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Date Posted: 21:58:44 10/10/05 Mon
Author: Jim Bevan
Subject: Here we see the rare, elusive SNY review in its natural habitat.
In reply to: Patrick Lonergan 's message, "REVIEWS: Jon Heder 10/08/05" on 17:22:32 10/10/05 Mon

I have to admit, I was a little hesitant to post this because some of my comments may be a little harsh, and I don't want to offend any of my friends here. So please, don't take any criticisms personally.

Kathleen Blanco Press Conference: This was a very impressive piece. Having seen too many pieces blasting the federal government for failing to act quickly enough in their response to Katrina, it was nice to see some humorous jabs pointed at the Louisiana officals who dropped the ball on their end. I thought that Blanco's absurd budgeting of the relief funding was great - especially loved the part about taking 50 million for "emotional damages", and her proposal to lower the city of New Orleans even further below sea-level. I didn't think the N-word was really appropriate (I always thought that for these sketches, the preferred term was "nigga", but then again, who am I to talk when I used "chink" in one of my Update jokes), but it was more than made up for with prime examples of liberal hypocrisy and having Ray Nagin sing "We're in the Money".

Monologue: I didn't really like this, sorry to say. The lines were rather weak, and a lot of them seemed forced. The repetitive TV and movie references were rather lame as well, and the multiple Mormon wives was rather unoriginal and uninspired. Bringing Jessica Alba in as a five-second cameo was completely unnecessary, as it added nothing to the sketch. The piece about Jon's wife "Bob" had great potential, but it fell rather short due to a lack of good dialogue.

Enterprise Rental Cars: It had a lot of potential, but this kind of crashed and burned. The Mormons/multiple wives thing has been done over and over, and has lost its appeal. Furthermore, "fat bitch" was a weak jab at the wife, and the husband considered becoming a Mormon too quickly. Not the best I've read.

Inconvenience Store: It's a shame this didn't get in when Carrell was hosting last week - this is a hilarious sketch. Jason, I must commend you for continuing to improve on these characters with each appearance. Their mis-management of their new store is brilliant: best bits were their own bizarre lottery, keeping the guy waiting for 10 hours, and the robber's growing confusion with the multiple keys. Another killer piece with Jared and Norman.

Vegan: Pretty cool vegan-bashing bit. It wasn't the strongest premise (someone gets on their roommates' nerves because of some odd quirk), but you brought it up with some strong conflict moments, the best ones being the singing bass and Susie getting treated like she was buying drugs when she wanted ice cream. Bonus points for the funny Mortal Kombat title, and for showing how closed-minded certain groups and individuals can be.

Weekend Update: I don't know if I'll be doing a joke-by-joke review of this piece. It had some good jokes, but there seemed to be far too many of the same tired, boring celebrity & Bush jokes that I've seen far too much of.

Do You Come Here Often?: First off, Jenny McCarthy was not a necessary addition. The sketches should not rely on excessive celebrity cameos or eye-candy (especially in this case, since it's all text). Secondly, the banter and lame pick up lines were rather weak. It feels like they've been done before and done to death, and didn't really have much of a comedic kick. The ending fell flat as well- talking about a breaking vibrator and asking a guy if he wants to have sex with you on the pool table is not funny, it's the intro to a porn movie.

Damned: Meh, this wasn't really that impressive. Announcing that the show will be bringing back hosts and musical guests who caused a ruckus when they were on was not that imaginative, and there weren't too many funny lines either . The ending about Frank Zappa's nose and Milton Berle's penis was a weak closer.

A Hollywood Open House: Oh goodie, another celebrity parody skit. I'm sorry if I seem rude or repetitive but I am quite sick of these. There is nothing funny about cracking jokes regarding washed-up stars, flop movies and TV series, and Hollywood trysts that have already been done by Leno, Letterman and Conan the week before (or similar to the jokes they tell). And the parodies are so stale: John Travolta acting like he did in his 70s roles, John Malkovich yelling, Tom Cruise as a hyperactive freak, ect; have all been done before and done to death. And spending all this time focusing on the cliched exaggerations doesn't make up for a lack of clever lines. I don't want to cause any ill feelings, but I just don't think these are funny anymore - my opinion only, though.

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Replies:

Wow! I thought Donald Trump was an arrogant a$$hole...you take the cake, Jim! -- jennings, 00:11:26 10/11/05 Tue
- Mark, I didn't want to hurt your feelings -- Jim Bevan, 07:28:18 10/11/05 Tue
  - I don't think you come off as arrogant, Jim. -- Prateek S., 16:17:35 10/12/05 Wed
    - Excellent point, Prateek -- Jim Bevan, 17:14:37 10/12/05 Wed