Recap: 'Saturday Night Live' - Daniel Craig and Muse
Would James Bond and the recent debate give 'SNL' good material?
Daniel Craig, Muse and Bill Hader of "Saturday Night Live"
Credit: NBC
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The brief, two-week run of “Saturday Night Live” Thursday specials ended rather ignominiously last week, with the second and finale installment lacking any apparent need to exist outside NBC’s desire to push back the return of “30 Rock”. If NBC wanted to air those “Weekend Update” specials as a way to capitalize on the current election season, surely they would have opted to air one on the night immediately after the first debate. It wasn’t a bad half-hour, but it was incredibly unnecessary. And given how necessary “SNL” has historically been during the peak of the presidential races, that seems like a shame.
In any case, we’re back tonight with host Daniel Craig and musical guest Muse. James Bond-inspired humor will undoubtedly be on the plate, but I hope I’m not alone in yearning for some sort of “Layer Cake” parody tonight. Because that movie is AWESOME. It’s a long shot, but still not as long as all of you completely agreeing with my grades for tonight’s sketches. As always, I’ll be assessing them in real time. Let’s get down to (British) business, shall we?
Presidential Debate: Chris Parnell in the HOUSE, y’all! He’s playing Jim Lehrer, even though this version of Lehrer doesn’t seem like he’s in a coma. Therefore, it’s a totally inaccurate portrayal. Jay Pharaoh’s Obama is slow to start, but that’s OK, as Jason Sudeikis’ crazy Mitt Romney eyes make up for it. While Romney explains his 41-point plan to fix the economy, Obama zones out as he frets over forgetting to buy an anniversary gift for his wife. “Governor Romney just claimed that he killed Osama bin Laden. Do you care to respond?” pleads Lehrer. “No, you two go right on ahead,” Obama replies. Rather than actually attack the politics of the event, “SNL” decides to attack…the elevation of the city of Denver. It’s a remarkably toothless affair, and doesn’t bode well for the next month of political sketches on the show. [Grade: C-]
Monologue: Man, if only Daniel Craig were a handsome man, I tell you. “I guess you could say I’ve been in my share of violent movies,” he tells the audience, and Craig wants to honor those that he has killed over the years in an “In Memoriam” sequence. (Oh, “Mr. Stairs”, I will miss you most of all.) But there’s something just weird about the entire sequence. The timing is off from minute one, and while the audience wants to laugh, it’s seemingly too busy noticing the various technical snafus that pop up during the interplay of Craig with the pre-produced video. To top things off, the monologue ends with the “joke” that Daniel Craig once killed a dog. Which is kind of the opposite of funny, no? Rough start so far tonight. [Grade: C-]
Construction Guys: Oh no. This is the sketch that gets the prime, post-monologue slot? Craig is Jack, a new employee unable to fit in with everyone else’s catcalls. This actually makes the earlier sketches seem like all-time classics by comparison. A smattering of the heckling is actually funny, but then, after a bizarre flashback in which we learn Jack’s father was killed by a heckler, it ends with a punch line containing the word “pooperize”. Here’s an early candidate for “Worst Sketch Of The Year”. The bar has been set, “SNL”. Do your worst. Actually, you just might have done exactly that. [Grade: F+]
Lesser Known Bond Girls: Oh sweet relief, thou art a pre-produced short allowing the show’s cast to present impressions of Diane Keaton, Jodie Foster, Lea Michele, Molly Ringwald, Ellen Degeneres, and Penny Marshall. The impressions are all fantastic, because they are almost exclusively ones we’ve never seen before. (We’ve seen Fred Armisen’s Marshall, but I think that’s it.) The biggest kudos go to Nasim Pedrad’s Michele (in “Hippopotopussy”, no less!) and Kate McKinnon’s eerily canny Foster. I don’t find Armisen’s Marshall as funny as apparently everyone in “SNL” does. But while the sketch ended with a whimper, everything before it was gold. (Pun intended.) [Grade: B+]
A Look Back At The Obama Debate Disaster: Cecily Strong takes over for Abby Elliot as Rachel Maddow, presiding over “The Worst Thing That Ever Happened Anywhere” with that show’s usual panel. Strong is good in the role, although she’s not asked to do much besides sound like Maddow and set up jokes for her cohorts. Kenan Thompson gives perhaps his best performance as Al Sharpton to date, coming up with increasingly delusional excuses for Obama’s poor performance in the debate. Sudeikis’ Chris Matthews is just about the best thing ever, and makes his Romney look worse by comparison. (Granted, Matthews is a more colorful personality, but still.) While “SNL” had problems attacking the debate in the cold open, they have no problem attacking MSNBC here. The best part of this sketch? Daniel Craig. Oh right, he wasn’t in it. But McKinnon was, again. She’s everywhere tonight. [Grade: B]
Long Island Medium: The Year Of McKinnon is in full swing, everyone. She breaks out her Theresa Caputo once again, inspiring tears onscreen and laughter in the audience. She’s in such full control of everything she does that it’s hard to believe she hasn’t even logged a full season on the show yet. She’s basically getting everything Kristen Wiig would have gotten a year ago already. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, comedically speaking, but it’s fantastic to watch McKinnon gain confidence on a weekly basis. [Grade: B+]
Artemis Space Mission: Oh, Bobby Moynihan: Your Kirby is adorable, albeit one-note. While everyone else on this spacecraft is flirting and thinking about beer back on Earth, Kirby is constantly waxing poetic (and childlike) about his “little kitty cat”. But rather than using Kirby’s childlike cat fetishism as the basis for building a character, the sketch instead settles for repeating the initial joke over and over again. It doesn’t help that Daniel Craig spends half the sketch struggling to read the cue cards. “SNL” has to introduce an actual kitten, “Fuzz Aldrin”, in order to gain any audience sympathy. I…don’t get this episode. At all. [Grade: C-]
Muse takes the stage to perform “Madness”, from its newest album “The 2nd Law”. Chris Wolstenholme’s bass looks like something he somehow downloaded from the future. He’s not playing notes so much as an electronic sample of the song’s title. “Madness” is electronic dance music by way of gospel, and it’s a mixture that would undo most bands. Muse pulls it off, albeit by the skin of its teeth. Matthew Bellamy’s guitar solo screams out from the middle of nowhere, shocking the eardrums amidst the relative sparseness of the track. That solo propels the song into a more full arrangement near the end of the track, but unfortunately this just makes it sound like another Muse song. I like Muse, don’t get me wrong. But I appreciate how unique the first half of this song is compared with their overall oeuvre. [Grade: B]
Weekend Update: Seth Meyers introduces “Winners And Losers”, a segment dedicated to breaking down Wednesday’s debates. (Losers include Jim Lehrer and Michelle Obama. Winners include “Downton Abbey” and “everyone excited with the prospect of Joe Biden having to save the day”.) Afterwards, Bird Bird himself appears to respond to Romney’s comments. Those hoping for an “Avenue Q” take on the character must have been disappointed, however, as Bird’s appearance stays as far within bounds as is humanely possible. It mainly consists of inoffensive puns in a segment designed for tomorrow’s headlines rather that in-the-moment comedy. Cecilia Gimenez, who tried to “fix” the painting “Ecce Homo”, then comes on to defend her work and seek restitution for her “improvements” on the original. “He had beautiful hair, and so it became a scarf,” she says, describing her apparent visitation from Jesus himself. It’s not McKinnon’s strongest work tonight, but it still demonstrates how central she is to the show already. Seriously, add up the screen time of every other female cast member so far this show. McKinnon exceeds that total by herself. [Grade: B-]
A Sorry Lot We Are: Here we see the premiere of the 45th season of a long-running, fictional BBC show. There’s a good sketch to be made concerning the melodramatic lot of blue-collar Brits. I’m just not sure this is it. Aidy Bryant brings some much-needed life to the proceedings as Craig’s lusty ex-girlfriend, but the sketch never gets as over-the-top as it needs to in order to transcend the genre that it’s parodying. Since I don’t have anything else to say about this sketch, it’s probably time to offer up a general opinion about tonight’s episode. I don’t think hiring Daniel Craig wasn’t a mistake on the show’s part, except that “SNL” apparently had absolutely no idea how to write for him once he arrived in New York City. Look over tonight’s live sketches: The only good one didn’t involve him at all. In the first full episode since “SNL” pulled off one of its best episodes in recent memory, it’s in line to turn in one of its worst during that same period. [Grade: C-]
Regine: Vanessa Bayer sighting! I think this is her first live appearance so far tonight. (Presad is still MIA, and we haven’t seen Pharoah since the cold open.) Craig takes a backseat to the facial expressions of Fred Armisen, who plays his girlfriend Regine. But that’s OK, since Craig seems more engaged than at any other point in the episode thus far. Armisen goes for broke in his performance, even if he’s operating in a separate sphere from everyone else in the sketch. (“We’re gonna talk about politics…and BOOKS!”) And hey, if you’ve ever wanted to see James Bond’s O Face, this was the sketch for you! I can see people having mixed reactions to this sketch, but at least there was energy onstage that’s been lacking in almost all other live material thus far. Given the paucity of good material tonight, maybe I’m just in the mood to like something at this point. [Grade: B]
Muse helps us take a break from tonight’s “comedy” with “Panic Station”, complete with a horn section this time along for the sonic journey. That’s only fitting, given the R&B groove that holds down this rhythmic rocker. Seriously: 80% of this song sounds like a mid-80’s Phil Collins jam meets Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust”. The other 20% is total Muse, and since I like all three elements in this particular musical stew, I enjoyed the heck of this song. [Grade: A-]
Undecided Voters: Oh good. They are already repeating commercials in the third episode of the season. Is this better than cutting off the final sketch mid-stream, as they did during the Joseph Gordon-Levitt episode? Yes, but not by much. [Grade: N/A]
Best Sketch: “Lesser Known Bond Girls”
Worst Sketch: “Construction Guys”
Best Surprise: Almost nothing. This was a dreary episode from start to finish, with only slight respites periodically popping up. Doing a live show means running the risk of producing a stinker of an episode. It’s not a crime. It is what it is. This is an “SNL” feature, not a bug. But it’s never fun in the moment.
Biggest Takeaway: This is Kate McKinnon’s show now. And while I am thrilled to see her ascend, I do worry that “SNL” will just simply recreate the imbalance that existed while Kristen Wiig dominated the show during her run. Both are incredible performers worthy of all the air time they get. But that spotlight often comes at the expense of others in the cast, especially the other women.
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Am I overstating its awfulness or was this a major letdown after a fairly strong start to the season? Did you have a problem with the idea of Daniel Craig as “SNL” host? Is McKinnon the face of the show’s present, not its future, after tonight? Sound off below!
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupBobby Bigcock
October 7, 2012 at 2:03AM EST Reply to CommentTaran Killam is the best one they got... They put him in a lot last season, but now he's just minor roles in a few sketches each week. It makes him about as important as that new ugly guy they have. SNL is just disappointing.
Bobby Bigcock I agree completely!
October 7, 2012 at 2:05AM ESTDid you just agree to your own comment?
October 7, 2012 at 3:54AM ESTrobert largeschmenzer It was probably just an excuse to type in his name twice.
October 7, 2012 at 12:11PM ESTed w Taran hasn't got the hang of message board posting yet.
October 7, 2012 at 5:12PM ESTAR
October 7, 2012 at 3:01AM EST Reply to Comment"Best Surprise: Almost nothing. This was a dreary episode from start to finish, with only slight respites periodically popping up."
"Biggest Takeaway: This is Kate McKinnon’s show now...Both are incredible performers worthy of all the air time they get."
This is what happens when someone writes a review ten seconds after the show ends; Contradicting yourself, only two sentences below.
ryanmcgee How is that a contradiction, especially when McKinnon was involved with the respites?
October 7, 2012 at 3:15AM ESTAR How is that not a contradiction? This show is "dreary" for the same reason that Kate Mckinnon gets all that "worthy airtime" : Over reliance on pop culture,broad and physical humor. Take a thorough look at Mckinnon's sketches on SNL : Penelope Cruz impression,Chelsea Lately parody,Ann Romney,The woman who ruined the painting. Easy and obvious and slight topics with zero creativity (Romney doing Beyonce). Same goes for Taran Killam.
October 7, 2012 at 4:20AM ESTWhat SNL needs are sketches with narrative,structure and thematic elements. This is where Mckinnon and Killam suffer the most. Both resort to mugging and getting easy laughs with some nervous tics (Mckinnon's eyes).
Nasim Pedrad is MIA for the same reason. An actress with strong characterization ability but Lorne Michaels
has decided to marginalize her as "Kim Kardashian Impersonator".
Prettok How can Mckinnon dominate the show if her show-saving appearances are only 'periodical'?
October 7, 2012 at 11:48AM ESTDoes the show need to use her MORE?
gregel
October 7, 2012 at 3:08AM EST Reply to CommentOK, I'm sorry but Kirby cracked me up. Perhaps its because I have two little kitty cats myself. Fuzz Aldrin! Awwwwwww. LOL
dan I laughed as well, the delivery of the line was purrrfect (couldn't help myself)
October 7, 2012 at 8:10AM ESTlfny When I first heard that character speak, I swore that Moynihan was tapping his inner Chris Farley.
October 7, 2012 at 12:15PM ESTLee Harvey
October 7, 2012 at 3:55AM EST Reply to CommentUp until last week I thought McKinnon was being praised too much, but her Ann Romney was pretty great. Tonight was her coming out party. Even in the weaker material, she was outstanding. Thought she had good energy at all times. I even laughed at her Weekend Update desk visit. Speaking of Update, the Winners and Losers segment was strong.
Overall, I didn't think this was as bad as McGee... and I didn't think last week's was as good as the review.
svetlana I still don't get the reviewers Kate mckinnon obsession? He's been going on and on about her since last season. I think she is boring and has zero charisma. And to say that SNL is her show now is ridiculous. Just because she was in a lot of sketches this week doesnt mean the trend will continue. The show was awful this week! I didnt laugh once. How do professional comedy writers not know the stuff they're writing is complete garbage?
October 7, 2012 at 7:22AM ESToliver Speaking of WU, it sure looked like Seth Meyers was having a mini-stroke at one point, completely slurring through a couple of words. I went back and watched it several times and that's how it appeared to me. Anyone notice this?
October 7, 2012 at 1:11PM ESTSam
October 7, 2012 at 4:19AM EST Reply to CommentJay Pharoah's Obama is disappointing. Armisen did Obama much better.
Hogum22 That comment must be spam because Armisen sucked as Obama! Given, Pharoah didn't quite channel the president as well as he usually does. But his Obama is obviously miles better than Armisen's.
October 7, 2012 at 7:50AM ESTGuest Jay Pharaoh's only similarity to Obama is that he is black.
October 7, 2012 at 9:21AM ESTtroopermsu Jay might be the most overrated performer in SNL history. I think he brings nothing, unfortunately.
October 7, 2012 at 5:37PM ESTMaine
October 7, 2012 at 9:00AM EST Reply to CommentWow, the debate gave them so much material to really come up with something completely funny, but it would have been at the expense of Obama. I think they hedged it because they didn't want to truly take him down (didn't stop them last year with Palin). Sad. I think their political leanings made them miss a golden opportunity. I was thinking can't wait to see what SNL does with this - after the debate - but disappointing.
massachusetts You're right - that's exactly how the lack of zinging Obama came across during that cold open.
October 7, 2012 at 1:13PM ESTthemadlibs
October 7, 2012 at 10:41AM EST Reply to CommentI think my biggest takeaway is that they were, as you said, lost with how to right material for Craig. I'm just really hopeful the material for Applegate is top notch like 2 weeks ago. I had such insurmountably high hopes for tonight too.
magpie Any shock that SNL on consecutive shows has Craig (who must've cost a great deal of the year's hosting budget) and Applegate (currently working on an NBC show that also co-stars SNL alum Maya Rudolph)?
October 7, 2012 at 1:16PM ESTMike
October 7, 2012 at 12:05PM EST Reply to CommentDid anyone else have major sound problems? I lost the main audio track on about half the episode and could only hear the crowd. The second Muse performance I could only hear the band, no vocals. It's like all the mica were broken or someone tuned the mic volume off and we only had the ambient noise.
Audio engineer No Mike. The problem must be on your side.
October 7, 2012 at 12:40PM ESTDamian Floring I live in utah and I had the same issue were on comcast it's hard to know where the porblem is coming from
October 7, 2012 at 9:36PM ESTSusan Yes, I live in Utah, too. As with several episodes last season, the audio problems persist. I watch and record from DirecTV. SNL is seen on CW30 because local NBC affiliate KSL is too conservative to air the program locally. I wonder who to direct this question. If CW30 is unable to troubleshoot this kind of technical difficulty they should consider going into another business.
October 8, 2012 at 11:00AM ESTBamjoop I am in Utah as well with dish network and also had the problem.
October 8, 2012 at 2:10PM ESTSusan FYI, I called CW30 and talked to an engineer. He confirmed the sound problem is the stations. He said SNL and the program before it arrives to CW30 as pre-recorded and the Dolby audio dialogue channel feed is compromised. Because it's a pre-recording, they are unable to relay the problem with NBC as it happens. That's as technical as I can get, but at least we know it's not our tv or dvr.
October 8, 2012 at 2:26PM ESTdan
October 7, 2012 at 1:51PM EST Reply to CommentBobby Moyniham is hilarious in everything he does. 'Space Mission' was great, and yes, the deliver was excellent. Only good laugh of the night. I LOVED Muse, was unfamiliar with their music.
Mr F
October 7, 2012 at 2:58PM EST Reply to CommentI think it's pretty silly to say that Kate McKinnon's poised to dominate the show when up until last night's episode she'd only appeared a total of four times in the previous shows(one of which consisted on her being a back-up dancer to Psy)
Just because she had a good week doesn't mean she's going to get to Kristen Wiig's level of dominance.
crack3d
October 7, 2012 at 8:02PM EST Reply to CommentSpeaking of the lack of diversity and chances for female cast members to shine, does it bother anyone else that Armisen keeps playing women? He did it twice in this episode alone. It's like they don't have faith in their female cast members to be women so they just have Armisen do it instead.
PC
October 7, 2012 at 11:01PM EST Reply to CommentHorrible episode. High school writing at best. The good news is there's no place to go but up. The bad news is watch now for lost sponsors and the cast to dissapate sooner than expected. Think Titanic, because the SNL is sinking.
j
October 14, 2012 at 11:29PM EST Reply to CommentWhoever wrote this article is a moron...they know nothing about humor or music...I'd like to see you get up on snl for the first time and read every line perfectly. The bassist was playing every single note on his bass, using the touch pad as a way to strum....it was meant to be cool and it was. Bellamy, Craig, and McKinnon not to mention everyone on the cast is extremely talented. The space sketch was meant to appeal to the younger audience tuning in, using weird, creepy repetition to gain laughs which works well for kids 14-17.
Reyaan Shah
October 21, 2012 at 1:17AM EST Reply to CommentOh that's great, the whole world is laughing at the opener? Give it a C+. Also ever since McKinnon arrived, the reviewer has been going crazy for her, regardless of how good she actually is.
For some strange reason, you seem to believe SNL ALWAYS HAS TO BE this amazingly intelligent show, when in all seriousness, it's one of the only FUN major network shows left. After 30 Rock is gone, it and Seth MacFarlane's work will be all that's left. Everyone else is laughing, why don't you stop being uptight and just laugh with them?
These thoughts are based off of SNL reviews from this critic from this season, and the two seasons before; I have read all of them and now have enough information to finally comment in full.
Goomy
November 5, 2012 at 2:21AM EST Reply to CommentThis was awful. The new season is awful. I'd hate to read some of the rejected material if this is the stuff that is getting through.
Moynihan and Pharaoh just have to go. They're terrible. Apart from Cecily Strong, who the jury is out on, all the featured players need to go too.
Vanessa Bayer is about the only reasonably new thing going for the show, so more of her is a must.
Kitten Science
December 1, 2012 at 10:32PM EST Reply to CommentThe “Fuzz Aldrin” sketch was one of the most hilarious things I've seen on SNL in a long time. Loved it.