Saturday Night Live: Elizabeth Banks / Disclosure
November 15, 2015 9:51 PM - Season 41, Episode 5 - Subscribe
A somber cold-open by Cecily Strong, relaying in both English and French NYC's solidarity with Paris after the 11/13/2015 attacks...
...followed by no fewer than two skits and a WU desk piece revolving around sex offenders of one type or another.
Elizabeth Banks fit into the ensemble pretty seamlessly, including stints on Black Jeorpardy!, and a great Mike O'Brien piece about an Uber ride gone south.
Among other things, Jay Pharoah did a great job as Young Ben Carson. The female cast members sang a pop ballad about which celeb first got each of them to start exploring themselves. (Vanessa of course nails the creepiest -- no spoilers, but her first crush wasn't really Jonathan Taylor Thomas.) And Pete Davidson had his best desk piece ever, even if the rest of Weekend Update seemed a bit flat.
Still waiting to see who this Rudnitsky guy is, though, besides being a cute extra. Oh, and the guy on the right in Disclosure looks like if Daniel Radcliffe and Chris Hardwick somehow made a baby together.
All in all, a competent show by a young cast hitting its stride.
...followed by no fewer than two skits and a WU desk piece revolving around sex offenders of one type or another.
Elizabeth Banks fit into the ensemble pretty seamlessly, including stints on Black Jeorpardy!, and a great Mike O'Brien piece about an Uber ride gone south.
Among other things, Jay Pharoah did a great job as Young Ben Carson. The female cast members sang a pop ballad about which celeb first got each of them to start exploring themselves. (Vanessa of course nails the creepiest -- no spoilers, but her first crush wasn't really Jonathan Taylor Thomas.) And Pete Davidson had his best desk piece ever, even if the rest of Weekend Update seemed a bit flat.
Still waiting to see who this Rudnitsky guy is, though, besides being a cute extra. Oh, and the guy on the right in Disclosure looks like if Daniel Radcliffe and Chris Hardwick somehow made a baby together.
All in all, a competent show by a young cast hitting its stride.
Nothing really stood out as great or terrible but, other than the Trump episode, this has been a solid season.
I'm enjoying how the SNL women have taken over the music videos from the Lonely Island guys. I don't know if they're as laugh out loud funny as the LI ones but they've all been pretty good.
I'm curious what was cut for the cold open. Maybe another dem debate sketch?
posted by bondcliff at 5:58 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm enjoying how the SNL women have taken over the music videos from the Lonely Island guys. I don't know if they're as laugh out loud funny as the LI ones but they've all been pretty good.
I'm curious what was cut for the cold open. Maybe another dem debate sketch?
posted by bondcliff at 5:58 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Black Jeopardy was hilarious, then iffy, then somewhat funny. Long Ass Wire had me laughing pretty hard. There is a thin line between funny and stereotypical with those skits.
I loved Elizabeth's monologue, though I'm disappointed we never got the Go Pro view from Sasheer's head.
All in all, there were some watchable moments and Disclosure's song with Lorde was great, even though I wish somehow they would have done White Noise.
posted by cashman at 6:13 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I loved Elizabeth's monologue, though I'm disappointed we never got the Go Pro view from Sasheer's head.
All in all, there were some watchable moments and Disclosure's song with Lorde was great, even though I wish somehow they would have done White Noise.
posted by cashman at 6:13 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
And Pete Davidson had his best desk piece ever, even if the rest of Weekend Update seemed a bit flat.
That bit alone put Pete on my list of Comics To Go See Even If It's In Fucking Toledo And I Have To Find A Sitter.
As for the rest of WU, I'm glad that JostChe has finally found its rhythms. "You literally just did that" was the sharpest thing anyone's said this whole season.
The bit with Bobby as the walk-on Pervert seemed strangely rushed (it didn't help that Jay totally flubbed one line) but hilarious nonetheless.
Apparently, Mike O'Brien isn't a writer for the show anymore, but I'm so glad he's still getting a chance to do his weird, pointless, virtually joke-free-but-still-beautifully-funny films.
posted by Etrigan at 8:18 AM on November 16, 2015
That bit alone put Pete on my list of Comics To Go See Even If It's In Fucking Toledo And I Have To Find A Sitter.
As for the rest of WU, I'm glad that JostChe has finally found its rhythms. "You literally just did that" was the sharpest thing anyone's said this whole season.
The bit with Bobby as the walk-on Pervert seemed strangely rushed (it didn't help that Jay totally flubbed one line) but hilarious nonetheless.
Apparently, Mike O'Brien isn't a writer for the show anymore, but I'm so glad he's still getting a chance to do his weird, pointless, virtually joke-free-but-still-beautifully-funny films.
posted by Etrigan at 8:18 AM on November 16, 2015
My favorite thing about Kate McKinnon realizing she was a lesbian because of her love of Taylor Hansen is that I've heard that story from at least 2 other women before.
I really enjoyed this entire episode with "Uber for Jen" being a personal favorite, and I'm glad that my strong positive feelings about Elizabeth Banks made me tune in even though I was going to boycott for a while longer because of Trump.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:49 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I really enjoyed this entire episode with "Uber for Jen" being a personal favorite, and I'm glad that my strong positive feelings about Elizabeth Banks made me tune in even though I was going to boycott for a while longer because of Trump.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:49 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love how much Lorde sounds like Kate Bush on "Magnets", but those lyrics are kind of embarrassing and sophomoric.
posted by pxe2000 at 1:16 PM on November 16, 2015
posted by pxe2000 at 1:16 PM on November 16, 2015
I love how much Lorde sounds like Kate Bush on "Magnets"
Interesting, then, that the classic episode that aired in the pre-local-news slot that night was 12/9/1978, Season 4 Episode 8, Eric Idle and Kate Bush.
posted by not_on_display at 1:21 PM on November 16, 2015
Interesting, then, that the classic episode that aired in the pre-local-news slot that night was 12/9/1978, Season 4 Episode 8, Eric Idle and Kate Bush.
posted by not_on_display at 1:21 PM on November 16, 2015
What was best about that Kate Bush performance -- I mean other than it being a Kate Bush performance -- was how much at first I wasn't sure if it was Laraine Newman doing a Kate Bush impression.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:41 PM on November 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:41 PM on November 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
That bit alone put Pete on my list of Comics To Go See Even If It's In Fucking Toledo And I Have To Find A Sitter.
I've seen Jost and Che do standup and they're both great in their own way. I like that they've developed a rapport that makes them both weirdos instead of Jost somehow playing the "straight" guy. But yes after seeing Davidson and his amusing walk-on in Trainwreck I would like to see him do his thing outside of SNL land also.
posted by jessamyn at 1:00 PM on November 19, 2015
I've seen Jost and Che do standup and they're both great in their own way. I like that they've developed a rapport that makes them both weirdos instead of Jost somehow playing the "straight" guy. But yes after seeing Davidson and his amusing walk-on in Trainwreck I would like to see him do his thing outside of SNL land also.
posted by jessamyn at 1:00 PM on November 19, 2015
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Their song last week was ok, but not really a good enough premise for a pre-taped bit. I'm glad they came back so fast with a great one. It's not every day a joke references Robbie Sinclair from Dinosaurs.
posted by Gary at 12:55 AM on November 16, 2015 [1 favorite]