Saturday Night Live has used the dual host/musical guest to great effect since the beginning of the show in 1975. Paul Simon, Lily Tomlin, and Desi Arnaz doubled as host and musical guest during the first season, and just last season Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Drake all carried on the tradition.
Blake Shelton may have appeared an unlikely candidate to join this club, but The Voice judge did just that this past Saturday (Jan. 24). Shelton and the SNL writers may have relied on what Shelton does best — singing — but they also limited his work, and the end result was another very good episode in what is turning out to be a great season.
Cold Open: Inside the NFL
SNL took a break from the political and social goings-on in the country to spend some time tackling the issue that currently matters the most to many Americans, “Deflategate.” It helped that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick held an impromptu press conference just hours before the show started where he referenced My Cousin Vinny and Boyle’s Law.
Belichick (Beck Bennett) starts a press conference, but quickly hands the ball to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (Taran Killam), who plays dumb before calling an audible to Dougie Spoons (Bobby Moynihan), the fictional equipment manager of the Patriots. Spoons goes into a rant that eventually builds into a parody of A Few Good Men with a climax pitting Spoons against a reporter (Kate McKinnon).
Best Sketch: Wishin’ Boot
The most talked about sketch after the cold open is easily the best sketch of the night. Shelton, McKinnon, and Aidy Bryant are three country singers who sing us the tale of the mythical Wishin’ Boot.
Almost a perfect parody of modern country music, and also a catchy song, “Wishin’ Boot” will be stuck in your head all day. All. Day. You’ll be doing dishes and unwittingly start singing, “That whole dang time the dog had been the boot.” Damn you, “Wishin’ Boot.”
Second Best Sketch: Farm Hunk
A surefire way to have a good sketch is to include every female cast member, and that’s exactly what happens in this parody of The Bachelor. While each of the female contestants seem normal, they start getting slightly crazier by either telling Ryan Coles — a.k.a. the farm hunk — about their dead father, bringing him a handful of spaghetti, or their bigotry.
Weekend Update Moment: Riblet
“Weekend Update” got a little absurd this week with co-anchor Michael Che bearing the brunt of a couple of jokes that fell flat with the audience. We were also given an extended look into the life of Che with visits from his ex-girlfriend Nicole (Sasheer Zamata) and high school pal Riblet (Moynihan).
Moynihan has touched on this type of character before, and Riblet seems like a combination of Pizzeria Uno waiter Mark Payne, Ass Dan, and Niff. Moynihan has always shined during his appearances on “Weekend Update,” and Riblet was no exception.
Standout Performer: Colin Jost
Normally I wouldn’t pick one of the anchors of “Weekend Update” for this, but I think this is the episode where I finally realized I like Colin Jost. While it has been a bit rocky during his tenure behind the desk, Jost has continued tinkering and improving his “Weekend Update” persona.
Each week, Jost continues to silence the critics and fans who were not happy with him keeping his anchor position over Cecily Strong after last season. Whether it’s being the the object of lecherous Leslie Jones’ desire, or finally finding his voice and delivering jokes like, “This Wednesday was National Hug Day… Dad,” so well has been kind of fun to watch.
Other Notes:
Longtime listeners of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast may have chuckled a bit during the “Celebrity Family Feud” sketch when Steve Harvey (Kenan Thompson) referred to Maroon 5 as the “Marc Maron 5.” One of Maron’s favorite subjects to discuss is his failed interview for SNL in 1996.
This week’s episode had only seven sketches and no ad parodies. SNL tends to average 10 sketches each week which means we could see a few unaired sketches appearing online over the next couple of days.
Talk show host Joe Franklin died on Saturday at the age of 88. His talk show was parodied by Billy Crystal on SNL several times during the tenth season.
Saturday Night Live returns this week (Jan. 31) with host and Oscar nominee J.K. Simmons and musical guest D’Angelo.
