April 16, 2016 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Nick Jonas (S41 E18)

Cold Opening – Democratic Presidential Debate

• Beck has now replaced Jon as Wolf Blitzer. Yep, the show has now officially given up on Jon as a cast member, it is more than obvious, not to mention the billion bit roles that he has been stuck in for the majority of his tenure.
• Pretty good impression as expected from Beck, and he is doing a FAR better job than Jon with both how he’s impersonating Blitzer, and how he’s moderating the debate. Beck has been proving himself worthy of leadership status & utility roles throughout this season, which we all know will officially happen with next season, and he’ll continue for five more years as a major leader in the cast.
• Ah, great to see Larry’s Bernie yet again this season, after how he constantly killed it throughout the season.
• I see that Kate is still as funny as always as Hillary Clinton, and her chemistry with Larry’s Bernie remains terrific.
• Kenan steals the sketch with his cool entrance as the “black moderator”, and Kenan pulled off his part flawlessly.
• Kate’s Hillary breaking into delivering the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air’s theme song lyrics had me freaking HOWLING.
• An interesting turn with Julia as Elaine Benes being the next person to ask the candidates questions, and her conversation with Larry’s Bernie turning into a whole bunch of Seinfeld references is creative. It is too bad that I never saw an episode of Seinfeld, as I find Jerry Seinfeld to be as funny as a brick wall.
• Great debate sketch overall.

Rating: ****

Monologue

• It feels so good to review Julia, as she has always been amongst my favorite comedic actresses, and I greatly enjoyed her two previous episodes (especially her first, easily top 5 of the 05-13 era), and I cannot wait to review her in this hosting stint.
• Some solid laughs from Julia’s self-deprecating lines about her “memorable” SNL run, and that clip with Martin Short from season 10 is quite funny after her setup early on about her days in the cast.
• Tony Hale! Great to see him cameo here, considering how much I loved him in both Veep & Arrested Development.
• Ah, I see that Tony is still providing me with solid laughs even with his brief appearance here.

Rating: ***1/2

Heroin AM

• An absolutely priceless reveal of the product. Such a creative & insane premise for a traditional fake SNL commercial.
• Solid commercial spokesman delivery from Julia, her first of two tonight.
• Cecily is doing a very solid job with her trademark dry voice-over work too.
• Kate’s terrified look during Cecily’s reading of the product’s side effects is absolutely slaying me.
• Great visual of Julia imagining her husband and son as horrific-looking monsters.
• Overall, this was a pretty strong ad, and another example of how killer the fake ads were usually during the 14-22 SNL era.

Rating: ****

Huge Jewelry

• Perfect pairing of Kate & Julia and both look fantastic here.
• Good chemistry & delivery from both Kate & Julia here, even though I’m not laughing that much, their delivery certainly elevates the average material.
• Not sure that I need this gag with the increasing size of the jewelry.
• Nick Jonas makes his obligatory sketch appearance.
• I’m not caring much for Kate & Julia’s characters fawning over him, although Nick came off well and performed his part expertly.

Rating: ***

The Pool Boy

• Hoo, Boy. The debut of Pete’s Chad character, a nadir of this era in my view. And a character that I would get sick of pretty FAST. I’ll at least go into his debut with an open mind.
• Some good laughs from Chad’s slow, dimwitted, monotone one or two words responses to Julia’s character. Although this would grow old very quickly for me, as I recall slowly hating Pete Davidson on the show, and by season 44, I couldn’t STAND looking at him in sketches.
• Yet another obligatory Nick Jonas appearance, and just like last time, Nick is coming off likable here. Although I did not need Julia to fawn over him once more tonight.
• Great ending line delivery from Julia.

Rating: ***

Cinema Classics

• Great to see the return of this sketch.
• Oh, I’m very onboard with the premise of this Cinema Classics installment, as the concept seems very old-school comedy much like a sketch from The Carol Burnett Show or one of those great 50s/60s slapstick comedy movies.
• A pretty good laugh from the first time Julia’s looking for her lines on objects.
• Julia is excellent here, her movement around the set, delivery, and cadence are fantastic.
• I LOVE Julia’s two deliveries of her line, with her simply saying “Yes” in two different tones.
• Great part with Kenan’s Reese realizing that he is alone in the studio.
• Hilarious part with Julia reading the “Made in China” writing as one of her lines.
• Great physical work from Julia after being shot, she’s been terrific throughout this sketch, and her final utterance of “Yes” is simply a perfect way to end the sketch.

Rating: ****1/2

Mercedes AA Class

• Excellent line delivery from Julia as the commercial spokesman.
• Funny reveal of the product, and the direction here is a spot-on imitation of these types of car commercials.
• Great visual of the car trunk filled with extra batteries.
• Priceless part with the battery report, and the dumping of countless amount of batteries serves as a terrific ending visual with Julia standing in front of the car.
• I love Julia’s delivery of her final line “Batteries not included”, and it was such a great ending line to close out this fantastic commercial.
• Overall another winner ad tonight, and another argument to prove what a killer era the 14-22 years were for SNL’s traditional fake commercials.

Rating: ****1/2

Musical Performance – “Close” ft. Tove Lo

• Jesse Nathan: Not caring too much for the song’s intro.
• Oof. Not only are Nick’s vocals tuned higher than the instrumental, but he seems to be struggling to hit the right key once the song starts.
• The way these verses are structured feels a bit too lazy for my likings. It’s almost as if a computer wrote this song. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did, seeing as how a lot of popular music from 2016/2017 has that feel.
• Nick’s vocals on the chorus were very poorly mixed with the instrumental.
• Speaking of the chorus, I don’t really like how the melody of said chorus is pretty much the same as the intro. Much like the verses, this feels a bit too lazy.
• “Space was just a word made by someone who’s afraid to get close”? What?
• Oh, uh…hi, Tove Lo. Didn’t expect to see you here. I often forget she had other songs after “Habits” and “Talking Body”. Yes, of course I’m a child of the 2010s, why you ask?
• By the way, you know how often when another artist comes up to join the musical guest, they’re usually greeted with applause? Well, Tove Lo here is greeted with absolute silence, but I’m probably looking too much into that (which I tend to do).
• Okay, to be fair, Tove’s vocals aren’t too bad, and they’re at least not mixed poorly.
• There’s something about Nick and Tove’s chemistry that really isn’t working for me, but I can’t put my finger on what. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that their vocals don’t go well together, but that can’t be the case.
• Oof, Tove’s vocals of the pre-chorus were very off-key the second time.
• Yeah, the more this goes on, the more obvious it is that Nick and Tove simply aren’t meant to be doing duets with each other.

Rating: **

Weekend Update

• I’m not really happy to see the return of this Charles Barkley & Shaq commentary. For two main reasons, 1) I’m not a sports guy, so lots of these jokes fly over my head, and 2) the mugging here, especially by Jay is annoying the HELL out of me. Shaq NEVER looked like that!
• I don’t remember this one-off Aidy commentary AT ALL. So, it will be interesting to review it right now.
• Very solid delivery from Aidy as always, and her characterization is coming off fairly likable.
• Great subtle sense of pathos from Aidy here, it reminds of the usual character work that future cast member Heidi Gardner would regularly do behind the desk.
• Very funny interaction between Aidy & Michael in regards to iguanas.
• A pretty solid Aidy commentary overall. I’m still shocked that I don’t recall it at all, especially for how solid it is.
• The return of Cecily’s One Dimensional Female Character…
• Like usual, solid line deliveries from Cecily here and with a good biting takedown of this movie archetype.
• I’m getting good laughs from the details that Cecily’s character is sharing here. This ends up being the character’s final appearance, and a solid way for her to go out in my view.

Rating: ***1/2

Who Works Here?

• A good concept for a game show sketch, and a solid performance from Julia, yet again tonight.
• Bobby is freaking HILARIOUS and steals not only this sketch, but possibly the whole episode.
• I love the reveal that Bobby works as a prostitute in this place.
• Julia is doing a terrific work as the game show host, in a better world she would’ve been a strong utility player back in her era.
• Kate’s look alone is very funny, as well the reveal about her character.
• Some fun dancing from Leslie towards the sketch’s end.

Rating: ***1/2

Musical Performance – “Champagne Problems”

• Jesse Nathan: So far, this seems a tad bit more promising than the last performance.
• Not caring for Nick’s vocals.
• Nice electro sound to this, and it’s giving me Daft Punk vibes, which I love.
• The guitarist (or bassist) on Nick’s left seems like he’s having a lot of fun, and I like his smile.
• Sadly, that electro sound has started to drown out Nick’s vocals on this.
• Cool lighting.
• I kinda like the chorus, but unfortunately, the poor mixing has prevented me from fully being able to decipher what Nick’s saying.
• I like the guitar lick after the chorus, and it honestly has me moving my feet right now.
• Not caring for the breakdown after the second chorus.
• What the hell was Nick saying in falsetto during the bridge? It sounded like he said “when you’re gone”, but I honestly can’t tell.
• Not too sure about Nick’s look at the camera during the last chorus.
• Overall, while this song has a nice groove to it that I liked, there were moments that I flat-out didn’t care for. Plus, this performance suffered from poor mixing, and I’m not entirely sure if Nick is the best person for this song. I’ll just give it a pass and then move on.

Rating: ***

Meet N’ Match

• Oh, I’m absolutely onboard with this very creative sketch concept.
• Another great pairing of Kate & Julia tonight, and their matching eyes & looks are both eerily terrifying and fascinating to look at.
• I love the vocal modifier on both Kate & Julia, and it is adding, alongside the eyes, to the creepy, absurdist, oddball atmosphere of this sketch.
• The audience is kinda dead here, or the vocal modifier is too high that we barely hear the audience’s laughter. I’m certainly getting good laughs throughout this sketch.
• Great visual of Taran & Kyle’s skeletons left in the restroom.
• Very solid sketch overall, and it felt very different for SNL, and in the best way possible.

Rating: ****

God Is A Boob Man

• A very spot-on and funny spoof from SNL of another movie genre this season, with them this time spoofing these types of Christian movies that were big around the time of this episode.
• Vanessa’s fantastic season continues, as I’m absolutely loving her performance here, and it just feels so good to have a performer like her get a late-tenure renaissance.
• A good laugh from the classroom scene with Aidy.
• Great editing throughout this short, the courtroom scene with Vanessa is particularly great, with the God & Sean Hayes scene being especially hilarious.
• Great ending & title reveal.

Rating: ****

Cut For Time: Paul Ryan Ad

• Wow, Taran’s Paul Ryan impression sounds off in this ad, and is NOWHERE near as dead-on and hilarious as it was in the great VP debate sketch from season 38.
• Solid & spot-on political delivery from Taran at least. And much like many other pieces from this era, this short is doing a dead-on imitation of these types of political ads.
• Ok laughs with the progression of this ad to it being more and more grand and presidential.
• A good ending.

Rating: ***

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Cinema Classics

Mercedes AA Class

Democratic Presidential Debate

God Is A Boob Man

Meet N’ Match

Heroin AM

Who Works Here?

Monologue

Weekend Update

CFT: Paul Ryan Ad

Huge Jewelry

The Pool Boy

Final Thoughts:-

• A terrific episode, with an impressive amount of highly-rated sketches, with two getting a near-perfect rating from me (Cinema Classics, Mercedes AA Class). And lots of other great sketches throughout the night. A massive step up from the notorious previous episode, and Julia was an excellent host, in total contrast to how much of a trainwreck Russell Crowe was, and this episode makes her 3-for-3 in my book when it comes to hosting strong shows. I’m actually very surprised that she didn’t return to host.

Up Next:-

• Brie Larson is our host with musical guest Alicia Keys.