Bradley Cooper/TV On The Radio

Cold Open: Decent opener, made me smile a few times, but I feel like they really could have ran with the Pelosi thing, and just as it seemed they were getting into it Kristen screamed "Live From New York, It's Saturday Night!"
6/10

Monologue: Bradley Cooper got off to a good start with the monologue. His energy and enthusiasm was infectious, and I liked the How To Act Like A Bully Tutorial, and the montage of his various appearances on Inside the Actor's Studio. And James Lipton was there!
8/10

Today Show: I have to say I'm really enjoying the Today Show sketches. I loved the banter at the start of it, though it didn't seem to play well with the audience (then again nothing did, but more on that later). Cooper's appearance was amusing also, but a little too brief for my liking.
8/10

Gonna Have Sex w/ Your Wife: We hadn't seen a gameshow sketch for a while, so it was time to bring it back. This had a fairly tihn premise, and Bill's expressionless face was all that kept me laughing. One of the weaker ones.
5/10

I'm On A Boat: I heard the song the other day, and I didn't see what was funny. But I will swallow my words, and say I rather enjoyed this short. The song itself isn't on par with Jizzed in my Pants or Dick In A Box, but the video was funny, and I liked that Akiva was featured. Also, T-Pain needs to host Saturday Night Live or something.
7.5/10

Funeral: I'm growing a little weary of these sketches, but I can't argue that they're actually some of the best-written recurring sketches on SNL. They literally never fail to make me open my mouth in disbelief and laugh. This one had a great finale also, that I won't ruin for anyone that didn't see it.
9/10


TV On The Radio 1: I literally don't know how they did it. SNL always finds a way to make the best bands in the world "sound like ass". (That's a quote I found earlier that I thought was suitable.) Golden Age is one of my favourite TV on the Radio songs, and this live version was actually hard to listen to without grimacing. The acoustics and amplification were just weird. I urge anyone who didn't know TV on the Radio before the show, and has decided they suck, to download Golden Age. You won't be sorry.

Weekend Update: Weekend Update has become the most consistently funny segment on the show, aided in no small part by Seth Meyers and his assuredness and precision. This week was no different, with solid jokes, a fantastic Really?!? about Michael Phelps, and great guests. Bjork was my favourite, as we hadn't seen her in a while. (Don't bring her back again too soon!) Her zany questions kept me giggling throughout, particularly "How is your skeleton?"
10/10

Hockey Players: I didn't really like this sketch, and I think it was because of Bobby. I thought the others did a good job, but I would have preferred to see Andy play the kid. Bobby made the kid sound a little slow and it just didn't work for me. The "Is it okay?" joke wore thin, and did not become any funnier when repeatedly yelled.
5/10

Bad Guys, Good Conversation: I enjoy impression-oriented sketches, so while this was not one of the better ones, I liked it. I thought everyone did a great job, particularly Andy who I wouldn't credit with being good with impressions, but did an awesome job here. Bill was hilarious also;
"You're barking up the all-time wrongest tree!"
7/10

Drinking Problem: This kinda seemed like something thought up in the early morning hours that may have seemed really funny at 4.00am while drunk with exhaustion, but it didn't translate here, and I thought it was the worst of the night.
4/10

TV On The Radio 2: I didn't want anymore TV on the Radio songs ruined for me, so I skipped forward.

No Bruce! Let Me Finish! - Loved it! Unsure as to why this wasn't featured earlier, but I loved Cooper's impression fo Christian Bale, and the other impressions particularly Abby Elliott's impression of Joan Cusack which I have been dying to see since seeing her reel. I loved Hammond's Jim Kramer impression also, and Bale's disillusionment with the clip they showed.
9/10

Overall:
Bradley Cooper was an energetic, fun host who surpassed my expectations. His dedication to every sketch, and his comic timing brought the show up a notch, and I think that under a lot of other hosts, this show would have been quite mediocre. The show wasn't the best of the season, but nearly all of the sketches were funny and Weekend Update in particular was fantastic. I was disappointed with the virtual absences of Abby Elliott and Fred Armisen, the latter of which wasn't given anything substantial tonight. But I suppose with the recent influx of new cast members, its hard to feature everyone.
7.5/10

Stray Observations:
-Joan Cusack! Joan Cusack!
-T-Pain is ridiculously blinged-up. Like, he's the ultimate stereotype rapper/robot.
-Alec Baldwin next week!
-Why did Drew Barrymore stand on the stage at the goodbyes? Fair enough if she was there, but why hog the camera for the sake of it?