January 24, 2015 – Blake Shelton (S40 E12) 

Inside the NFL

• Back’s characterization is pretty funny at the beginning of this open.
• Taran’s solid as a cluelessTom Brady, even when he’s not trying to sound anything like him.
• While I’m not, as I disclosed before, a sports guy, I’m enjoying this open for what it is, and it makes me wish that SNL would do several more sports-related & celebrity-centric cold opens, in addition to normal life cold opens, instead of shoving political material down our throats, which will sadly happen with season 41 and onwards.
• Bobby’s stealing this whole cold open, and even elevates the already-good material with his characterization.
• A great bit with the tense back-and-forth between Bobby & Kate, delivered impeccably, as expected, by both performers.
• Yet another good open this season, and a good way to start the show with energy and fun.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• Immediately, I’m liking Blake’s personality, he seems like such a kind, genuine person to me, and is coming off really well for a non-actor.
• A musical monologue, not that mad considering the host, and that this monologue is actually you know, FUNNY unlike the tripe last time.
• Very fun conceit to this monologue with the involvement of the majority of the cast.
• Bobby’s stealing this entire monologue, just like how he stole the cold open.
• Leslie’s reactions are giving me some good laughs.
• An overall fun, charming monologue, and Blake came off great here and already is displaying some charm and likability to himself.

Rating: ***

Farm Hunk

• The debut of this traditional sketch, I always enjoyed these sketches in the past, so I hope they live up to my memory.
• Boy the positioning of the cue cards is pretty obvious here.
• A huge laugh from Vanessa’s line “I’m a second grade teacher… in my pornos.” Her affable, likable delivery makes the line even more hilarious than it already is.
• I love the visual of the spaghetti being handed to Blake by Kate, that part always stuck with me for years.
• Hilarious sudden crying outburst from Aidy.
• A solid laugh from the reveal that Leslie’s playing herself in this sketch.

Rating: ***1/2

Wishin’ Boot

• Ah, here comes a musical short that I remember absolutely LOVING back when this season originally aired, and was regarded my many online SNL fans as a major season highlight and an absurdist gem. I’m honestly shocked that I barely remember this short till a few days ago.
• I would assume that this short is co-written by Aidy, as she wrote & will be writing many other great musical shorts. If so, then this is YET ANOTHER brilliant, creative, fun piece from her and one of the reasons she used to be my favorite cast member till the end of season 45 is due to how mostly very consistent and creative she was during her prime years.
• Aidy, Blake, and Kate look absolutely spot-on as a typical country band.
• Aaaaaaand her comes the hilarious reveal, and the reason for this whole buildup at the beginning: this whole song being about a magical boot that grants wishes to those who need them. Such a priceless & classic reveal.
• Great part with the food that Wishin’ Boot is delivering to Kate’s hungry family.
• A huge laugh from the memorable visual of Wishin’ Boot visiting Aidy in prison.
• This is not only a fun short, but a legitimately great song, with sentimental side to it, charm and warmth that makes it even better than it already is.
• I love the charming, sentimental feel to this whole short, and it reminds me of the also-fantastic Tiny Horse short from season 46.
• A great ending to such a memorable, warm, funny, and great short. Simply excellent.

Rating: *****

Celebrity Family Feud

• Kenan’s Steve Harvey impression is always reliable for good, quick laughs.
• It feels kinda lazy for SNL to have Blake play himself here.
• A fitting casting of Sasheer as Nicki.
• Ugh at Kate being casted as Keith Urban, even though she’s being her reliable self here. It’s bringing to me unwanted flashbacks to her 3,525 self-indulgent, prosethics-heavy, “impressions” of Trump’s (*shudder*) cronies and henchmen throughout the second half of her tenure. That quick flashback is making shudder due to me being closer and closer to that point in Kate’s tenure.
• Some quick laughs from the various comments by Kenan-as-Steve even though there’s nothing else going in this sketch.
• That’s it? This is now over? This installment was surprisingly not that good, not bad definitely, just flat.

Rating: **1/2

Musical Performance – “Neon Light”

• Blood Meridian: It’s going to feel very awkward for me to listen to Blake seriously singing after the fantastic Wishin’ Boot short.
• Jesse Nathan: Nice drum intro.
• Mixed feelings on the banjo sound. It makes me worry about the song I’m in for.
• I am kinda liking the country twang of the song, but I don’t know, modern country really isn’t my thing. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I like Chris Stapleton, and, uh…well, I like Chris Stapleton.
• Not caring for Blake’s vocals. They’re mixed fine, but that voice is kinda grating. In fact, part of me wonders if he’s lip-syncing.
• Ugh, these lyrics…
• Weak chorus.
• Blake’s “oh yeah” was poorly mixed.
• Why is one female dancing?
• “That blonde, blonde, blonde at the bar, bar, bar”? Sounds like someone’s trying to fill up space.
• I stand corrected when I said that Blake might have been lip-syncing.
• Well, at least one guitarist got to have fun near the end.
• Overall, blah.

Rating: **

Weekend Update

• A good laugh from Michael’s Joe Biden joke.
• RIBLET!!!, Aaaaand, I’ll say it now: Ladies and gentlemen we have a major recurring character debut!
• I cannot be happier to witness the debut of this hilarious character, between stealing both the cold open and monologue (like usual), and now as Riblet, Bobby’s been having a solid night.
• I absolutely LOVE the turn with Riblet basically taking over Update by delivering a joke in professional, anchor-like manner, and the great part with him having his own opening sequence.
• Not caring so far for this Pete commentary, even with his delivery still being on-point. The topic of gay porn is a cheap execuse for a commentary, and to have him take spots from far deserving performers behind the desk, makes this commentary even more mediocre than it already is.
• Corny, yet funny joke about the death of the creator of instant replay. I also love the funny gag with the slow-mo clip of Colin getting hit in the face of with a football.
• Good to see another Sasheer Zamata commentary, considering how much I like Sasheer, and how solid her Update pieces generally are.
• Solid, and realistic tense back-and-forth between Michael & Sasheer, and it feels so rear to see Michael performing this so dramatically.
• Good laugh from Colin not wanting to have anything to do with the tense discussion.
• A great callback to Sasheer’s mysterious new boyfriend, with being Riblet! A fun way to end this week’s edition of Update.

Rating: ***

Parole Board

• This seems to be a spoof of the legendary Morgan Freeman scene in The Shawshank Redemption.
• Great sudden dark shift after Kenan’s poignant, emotional speech with us being now told that he flat-out ate up a person AND will never be freed from his sentence.
• Kenan is fantastic here, continuing his pretty strong season.
• An extremely dark, yet hilarious turn with Kenan saying “Point me towards a homeless shelter.” When it came to the question if he’ll eat more people.
• A strong, dark, hidden sketch. I’m honestly surprised that I barely remember this one, and the classic Wishin’ Boot short. Yet, I do however remember the great upcoming sketch easily for some reason.

Rating: ****

Topeka Today

• Great makeup on Taran.
• A pretty good laugh from Blake’s response to Bobby’s compliment of the song, Blake’s delivery of ”There’s more” was pretty solid.
• Yet another strong dark turn once again tonight, in the second consecutive sketch post-Update, with this supposedly “loving” song being about how cruel Taran’s wife, portrayed by Kate in photos, was to him through all these decades. The juxtaposition of the unflattering lyrics against the backdrop of the warm black-and-white photos is an excellent touch.
• I could’ve done it without the various reacting portions from Bobby & Sasheer, yet they’re being their reliable, professional, committed selves. And thankfully this great sketch doesn’t devolve into a freaking REACTING one, and if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know my reaction to sketches like that.
• Some funny, disturbing lyrics here, I particularly love this one: “I wish I killed you but you choked on some corn“.
• A solid ending, to a strong, well-written, and dark sketch.

Rating: ****

Musical Performance – “Boys Round Here”

• Jesse Nathan: As the bumper photo fades to Kate, you can unintentionally hear one of the crew members saying “And action”. What’s the deal with that?
• Ha, you can unintentionally see Kate grooving to the song as it starts.
• As always, mixed feelings on a musical guest performing a song they released a couple years prior.
• Not caring for these opening lyrics.
• What’s with the female vocalist saying “that’s right”?
• The chorus is a slight improvement over the last one, but it’s still weak.
• Not caring for the brief exchange between Blake and the two female vocalists.
• Why am I getting a sense of smugness from this song?
• What the–? Was Blake lip-syncing that long-held “river”?
• Overall, this was just as blah as the last song. Thankfully, I’ve heard good things about our next musical guest, D’Angelo.

Rating: **

Magician

• An awkward moment where Blake was clearly late on his cue to utter “Fake!” Leaving us with some seconds of dead air and awkward silence.
• Some good laugh from Blake’s various wishes, I did get a kinda guilty laugh from his request to be a black guy for a one day only.
• The sketch is performed well, but so far has low energy and dead feeling, which is a huge gripe I remember having with many season 43 & 44 episodes, starting particularly few episodes into the second half of S43 and the majority of S44, not bad per se, just very dull.
• Ok, I just got cheap, but huge laughs from Blake’s next request, with him saying “Give me the power… to go down on myself.”
• A flat ending with the whole “Magic isn’t real!” part.

Rating: **1/2

Cut For Time: Disney Characters 

• Beck is funny as Gaston, and is carrying his part with enough fun, yet charming energy.
• Good casting of Blake as John Smith.
• Ok laughs from the attended not being interested in having a meet-and-greet with Blake’s John Smith.
• I love the visual of the creepy raccoon doll, as well as Kate’s solid reaction to it.
• Enjoyed Blake’s delivery of “I’m 43, bitch!”
• A great laugh from the reveal that Aidy is in fact playing ”The wife who dies at the beginning of Up!” The audience reaction was also good.
• An overall good sketch, felt low-key, and it did have a good performance by Blake in the lead role.

Rating: ***1/2

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Wishin’ Boot

Topeka Today

Parole Board

CFT: Disney Characters

Farm Hunk

Monologue

Weekend Update

Inside the NFL

Magician

Celebrity Family Feud

Final Thoughts:-

• A pretty good, fun, consistent episode with the worst sketches being just below average in quality. Contributing to the fun vibes was Blake Shelton, who was a likable host despite few awkward moments here and there, which are forgiven due to him not being an actor. I recall being somewhat surprised at the hate this episode got, while certainly NOWHERE near the disastrous one that I’ll be reviewing two days from now, this one had solid quality to it, with several standout segments.
• Also, the season continues to establish this new era, as we’re beginning to see with an original, premise-driven, one-off sketch concepts, more and more as the season continues. Such as the fantastically absurd & charming masterpiece Wishin’ Boot, the solid Farm Hunk, and the dark Parole Board & Topeka Today sketches, all of these contributed to the episode’s quality and made it a lot of fun to both watch and review.

Up Next:-

• J.K. Simmons hosts with musical guest D’Angelo.