I really enjoy standup comics hosting SNL, because more than film comedians or dramatic actors or the other celebrities who host, standups seem better able to leave their distinct mark on the show. That means Saturday Night Live is making good on its promise to offer something unique every week, and I appreciate that. Aziz Ansari fits that to a tee, delivering a performance that feels familiar to anyone who’s seen his stand up, his appearances on Parks and Recreation, or his guest spots on Bob’s Burgers.
That came through the most in his opening monologue/standup routine, where he had some trenchant observations about the hidden bliss of people hiding their racism, the surrealness of Democrats feeling wistful for George W. Bush’s Presidency, and the “lower case kkk.” One of the other perks of standups hosting is that we get entertaining snippets of their acts, and Ansari delivered.
The other political material was solid, but not a knock-it-out of the park affair. The opening with Vladimir Putin giving an address to America was full of cute but easy jokes, only livened by the return of Kate McKinnon’s Olya character who’s usually confined to the Update Desk. Her receiving a fish and happily declaring “my pension!” was a hoot. McKinnon also showed her musical chops in a pre-taped segment that filtered the “Roxy” songs from Chicago through the prism of Kellyanne Conway. It was well-performed and well-produced, but the actual song parody was a bit underwhelming, as the writers didn’t do enough to change the song to make it more about Conway (though maybe that’s the joke?)
And surprisingly, the usually strong Weekend Update was a mediocre point in the show this week. There were still some great one-liners, like Colin’s joke about the Inauguration Concert at the Lincoln Memorial being “the second worst live performance” Lincoln’s seen, or Che’s repeated use of his Michelle Obama “mm” tone of disapproval. But the normally entertaining standup-like bits from the two of them were particularly tepid this week, with Che’s bit on feminism feeling undercooked and aimless. What’s more the correspondent segments were fairly week as well. We got a generic Leslie Jones segment, which basically amounted to her riffing on various products invented by black people to diminishing results, and a report from “the friend zone” which was hacky comedy I’d expect from a late-90s sketch show on MTV. Still some gems, but for the first time in a while, Weekend Update was a liability rather than a strength.
On top of that, the “Thank You Obama” bit with Cecily and Sasheer at the end was a big wank. I’m not opposed to SNL getting a little serious now and then. I liked Kate McKinnon’s Hillary doing “Hallelujah,” and I appreciated Cecily’s statement of solidarity with Paris after the attacks. But there was no angle to this. It was just a “hey, we like you President guy!” and that’s the kind of fluffy bit of nothing that doesn’t really have a place on a show like Saturday Night Live.
That said, the sketches I laughed at the most were the non-political, purely comedic ones. The sketch where Aziz plays someone giving a testimonial for a law firm who slowly realizes that his lawyer was terrible during the commercial absolutely slayed me, and is on my short list for funniest sketch of the season. It escalated perfectly, with the increasingly bizarre tales from Aziz about his attorney’s misadventures in the courtroom, and it even had a crazy logic to it, with an explanation for why such a crappy lawyer was partners with such a great one. Just a neat premise taken to absurd extremes, which is my favorite kind of sketch.
The same goes for Aziz’s “Beat the Bookworm” sketch, a gameshow where Aziz played a haughty nerd who was brought low when asked to answer questions about 90s pop culture. Aziz’s performance really sold the bit, with his snark confidence eroding into Ansari’s trademark whiny distress quickly, and his rapid-fire wrong answers just got funnier and funnier (e.g. “Michael Jackson is the king of the ____.” “King of the Jews?”) Just another well-executed sketch.
(As an aside, I didn’t watch the La La Land sketch, because I haven’t seen the movie yet, and I’m really weird about spoilers. Sorry!)
The evening closed in a strong fashion. The quick sketch about dirty talk is the kind of small but hilarious humor the show doesn’t do enough of, and Melissa Villasenor made her biggest contribution to the show thus far with a great performance in a tightly-written sketch. The “Five Stars” pre-taped sketch with Aziz and Bobby is the kind of well-written mood piece that the show’s done well lately, and again, the well-observed situational humor served the show well.
Even the closest thing to a ten-to-one sketch – the standoff between cops and criminals at a Chuck-E-Cheese knockoff – worked well enough despite being fairly tame. This is really just “Space Pants” all over again, but the sketch featured great physical performances from the cast posing as animatronic animals; Kenan did a nice job at seeming joyfully into it, and the details were right.
Overall, while it’s a week when the political gags should be easy and SNL came up a little short, Aziz really shined in bringing his humor and comic energy and integrating it with the show. Maybe skip the political stuff, but still a quality episode that’s definitely worth watching.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-01-23T01:45:23Z
I really enjoy standup comics hosting SNL, because more than film comedians or dramatic actors or the other celebrities who host, standups seem better able to leave their distinct mark on the show. That means Saturday Night Live is making good on its promise to offer something unique every week, and I appreciate that. Aziz Ansari fits that to a tee, delivering a performance that feels familiar to anyone who’s seen his stand up, his appearances on Parks and Recreation, or his guest spots on Bob’s Burgers.
That came through the most in his opening monologue/standup routine, where he had some trenchant observations about the hidden bliss of people hiding their racism, the surrealness of Democrats feeling wistful for George W. Bush’s Presidency, and the “lower case kkk.” One of the other perks of standups hosting is that we get entertaining snippets of their acts, and Ansari delivered.
The other political material was solid, but not a knock-it-out of the park affair. The opening with Vladimir Putin giving an address to America was full of cute but easy jokes, only livened by the return of Kate McKinnon’s Olya character who’s usually confined to the Update Desk. Her receiving a fish and happily declaring “my pension!” was a hoot. McKinnon also showed her musical chops in a pre-taped segment that filtered the “Roxy” songs from Chicago through the prism of Kellyanne Conway. It was well-performed and well-produced, but the actual song parody was a bit underwhelming, as the writers didn’t do enough to change the song to make it more about Conway (though maybe that’s the joke?)
And surprisingly, the usually strong Weekend Update was a mediocre point in the show this week. There were still some great one-liners, like Colin’s joke about the Inauguration Concert at the Lincoln Memorial being “the second worst live performance” Lincoln’s seen, or Che’s repeated use of his Michelle Obama “mm” tone of disapproval. But the normally entertaining standup-like bits from the two of them were particularly tepid this week, with Che’s bit on feminism feeling undercooked and aimless. What’s more the correspondent segments were fairly week as well. We got a generic Leslie Jones segment, which basically amounted to her riffing on various products invented by black people to diminishing results, and a report from “the friend zone” which was hacky comedy I’d expect from a late-90s sketch show on MTV. Still some gems, but for the first time in a while, Weekend Update was a liability rather than a strength.
On top of that, the “Thank You Obama” bit with Cecily and Sasheer at the end was a big wank. I’m not opposed to SNL getting a little serious now and then. I liked Kate McKinnon’s Hillary doing “Hallelujah,” and I appreciated Cecily’s statement of solidarity with Paris after the attacks. But there was no angle to this. It was just a “hey, we like you President guy!” and that’s the kind of fluffy bit of nothing that doesn’t really have a place on a show like Saturday Night Live.
That said, the sketches I laughed at the most were the non-political, purely comedic ones. The sketch where Aziz plays someone giving a testimonial for a law firm who slowly realizes that his lawyer was terrible during the commercial absolutely slayed me, and is on my short list for funniest sketch of the season. It escalated perfectly, with the increasingly bizarre tales from Aziz about his attorney’s misadventures in the courtroom, and it even had a crazy logic to it, with an explanation for why such a crappy lawyer was partners with such a great one. Just a neat premise taken to absurd extremes, which is my favorite kind of sketch.
The same goes for Aziz’s “Beat the Bookworm” sketch, a gameshow where Aziz played a haughty nerd who was brought low when asked to answer questions about 90s pop culture. Aziz’s performance really sold the bit, with his snark confidence eroding into Ansari’s trademark whiny distress quickly, and his rapid-fire wrong answers just got funnier and funnier (e.g. “Michael Jackson is the king of the ____.” “King of the Jews?”) Just another well-executed sketch.
(As an aside, I didn’t watch the La La Land sketch, because I haven’t seen the movie yet, and I’m really weird about spoilers. Sorry!)
The evening closed in a strong fashion. The quick sketch about dirty talk is the kind of small but hilarious humor the show doesn’t do enough of, and Melissa Villasenor made her biggest contribution to the show thus far with a great performance in a tightly-written sketch. The “Five Stars” pre-taped sketch with Aziz and Bobby is the kind of well-written mood piece that the show’s done well lately, and again, the well-observed situational humor served the show well.
Even the closest thing to a ten-to-one sketch – the standoff between cops and criminals at a Chuck-E-Cheese knockoff – worked well enough despite being fairly tame. This is really just “Space Pants” all over again, but the sketch featured great physical performances from the cast posing as animatronic animals; Kenan did a nice job at seeming joyfully into it, and the details were right.
Overall, while it’s a week when the political gags should be easy and SNL came up a little short, Aziz really shined in bringing his humor and comic energy and integrating it with the show. Maybe skip the political stuff, but still a quality episode that’s definitely worth watching.