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Recap: 'Saturday Night Live' - Anne Hathaway and Rihanna

Two 'SNL' favorites deliver a mixed bag, with more good than bad.

By Ryan McGee Sunday, Nov 11, 2012 1:30 AM

<p>Rihanna and Anne Hathaway</p>

Rihanna and Anne Hathaway

Credit: NBC

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Anne Hathaway and musical guest Rihanna are our captains for tonight’s “Saturday Night Live”. Both have history with this show: this will be Hathaway’s third time hosting, and Rihana has appeared several times as both musical guest and sidekick for Adam Samberg’s “Shy Ronnie”. Without Samberg (or Digital Shorts, at least in their former incarnation), it seems that the likelihood of seeing Rihanna with a Tommy gun again seems unlikely. Oh well. What I do hope for? Hathaway in a “Les Jeunes de Paris” sketch. That’s not asking for much, is it?
 
Let’s break things down on a sketch by sketch basis. As always, I’ll grade each segment as a stand-alone piece. As always, you’ll express shock that comedy is a subjective experience yielding different viewpoints. The formula is set. The recipe is locked. Let’s do this.
 
Mitt Romney’s House: Mitt stands on his balcony, guzzling contraband milk that he hides from his family. His plans post-election include “learning how mayonnaise is made”. Taran Killam plays multiple Romney sons, which is hilarious. (“Donald Trump is doing a very funny thing where he’s racist!”) But not as hilarious as Mitt’s response to news that Paul Ryan is doing feats of strength downstairs. “Well, I’d like to see him carry Wisconsin!” Mitt yells, in what might be the best political line of the season thus far. There’s something oddly sweet about Mitt’s final moments with Ann, even if he blames it on all the milk he drank. This feels like both a goodbye to the campaign and also to Jason Sudeikis as Romney. If all goes according to currently announced plans, Sudeikis will be leaving the show in January. So look for plenty of send-off sketches like this in the coming months. [Grade: B+]
 
Monologue: Hathaway notes that rehearsing “SNL” is different from rehearsing her recent 5-month production of “Les Miserables”. The cast then comes to sing a parody of “One Day More”, in which they express the desire to relax on Sundays via song. Hathaway joins in, expressing her wish that she could have played Stefon this week. Soon, several cast members get a chance to weigh in, either about the election (Kenan Thompson) or their small role in this week’s episode (Tim Robinson, Aidy Bryant). The best part of the entire song? Watching Jay Pharoah pretend like he has a clue what’s going on. Delightful! (Go back and watch only him. He looks like someone who is having a nightmare that he’s forgotten all his lines.) The group sing is a bit of a nightmare during the counterpoint, but avoids complete disaster at the last moment. That was an obvious way to handle the monologue, but it was executed in a clever and mostly clean manner. [Grade: B+]
 
Girlfriends Talk Show: Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong star in the post-monologue sketch? Awesome. Love it when the supporting players get big roles early in the show. They play best friends Morgan and Keira, the latter of whom has obtained a new bestie in the form of Hathaway’s Tara. This is really Bryan’s time to shine, and she delivers her best character to date on the show. Being yesterday’s news in the eyes of Keira bums Morgan out, but the writing and performance never push the sketch into overly maudlin territory. Instead, we get oddly specific putdowns (“No, YOU should be called Roach Wearhouse!”) and throw-away lines that give mountains of backstory to their previous friendship (“You have a basement?”) If Strong and Hathaway’s characters had that level of specificity, this might have gotten a perfect grade. As it stands, I’ll still watch several more times for Bryant’s bravura performance here. [Grade: A-]
 
The Legend of Mokiki And The Sloppy Swish: Well, either I’m in a really good mood, or this show is on fire early on. First of all, I’ll be humming this damn tune for weeks. So that’s a sign of quality. Secondly, the titular “Sloppy Swish” is a great sight gag, with Taran Killam’s lopey maneuvers contrasting with his pale face, exotic clothing, and zombie-esque expressions. The lyrics are silly, but also provide context for a sketch that wouldn’t need any yet is the better for it. Having Hathaway be a girl hypnotized by the dancing and eventually transformed by venom into a Mokiki-esque figure herself is only icing on the cake. (“They’re raising a family!”) At the outset, I noted that we’re in the post-“Digital Shorts” age. But man oh man, this felt like a great Lonely Island jam, albeit one that seems filmed the same year that “Superfly” was. [Grade: A-]
 
Homeland: OK, I’m torn. On one hand, Bill Hader’s version of Saul is the best of all possible things. It’s both a great Many Patakin impression and a great take on the character’s insane blind spot towards Carrie Matheson. Killan’s Brody is similarly fantastic, especially since David Estes can’t understand him. And having Dana just wander into highly-secure locations is really funny. But Hathaway’s Carrie goes beyond being simply over the top for comedic purposes into a gross misinterpretation of what makes Carrie one of the best characters on TV. I’m a total “Homeland” homer, so maybe I’m oversensitive here. But given the specific importance of Claire Danes’ performance as Carrie as a complex female protagonist, I kind of hate this sketch for turning her into a straight-up psychopath. As a sketch, I liked it. As “Homeland” criticism, I kind of hated it. I’m torn. I’m grading this as a comedy sketch, but it’s hard to rule out the other part. [Grade: B]
 
McDonald’s Staff Meeting: Hathaway’s manager has to make some changes, which prompts Strong and Moynihan to start dissing each of the other employees before the axe falls upon their necks. Here’s an excuse to get everyone onstage at once, just so Strong and Moynihan can yell “bitch” at everyone. The sketch turns the volume up to 11 and never stops the screaming. Luckily, it goes on for what feels like 20 minutes. So that’s a plus!  [Grade: C-]
 
Rihanna takes the stage…or, at least I think she takes the stage. It’s possible she’s inside The Matrix. In any case, she’s performing “Diamonds”, her newest single. I’m guessing she watched lots of late-60’s Jefferson Airplane concert footage and thought, “That looks awesome!” The production is incredibly distracting, mostly because it doesn’t seem to be related to the song itself. If the song were called “Crazy Acid Trip”, I’d get it. Oh well. If this were an upper-tier Rihanna tune, it wouldn’t matter. But the song itself is subpar, repetitive without having any melodic hooks. [Grade: C+]
 
Weekend Update: Jay Pharoah appears as President Obama, proving this is something “SNL” actually plans to still do in the future. Oh good. Feels like forever since we’ve last seen him. He tells Republicans that he’s surprised they lost, given that he offered them a “one-debate head start” in addition to high unemployment. He says that in the second term, things will be done his way. For some reason, Pharaoh has added Hader’s shoulder shake from his James Carville impersonation. “Bounce with me, Seth!” he cries out at one point. What has he learned in his first term? “That this is a terrible job, and I hate it!” Afterwards, a Gay Couple From Maine arrives to discuss the recent popular vote approving same-sex marriage in that state. Hader and Fred Armisen basically re-skin their gay Jersey couple for this segment, but it’s an oldie-but-goodie all the same. Finally, to wrap things up, Drunk Uncle comes on to give his election recap. He longs for the good ol’ days as always. “If you wanted a House Of Representatives, you built one yourself!” He hoards 1950’s Playboys and dignity, like ya do. It’s a very full “Update”, with a lot of solid if non-transcendent segments. [Grade: B]
 
The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Kate McKinnon reprises her role as Ellen DeGeneres. In this conception, what she thought would be a one-time thing (her dance moves) has taken over the show, no matter how badly she tries to move past it. After moving through her usual paces of highlighting children made famous in YouTube videos (“This place is half talk-show, half weird day care!”), she introduces Hathaway, once again playing Katie Holmes on “SNL”. And she plays her for all of eleven seconds. That…that was weird, right? The sketch was so front-loaded with McKinnon-centric material that there was no room for Hathaway, nor was there room for Killan’s Ellen-obsessed male fan to return at the end. This was a bizarrely constructed segment, seemingly stitched together from five different ideas. [Grade: B-]
 
American Gothic: “I’m a lizard. The kids love it!” The behind-the-scenes story of the famous painting announces its comedic intentions almost immediately: the pose that we know went through many wacky variations before arriving at the final image. So everything hinged on execution rather than surprise. Luckily, the easy-going chemistry between Sudeikis and Hathaway is a delight throughout, with both enjoying each other’s company so much that it’s easy to join in with the good vibes. Not only are the characterizations endearing, but their hobbies (including the construction of corn puppets) work as well. Even the inevitable introduction of the pitchfork gets a fun twist, when Sudeikis faux threatens Hathaway with it. (“I get to show my dark side, which I never get to do!”) Hathaway’s cross-eyed stare sans glasses is also great. The sketch doesn’t really know how to end, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t need the modern-day museum tour to frame it. But it’s a fun segment all the same. [Grade: B+]
 
Rihanna returns, this time clearly in this plane of existence, to sing “Stay”. Its sparse arrangement puts her voice front and center, and the song is gripping in a way “Diamonds” simply isn’t. I understand the need to push a more uptempo song as the first single, but this the superior song by every conceivable metric. [Grade: A-]
 
Flaritin: Here’s a pre-recorded sketch in the 12:55 slot about a drug made for people that make up allergies. These “allergies” include reactions to gluten, rice, small penises, and Los Angeles. There’s a little too much gross-out humor for my tastes here. Plus? No Hathaway, which makes me think this was recorded earlier this season and got cut for time during another episode. I wouldn’t have particularly minded had this never aired, but sometimes, a 90-minute live slot demands content of certain lengths to air regardless of their relative quality over other material. [Grade: C]
 
Best Sketch: The Legend of Mokiki And The Sloppy Swish
 
Worst Sketch: McDonald’s Staff Meeting
 
Biggest Takeaway: The show is clearly taking the opportunity to explore what works in a post-Wiig, post-Samberg era. It’s even more vital to do so with Sudeikis leaving shortly, and Hader potentially gone after this year. Looking back at the season as a whole, you can see each week trying out something new and seeing what sticks. This week, Bryant got pushed to the forefront for a time, after McKinnon and Strong also getting showcase moments earlier far this year. We’ve also seen different combos tried out for size, such as Strong paired with Moynihan in tonight’s unfortunate “McDonald’s” sketch. The sketch wasn’t unfortunate because of that pairing, however. I’d love to see them to more things together in the future. I’d also love to see this season’s experimentation include Nasim Pedrad and Vannesa Bayer, who have gotten slight shrift thus far in the 38th season.
 
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Did Hathaway make an impression, or mostly fade into the background? “Homeland” fans, what did you make of that sketch? Did the “Sloppy Swish” have you tapping your feet or clasping your ears? Sound off below!
 

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  • Default-avatar

    Kate

    Rihanna never ceases to amaze me. I thought both sets were great. She is always ever evolving.

    November 11, 2012 at 2:56AM EST Reply to Comment
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      Jermaine The word is "devolving". The best credit to her name is her role as a punching bag. Think about how little that says.

      November 13, 2012 at 2:40PM EST
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    Brendan Noel

    Figured I should stop by to say "Hey Ryan, I agree with you! Great recap!" since I bitched you out a few weeks ago for liking the Bruno Mars episode.

    Very solid show overall this week. Seems like they kinda finally figured out Mitt Romney at the last possible moment. Oh well. I didn't really mind Crazy Carrie in the Homeland sketch - everything else was enough for me. I guess I never noticed how much Dana does do that sleeve thing. My only concern with American Gothic was that it went on too long for my liking.

    I'm kinda skeptical about Jeremy Renner next week. I've never found him as charismatic as apparently every movie executive does. Maybe he's surprise.

    November 11, 2012 at 3:21AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Jaxemer11

    Way oversensitive on Homeland sketch. It was by far the funniest I have seen in a while, and I am a huge Homeland and Claire Danes fan. For once, they actually did a solid parody of something that actually related to the thing they were parodying.

    November 11, 2012 at 4:25AM EST Reply to Comment

    • I LOVED the Homeland sketch. "She's having one of her jazz freakouts." Genius.

      November 11, 2012 at 4:27AM EST
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      Chet I agree. It was a solid sketch. I feel that your loyalty to the show may have harmed your judgement here.

      November 11, 2012 at 8:42AM EST
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      G I know! I love Breaking Bad but I can still find the parodys of it funny.

      November 11, 2012 at 11:13PM EST
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    Jaxemer11

    Some of the newer cast members are a big improvement over what they have had in several years. Especially the women (though Killan is hilarious too). Since Poehler and Fey left, the show has really struggled.

    November 11, 2012 at 4:27AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Guest

    Jay Pharoah does a terrible Obama.

    November 11, 2012 at 4:52AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      troopermsu Agree!!! He's completely overrated. It comes across as Denzel at least half the time.

      November 12, 2012 at 12:15AM EST
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    Lee Harvey

    What a shame how underused Hathaway was. From the end of the McDonald's sketch until American Gothic, she on screen for about a minute. Good thing the first Rihanna song had the crazy visuals to distract from the boring song. The Romney cold open was weak, the Girlfriends sketch never got off the ground, Ellen was flat. Homeland and Gothic were the 2 best mainly because we got more Hathaway in those. I also like McDonalds more than Ryan mainly because of the energy between Moynihan and Strong. Weekend Update was solid. Drunk Uncle still delivers and Jay's Obama was fun. Still a disappointment, though, because we didn't get enough Anne.

    November 11, 2012 at 4:54AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Brian

    The psychedelic visuals in Rihannas first performance may be inspried by The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" which is about LSD...

    November 11, 2012 at 4:58AM EST Reply to Comment
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      Alex L. But does that enhance the song or her vocals? Not in the least bit.

      November 11, 2012 at 7:14AM EST
  • Watching_hour_poster__span_talkback_profile

    jweezy

    Cicely Strong sounds like the same character in every sketch and makes all the same facial expressions while reading off the card. She's on her way to becoming the female Kenan. Bayer and Pedrad are too talented to not be given anything this year. I feel like a lot more people will be leaving this year.

    November 11, 2012 at 7:45AM EST Reply to Comment
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      gkay Cicely rarely looked at the employees she was dissing in the McDonald's sketch; her eyes were latched on to the cue cards.

      November 11, 2012 at 1:51PM EST
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    ColumbiaQTMD

    The show sucked! The opening monologue was good, but after that the show went downhill.

    November 11, 2012 at 8:29AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Emily

    The Homeland sketch was freaking hilarious, (espeically dana just appearing) but I kind of hated myself for loving it, I mean I get in a 5 minute sketch there was no way they could come close to the complexity that is carrie, and the fact that she is bi-polar is I suppose the easiest thing to spoof, but still they managed to find great things about the other characters to spoof without making them into a complete mockery, and the wine with pills felt especially low, it'd be one thing if they said the CIA was prone to hiring odd people, but that was way too over the top

    November 11, 2012 at 8:32AM EST Reply to Comment
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    chalmers

    When they ditch the monologue for a full-cast musical production number, I always feel like it saps the creativity and energy from the rest of the live show. Even the episode after Steve Martin's amazing "Not Gonna Phone it in Tonight" number
    lagged.

    It was also odd that Aidy Bryant did a joke in the song about never appearing, followed by her biggest role to date.

    Opinions vary widely on Anne Hathaway, but I think she one of the best modern recurring hosts. The "American Gothic" premise was obvious and might have been knocking around the writer's room for months, but she and Sudeikis really sold it.



    November 11, 2012 at 9:54AM EST Reply to Comment
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      Kat I would wager my, albeit scant, reputation on the fact that the "American Gothic" sketch will be one of the most lasting and iconic of this season. Despite all of its foibles, there is an essence therein that transcends the vernacular of the times and presents something validly humorous for generations to come.

      November 13, 2012 at 2:45PM EST
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    David D.

    During the "Les Miz" number I thought, "Well, that's pretty cool for the entire cast to appear in a sketch," and then I realized someone was missing: Seth Meyers. Couldn't he at least MOUTHED the song for the sake of solidarity?

    November 11, 2012 at 10:33AM EST Reply to Comment
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    Mayor Daley

    Ryan! The Mitt Romney opening was terrible. SNL has had the worst political sketches this season -- nothing reflective of the political climate or campaigns. They could have done so much more with how Romney reacted to his loss and that crazy hour or so when he didn't concede, something more unique with Karl Rove, etc. Or more with Obama and his family. Can we get a Michelle Obama on this show? It was terrible, not funny, easy laugh lines, not hard hitting, and the pacing was completely off. They could have done so much more.

    Girlfriends talk show had a lot of potential. Aidy Bryant was definetely the highlight. Her comedy bits were very specific and funny. The sketch went on for too long though. They could have shortened and heightened it a lot faster. Cecily Strong is getting a lot of air time, but I don't think she's bringing anything unique to the table. Her characters and impressions are one note and overly broad. I'd like to see more nuance in her work. Everything she did this episode was the same, to the point that everytime I saw her I wished another one of the other talented castmates would get some air time (Vanessa, Nasim). But this was a sketch with a lot of potential mostly because of Aidy Bryant's unique add-ons.

    Sloppy swish was fantastic. Homeland was funny. One of the better parodies. I know we all want to protect Carrie, but come on sometimes she is so freakin crazy you want to role your eyes while watching that show. SNL did a good job of capturing that feeling. Ryan, it's a parody! McDonalds was terrible and mean. "bitch-ing" on everyone is not funny to me. I really hated McDonalds.

    Weekend Update -- Oh Seth Meyers is still on this show? It's always....fine.

    Ellen DeGeners -- Too freakin long. SNL really needs to learn to edit sketches. Cecily Strong's character is unnecessary, but I admire her tenacity to get into the most sketches out of all the new cast members -- if only her ideas were better. Kate McKinnon does a worthy Ellen, but could have found something more unique for it.

    American Gothic -- why are all these sketches so unbearably long? Heighten, shorten and get out and most of these sketches would be more enjoyable. But Hathaway is very charming and they under utilized her this round. It's enjoyable to watch her with Sudeikis. Their acting and chemistry make this mediocre sketch able to digest.

    Flaritin is terrible.

    My takeways: More Aidy Bryant, she brings fresh characters and a unique point of view to sketches. I'd like to see that developed more. Less Cecily Strong and more of the other cast members. Anne Hathaway was underutilized. And SNL writers need to learn to edit their damn sketches. Simple editing can go a long way to improving a lot of these ideas. I loved Rihanna genuinely hugging everyone at the end. The hug recipients looked so surprised.

    November 11, 2012 at 11:29AM EST Reply to Comment
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    eakawie

    I really liked the "Diamonds" background when I had it as my screen saver in 1997.

    November 11, 2012 at 12:31PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Jbagels

    While a lot of the sketches this season have been hit or miss, I've enjoyed the emphasis on original sketch ideas over fill in the blank recurring character sketches (mainly because Wiig did about half of the recurring characters). This episode might have been the first episode in a while to not feature any recurring characters, unless you count Ellen or Romney or the Girlfriends sketch (which may become recurring). I always find it lazy when SNL just trots out the same characters every week to basically perform the same sketch with different variations of the same joke.

    November 11, 2012 at 1:07PM EST Reply to Comment
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    troopermsu

    McDonald's sketch = F. Obvious and unfunny. I didn't like much else either. Some chuckles but nothing memorable.

    November 12, 2012 at 12:14AM EST Reply to Comment
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    snowlarbear

    did anyone catch what Anne said at the very end of her goodnights? it was like "remember to..." then the music/applause kicked in.

    November 12, 2012 at 12:33PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Marquan She said "Remember to give to Sandy Relief."

      November 13, 2012 at 11:36PM EST
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    Eve

    Hey Ryan! I was listening to your podcast earlier on and I've been thinking about what you and Mike said about the digital shorts being more popular and successful in the beginning of the lonely island era, and falling flat later on. Don't you think that maybe it has to do with them not being allowed to be in a wider way on the internet? On youtube, to be more exact. I know, being pretty hard for people in other countries (such as me) to view and share does not make a real difference in the context, but I think it actually turns pretty hard for americans to view and share when it's not easily everywhere in their faces. What do you think?

    November 12, 2012 at 2:52PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Caroline

    I was at the dress rehearsal and they actually did put Hathaway in a "Les Jeunes de Paris” sketch... they must have cut it for the live show, which I found disappointing, because it was quite funny!

    February 2, 2013 at 8:11PM EST Reply to Comment

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