October 25, 2014 – Jim Carrey / Iggy Azalea (S40 E4)

Cold Opening – Ebola Press Conference

• As I said before, these Ebola-related pieces on SNL around this time are such a time capsule to the time and are reminiscent of our current COVID scare and cautions.
• Some good laughs from Taran’s Ron Klein Q & A segment.
• Jay’s Obama is still solid, but the writing for him is boring, maybe because of how boring the real guy is.
• I just realized that Beck’s reporter character sat through this entire open without doing or saying a thing of importance. Then, why have him here in the first place?
• A decent open overall, and a big improvement over the previous one.

Rating: ***

Opening Montage

• SNL writer & occasional on-screen performer Leslie Jones Has been officially added to the cast starting with tonight’s episode.

Monologue

• Great look on Jim.
• Such a heartwarming & well-deserved long applause break for the comedy legend.
• Another musical monologue this season, at least this one will be helped by Jim’s dependable energy & natural likability.
• Solid Elvis impression from Jim, and a fun musical number, helped yet again by Jim’s energy & commitment.
• While I’m not always a fan of cast members joining the host in his musical guest as background dancers, the cast here is fitting well with this whole song & the Halloween theme.
• Bobby steals this whole monologue with his appearance towards the end, his look alone is hilarious.
• I love the epic wide-shot of the studio as the camera pan-out at the end.

Rating: ***

Lincoln

• A solid Matthew McConaughey impression from Jim & a spot-on parody of the viral Lincoln ads that starred him around this time.
• I’m getting some good laughs from the various nonsensical, rambly, seemingly-deep quotes from Jim’s McConaughey.

Rating: ****

Carrey Family Reunion

• A sequel to the beloved Walken Family Reunion sketch from Christopher’s season 33 episode.
• I see that Leslie Jones is playing a typical shouty, over-the-top role that she’ll be stuck with throughout her tenure.
• A Halloween-themed variation of the aforementioned sketch, with Jim’s relatives dressing up as his many iconic characters.
• Very solid Fire Marshall Bill from Cecily.
• I do love that the cast in this variation is playing several characters from the host’s repertoire, instead of playing similarly-sounding relatives. And the upcoming variation in the Adam Sandler hosting stint in season 44 (an extremely overrated episode in my view, aside from two bonafide classics, which we will get to upon eventual review), uses the same idea, but I recall it being a slight step down, maybe because I’ve always despised Adam Sandler’s comedy & what he stands for in them, but I might change my mind when I review it.
• A great The Mask impression from Bobby, stealing this entire sketch.
• A very welcomed cameo from Jeff Daniels, doing a spot-on impression of Jim’s character in Dumb & Dumber.
• A very fun sketch overall, with solid impressions and a great concept perfect for Halloween.

Rating: ****

Lincoln

• I’m continuing to be entertained and getting good laughs from Jim’s McConaughey nonsensical rambling throughout this commercial parody.
• A huge laugh from the reveal of two kids being in the backseat of the car while Jim’s McConaughey continues to ramble on and on, and an even bigger laugh from his confession that he doesn’t know whose kids are they.

Rating: ****

Graveyard Song

• Great to see our second of several Halloween-themed sketches tonight.
• The setting is reminding me of the fantastic Graveyard Ghosts sketch in Chance The Rapper’s season 45 hosting stint.
• Very catchy song, which kinda reminds me of a song I can’t remember right now.
• Fun pairing of Jim & Taran, reminding me of the classic Merryville Brothers sketch that they both did in Jim’s previous hosting stint.
• Some good laughs from Jim & Taran’s characters being not as scary as the others.
• A solid ending to a very fun sketch. As fun as this sketch was, it doesn’t hold a candle to the aforementioned Graveyard Ghosts sketch, which I cannot wait to eventually review in few months from now.

Rating: ****

Allstate/Lincoln

• Kenan is perfectly cast as Dennis Haysbert.
• Holy shit at Jim’s Matthew McConaughey running over Kenan’s Dennis Haysbert. A freaking priceless conclusion to tonight’s runner. A classic.

Rating: *****

Musical Performance – “Fancy” / “Black Widow” ft. Rita Ora

• Jesse Nathan: (*sigh*) Oh God, here we go.
• Already off to a bad start with the intro.
• Also, what’s the point of the big fence behind Iggy? I mean, I kinda get the point of the outfit she’s wearing, as the music video for “Fancy” was a parody of Clueless, but…seriously, what’s up with that fence? I know that’s a minor detail, but I just can’t let it slide.
• Okay, what’s up with artists censoring “bitch” during their performances? You know you can say that on SNL, right?
• Boy, this dancing is hella cringey.
• The backing vocalists sound awful on the chorus.
• “My flow retarded”? Uh, you know that word’s out of date now, right? Hell, it was ALREADY out of date back in 2014.
• Boy, this performance is feeling hella misguided.
• And now we’re slowing down to transition to the next song, and it somehow sounds EVEN WORSE than the last one.
• Rita Ora sounds kinda bad on the chorus for “Black Widow”.
• What the fuck is up with these creepy-ass men going up on Rita?
• Oh, so that’s why Iggy had to step out for a brief moment. It’s so that she could change outfits.
• Wow, these censored lyrics are pretty hard to figure out.
• Boy, this so-called “chemistry” between Iggy and Rita is fucking CRINGEY.
• Overall, this sucked.

Rating: *

Weekend Update

• Colin’s delivery of that opening Ebola joke was somewhat rough, oof. I recall Colin. who’s already miles funnier and refreshing than Seth Meyers ever was behind the desk, will have some rough moments behind the desk till he grows to the persona we know today as this season continues.
• Great to see a Vanessa Bayer Weekend Update showcase, and this one is particularly memorable to me.
• Vanessa is doing an absolutely spot-on and hilarious impression of the typical “meet cute” tropes in romcoms, and Michael’s solid in his interactions with her.
• A fun, solid commentary from Vanessa overall.
• A huge guilty laugh in the beginning of Drunk Uncle’s commentary, when he scoots his chair in reaction to seeing Michael, and going all the way to Colin’s side of the desk. Michael’s reaction was hilarious and absolutely perfect.
• The usual funny comments from Drunk Uncle, even when none of them will top the priceless opening gag of his commentary tonight.
• Another good Update overall.

Rating: ***1/2

Secret Billionaire

• Jim seems to mistakenly block parts of the camera as he makes his entrance.
• I’m getting some of my expected laughs from the story that Jim’s character is telling, the hot air balloon one is particularly funny. Even when his slow-paced delivery and characterization are making this sketch seem longer than it is.
• Cecily’s various reactions to Jim’s character are pretty funny, especially her confession of loving seafood in response to one of Jim’s disturbing stories.
• A brilliant, memorable part with Jim’s story about 250 men named Dennis and one named Brian, this part ALONE is worth a good rating from me.
• A pretty good sketch overall, despite Jim’s choice of using sluggish, slow delivery. The stories that his character told, particularly the very strong Dennis/Brian one helped to elevate the sketch and make it better than it would’ve been otherwise.

Rating: ***1/2

Ghosts: Facts Or Fiction?

• Solid accent & a great look on Taran’s character.
• Hoo boy, Leslie Jones’ first showcase as a cast member. It’s going to be awkward as hell for me to review these showcases which are mostly nothing but LESLIE SHOUT! for five-minutes straight with little-to-no laughs or actual comedic conceit and through line.
• Yeah, I’m about halfway through this, and the “comedy” here is fucking cringeworthy, and Leslie’s aforementioned shouting and extreme mugging are both abusing my eardrums & lowering my I.Q. I never understood how some (very few) hardcore SNL fans defended Leslie’s tenure and whatever she was attempting with her showcases, while at the same time tearing into Cecily & Kate whenever they mug or hamm it up, and leave Leslie’s usual shtick scot free.
• Yeah, Taran & the other performers are saving this sketch with their solid straight man reactions to Leslie’s constant shouting. Their solid work here is the only reason why this short won’t be receiving a rating lower than the one I’m going to give it right now.

Rating: **

High School

• Already, there’s something off about this sketch. Some awkward, long pauses, particularly when Jim is seemingly late to his cue when he’s supposed to feed Pete pieces of brain from his pockets.
• Pete is surprisingly good in acting like a zombie.
• Yeah, I’m not enjoying this sketch as much as I want to, Jim’s his usual solid, professional, reliable self and his characterization and voice here are funny, but the sketch seems too slow-paced and low energy for me.
• An ok ending to an otherwise dull, slow, seemingly unrehearsed sketch.

Rating: **

Office Costume Contest

• Ah, yes! HERE WE GO!!!! The Centerpiece of tonight’s episode and a legendary SNL sketch in general, and a one that played a huge role in solidifying my love for SNL back when this season originally aired.
• Already, we’re getting some good laughs from Vanessa’s wrong assumptions about everybody’s costumes, I especially love Aidy’s reactions to her comments.
• Kate looks perfect as the girl from Sia’s Chandelier music video.
• A huge laugh from Jim’s look as the girl from Sia’s aforementioned music video.
• Some very fun dance moves from Kate & Jim, respectively.
• Ah, and now the sketch is reaching its now-legendary status, with a dance-off to Sia’s Chandelier between Jim & Kate throughout 8H!
• I recall some online SNL fans comparing this turn in this sketch to the also-legendary Dancing in the Dark sketch with Steve Martin & Gilda Radner with how it broke the fourth wall by dancing throughout the studio, and I cannot agree more with that statement.
• Kate’s absolutely phenomenal here, this was back when it was kind of rare to see Kate starring in a sketch outside of her Updates & impression roles, and she is commanding 8H in this sketch with effortless charisma and leadership, this sketch is the one that made me and many others realize that Kate is on her way to be a legendary SNL cast member, and knowing her trajectory throughout this season and the coming years, we turned out to be right in her leadership and stardom potential.
• Very fun involvement from our musical guest, and Iggy’s dancing is a blast to watch.
• A great visual of both Jim and Kate returning to the office set after their epic dance-off throughout 8H.
• A great silly ending and Aidy’s facial reaction and delivery of her closing line sells it perfectly. A true SNL classic and all-time highlight.
• And now, I’m going to talk briefly about this sketch, which I know is highly-regarded amongst SNL fans, but I LOVE it so very much that I got chills down my spine as I reviewed it just now. This sketch, is the one that made it official for me to always catch up SNL episodes live, and not half-watch it like I did to the previous two episodes as they aired live, seeing a legendary sketch like this performed live, with effortlessness and complete control blew me away back in 2014, and still holds up incredibly well in this very day in 2022. I just love this sketch so much. A perfect, fun, creative, and epic masterpiece, one of my absolute favorite SNL sketches ever, and my possible favorite sketch of the season, after a certain enthrallingly dark CFT sketch which I’ll point out when I eventually reach it.

Rating: *****

Musical Performance – “Beg for it” ft. MØ

• Jesse Nathan: Interestingly, Jim’s wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey during his introduction. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s the same jersey Mike Myers wore in Ryan Gosling’s Season 41 monologue.
• Again, this intro sounds awful.
• I do kinda like the staging, but man, why does it have to be for THIS?
• Iggy’s presence is kinda awkward, and she’s not the only one, as we’ll see later on.
• Oh boy, MØ…I suppose I should mention that this was her first performance on American TV. And booooyyyy, does it show. Not only is her presence awkward, but her vocals are barely audible, and the sound mixers decided to play her pre-taped vocals over her live vocals. Seriously, what were those guys THINKING?
• This dancing is awful.
• What is this performance GOING FOR, exactly? It’s coming off extremely awkward and misguided, and Iggy and MØ are the absolute WRONG people to perform this.
• The “oh-eh-oh”s sound awful.
• Finally, it’s over. Oof. These are hands down, HANDS DOWN, two of the worst performances I’ve ever seen performed on the SNL stage in the modern era, right up there with Katy Perry’s Season 42 performances and Kanye West’s performance of “I Love It” in Season 44. Thank God Prince is next

Rating: *

Geoff’s Halloween Emporium

• A very creative, brilliant sketch concept, and so perfect for the 10-to-1 in the Halloween episode.
• Solid and fun characterization from Cecily & Vanessa.
• Great vocal modifier on Jim’s character, and his characterization & extreme mugging are slaying me.
• I’m loving the premise of Jim’s character being controlled by a demon, an absolutely brilliant concept for our Halloween episode, and Jim’s perfect for this role.
• Cheap laugh from the vomit gag.
• A great ending which is fitting for such a strong, fun episode to end.

Rating: ****

Cut For Time: The Kids

• Great to see a Mike O’Brien short, as I recall being a massive fan of his filmed pieces from seasons 38-41, both the ones that he wrote only, and the ones were he was both the star and the writer of.
• Great turn with Mike escaping from the kids to an underground lair, with a kid king of sorts.
• Jim’s mockery of Mike here is funny, and his casting in this role is perfect for his comedic sensibilities.
• Solid dark turn with the kid king ordering Mike to bark like a dog, and the child actor is solid for this part.
• Love the ending with the Teletubbies doll.
• A fantastic short overall, as expected from Mike. This one should’ve replaced that dull & annoying LESLIE SHOUT! piece.

Rating: ****1/2

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Office Costume Contest

Allstate/Lincoln part 3

CFT: The Kids

Graveyard Song

Geoff’s Halloween Emporium

Carrey Family Reunion

Lincoln Parts 1-2 (tie)

Secret Billionaire

Weekend Update

Monologue

Ebola Press Conference

High School

Ghosts: Fact Or Fiction?

Final Thoughts:-

• A strong, fun episode as one would want a Jim Carrey-hosted episode to be, with a particularly legendary SNL sketch (Office Costume Contest) as the episode’s centerpiece. In particular, the last three segments (counting the CFT piece), were pretty strong and contained the solid, creative, unique sketch concepts that we will be regularly seeing in this season and throughout this era as it progresses. So many sketches awarded a rating here between 4-5 stars, which if you’ve read my reviews before, it doesn’t happen that often.

Up Next:-

• Chris Rock hosts with the legendary Prince as the musical guest.