September 24, 2011 – Alec Baldwin / Radiohead (S37 E1) [THROWBACK REVIEW]

Cold Opening – Either The 7th Or 8th GOP Debate

• Great to review a debate sketch, and I do recall really enjoying the debate sketches this season.
• Even the title of this debate is giving me a good laugh already, as it perfectly captures how way too many GOP debates there were during the 2012 primaries.
• Bill is already great as Shepard Smith, and he is perfect as a debate moderator.
• Fantastic to see Alec right from the season premiere’s cold open, and he is doing a solid job as Rick Perry, even when I know that Bill would later do the definitive impression of him.
• As always, a spot-on vocal impression from Jason as Mitt Romney.
• Casting Kristen as Michelle Bachmann is a no-brainer, and per usual, not only is she doing a strong impression of her, but also killing it with several solid lines.
• The whole back-and-forth between Alec’s Rick Perry & Jason’s Mitt Romney is not only funny, but is also good parody of how both interacted in the real-life debates.
• Paul’s Ron Paul impression here is underrated & has several good lines, especially in the manner that Paul is delivering them.
• A great & fun debate sketch overall, even the length of it wasn’t a problem, considering the many laughs, energetic performances, and funny moments sprinkled throughout; a great way to open a new season of SNL.

Rating: ****

Monologue

• I hope Alec’s monologue here is better than his season 42 monologue which, while it was charming overall, it wasted Alec’s talents.
• Great to see the continuation of the rivalry arc between Steve Martin & Alec.
• An extremely random Seth Rogen cameo, to say the least.
• The usual fun interplay & chemistry between Alec & Steve. And the whole drug test bit is both silly & fun.
• And the monologue just ended, with the usually-funny Seth Rogen not doing anything of note nor getting any actual comedic lines. So, why in the WORLD would you have him here & render his presence utterly pointless?

Rating: ***1/2

Red Flag

• I remember loving this commercial in the past, and considering it amongst the few very strong ones in an era that sadly wasn’t too memorable in terms of fake ads (despite producing dozens of fairly solid ones).
• Great cinematography & color grading, and as always, SNL is doing a dead-on job in emulating real-life commercials.
• Kristen’s wacky antics here are coming off fairly fun & it showcases Kristen’s natural charm in a way that doesn’t make her come off annoying like how she sadly was during the late stage of her tenure.
• I love the silly moment where Jason spits his wine back into the glass in reaction to seeing Kristen.
• The whole interaction between Kristen & Taran here is hilarious, especially Kristen’s facial reactions and her gagging Taran.
• An overall excellent fake ad, one of the finest from this era, and a one that featured, in my personal view, one of Kristen’s all-time best performances.

Rating: ****1/2

“All My Children” Wrap Party

• I love Vanessa’s look as Susan Lucci, which reminds me of how much I LOVED her hosting stint from season 16.
• A very silly, solid concept for a sketch and a good way to parody soap tropes.
• Bill’s whole look at the camera was hilarious, as well as his Grinch-esque smile.
• I love Paul’s whole bit here, and his character’s look & characterization are both fun.
• Jason absolutely STEALS the entire sketch for me with his whole moment, especially his “Or was I pushed!” delivery which killed with me and the audience.
• An overall very fun, funny, and silly sketch to start off the new season with.

Rating: ****

WDHX Channel 19

• I recall reading that this sketch was cut from an episode several seasons prior.
• I’m already getting the feeling that I’m not going to care for this sketch, but I’ll keep an open mind.
• Boy, this seems to be one of those REACTING sketches, such as the awful twins sketch from the season 46 John Krasinski episode.
• Kristen is doing a good job here, but this is getting old fast for me. Thankfully, this sketch isn’t one of this era’s weekly “OMG, Kristen can do ANYTHING!!11!!11” showcases.
• Ok, the whole anaconda bit made me laugh.
• Overall, our first flop of the night, which at least shows how damn strong this episode has been so far.

Rating: **

Weekend Update

• Great to have our obligatory appearance of Alec’s great Tony Bennett impression in a setting outside of his talk show.
• Like always, Alec is as hilarious as ever here and has tons of funny lines & deliveries.
• Seth is at least not as annoying as usual when he interacts with the guest here.
• Ok, I admit getting a pretty good, yet cheap laugh from Seth’s PETA joke.
• Wow, this Update is over? This was unusually short for a Seth Meyers-hosted Update, as these usually feel absolutely ENDLESS with a death march of Update commentaries. At least this keeps the fun & energetic vibes that the episode’s been having since the cold open.

Rating: ***

Who’s On Top?

• A very memorable & beloved gameshow sketch from this era.
• Great to see Bill playing Vince Blight yet again, and he’s always a fantastic gameshow host; one of SNL’s greatest.
• An absolutely insane & priceless reveal of the game show’s premise, especially after the setup of it being a typical gameshow.
• Great moment with Jason’s character just walking off the stage after the reveal of what the show’s game is all about.
• I absolutely love how more and more insane the celebrity couplings are getting as the game is going along.
• An absolutely classic & very disturbing turn with the question regarding who would be in top between freakin’ Timon & Pumbaa. Alec’s dry response of “I was just thinking about this” after the question’s been asked absolutely DESTROYED me.
• Alec’s very quick answer that the other guy would be the top instead of Paul Giamatti is absolutely priceless.
• Fantastic & priceless ending with Alec choosing to lose it all to leave the game, and then he actually DOES lose everything that he gained throughout the game, leaving him in a completely shocked condition; a perfect capper to such a priceless & brilliant gameshow sketch. One of the finest in SNL history.

Rating: *****

Top Gun 25th Anniversary DVD

• I know I’m going to enjoy this, as these audition reels are usually reliable for some good laughs.
• Alec’s Al Pacino impression KILLED me, absolutely dead-on and hilarious.
• It’s funny seeing Colin Jost playing the marker throughout the short.
• Nasim is fun as Paula Abdul, but maybe because of how likable & funny Nasim generally is as a performer.
• As always, a fantastic Alan Alda impression from Bill.
• Andy is hilarious as Crispin Glover & his scene steals the short for me.
• Funny bit with Bobby as Mindy Cohn, even though I still prefer Chris Farley’s famous take on her.
• Fred is always so good at milking huge laughs from the cutaways to him during sketches, and his moments here as Prince only confirms that more to me.
• Overall, just as much of a blast as I recall this short being from past viewings.

Rating: ****1/2

Child Psychologist

• Already a pretty good laugh from the initial reveal of Nasim’s character. And as always, she’s doing an eerily convincing job playing a child.
• Alec is as solid of a straight man as ever here, and his reactions throughout the sketch are fun.
• I’m enjoying the silly escalation with all the actions that Nasim’s character is doing here, and per usual & like a pro, Nasim is performing the hell out of the sketch’s material.
• Holy hell, how in the WORLD is Nasim able to keep herself from not falling from the cabinet while in such a hazardous position? Fantastic physical work from her there.
• I love the twist ending to the sketch.

Rating: ***1/2

Angels in the Trenches

• The sketch’s setting & conceit is giving me flashbacks to that weak trenches sketch from the Lin-Manuel Miranda episode.
• Yeah, this sketch is kinda similar to that one, but is so far much better, especially that Alec can make anything sound funny with his reliable delivery.
• Taran is a solid straight man here, an area I always found him to be underrated in.
• More and more laughs from the absurd details from Alec, and it feels good to see a sketch featuring this type of humor considering how this era gradually abandoned that type of humor around 09-10.
• An overall solid way to end tonight’s episode.

Rating: ***1/2

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Who’s On Top?

Red Flag

Top Gun 25th Anniversary DVD

Either The 7th Or 8th GOP Debate

“All My Children” Wrap Party

Child Psychologist

Angels in the Trenches

Monologue

Weekend Update

WDHX Channel 19

Final Thoughts:-

• A very solid season premiere & one of the finest shows from the 05-13 era. Not only this episode was filled with many original, fun, funny and solid sketch concepts, but NONE were recurring. This is coming off as a breath of fresh air considering how the previous two seasons were so creatively bankrupt & recurring-heavy (aside from few examples, of course). And this show is easily one of the better ones in this slump period for this era, and Alec Baldwin was as fantastic & fun of a host as expected.

Up Next:-

• Christopher Lee / Meat Loaf.