: I won't dignify that with a rating. Put it to rest!

Brian Fellow's Safari Planet: I was in hysterics! Brian Fsnellow is hilarious, period. So ridiculous and silly, especially everything about the "uppity" cow. And it didn't run too long either, which is always a plus! All in all, pretty perfect sketch.
9/10

The View: Not as funny as some previous ones, but Kenan never fails to crack me up with his Whoopi Goldberg impression. Same can be said for Michaela Watkins' impression of Barbara Walters. The argument about stem cell research was my favourite part of this sketch.
"Stem cells are not people. If you walked into a restaurant with three stem cells, you wouldn't get a table for four."
"Yes I would!"
7.5/10

Scared Straight: Ordinarily I would probably groan at the thought of yet another Scared Straight sketch, but this one was just too funny, if only for the fact that Bill & Andy broke at the end, and Jason was hilarious making them laugh even more. It may not be professional, but I love seeing cast members break, especially Bill who I would have considered to be unbreakable. Also, "penis noir" sticks out in my head.
9/10

Dateline: "And then he shot me."
"Ooh, shot you a dirty look?"
Enough said, Bill was characteristically awesome, and this sketch was as funny, if not funnier, than its predecessor.
9/10

Astronaut Jones: I think the theme tune was funnier than the actual sketch itself. Don't get me wrong, it was fine and I smirked at a few parts, but it didn't live up to my expectations. However, that song will forever be stuck in my head.
7/10

Kelly Clarkson 1: I don't like the song My Life Would Suck Without You, but I have to hand it to Kelly - she sounded pretty damned good live. Kudos.

Weekend Update: So, while the guests on WU were funny, the jokes were subpar and I don't think I actually laughed at one of them. John Malkovich was excellent, and Bill had him down to a tee. I laughed at Really?! with Tracy Morgan. Barbie was amusing, but I felt she dragged on a little bit. Not the best WU.
7.5/10

Big Love: I am willing to forgive the somewhat disappointing conclusion to this sketch, for the fact that the cast were excellent at the impressions. Casey Wilson was particularly good at capturing Ginnifer Goodwin's vacant expressions, while Abby made me howl as soon as she opened her mouth. However, this was a sketch that could have done without a presence of Tracy Morgan.
7/10

Digital Short: I missed these kinds of digital shorts. It reminded me of the boardroom meeting one with Rainn Wilson. My favourites were cereal rapist & numbnuts.
9/10

Suppressex: Felt a little rehashed to me. The beginning with Will Forte was funny, but it sort of went downhill from there.
6/10

High IQ: So incredibly silly, and that's the only word fit to describe this sketch. But I really liked it. It had a circus feel to it, and I love ensemble sketches. And I don't know why, but Darrell's voice made me laugh a lot too!
8/10

Kelly Clarkson 2: n/a didn't watch.

Family Flix: The minute Life is A Highway started playing, I was gone. This sketch was just so funny to me, and I think had anyone other than Tracy Morgan done it, it wouldn't have been nearly as funny. The photos of all the people who died during the making of Rocket Dog were hilarious too.
9/10

Gas Right: Some original commercials please!

Overall: I really enjoyed this episode. I knew this episode would be good, but it really surpassed my expectations. Even the sketches I didn't enjoy so much, didn't leave me bored, as some sketches did last week in Dwayne Johnson's show. Tracy Morgan was an awesome host, and while this may not be the best episode of the year, I think he's one of the best hosts.
I think it was Bill's night tonight. He is basically Midas, and he elevates every sketch to a level it most certainly would not reach without him.
Hard to pick a favourite sketch, as there were a lot of great ones. My only qualm is that they had to replay Gas Right & Chewable Pampers. Some new commercials or shorts, please! Also, while I love the political sketches they do, I'm glad they didn't do one tonight. It wouldn't have felt right to integrate politics with the fun episode that we had Saturday night.
Overall - fun episode, full of laughs. Perhaps they overutilised Tracy, but I don't even care. There's never enough Tracy Morgan.
8/10

No comments: