Goldberg74

Not as enjoyable as the JT and AB eps, but not entirely bad either. The Shins were actually listenable (except for the guy swinging the tube around in the second song). Jake tried to avoid the cue cards and dive into the parts, and his effort showed.

Bush
Send everyone in a uniform to the Middle East... okay. Loved the 'catholic school girls' line. C

Monologue
Sudekis and Forte as "cowboy fans" in the audience. Sudekis' perma-grin was really creepy. Jake can sing, and did a pretty good job at it. B

Deep House Dish
"Our charity is 'Saving the Polar Bear."
"Here, feel my jacket, it's polar bear."
B+

Bronx Beat
Got to agree with the Goose on this one. Best of the night and dead on impersonations. A

Donald Trump
Knew this one was coming, and enjoyed every line of it. A-

Psycadelic Food
At first I thought they got "The Shins" to wear the costumes, which I thought was cool, then I saw that they were regular cast members. Kinda lame. D

Digital Short: Laser Cats 2
Didn't really like the first one, but this one had some redeeming qualities. Loved the 'tin foil suit' that Jake was sporting, and the ketchup on the wall after the killshot. C

The Stockies
Hammond's pulling double duty tonight. Wow! Glad the "fatties" won one. B-

Weekend Update
Nthing memorable from this WU. That Scooby line was deliverd poorly, but the worst joke of the night was the one about James Brown being parted out to fix other sex machines. D

Law & Order "Three Line Speaking Role" Acting Class
I loved this sketch. At first I thought Armisen was Dick Wolf, then Waterson kicked in. Loved how they folded that back around as Armisen as an impersonator and then Pohler sent him off. A-

Blind date
Meh. C

Kaplan, Liebowitz & Dolemite
I chuckled... but what was up with Jake's eye. C

I'm gonna give this ep a solid C, it passed as a good ep, but not one of the record books.

I can't wait for Piven next week.

dhmac

Fair episode - not awful, but not memorable either.

I thought the best parts were the "Bronx Beat" Talk Show (great impressions and perfect capture of the Bronx housewife personality), the Donald Trump sketch (timely, for once, due to the Rosie feud), the Steve Jobs iPhone bit (which had a perfect ending with the new device having all of those great features, but just 20 minutes of battery life), and the Shins (arguably, the best musical act of the entire season so far).

slop101

I like the Shins and all (I have their last album), but they are a deadly boring live band.

Ayre

Jake G was excellent doing fair material. A couple of lol moments saved this episode from mediocrity.

Shins were extremely boring (I am a fan).

I would give this episode a C+.

DRG

Not a good episode. Trump was funny. The NY talk show had great characterizations, but I wish they had more funny material. Bush opener had some funny bits but it was too much of the same thing. I actually liked the Blind Date sketch just off the "Whaaat??" reactions from the couple. Law & Order was clever, and I actually enjoy the (intentional) cheap crappiness of Lasercats.

mike7162

I liked this episode as well - the highlights for me were the Bronx Beat talk show, the SNL digital short, and the Law and Order acting class (the kind of smart sketch that SNL just doesn't seem to want to do anymore). Jake G was really game, and his opening monolouge and song were great (anyone remember Jim Carrey doing basically the same thing a number of years ago on the Larry Sanders series finale, although much funnier?) A very solid show, but it's time to retire Sudeikis' Bush and Rudolph's Houston. Seeing Armisen impersonate Sam Waterson and nail it, sent Vodka spewing from my nose, but no one in the audience seemed to get it.

mike7162

What the Hell???

chrisih8u

They should have had Sam Waterston mention robot insurance.

Bill Needle

That single fake commercial had more funny in it than this entire episode (minus Laser Cats 2). I especially don't understand those giving love to Bronx Beat, which in particular was excruciatingly bad. I can't remember anything from the show that came after The Stockies without looking at a recap. In a word, boring.

Goldberg74

From WU on the defense of the mascot slapping a teenage park attendee...

Seth: "Well, he did call him a tigger."

cornflakeguy

I thought "Cool Food" was funny.

I like s#it like that, what can I say?

I think the reason I liked it so much is because it was a drive by skit. In and out. It was short.

Unlike the "Bronx Chat" which was twice as long as it should have been.

I usually mute the musical guests but even as I did I wondered why I recognized the name "The Shins". When they did the second song from Garden State I was like, "oh yeah, I know these guys."

big whoppa

I've only seen 1/2 of it. Not looking pretty so far. I can't blame it on Jake either. Yeah, for him to put on a wig, wear a dress and sing that number was ballsy.

The cool food thing was plain dumb. Skip the mushrooms next time. Ha ha. Not! Laser cat was stupid too. Bronx girls...boring.

El Scorcho

Holy fuck the whole episode sucked balls. The only mildly amusing sketch was the Stockies Awards.

I liked Bronx Girls the first time around when it was called Coffee Talk.

BravesMG

"Go out and shoot some fatties." That was hilarious, I thought the rest of the episode was crap.

breadlymoore

If you hate Laser Cats, you hate life.

lotsofdvds

Cold Open: Bush is an idiot. I chuckled a few times during this though, and laughed out loud at the line "and of course, astronauts".

Monologue: Well there's some Brokeback Mountain humor here (shocker), but we're effectively swerved and things turn into Jake singing a song from Dreamgirls in drag, to the delight of gay cowboys in the audience. Jake's singing is eerily good, and Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis (as the gay cowboys) have some hilarious reactions.

Deephouse Dish: They're going to just grind this one into the ground aren't they? I laughed a few times but there's ultimately no point to this one. Andy Samberg seems to be channeling Will Ferrell's Harry Carey voice at times.

Bronx Beat: Two clueless hosts babble through their talk show. Simple, mindless, made me laugh.

Donald Trump Press Conference: Trump doesn't like Rosie O'Donnell. Figured this one was coming.

Next Week: Jeremy Piven. Awesome. Musical guest AFI? Huh? The American Film Institute? Wha?

Cool Food: Completely ridiculous to the point where it ceases to be lame and somehow produces a laugh or two BECAUSE it's so ridiculous. And at least the sketch had a punchline.

SNL Digital Short (Laser Cats 2): I enjoy this because of how absurdly low budget it is (purposely, yes I know).

Stock Footage Awards: This is a very clever premise, and having Hammond do his Dan Rather as the host only makes it better. Bonus points for working in the waterskiing squirrel.

The Shins: I am not aware of this band. They're not bad. In fact, I could see myself making this a purchase...

Weekend Update: Seth's Scooby-Doo joke was so wrong and yet so funny. Fred Armisen did a parody of Steve Jobs and the iPhone that is now everywhere on the internets.

Law & Order Acting Class: Clever, and goofy at the same time.

The Set Up: A couple sets up two people in wheelchairs for a blind date, because they're both in wheelchairs. Weak premise, but the overacting boosts it a bit.

The Shins II: Hey, this is "New Slang". I know this song. I don't know why I know it, but I know it. I like these guys.

Kaplan, Lebowitz and Dolemite: Law firm commercial. Too short to really get going.

Overall I'd say that was a surprisingly solid show. Jake was a good host, seemed like a good sport, never broke character, and did a good job doing what was asked of him. Some clever writing tonight, and a good music guest as well. Grade: B+

TheMadMonk

Have you seen "Garden State". That song is on the soundtrack.

Jadzia

Cold Open
Pretty boring. I still miss Forte's take on Bush. Sudeiki' Bush is bland as hell.

Monologue
I really enjoyed Jake's take on "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going." Funny stuff.

Deep House Dish
Why is this a recurring skit? It is never funny and never anything I want to see again.

Bronx Beat
This didn't do anything for me.

Donald Trump
This was pretty good, Trump is such a blow-hard.

Cool food
WTF? Not funny.

Laser Cats 2
I didn't really think the first Laser Cats was that funny. I did laugh when they cocked the cat.

Stock Footage Awards
This was probably the funniest skit of the night. I laughed at the stock footage of obese people walking, since every news show always seems to show that same footage.

Weekend Update
A few good jokes, but nothing special.

Law & Order acting class
This was also a funny highlight to an otherwise laugh-free episode.

Blind date
A few laughs here.

Kaplan Liebowitz and Dolemite
Short but not that funny.


Overall this was a pretty dull episode with very few laughs. Not very memorable. Other than the opening song, Jake G. brought very little to the table.

I give it a D+.