Saturday Night Live: Dwayne Johnson / George Ezra
March 29, 2015 6:08 AM - Season 40, Episode 16 - Subscribe

Franchise Viagra takes the reins for the fourth time, busting out "The Rock" Obama, paying tribute to his past with a deeply psychological take on wrestling feuds, and generally being charismatic and game for anything.
posted by Etrigan (11 comments total)
 
The AV Club gives this an A, and I'd almost agree. They manage to make a musical monologue into something entertaining, Weekend Update was not actively irritating, and the cold open was a good new twist on an old skit. If the musical guest had been anything above Perfectly Acceptable, this would have been near the best of the year. Of course, I may be biased, because that WrestleMania promo bit was possibly the greatest wrestling-related comedy I have ever seen.
posted by Etrigan at 6:17 AM on March 29, 2015 [4 favorites]


The jungle skit was everything. I had tears in my eyes.
posted by the webmistress at 8:37 AM on March 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


This was great right up until the last fifteen minutes or so, then it sort of hit a wall. Probably the best of the season. I've seen enough Mooney videos, though.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:40 AM on March 29, 2015


I really enjoyed this episode, thought it was consistently good/great! I enjoyed the musical guest, too (though I had never heard of him before).
posted by onlyconnect at 12:07 PM on March 29, 2015


This was great right up until the last fifteen minutes or so, then it sort of hit a wall.

Agreed. The last skit-type skit was like a scarecrow of humor, and the Mooney video didn't have any teeth to it, or even an overarcing theme other than "Kyle acts weird."
posted by Etrigan at 12:13 PM on March 29, 2015


I guess I must have been pumped to laugh then because the Rock as cop defending his partner's boyfriend Jeff is exactly what I want from the last sketch.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:26 PM on March 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


I thought Mr. Johnson was affable and charming (and I'm not a big fan). I expect he'll be a Five-Timer Club Member in the next couple of years.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 7:38 AM on March 30, 2015


This was great right up until the last fifteen minutes or so, then it sort of hit a wall.

I didn't like the last part as much as the first part but it was a high bar. The interrogation skit lacked focus but it was pretty funny in a weird way. I love Kyle but agree that "Kyle acts weird" is not quite enough. But the jungle sketch, so ridiculous and I love it any time the fact that Pete Davidson is basically a walking skeleton is played for laughs. Johnson just seemed like he was enjoying himself, mostly not reading off of cue cards and interacted well with the cast.It seemed like they got most of the cast members actively doing something and Colin Jost has FINALLY figured out how to (mostly) not be a dingus on the news. Che doing some little reaction bits to Jost's bits are a good addition also. It's funny because last week was also a sort of "Hey here's a good looking buff guy from some movies you're heard of" actor and things didn't cohere half as well.
posted by jessamyn at 12:05 PM on March 30, 2015


I was trying to figure out who George Ezra's voice reminds me of... I want to say Richard Thompson.
posted by drezdn at 7:52 AM on March 31, 2015


It's funny because last week was also a sort of "Hey here's a good looking buff guy from some movies you're heard of" actor and things didn't cohere half as well.

Chris Hemsworth seems to be a nice guy who's not a bad comedic actor for an action star, but Dwayne Johnson did live improv theater, two new shows a week, for a decade (on and off) when he was in the WWF/E, and he is regarded as one of the absolute best in history at it. I'm not talking about the wrestling part -- The Rock had the crowd in the palm of his hand whenever he picked up the microphone.
posted by Etrigan at 9:31 AM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]


"You ever heard of onion rings?" in the restaurant sketch caught me off guard, big laugh on that one. The AV Club mentions that that sketch contains some of the best acting Johnson's ever done, and I while I'm not totally up to speed on all of his roles I could definitely see it.

Two-part question: A) Is George Ezra is the lovechild of Michael Cera and Tom Hardy, and B) Is that even physiologically possible?
posted by doctornecessiter at 11:44 AM on March 31, 2015


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