March 28, 2015 – Dwayne Johnson / George Ezra (S40 E16) 

Cold Opening – The Rock Obama

• Ah, great to see another installment of this memorable bit.
• Never knew that Bobby played Ted Cruz before, his voice here & particularly his facial expressions are hilarious.
• And here comes the memorable transformation sequence.
• The physical actions here are pulled off rather well, considering the live aspect of SNL.
• A good laugh from Bobby’s Ted Cruz running away by himself.
• A fun change to this sketch, with Leslie as the She Rock Obama.
• Great & energetic LFNY delivery from both Dwayne & Leslie.

Rating: ****

Monologue

• Great suit on Dwayne.
• Our obligatory musical monologue, similar to Dwayne’s previous monologue from season 34.
• A great idea behind this monologue, with Dwayne singing about being a “Franchise Viagra”.
• The girls are great as the background dancers/singers here.
• Many fun examples from Dwayne about different franchises, and his natural charisma is carrying this monologue easily.
• Aidy’s whole exchange with Dwayne almost steals this entire monologue with her asking Dwayne “Another Smurf movie?” and him responding with a blunt “NO”.
• I always loved the computerized Stephen Hawking lyric in this.
• An overall great, fun monologue that used Dwayne’s likability, charm, and charisma perfectly.

Rating: ****

Pep Boys

• An excellent, biting premise to this short.
• Some guilty laughs from both the various questions and the uncomfortable responses from the various people in question.
• Vanessa’s whole scene and concerned fake smiling made me laugh out loud.
• Some guilty laughs with the whole “That’s gay” scene.
• Kyle’s delivery here is excellent, particularly his way in saying “Anywaaay”.
• A strong short overall; yet another biting satirical piece from SNL this season.

Rating: ****

Wrestlemania Promo

• YES!!!! An ALL-TIME favorite of mine, and I’m sure many others.
• And with this sketch, SNL continues the tradition of having at least one excellent, very memorable sketch in each of Dwayne’s episodes that feature him prominently (Clark Kent, Bigfoot, The Rock Obama) and now this gem.
• Ha! Even the conversation at the beginning is giving me some chuckles, because I KNOW what’s about to happen.
• Taran’s doing a spot-on impression of the typical wrestling emcee.
• Ah, here we go…
• A huge, cheap laugh from Dwayne blurting out the now-immortal “HE HAS HERPES!!!”
• Bobby’s fantastic straight man here, a role that he’s so underrated at.
• Dwayne’s obviously a natural in this wrestlers trash talk.
• A great bit with the whole wife spiel.
• The transition between trash talking & being friendly before shooting the promo is done flawlessly by both Dwayne & Bobby.
• Bobby’s shocked facial reactions here are killing me!
• A great ending with Taran’s exaggerated “ TOO FARRR, KOKO!!!!”
• An overall excellent sketch with an all-time performance from Bobby, my personal favorite sketch of his.

Rating: *****

Bambi

• A hilarious, creative, and memorable short.
• An excellent concept with Dwayne playing Bambi in a badass, hardcore way.
• I’ve never seen the Fast series, but I don’t think that I need to in order to enjoy this short which has always been one of my favorites.
• Taran’s Vin Diesel voice is spot-on and hilarious.
• Fitting casting of Cecily as Michelle Rodriguez.
• Great bit with the butterfly on Dwayne’s Bambi nose.
• Fantastic Deer Crossing bit with Dwayne and the action sequence here is excellent and most importantly BADASS.
• Overall, this short was as great as I always found it to be, and tonight’s episode hot streak continues.

Rating: ****1/2

Dinner Date

• Ladies and gentleman, we have a major recurring character debut!
• Meh, the debut of Gemma, sadly tonight’s hot streak of segments between great to phenomenal is being cut short with this already-tired Cecily Strong showcase.
• Dwayne is perfect here as the bro-y boyfriend.
• Not caring for Cecily’s voice here nor delivery.
• I see that Vanessa is stuck in YET ANOTHER dull, forgettable, straight role in this rough season of hers.
• Dwayne’s very solid here, and is helping to sell this sketch.
• A good laugh from the insane visual of the large plate of fries.
• An overall ok inaugural sketch, almost entirely thanks to Dwayne, who was his usual funny, excellent self here.

Rating: *** (a 1/3 for Dwayne)

Escape From Jungle Island

• Another sketch that’s using Dwayne perfectly.
• Kate’s desperation in wanting to suck the poison out of various parts of Dwayne’s body is funny.
• A big cheap laugh from the visuals of the darts hitting Dwayne and Pete in the crotch, and their simultaneous “OHH!!!” helped sell the bit.
• Some cheap laughs with all the visuals in here, even the homoerotic bits in this sketch are working for me overall. I’d guess the commitment plays a big part in that.
• An overall ok sketch, but considering the very high quality of the night so far, this one is one of the episode’s weakest. I’m not complaining overall as I enjoyed it.

Rating: ***

Brogaine

• Kyle’s been having a pretty big night so far, great to see that.
• A funny visual of a bald Beck.
• Solid commercial spokesman-esque delivery from Dwayne during his scene.
• A funny ending visual with Dwayne in that ridiculously long hair.
• The voice-over at the end is absolutely hilarious, with the Borat-sounding announcement of the product and the tagline.

Rating: ***1/2

Musical Performance – “Budapest”

• Jesse Nathan: You know how I said in my review of Hozier’s performance that I initially thought that guy was black when I first heard him, and that there was another musical guest later this season that I had the same reaction to? Well, this is the artist I was talking about.
• And right as the performance starts, I can see why I initially had that reaction, because…there is no logical way that that voice is coming out of that body. In fact, he kinda looks like he’s faking it.
• Moving on past that…
• Nice guitar intro.
• I like George’s smile after each verse.
• Boy, the usual riff during the chorus was poorly mixed.
• I like the slight tings (for lack of a better word) during one verse.
• I like the guitar after the second chorus.
• As a kid, I never understood what he was saying during the refrain. During this listen, I realize he’s saying “I’d leave it all”, but it doesn’t sound like that, does it?

Rating: ***

Weekend Update

• Great to see Kate’s Olya in her very first commentary in the Che/Jost era of Update.
• Loved the bit with Kate’s Olya being desperate about Russia’s condition.
• Kate’s solid here as usual, and coming off her likable self as this character, even when I usually groan and roll my eyes at the dated pop culture references that SNL always rely on when portraying foreign characters, Kate sells them like the pro she is.
• I’m loving the #RaceTogether conversation between Colin and Michael. A great display of their natural charisma together, even the weird way it ended was hilarious, thanks to Michael’s always-excellent ad-libs.
• An excellent, memorable bit with the whole Colin commentary in regards to the then-huge The Jinx documentary show’s theme being inappropriate and his whole list of suggestions to make it even more inappropriate is giving me tons of laughs.
• Willie! Great to see him come back.
• The usual big, guilty laughs from the all the dark comments and reveals from Willie.
• I love the whole wolves bit near the end, and I’ve always thought of it as one of Willie’s best moments, which is certainly saying something.
• A great Update overall, solid jokes and comments by Colin & Michael, in addition to the two solid commentaries by both Kate & Kenan.

Rating: ****

Cooking With Paul

• A pretty big laugh from the casual reveal that Kenan’s character is a sex offender.
• Kenan is excellent in his portrayal of the sex offender in such a jolly, happy, playful manner. This sketch is using Kenan’s natural charm in such a perfect way, I cannot see any other cast member playing the role as good as Kenan here.
• This sketch is a good example of having a running gag throughout it that doesn’t immediately get old, as the whole laptop bit is still giving me solid laughs. The escalations here, and Dwayne’s solid supporting performance here, as well as Kenan’s choice on how to play this character sells the sketch well.

Rating: ***1/2

Improv Show

• Oh, I misremembered this fantastic sketch as being part of the Theater Showcase sketches.
• The opening dancing bit is hilarious, and does remind me of the typical pretentious bits in the Theatre Showcase. So, this is why I’ve always mistaken this sketch as part of those sketches.
• Here comes Kate as Robert Durst, this was when the HBO documentary, The Jinx was released.
• Man, Kate’s phenomenal as Robert Durst, I remember being so taken aback by how incredible she was here when this episode originally aired.
• Some strong, dark dialogue and Kate’s subtleties in her performance is nothing short of excellent.
• The debut of Cecily’s Judge Jeanine impression, which I’ve always found reliable for some quick laughs.
• Wow, the sketch is over already?! Well, I cannot complain as this was fantastic to me, and featured YET ANOTHER excellent Kate McKinnon showcase in this very strong season of hers.
• It’s kinda weird how Dwayne was not in this sketch, I’m assuming he was supposed to but took a breather?

Rating: ****1/2

Musical Performance – “Blame it on Me”

• Jesse Nathan: Nice intro, and I like the Hawaiian sound to it.
• George’s singing sounds kinda mush-mouthed.
• I like how the guitars and drums mix.
• I think George is saying “What you waiting for?”, but I honestly can’t tell.
• The more I hear George’s voice, the more it makes me want to make fun of him.
• It’s over already? Wow, I barely had much to say about that.

Rating: ***

Interrogation

• Lots of excellent, creative sketch concepts tonight.
• A big laugh from Dwayne’s first few lame insults.
• A huge laugh from Dwayne’s “Jeff” spiel, and him calling Taran “Dorothy”.
• Dwayne’s slaying me with his performance here, lots of great energy, and very solid line deliveries.
• Ha! We return to the whole Jeff speech, and the part about not being invited to Jeff’s house and how his snacks are the best is excellent.
• Taran’s solid straight man here.
• I LOVE the whole Friends theme song bit, and a KILLER return to the excellent Jeff spiel.
• A fantastic sketch, and what a true hidden gem. Dwayne was beyond excellent here.

Rating: ****1/2

The Circus With Kyle

• Wow, huge night for Kyle, possibly the biggest of his entire tenure. And I’ve always loved his awkward man on the street.
• Sadly, I recall this being the second and final edition of these shorts. A real shame, as I’ve always enjoyed them immensely.
• Excellent setting for this short being at the circus.
• As usual, all of the random visuals and low budget production values are giving me good laughs.
• The very tense back-and-forth between the father and son is hilarious, so is Kyle’s uncomfrtoable reaction to it.
• Kyle’s various looks to the camera are slaying me here, he’s so good in selling inner turmoil back in his prime years.
• Love the bit toward the end with the kid flat-out refusing to be interviewed.

Rating: ****1/2

Cut For Time: Dance of the Daisies

• A very popular cut sketch that I haven’t seen in ages.
• A very interesting & unique way in presenting this sketch with us hearing the characters’ inner thoughts throughout this sketch. I recall a sketch in John Goodman’s season 39 episode having the same premise, but that episode was freaking terrible in general, so this edition might be a better usage of the aforementioned premise.
• I’m enjoying the regrets that the characters are disclosing here, even when nothing stands out too much for me.
• Ok, the whole Kenan smiling scene made me laugh out loud.
• An overall pretty good sketch, I don’t see the hype around this one, but it’s still good.

Rating: ***1/2

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Wrestlemania Promo

Improv Show

Bambi

Interrogation

the Circus With Kyle

Pep Boys

Monologue

The Rock Obama

Weekend Update

Cooking With Paul

Brogaine

CFT: Dance of the Daisies

Escape From the Jungle

Dinner Date

Final Thoughts:-

• An absolutely fantastic, era-definitve, flawless episode, lots of great sketches tonight, with a very impressive amount of them rated between 4-5 stars. And much like many episodes this season, I love how pretty much the entire episode consisted of fun, original, silly, solid, creative, and funny sketch concepts throughout. I mean, for crying out loud, even the debut of Gemma was tolerable! Thanks to Dwayne that is. Also, the three final segments of the night were particularly fantastic, with all three receiving a near-perfect rating from me. A fitting way to end the night with these three terrific sketches.
• Speaking of the man himself, Dwayne Johnson is now 4-for-4 when it comes to strong SNL episodes, and yet again, he was a phenomenal, charismatic, charming host who fit into the show perfectly. If I would rank his episodes so far, I would go as such: S40, S34, S25, S27. And if my memory serves me right, I recall his fifth hosting stint, in season 42 being also pretty strong & consistent.

Up Next:-

• The great Michael Keaton hosts with musical guest Carly Rae Jepsen. This episode is amongst my most anticipated and one of the main reasons I decided to go back and review season 40 and beyond. I sure hope it lives up to my memories of it.