Saturday Night Live: Jim Carrey and Iggy Azalea
October 26, 2014 12:49 PM - Season 40, Episode 4 - Subscribe
Jim Carrey returns to host a frightfully uneven Halloween episode.
The whole episode could have been The Secret Billionaire. I need more.
posted by the webmistress at 6:36 PM on October 26, 2014
posted by the webmistress at 6:36 PM on October 26, 2014
I found the Lincoln commercials just okay. SNL and South Park are two of the foremost and most "water-cooler" comedy voices in American culture. South Park did the Lincoln joke already, so my feeling was, if SNL was going to do it, they needed to bring a new or better angle. They didn't. It was the same joke done just equally well. That makes SNL look a day—or in this case, two weeks—behind.
posted by cribcage at 7:44 PM on October 26, 2014
posted by cribcage at 7:44 PM on October 26, 2014
Iggy was terrible. The show was mostly forgettable, but I did like the Lincoln commercials a lot. Leslie Jones is ... well bless her heart. I don't like any character she plays and she's not doing anything well. It's like she's Keenan's understudy or something. Overplay every character, try way too hard, and make faces while using the same tinge of an accent for every character.
posted by cashman at 7:52 PM on October 26, 2014
posted by cashman at 7:52 PM on October 26, 2014
Wait -- he really does commercials for Lincoln? It might have been more funny because I didn't know that.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:58 PM on October 26, 2014
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:58 PM on October 26, 2014
I was convinced the Graveyard Song was a variation on the creepy animatronic guys at the amusement park, and I giggled at the idea.
And then it wasn't.
posted by Madamina at 8:10 PM on October 26, 2014 [3 favorites]
And then it wasn't.
posted by Madamina at 8:10 PM on October 26, 2014 [3 favorites]
I feel like the Obama cold-open is pretty overplayed by now, and this one didn't really add much. Graveyard song, Secret Billionaire, and Geoff's Halloween Emporium were good. High school zombie and family reunion didn't really go anywhere past the initial concept. On the plus side, ghost chasers didn't go with what I thought was the obvious joke, on the minus side the way they went with wasn't very funny. Carrey does a competent Helvis, but the only real enjoyable thing about the monologue was Bobby Moynihan.
Drunk Uncle and half a rom-com were fun. The most significant thing Colin has done on update recently is being the white guy for Drunk Uncle to slide on over to.
The Lincoln ads escalated nicely.
posted by ckape at 8:40 PM on October 26, 2014
Drunk Uncle and half a rom-com were fun. The most significant thing Colin has done on update recently is being the white guy for Drunk Uncle to slide on over to.
The Lincoln ads escalated nicely.
posted by ckape at 8:40 PM on October 26, 2014
I thought the callbacks to the Lincoln commercial were pretty great, and I say that being an avid South Park fan. Those stupid commercials are so stupid that they deserve to be mocked twice.
Speaking of stupid things done twice, it would really be my strong preference if there were only one singing bit per episode.
I love Bobby Moynihan and I love his Drunk Uncle, and avoiding Michael Che was kind of hilarious here but I hope it doesn't become a recurring thing.
Re: Jim Carrey's face, the very first thing I thought was how come no one's talking about wtf happened to Jim Carrey's face. We get nonstop Renee Zellwegger face drama all last week, and here's Jim Carrey looking old and craggy and probably no one will mention anything about it. So here I am doing my part.
posted by phunniemee at 7:41 AM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]
Speaking of stupid things done twice, it would really be my strong preference if there were only one singing bit per episode.
I love Bobby Moynihan and I love his Drunk Uncle, and avoiding Michael Che was kind of hilarious here but I hope it doesn't become a recurring thing.
Re: Jim Carrey's face, the very first thing I thought was how come no one's talking about wtf happened to Jim Carrey's face. We get nonstop Renee Zellwegger face drama all last week, and here's Jim Carrey looking old and craggy and probably no one will mention anything about it. So here I am doing my part.
posted by phunniemee at 7:41 AM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]
I couldn't have been the only one hoping for a reprise of Jimmy Tango's Fat Busters and left disappointed.
posted by Kosh at 8:49 AM on October 27, 2014
posted by Kosh at 8:49 AM on October 27, 2014
We get nonstop Renee Zellwegger face drama all last week, and here's Jim Carrey looking old and craggy and probably no one will mention anything about it.
Not that I disagree with you, but I think Carrey is just getting old, right? I think gossipers are mostly interested in the plastic surgery angle.
posted by Think_Long at 9:26 AM on October 27, 2014
Not that I disagree with you, but I think Carrey is just getting old, right? I think gossipers are mostly interested in the plastic surgery angle.
posted by Think_Long at 9:26 AM on October 27, 2014
My 2¢ - the show started out dull and got much better once the monologue was out of the way. The staging of the monologue, and the Elvis impression were spot-on, but the content was DULL.
The rest of the show was great, best of the four so far, and all the much better given my lowered expectations from the first ten minutes. The dancing sketch was my favorite -- I like ensemble pieces even if the premise is old, but I thought the way they completely swerved across the median strip into a dance-off was the perfect way to showcase Carrey's and McKinnon's skillz as physical comics. It reminded me of the Steve Martin/Gilda Radner dance sketch. The rest of the sketches were competent and had good punchlines and endings, nobody was distractingly reading from cue-cards, etc. Weekend Update is slowly improving.
I didn't even mind that there was no Good Neighbors sketch.
Plus, my wish came true in that Leslie Jones is now part of the cast.
posted by not_on_display at 5:29 PM on October 27, 2014
The rest of the show was great, best of the four so far, and all the much better given my lowered expectations from the first ten minutes. The dancing sketch was my favorite -- I like ensemble pieces even if the premise is old, but I thought the way they completely swerved across the median strip into a dance-off was the perfect way to showcase Carrey's and McKinnon's skillz as physical comics. It reminded me of the Steve Martin/Gilda Radner dance sketch. The rest of the sketches were competent and had good punchlines and endings, nobody was distractingly reading from cue-cards, etc. Weekend Update is slowly improving.
I didn't even mind that there was no Good Neighbors sketch.
Plus, my wish came true in that Leslie Jones is now part of the cast.
posted by not_on_display at 5:29 PM on October 27, 2014
avoiding Michael Che was kind of hilarious here but I hope it doesn't become a recurring thing.
Yeah I am in agreement with you. Like I got what they were going for but having Colin be all "Hey Drunk Uncle be nice..." was sort of ... shitty. Like I get that it's sort of funny that he's a racist I guess, but it's only sort of funny in the abstract. I felt weird when it got to the "I won't actually sit next to a black man" part. That said Che eats Colin's lunch and SNL has five black cast members so maybe it's just me being weird.
I don't really like Carrey and I thought this show was the most cohesive and best put together. A lot of almost all the cast members, lots of ensemble pieces, no one seemed to be phoning it in and there were some weird new bits. Iggy was weird and draggy and the whole show seemed to run long? Like I don't remember the musical guest going on at 12:50 before.
I was convinced the Graveyard Song was a variation on the creepy animatronic guys at the amusement park
Likewise. I thought Taran and Carrey had good energy and the "Everyone does a send up of Carrey" in that one sketch was pretty great and sort of made it clear that Carrey could get over himself. It's been a lackluster season but this was also my favorite so far.
posted by jessamyn at 8:15 PM on October 27, 2014
Yeah I am in agreement with you. Like I got what they were going for but having Colin be all "Hey Drunk Uncle be nice..." was sort of ... shitty. Like I get that it's sort of funny that he's a racist I guess, but it's only sort of funny in the abstract. I felt weird when it got to the "I won't actually sit next to a black man" part. That said Che eats Colin's lunch and SNL has five black cast members so maybe it's just me being weird.
I don't really like Carrey and I thought this show was the most cohesive and best put together. A lot of almost all the cast members, lots of ensemble pieces, no one seemed to be phoning it in and there were some weird new bits. Iggy was weird and draggy and the whole show seemed to run long? Like I don't remember the musical guest going on at 12:50 before.
I was convinced the Graveyard Song was a variation on the creepy animatronic guys at the amusement park
Likewise. I thought Taran and Carrey had good energy and the "Everyone does a send up of Carrey" in that one sketch was pretty great and sort of made it clear that Carrey could get over himself. It's been a lackluster season but this was also my favorite so far.
posted by jessamyn at 8:15 PM on October 27, 2014
I forgot to record it so I watched it on demand. Remind me not to do that again, as any sketch that features music is cut (as well as the musical act, but it sounds like I dodged a bullet there).
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:15 PM on October 27, 2014
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:15 PM on October 27, 2014
I loved the Lincoln commercials, and the last one made me laugh out loud.
posted by SisterHavana at 1:47 PM on October 29, 2014
posted by SisterHavana at 1:47 PM on October 29, 2014
Leslie Jones CAN be funny, but she's going to have to work her ass off not to turn into "Shenan" Thompson after this season.
This "KENAN REACTS" article is amazing and reveals a lot of info about their scriptwriting process with him in particular.
He hasn't even done this in a while, but French stand-up guy is my all-time favorite. Zut alors!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:47 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
This "KENAN REACTS" article is amazing and reveals a lot of info about their scriptwriting process with him in particular.
He hasn't even done this in a while, but French stand-up guy is my all-time favorite. Zut alors!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:47 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
That opening, I'm not complaining, but Helvis is no TortElvis.
The problem with SNL is all in the fact that it's never funny to watch somewhat funny people awkwardly read cue cards. The old cast, any of the older funnier casts, had people who didn't do that as noticeably as the people they've had on the past decade. Admit it, you want to slap them when they do it as much as me. Don't these idiots do a dress rehearsal? Can't they place the cue cards father to the side so characters in a scene are interacting with each other more? Can't they hire a cast from the vast untapped wasteland of improv troupes strewn throughout the land and then not have those people be beholden to speaking every. precious. word. that the egomaniacal SNL 'writer' bashes out?
posted by Catblack at 10:10 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
The problem with SNL is all in the fact that it's never funny to watch somewhat funny people awkwardly read cue cards. The old cast, any of the older funnier casts, had people who didn't do that as noticeably as the people they've had on the past decade. Admit it, you want to slap them when they do it as much as me. Don't these idiots do a dress rehearsal? Can't they place the cue cards father to the side so characters in a scene are interacting with each other more? Can't they hire a cast from the vast untapped wasteland of improv troupes strewn throughout the land and then not have those people be beholden to speaking every. precious. word. that the egomaniacal SNL 'writer' bashes out?
posted by Catblack at 10:10 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
Also, it seems like a few decades of strenuous mugging have actually caused Carrey to develop a noticeably muscular face. In certain lighting it's reminiscent of Bruce Lee's torso.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:00 PM on October 26, 2014 [2 favorites]