April 11, 2015 – Taraji P. Henson / Mumford & Sons (S40 E18) 

Cold Opening – Election Video

• Good to see Kate’s Hillary back. And that laugh of hers will get me every single time.
• Kinda interesting to see Vanessa here, as she played Hillary Clinton before Kate took over the role starting with this season.
• A big laugh from Kate’s Hillary threatening message to the American people.
• Darrell! A good return since becoming SNL’s new announcer.
• I see that Darrell’s Bill Clinton is as spot-on and funny as ever.
• Some interesting camera work with the phone message.
• An overall pretty good, short, and sweet cold open.

Rating: ***1/2

Monologue

• Very good energy from Taraji early on.
• Another musical monologue. Yet, I’ll go into this one with an open mind.
• Interesting to see this one in the form of a typical choir.
• Kenan’s whole bit steals this entire monologue, and his mention of Good Burger is the icing on the cake.
• While a not laugh out loud monologue, Taraji’s performance, her genuine enthusiasm for being on SNL, and how she’s leading this monologue is making it better than it is.
• Leslie’s natural energy is serving this monologue pretty well.

Rating: ***1/2

Depends Legends

• Kinda of a weak premise if you ask me, although I can stomach potty humor when done well, as Litter Critters & the upcoming Toilet Death Ejector are amongst my favorite commercials in SNL history.
• I’m enjoying the performance of the old man in this commercial, he’s coming off very likable, reminding me yet again of how much I enjoyed the two elderly performers in the aforementioned classic Toilet Death Ejector commercial.
• Some funny visuals with the various celebrities on the diapers, but nothing else to this commercial. It’s not bad, just aggressively mediocre.

Rating: **1/2

Hot For Teacher: The Janet Johnson-Luna Civil Trial

• I’ve always mistaken this sketch as being in next season’s Ronda Rousey episode, turns out that one is a sequel IIRC.
• Funny visual of a crying Kate.
• Kenan is playing the judge in the most perfect Kenan way imaginable, he’s naturally hilarious here.
• Cevily’s coy delivery made me crack up, and she is absolutely perfect for roles like this, other than looking breathtakingly gorgeous in this sketch. Oh, yeah, back to the sketch for now…
• Taraji is excellent as the attorney, perfect usage of her energy.
• This sketch is pretty good so far, but I sense it could’ve been better, or maybe because I’m reminded of Za each time I see a sketch in a courtroom.
• Hilarious death stare from Kate towards Bobby.
• A fun, good, energetic sketch overall.

Rating: ***1/2

Home 2

• An excellent & very funny Jim Parsons impression from Taran.
• A fitting casting of Leslie as Missy Elliott.
• Taraji is hilarious as Nicki Minaj, and is stealing this entire short.
• I always enjoy Cecily’s spot-on and funny Sofia Vergara impression.
• Funny scene between Pete & Kate and Taran’s Jim Parsons.
• A decent impression showcase pretape overall.

Rating: ***

QVC

• Oh no, I recall this sketch being terrible.
• Taraji is spot-on in her imitation of the typical QVC hosts.
• Boy, I’m two minutes into this and I haven’t gotten a single laugh, nor do I get where the humor is supposed to be coming from.
• So, the whole premise of this sketch is the actress-turned-designer played by Kate created a poncho that can be worn in three different ways, but she always forgets the third? This is a very flimsy & dull premise that cannot sustain a four-minutes sketch. How did this get past the table read?
• Kate’s performing this well, but her characterization here feels like a precursor to the terrible sketches that will star her & Aidy later in their tenure. I cannot get behind that voice she’s using here, and I know it’s close to Kate’s real voice, but that doesn’t make it funny here.
• Not even Bobby can steal this D.O.A sketch with the brief cutaway to him by the end.

Rating: *

John Singleton’s Game of Thrones

• Ah, Game of Thrones, never seen such a huge cultural phenomenon die such a miserable, sad death.
• Che in a sketch!
• Good to see Nikolaj Coster-Waldau considering how much I loved him on Game of Thrones, and how talented of a performer he is.
• Sasheer’s reaction to being shot by an arrow was hilarious.
• Not a lot to say here, but I enjoyed how well-shot, well-directed, and well-performed this short was.

Rating: ***1/2

Musical Performance – “The Wolf”

• Jesse Nathan: Already off to a good start with the intro, and my inner rockhead is digging this.
• Marcus Mumford’s vocals sound great. In fact, so do the guitars.
• Kinda having a hard time understanding what Marcus is saying, and fortunately, it’s not the sound people’s fault.
• Marcus is selling this with his facial expressions.
• Geez, the keyboardist’s mic must not have been turned on, as his attempt to harmonize with Marcus failed horribly.
• The drummer seems like he’s really having fun here.
• Wow, everyone is pretty much running around the stage during one guitar break.
• Oof, Marcus seems like he’s straining to hit those high notes.
• I dig the fast-paced lighting.

Rating: ***1/2

Weekend Update

• A great Apple Watch joke by Michael.
• Great to see another Cecilia Gimenez commentary from Kate, these are always reliable for some good laughs.
• While these photo-based bits in the commentary may come as lame (looking at you Baby Yoda), Kate’s natural charisma and command of the stage is making them work, and I’m getting my expected laughs from this commentary.
• Good, brief banter between Colin & Michael after Michael’s bit about white people rioting in the streets with no consequences, especially Colin’s “Heeeey” wave to the camera.
• (*sigh*) ANOTHER Jacob commentary?
• As usual, I’m STONE-FACED during the usual Jacob shtick, and while I love Vanessa, I never cared for this character nor her Best Friends tripe with Armisen.
• Oh, a big change at least to this commentary with a very random Billy Crystal cameo. I think his first in a regular episode since leaving SNL in 1985.
• Good that Billy is bringing some nice energy to the usual dull, by-the-numbers Jacob commentary, and he’s working well with Vanessa here.
• Solid Update overall, and the welcomed surprise cameo by Billy helped keep the pace of this Update well.

Rating: ****

Hollywood Game Night

• The return of this celebrity showcase sketch from the Bill Hader episode.
• Good to see Taran’s very funny Vin Diesel impression back.
• Why have Beck play Nick Offerman again in this installment, after he played him earlier in the season? Why not have Beck play another celebrity like the others?
• Taraji is perfect as Wanda Sykes.
• Kate continues to be a solid straight man in these sketches.
• Funny black-and-white sequence with Cecily’s Marion Cotillard, solid accent too by the way.
• An overall better installment than the one that Kristen Wiig basically took over with her tired Kathie Lee Gifford shtick.

Rating: ***

How 2 Dance With Janelle

• Hopefully this one will better than the one in the wretched Chris Rock episode early in the season.
• Like last time, a very interesting way in presenting this sketch.
• Kyle’s various reactions to the suggestive dance moves are cracking me up.
• Great energy by Taraji yet again tonight, and she’s fitting very well and is believable as Sasheer’s mom here.
• An actual funny ending this time, and a big improvement over the first sketch with Chris Rock.

Rating: ***1/2

Sesame Street

• A very creative & fun concept with Taraji’s Cookie character visiting Sesame Street.
• Wow, these are the real puppets right? Because the voices and the puppets are freaking uncanny to me.
• Funny part with Bert & Ernie, reminding me of the upcoming classic Grouch pretape.
• Taraji is excellent here, and is both very likable and charismatic, possibly her best work in the entire episode.
• Love the part with Cookie and Cookie Monster.
• Aww, seeing Big Bird and Snuffy here is giving me a very nice blast of childhood nostalgia.
• A huge laugh from the reveal that Cookie’s new coat is Elmo.
• A pretty strong short overall, continuing the impressive streak of this season having dozens of memorable, strong, and fun shorts.

Rating: ****

Cinema Classics – A League of Their Own

• Great to see these back, I never got the chance to see this one again since it aired.
• A pretty cheap laugh from the visual of Bobby in that costume.
• Hoo boy, seeing Leslie here, is this sketch gonna be all about her?
• Thankfully, Taraji is here to add some energy and keep the pace going.
• A couple of guilty laughs from the comments made by the player about Leslie’s size.
• This is over? It did not feel as long as the usual ones to me, and it wasn’t as multilayered as these sketches usually are. This was perfectly fine, but probably amongst weaker ones, still solid to me though.

Rating: ***1/2

Musical Performance – “Believe”

• Jesse Nathan: I like the regal-feeling intro.
• This seems like it’s gonna be a more serious song than the last one. Again, I ask: why do musical guests always feel the need to adhere to this rule?
• Once again, I like Marcus’ vocals.
• Good lyrics at the start.
• Okay, the song is starting to get a bit more upbeat as it goes on, and I like that.
• I get it, you don’t even know if you believe, stop feeling the need to tell me that over and over.
• Oh wait, that’s the song’s title.
• The instruments actually sound great together after the chorus ends.
• Marcus is again selling this well with his facial expressions.
• Poor mixing on the line “open up my eyes”.
• It’s over already?

Rating: ****

Connectatron

• Great set design & costumes.
• Bobby’s intentionally corny delivery made me laugh out loud. He’s so good in getting big laughs from me without much trying.
• Okay, Taraji’s energy is always welcomed, but her delivery and characterization kinda does a disservice to the material.
• Wow, this ending?? Just after it started? Boy this sketch obviously got trimmed at the last minute, it feels hollow here and incomplete. A real shame as I might have given it a higher rating if it was presented properly.

Rating: **

Cut For Time: The Shebang Hour

• Great look on Taraji.
• Seeing Cecily & Kate as backup singers here reminds of a particularly wretched and widely-despised sketch in the episode hosted by The Guy Who Likes Piss Play next season. Even though, this sketch is nowhere near as bad.
• Beautiful singing from Taraji, and her energy is carrying this sketch well.
• Not caring for the bits with Leslie making that sound with her mouth.
• The premise of this sketch with songs by made up as they go along is somewhat flimsy, but the energy is carrying this sketch, and makes it watchable.

Rating: ***

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Sesame Street

Weekend Update

How 2 Dance With Janelle

Hot For Teacher: The Janet Johnson-Luna Civil Trial

John Singleton’s Game of Thrones

Monologue

Election Video

Cinema Classics – A League of Their Own

Hollywood Game Night

CFT: The Shebang Hour

Home 2

Depends Legends

Connectatron

QVC

Final Thoughts:-

• A reliable episode. While not as strong as the string of solid-to-phenomenal episodes before it, it held its ground well and provided solid laughs and good sketches, some being pretty solid. And even with very few segments that stood to me as particularly strong, there was a nice amount of them rated between 3.5-4 stars and the majority of the segments tonight did not flop too bad aside from one terrible, pointless sketch, and a dull-but-not-bad closing one.
• Taraji P. Henson was an energetic, fun, and very likable host, even with some line deliveries coming off as awkward, she made them seem charming and her infectious energy carried through the entire episode.

Up Next:-

• Scarlett Johansson returns to 8H for the fourth time with musical guest Wiz Khalifa