Category Archives: Average SNL Review
Average SNL Review
Didn’t watch Saturday Night Live or did you watch it and want an average Joe’s recap of it? The Average SNL Review is for you. Going Ryan as he picks his favorite bits, recaps opening monologues and clues you in on upcoming hosts and musical guest.
Ranking The Three Best Sketches From James Franco’s SNL
James Franco hosted SNL for the fourth time this past Saturday, and it was a wild episode. The cold open featured a slew of children on live television, which is a recipe for insanity. Some of the kids were great, some of them froze, but I’ll take it over another Donald Trump sketch any day. Franco brings a lot of smiles and positivity everywhere he goes, and I enjoyed the episode overall. Here are the three best sketches from Saturday night.
3. Reunion
One of the main themes running through this episode was James Franco playing James Franco. He did it in Christmas Charity, and he did it in the final sketch of the night, Reunion. The reason I picked Reunion over Christmas Charity was Heidi Gardner, who played Pretty Mandy. This is Gardner’s first season on SNL but she’s getting a lot of screen time and more importantly, she’s delivering. Angel from Weekend Update was dynamite, and Pretty Mandy’s odd accent and fixation on darts and bull’s-eyes killed me. I wouldn’t mind seeing Pretty Mandy show up again, preferably when Davey Franco hosts (that needs to happen ASAP).
2. Gift Wrap
Gift Wrap is one those over the top sketches that Will Ferrell perfected during his time on SNL, and it really set the tone for Franco’s show. The cold open was off the rails due to some of the children forgetting their lines, and this was sketch was off the rails because of the excessive fake blood. Franco played an overexcited gift wrapper who wasn’t go to let some missing, bloody appendages stop him from wrapping customer’s gifts. The gag got funnier and funnier, and if you’re wondering why Leslie Jones couldn’t get out her lines, it’s because she almost threw up in her mouth. Franco also confirmed this was his favorite sketch from the show, and you could tell he was having a blast.
1. Spelling Bee
My favorite type of SNL sketches are when they take normal scenarios and turn them on their head. That’s why Spelling Bee was the top sketch for me. James Franco plays the moderator who decides to make the words, definitions and usage a little too personal. Franco nails it too, until Little Pig Boy. It’s tough to blame him for breaking when his character has to deliver the definition and usage of Little Pig Boy with a straight face. I’ve watched this sketch four times and it just gets better.
-Ryan
Chance The Rapper Played A Reporter Out Of His Element In ‘Sports Announcer’ #SNL
Sports Announcer – SNL
Chance The Rapper took his talents to SNL & studio 8H on Saturday night, and he did not disappoint. Season 43 has featured four first time hosts in the first six episodes, and I’d rank Kumail Nanjiani and Mr. Rapper as my top two. Chance was great in every sketch (especially the Family Feud one), but his best performance was in Sports Announcer. Hockey has to be a wild sport for anybody not familiar with the atmosphere and the rules, and Chance nailed his role here. Hopefully this is the first of many more hosting duties in the future.
If you’re looking for a highlight of this episode not featuring Chance The Rapper, check out Pete Davidson’s hilarious rant on Staten Island from Weekend Update.
-Ryan
SNL Has It’s Hosts Lined Up For November & They’re Predictably Wonderful
SNL’s Line Up For November
SNL on Twitter.
Ready for November. #SNL pic.twitter.com/sigwYZzlqh
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 30, 2017
We already knew Larry David & Miley Cyrus would be the host/musical guest for this Saturday’s show, but now Saturday Night Live has announced the hosts and musical guests for the next two shows as well. Tiffany Haddish (The Carmichael Show, Girls Trip) & Chance The Rapper will be making their hosting debuts, and they’re accompanied by some power house musical guests. Taylor Swift & Eminem are as big time as it gets for musical guests, and might even appear in a sketch or two. With Haddish and Chance The Rapper making their hosting debuts, 4 out of the first 6 hosts for season 43 will have been first timers.
–Ryan
My Favorite Sketch From Kumail Nanjiani’s #SNL: Bank Breakers
Kumail Nanjiani hosted SNL this past weekend and continued the trend of stand up comics being some of the best hosts. Stand up comedy seems to be a good pre cursor for hosts of SNL, and most of them have great stage presence which always helps when you’re doing live TV. Nanjiani was a great first time host, and my favorite sketch was Bank Breakers. The reveal of Cecily Strong’s character being a veteran with a sick child was great, as was Nanjiani’s reaction. Jackets and jeans, baby.
P.S. If you haven’t yet, please watch his monologue as well.
My Favorite Sketch From Gal Gadot’s #SNL: First Date
Gal Gadot hosted SNL for the first time last Saturday, and it seemed like the writers weren’t sure what to do with her. Most of the sketches revolved around how gorgeous she was, but I think if she hosts again it would ideally be a more well rounded show. With that said, there were some highlights from her show on Saturday, including my favorite sketch: First Date. This sketch worked so well because Kenan doesn’t look exactly like OJ, but once the joke kicked in he looked enough like him to pull it off. Great stuff.
-Ryan
My Favorite Sketch From Ryan Gosling’s #SNL: Papyrus
Ryan Gosling and his handsome, giggly self hosted SNL for the second time Saturday night. It was a great episode, and similar to his first stint, Gosling excelled at the pre taped sketches, including my favorite one from Saturday: Papyrus. The premise of the sketch is Ryan Gosling’s character can’t understand why the marketing machine behind the Avatar movie used Papyrus font for the movie title. That’s it. It’s so simple and random but Gosling is so damn good that he makes it all work. His delivery of the line ‘they’re making more?’ might have been my favorite part of the whole episode. Enjoy!
-Ryan
Gal Gadot & Kumail Nanjiani Join Ryan Gosling As The First 3 Hosts For Season 43 Of #SNL
Nothing screams FALL! quite like SNL announcing their hosts and musical guests for a new season and per usual, the lineup is wonderful. We already knew Ryan Gosling would be back for his second stint as host during the season premiere accompanied by Jay-Z, but the big news is that we got a couple of first timers in Gal Gadot and Kumail Nanjiani as the hosts for episodes 2 and 3. I just watched The Big Sick last week and it was as great as the reviews foretold it to be, and Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman. Very few things beat the joyfulness of first time hosts, so I can’t wait to see them both in action. Their musical guests will be the only living, breathing angel Sam Smith and the only woman with an exclamation point in her name, P!nk. Season premiere is next week!
-Ryan
Ryan Gosling & Jay-Z Will Be The Host & Musical Guest For The Season 43 Premiere Of #SNL
Season 43 premieres on September 30 with @RyanGosling and JAY-Z! #SNL pic.twitter.com/a2kdhJGVs0
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) August 25, 2017
SNL wrapped up it’s four episode Weekend Update Summer Edition arc last night, and as expected we found out who the host and musical guest will be for the premiere of season 43. You never know who’s going to pop up as the host of SNL, but I hope we can all agree that Ryan Gosling is the absolute best case scenario. Gosling hosted once before in December 2015 and he was a delight. That’s the episode where we got the first Close Encounters sketch (where Gosling broke character for a solid 3 minutes) and easily one of my favorite sketches of all time, Santa Baby. September 30th can’t come soon enough.
-Ryan
