So, Lena Dunham hosted a pretty mild episode tonight, which, let's just say is better than I was expecting. But the writing is just really, really bad right now, so I think they need to clean house or something in that department. So much premise, so few jokes, as has been the problem for quite a while.
COLD OPEN: Jay's President Obama (feels like we haven't seen him in a while) is trying to explain the situation with Putin and the Ukraine to an unknowing public, and he calls in a special guest to help. It's Liam Neeson, who threatens Putin with his famous Taken monologue and a video of Obama doing "manly" things like the Russian president. It's ok, but not overwhelming.
MONOLOGUE: Lena comes out, clearly very nervous and kind of just stares straight ahead at the camera while delivering a monologue about all the sex/nudity on Girls. Nothing too sensational in this bit- it's very mildly funny, as will be the case all night long (except for a stunningly unfunny Aidy appearance- I've grown to cringe every time she shows up now).
OOH CHILD: A weird pre-recorded bit that has Lena, Cecily, Kenan and Taran singing along in the car to "Ooh, Child," but every time Lena jumps in the GPS interrupts. It's all right I guess and the twist ending joke is strange but I kinda like the random, bizarre end jokes like that.
SCANDAL: A parody of Scandal that they can finally do now that Sasheer is there to play Kerry Washington (and indeed that's her only appearance in this episode). Lena is Kelsey, who can't believe how fast everything goes and is only there to comment on the things we can already see are funny. Seriously, Lena's the worst part of this whole sketch because them making fun of Scandal is easy enough to do without her annoying comments.
WHAT'S POPPIN?: Kenan and Jay host a hip-hop show on MTV2 and have on a group of hipster white singers pretending to be rappers. It's lame.
GIRL: A trailer for a biblical movie about Adam and Eve, but Lena is herself from Girls, and Adam is Adam Driver (Taran, doing his usual spot-on impression). It's ok- I can see that what Lena's been doing is catering these skits to her personality, which is actually smart, especially if you're limited.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?: Nasim and Lena host a teen girl talk show (seriously? Another one? How come no one has any other ideas besides this?), where they giggle at random things that happen on the set. It's actually less annoying than Aidy and Cecily's, but the best part is Jon Hamm's random cameo and it just makes me wish he were hosting. Come back Jon! You make everything funnier!
WEEKEND UPDATE: Colin continues to not impress me at all, while Cecily is now the stronger co-anchor and that's saying very little indeed. As for the guests, Taran comes on as now Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and does a near perfect impersonation of his rambling acceptance speech last week. Then Vanessa and Fred Armisen come out to resume their bit as Vladimir Putin's best friends from childhood, but why did Fred leave at all if he was going to come back to do crappy bits like this?
JEWELRY PARTY: A women's group is meeting and Cecily is a Venezuelan woman who brings her boyfriend (Mike), a men's activist, to the meeting. It doesn't go well for him but this skit isn't funny at all. I don't like Cecily's Latina impressions either, they sort of border on offensive, actually.
PIMPIN, PIMPIN, PIMPIN: Jay is Katt Williams hosting an Oscar special on TV One, where we get impressions of Jared Leto (Kyle, who's bland), Liza Minelli (Lena, also bland), and Harrison Ford (Taran, who's funny as usual). There are no real jokes in this sketch other than the impressions, so the whole thing feels pointless.
EMAILS: Boy, they are just not going to let these go, are they? Another one of Beck's pre-recorded bits that never even make me smile, let alone laugh. Ugh. This time he and his pal harass a friend with emails about a Will Smith concert at work, but it's just SO bad.
Well, this one was pretty lame aside from the Jon Hamm cameo and Taran's impressions. I can see that Lena was trying and I give her credit for that but the writing just sucks. These guys need to step it up a notch. I give tonight a C. SNL comes back on the 29th with Louis C.K., who was pretty good the last time he hosted so maybe he'll bring some fresh material with him. Here's hoping anyway. Until then!
