Saturday Night Live, February 12th, 2011

Saturday Night Live, February 12th, 2011
Host: Russell Brand
Music: Chris Brown

Cold Open.
Decent Bill O’Reilly impression by Jason Sudeikis.

Monologue.
I know it’s an SNL tradition for stand up comedians to do their “material” for the opening monologue, but it’s always made me a bit squeamish.

Gublin & Green.
Since they’ve already made plenty of jokes about the injuries related to Spider-man: Turn of the Dark, it was refreshing to see a joke about how the show “insulted the Legacy of Spider-man.”

Publishers Clearance House.
It must save a lot of time not having to write new sketches for every episode. Swapping out 2-5 words from the previous Kristen Wiig Publishers Clearance House sketch and replacing the people she interacts with, is really not worth sitting through, though. I tune out once I see the start of the sketch.

Digital Short: Don' You Go Rounin' Roun To Re Ro
A lot of time spent on a single joke.

Royal Taster.
The most dialog Taran Gillam has ever had in a sketch?

Chris Brown.
Considering Rihanna has been on SNL twice, I’m surprised the producers would invite the guy who beat her up on the show.
Weekend Update.

Taran Gillam’s Eminem impression was the best thing he’s done on the show so far. Hope he doesn’t get knifed! And of all the overly repetitious SNL characters, Bill Hader’s Stefon manages to make me laugh. And these last two appearances have at least changed it up in small ways. Mostly in the little moments between Hader and Myers.

Livin’ Single.
It’s probably the wrong attitude to view every new sketch through the lens of “I hope this doesn’t become a recurring thing because I already see how it would play out.” Points for Kristen Wiig not being the main character. Random thought: Russell Brand looked like magician David Copperfield.

A Spot of Tea.
Not exactly Monty Python.
Chris Brown.
I feel bad for any girl who gets that song sent to her on a mixtape.

George Washington travels through time.
That was kinda good! Good thing they hid it at the end so no one will see it.