Mikes Film Talk

SNL had Russell Crowe and Margo Price as host and musical guest respectively. Out of the two, Price delivered beautifully (performing as a more traditional country artist) but Crowe and the rest of the show turned out to be an epic fail.  It should be pointed out that this was not the Oscar winning actor’s fault; not entirely.

The entire show was bland and fell short of the comic mark.  There were moments that the audience responded well to but once again these were set up around sex as being both gag and punchline.

Sidenote: Sure sex is funny, anyone who says the word vagina, clitoris or cunnilingus in front of a live audience will get a chuckle but this marks two episodes where the most laughs garnered did so because the subject matter was sexual.  SNL used to be funny without relying on a one trick pony to get laughs.

The show felt rushed, like Crowe’s opening monologue, and even the “cold” open of Kate McKinnon’s Hilary Clinton was short and, unusually for McKinnon, a bit flat.  Weekend update also suffered from being uneven and the funniest bit was Colin Jost corpsing at McKinnon (who also came close to laughing) stuffing that mystery food into her mouth as “Denny” somebody’s mom.

Keenan Thompson’s Al Sharpton gag, where the real Sharpton popped in for a cameo was amusing, especially the Black Ratings for Candidates portion. Perhaps the most eclectic, and funny, skit of the episode was SNL’s Leslie Jones as a Ninja.

Although the funniest bit in the skit had to be Crowe’s weird version of a Russian accent. (We will not discuss Crowe’s accent prowess as the actor tends to take these criticism’s badly.)

It is hard to pick out which sketch was the oddest. Mike O’Brien‘s “Oprah” which closed out the show was a firm candidate as it just made no real sense, nor was it that funny. However there were bits that worked so, despite the mystery of “why,” it was not the winner of the night.

Even the “Mix and Match” skit that featured Crowe (with another “accent”) playing the ponytailed German raised by a group of old women, was not the oddest. It was the most sexually “charged” and definitely got the most laughs from the studio audience so that too was not the winner.

The “Henry the VIII” skit was another one that missed the mark although the Aidy Bryant boob grapple managed to pull it back from the brink at the tail end of the segment. “100 Days in the Jungle” was the strangest although Leslie Jones’ tearful credit card thief was funny as was Crowe’s weird friend of “Uncle Terry” who grabs the duck vagina and shoves it in his mouth in a nano-second.

It is interesting to note that in the photo below, no-one appears to be very happy in this skit.

The one pre-taped sequence that was almost as weird as the food that McKinnon’s character was eating during the Weekend Update, was the Pogie Pepperoni skit. It was amusing yet annoying at the same time, although the thing seemed strangely apt for an episode that featured so many lackluster sketches.

“Henry the VIII,” despite competition from the “Preparation H” advert, “Pogie Pepperoni” and “Oprah,” has to be the clear winner of oddest and, perhaps, most pointless skit of the night. Russell Crowe asking every female visitor to the exhibit to have his son was miles from funny, until the boob grab at the end, as mentioned above.

Margo Price was brilliant, both her songs were a throwback to more traditional country music and it was refreshing and toe tapping. It was also a nice change to see a country artist versus the usual offerings of Hip Hop, Rap, and mainstream rock entertainers that usual grace the stage.

This episode of SNL was an epic fail in terms of comedy and while it may not necessarily be Russell Crowe’s fault the dramatic actor was not able to raise the bar at all. Perhaps the writers were having an bad day or their biorhythms were off…

Or maybe it is time for a re-think or re-shuffle.