Okay, so I'm a little late on this SNL 40th anniversary recap, but hey, better late than never, right? It was a long show (3 and a half hours plus an hour long red carpet special), and it was bloated, messy, funny, not funny, sometimes pointless, sometimes touching, lots of technical difficulties...all in all, it represented Saturday Night Live at its best and worst, and simply seeing so many former cast members there on the same stage again made the whole thing worth it, even if some of them (ahem, Eddie Murphy) refused to do anything worthwhile with their appearance. And you know what? There were several sketches that were actually some of the funniest stuff they've done in years, so it may be worth it just for that.
COLD OPEN: Jimmy Fallon and five-time host Justin Timberlake open the show with a rap incorporating every SNL catchphrase you can think of. I wasn't totally nuts about this, but I guess it's a nice little homage. Plus there's cameos from all stars Rachel Dratch and Molly Shannon (superstar!).
MONOLOGUE: Epic host Steve Martin comes down to do a pretty funny monologue (he is a pro), and right away we know that this show is essentially going to be an All Star SNL episode, rather than a clip show (although there's plenty of those tossed in). More cameos here, unfortunately from people I'd rather not see, like Miley Cyrus, who actually performs later (seriously, Miley, no one cares about you, get the hell off the stage).
SUPER BASS-O-MATIC: Dan Aykroyd redoes his classic sketch word for word, with a pop-up by fellow original cast member Lorraine Newman, but it's actually not that good anymore, sadly. Still nice to see them though.
CELEBRITY JEOPARDY: Okay, so when I said earlier they did some of the funniest stuff they've done in years? I was mainly referring to this, which was AWESOME. Will Ferrell is back as Trebek of course, but along with Darrell Hammond's Sean Connery, Norm MacDonald's Burt Reynolds and Kate McKinnon's Justin Bieber- loved ever second of it! I found out later it was actually written by Norm and some of the original writers of the skit, and boy could the new crew learn a few lessons from the pros about what makes sketch comedy funny. This was an A+.
THE CALIFORNIANS: Nooooo! Just like SNL to go from a classic high to a rapid low, as they inexplicably bring back one of the worst sketches in the show's history, right after revisiting one of the best. Ugh. My theory about this now is that everyone who actually acts in this sketch enjoys doing it so much more than anyone actually likes watching it. We of course get Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig and Fred Armisen, but also Lorraine Newman, Taylor Swift (who really, really sucked in this and got no laughs from the audience, lol), and then for the big punchline, Bradley Cooper comes in and makes out with Betty White. Yeah, ok. The best part was Betty White's flat out refusal to do the stupid Californian voice. A final bit is tossed in when David Spade's flight attendant "buh-bye" guy comes on to shoo everybody out of the room, with Cecily along as his new partner, but they get about four seconds of airtime, so...short and sweet for David Spade fans.
WEEKEND UPDATE: This is pretty good- Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Jane Curtin (!) anchor an all female Update desk and do a pretty great job as former hosts come on to pay tribute to some of the deceased cast member's classic characters. So, we get Emma Stone as Gilda Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna, Melissa McCarthy as Chris Farley's Matt Foley, and Edward Norton as Stefon, who's quickly joined by the real Stefon, as he had to be, since Hader is there and all. We also get the old Jaws shark at the door. Probably my favorite Update segment all year long.
CHEVY CHASE: We're still not done with the Update tribute, as former male hosts Seth Meyers, Kevin Nealon, Norm MacDonald and Colin Quinn do a bit of an awkward introduction to original Update anchor Chevy Chase, who comes out and just kinda basks in the spotlight, I guess, although there's a quick shout out from his old cohort Garrett Morris.
MUSICAL MEDLEY: This isn't really a medley- what it is is a long segment that sees single season champ Martin Short come out and together with Maya Rudolph's Beyonce, intro famous SNL musical characters, who all redo a brief bit onstage, so look out for your faves here. We see Kristen and Fred's Garth & Kat, Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer's The Culps (yay!), Joe Piscopo's Frank Sinatra (who's now clearly morphed into the real guy), Dana Carvey's Derek Stevens, Adam Sandler's Opera Man, Kenan's DeAndre Cole, Steve Martin's King Tut, Bill Murray's Nick the Lounge Singer, and Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi as of course, The Blues Brothers. Best part of this seemingly interminable segment is Bill Murray, who sings the theme from Jaws, and it's the best, as is he (still got it, unlike Chase and Aykroyd, sorry to say).
AUDIENCE QUESTIONS: Jerry Seinfeld comes out and fields questions from the audience, which is mostly made up of celebrities and various crew members tonight and not fans (which is kinda weird, actually). The questions are all staged of course, and come from Michael Douglas, John Goodman, James Franco, Tim Meadows, Sarah Palin (wtf is she doing there?) and Larry David, who has by far the funniest exchange with him in what's also a really long and unnecessary bit here.
EDDIE MURPHY: Chris Rock does an epic, fawning (but totally accurate) introduction to the savior of the show in the early 1980's, Eddie Murphy, describing all his classic sketches and characters and how important he was to the institution during the non-Lorne Michaels era, and then Murphy comes out to an immediate standing ovation as he graces the SNL stage for the first time in thirty years and does...nothing. Seriously, he goes on about how glad he is to be back and how great everyone's been, and then there's a tech glitch as they don't cut to a commercial on time and that's it. Um, Eddie, if you didn't want to do anything, not even tell a joke, why show up at all? Trust me, all anybody wanted to see here was for him to do one call back of anything to his years on the show, but clearly he's not into it enough to even try, so maybe he just shouldn't have even shown up.
DIGITAL SHORT: Andy Samberg teams up with Adam Sandler for a new song called "That's When You Break" about all the times people broke on the air (as you can imagine, lots of Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz in this).
IN MEMORIAM: Billy Murray intros the montage of cast and crew members no longer there, and daringly, at the end of it there's an actual joke to the passing of Jon Lovitz (who is not dead, is actually in the audience, and who Steve Martin joked about as being dead in the monologue too). Ha! Bill ends it with an awesome "Generalissimo Franco is still dead" joke.
WAYNE'S WORLD: At this point the show is really starting to feel long, but it does end on a high note, as Mike Myers and Dana Carvey reprise Wayne and Garth to do an SNL Top 10 list that's pretty damn funny and sweet, as they list all the best things about the show...and manage to continually get in some repeated jabs at Kanye West for being the interrupting, stage storming asshole that he is. What's even better is that he's in the audience to be mocked to his face. Love it.
I have to admit, seeing all these guys together for an all star episode like this is pretty cool, especially because you have to imagine some of them may not be around for a 50th anniversary in ten years. It wasn't a perfect show, and it was filled with extraneous musical performances that did NOT need to be there (Miley Cyrus and Kanye West randomly performing was totally unnecessary), but then tonight was a chance to see almost as many stars as will grace the Oscar stage next week. Jack Nicholson came on apropos of nothing, Mick Jagger introduced Paul McCartney singing "Maybe I'm Amazed" (is it me or has Macca been at every single live event/awards show recently?), and then Paul Simon singing "Still Crazy After All These Years" was maybe the one song that could have stayed in. But all in all, clip montages included, it was a heartfelt tribute to the legacy of the show that's been on for so long now, and given us the careers of so many legendary comedians and stars. That's quite a thing to behold. I'll abstain from grading the episode itself- for SNL fans of any kind, of any era, you know this was worth checking out. See you guys next time!
