I remember how, somewhere around this time, her and Tina Fey filmed an interview for an HBO (or one of those channels) special that gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the movie Baby Mama (released the following year in 2008), and during the interview, Amy had the exact same short hairstyle she has in these early season 33 Weekend Updates. October 6, 2007 Seth Rogen / Spoon (S33 E2), Discord Where You Can Discuss New SNL Episodes (and SNL In General) On, Stooges One SNL A Day Farewell Extravaganza, November 4, 2017 Larry David / Miley Cyrus (S43 E4), October 17, 1987 Steve Martin / Sting (S13 E1), October 15, 1983 Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman / Eddy Grant (S9 E2), April 15, 2006 Lindsay Lohan / Pearl Jam (S31 E16). watching SNL in Akron, The LeBrons (host) evaluate hosts performance, Pretty fun dancing entrance from LeBron James. So many sketches would be better with a crisper length. When I watched this last night I thought to myself how easily Maya fit in, even with such a throwaway idea, and it hit me how well she gels into this cast somehow, much more than the 00-06 casts, which were too fragmented and dense to have real chemistry. After every break up, accomplishment, frustration, and personal triumph Kanye has given me a song to compliment it. West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing singles for several artists and developing the "chipmunk soul" sampling style. Gets me every time. What better way of following one of my least favorite athletes than with one of my least favorite comedians? Fred as Ahmadinejad looks more like Pavorotti. Im no prude, but the constant shots of characters groaning and straining on the toilet while having diarrhea feels unnecessary and too desperate for laughs, though I am chuckling at the odd detail of how the police officer inexplicably still has his pants fully on while using the toilet (the last above screencap for this TV Funhouse). For a non-actor, LeBrons doing a good job in this goofy role. Yeah, I dont need to ask which person in SNLs writing staff penned THIS sketch. unprofessional basketball-passer Jeff bugs host during PSA taping, The Jeff/Mike Underballs sketch has officially become recurring. Later that month, West wrote on Twitter that he had been attempting to divorce Kardashian. We were sitting in his Ford Truck the first time I heard Everything I Am and remember the goosebumps I got after listening to the song for the first time. Kanye West
about the same, My full set of screencaps for this episode is here. IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS Time on SNL They also agreed that they do not need spousal support. Didnt realize it lasted that long. ), See production, box office & company info, Studio 8H, NBC Studios - 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. 
This is another where Amys performance lifts the material quite a few notches for me. They will do a much better parody next season, with Zac Efron. This is also the best Kanye has been on SNL, both musically and just in terms of not being a mess. WTF?!? I saw that mega upload every single fucking day for the next 3 months. The Lyle Kane Show is a sketch that people either loved or hated it was that polarizing.
Too bad, as the idea had potential. In 2016 I bought tickets to see him at the Governors Ball. I clicked on Kanye's without thinking much of it and that mega upload included Touch the Sky, Can't Tell me Nothing, and Wouldn't Get Far. Maybe its just the visual quality of this new season in general, but the Update set and lighting look darker than usual tonight. The B.J. question that LeBron relays to Lyle Kane is very funny, as is Lyle actually answering the question. His performance, delivery, and facial expressions are providing the only real amusement, as the humor of the rest of this sketch has run out of steam fast. Holy hell! Simpson impression. Right now I'm 21 years old and I've listened to his voice every single day for the last 10 years. The pumpkin scene is particularly funny, especially the champagne in Kanyes pumpkin. Wow, SNLs camerawork is an absolute MESS during this sketch. An overall short but sweet monologue. Their private ceremony was subject to widespread mainstream coverage, with which West took issue. Im using the blackface term lightly as you could say he also isnt, but its up in the air. MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF BEST OF MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS, HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2006-07) The quiet and dignified Nobel Peace Prize ceremony suddenly getting crashed by Kanye yelling a very loud and jarring AW, HELL NAH! had me freakin howling. Then it just kept repeating, and repeating, and I lost interest. This installment of JYEFF! is the quintessential Jason Sudeikis sketch. Go sit at the kids table, have a juice box. STARS: ***. He also wrote that the Kardashian family was attempting "to lock [him] up". Then again, I remember not finding it all that funny even when this originally aired. That was definitely written with the host in mind.. I love the very brief, silent, blink-and-miss-it cameo from Jake Gyllenhaal, stroking his beard and flashing a cool pose while staring into the camera with a bug-eyed look. The return of the Ambiguously Gay Duo after a very long hiatus! Now I understand more why I see fans who associate her with this era even though she wasnt really in it that long. good message! I almost thought the old guy sitting by the fireplace with his dog was Fred Willard at first glance. This is starting to drag a little bit towards the end, and the audience apparently agrees with me. STARS: ***, 106 & PARK TOP TEN LIVE Yikes, Don Pardos microphone isnt working during the first 20 seconds or so of this montage, though his voice can start to be heard VERY faintly under the music a short while before his mic volume gets turned way up. Bill wrings so many laughs out of saying a name, and Jason again proves few can play a likeable douchebag the way he can. I wonder if the same person wrote the intros, even if the rest of the sketches were different. musical guest performs Champion & Everything I Am, GREAT MOMENTS IN GUIDANCE COUNSELING I like Jasons constant threats to Will every time Will says something. Great facial reaction from Kristen to the scary face the dog makes at her. I wish it wasnt in the lazy and beyond-overused talk show format, but this Lyle Kane character seems like he can definitely still make the format of this sketch work. The sketch in this episode is also, I believe, the last time West would appear in a sketch outside of his appearance in the Kyle vs. Kanye segment from the S41 Melissa McCarthy episode (where all he does is perform I Love Kanye); I assume his artistry has shifted him away from comedy and more towards misguided political rants. Penelopes self-aggrandizement cramps hosts role as charity auction item, Feels odd seeing Maya this season, partly because of how the preceding seasons finale made it seem like that was her final episode, and partly because she only appears in the first four episodes of this season before she does officially leave. Good bit with LeBron lying to those of us not familiar with basketball about how his Cavaliers swept the Spurs in that years NBA Finals, then advising those of us who are familiar with basketball to be cool and shut up. I was never that into the Ambiguously Gay Duo, which didnt exactly change here, but I do like the shift of Ace and Gary being the ones to be bewildered by what they see, and the cheap gag of the homophobe and the monster in a gay hookup sort of works. For some reason I was still a bit distracted by hearing Bill do various voices. Do You Think He Plays Dirty On The Basketball Court ? You have the last good TV Funhouse, lots of great Sudeikis moments, and an accurate pop culture snapshot of 2007. I must have missed this one as it drew a blank from me as I read on further during this review. STARS: ****, MUSICAL PERFORMANCE He released its sequel, Donda 2 (2022), a few months later, exclusively through his tie-in audio speaker service. I get why it makes more sense to prerecord vocals, but this type of screwup is forever priceless. STARS: **, IRAN SO FAR Every time they did a Lyle Kane sketch, he was in a completely different setting. SNL has had some interesting predictors of Kanyes behaviorthe Timesavers sketch that foreshadowed Kanye and Mike Myers at the Katrina telethon, this sketch that one might think was parodying the Taylor Swift controversydo any sketches predict him becoming Christian and running for president??? (JAS) steers host away from college. The High School Musical sketch is pretty crap. The sketch "Great Moments in Guidance Counseling" was also supposed to feature. Penelope gets some good recognition applause in this third appearance of hers. STARS: ***, BEST OF SOLID GOLD LeBron is killing it in this sketch. Man, the direction in modern SNL has gone way down the tubes, starting with this era. For my birthday I asked my dad to buy me Graduation. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I was 12 years old around 2007-2008. I think what bugs me with Fred is there is some kind of inherent hollowness and smugness, especially when we get up to the point of the David Paterson impression. A laugh from Kenan-as-O.J.s lightheartedly exasperated Grrrrrr! in reaction to Amy not understanding his point. June 8, 1977 AND introducing a Solid Gold spoof? In January 2022, actress Julia Fox confirmed in an Interview essay that she was dating West. He appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on October 1, 2005 where he performed a medley of "Gold Digger" and "Touch the Sky" and "Heard 'Em Say" (where Maroon 5 member Adam Levine later joined him), on September 29, 2007 where he performed a medley of "Stronger" and "Good Life" and a medley of "Champion" and "Everything I Am," on December 13, 2008 where he performed "Love Lockdown" and a medley of "Heartless" and "Pinocchio Story," on October 2, 2010 where he performed "Power" and "Runaway" (where Pusha T later joined him), on May 18, 2013 where he performed "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves", on February 13, 2016 where he performed "Highlights" with Young Thug and "Ultralight Beam" with Chance The Rapper, Kirk Franklin, Kelly Price and The-Dream, and on September 29, 2018 where he performed "I Love It" with Lil Pump, "We Got Love" with Teyana Taylor and "Ghost Town" with Kid Cudi and 070 Shake, also making him newest members of the Five-Timers Club, along with guest host Ben Affleck. In the original airing, the first half of the opening credits were not audible. In April 2012, West began dating reality television star Kim Kardashian, with whom he had already been long-time friends. Hmm, Freds Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears a second time tonight? Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "af3339200e6431aeffc4f584241e62a9" );document.getElementById("ab964d4d4e").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
West's discography also includes the full-length collaborative albums Watch the Throne (2011) with Jay-Z and Kids See Ghosts (2018) with Kid Cudi. It's pretty fun to see how confident Kanye is, even when he fucks up he still laughs it off rather than freezing up. I like that they lit the Update set darker in this season. The even funnier thing about that in hindsight is the fact that this sketch is two years before Kanyes most infamous interruption of an acceptance speech: the Taylor Swift one at the 2009 MTV VMAs, which I guess proves that, while Kanye was certainly a great sport to do this 106 & Park sketch back in 2007, he did not learn his lesson AT ALL. (Audio of this rant was leaked online shortly after the episode aired.) Would be great to get the occasional short or pre-tape from Smigel again. Then when his mic volume does get turned way up, the mic is still faulty for a short while, as it makes Dons voice sound extremely hollow and muffled.
I also assume thats the reason for Don Pardos mic issues during the opening montage earlier tonight. Hilarious reveal of Jason sharing an office with a meek Will. Some pretty solid jokes throughout this Update, despite some occasional clunkers from Amy. I love Wills aggressive, bleep-filled message. Hilarious lyrics from Andy, accompanied by some great and funny cutaways of Freds Mahmoud. She later claimed that she dated West purely to "give people something to talk about" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayas sign-off at the end seemed like it shouldve been funnier, instead of just the line More screamiiiiiiiin! But I guess it doesnt matter, when the rest of this sketch was as strong as it was. Some laughs from Amys Hillary Clinton treating her chances of becoming the next president as a foregone conclusion. Theyll never top his appearance in the Digital Short from earlier tonight. This overly-topical portion of the sketch doesnt hold up very well after all these years. LeBrons size and goofy energy were put to good use. Funny seeing LeBron talking in this type of voice and imitating Lyle Kanes Hi, derrrreees. The overall setup of the Solid Gold dancers sketch reminds me of the Worst of Soul Train/New Jack Swing pieces Bobby Moynihan fronted. Such beautiful cinematography for a Digital Short, especially the occasional shots of Andy playing the piano on a moving platform on a bridge, which is impressive for SNL. I can totally picture Spade doing that whole thing in a Hollywood Minute segment. The Lyle Kane Show, on the other hand, featured a white host catering to a majority black audience. This weeks TV Funhouse is like a mix of returning to greatest hits and also a farewell tour, as if Smigel knew he was going. In spite of how chaotic and unbearable any Kanye West-related discourse has become in recent years (and I imagine well all have plenty to say about his car crash 2018 SNL appearance when we get there), I did initially find the awards show sketch funny. 
Its crazy how little of this episode I remember, other than the digital short, Kanye, Lyle Kane (the character more than the actual sketch) and the jerky boom mic guy, none of these others sound familiar to me at all. Jason was recently on Seths show, talking about the PSA sketch. Why Do You Despise LeBron ? They used him effectively, for the most part, letting him do some fun characters in a pre-tape monologue piece that wouldnt need to worry about line flubs or technical gaffes, and he could be more of a straight man in the live portion. Your email address will not be published. he's a perfectionist. i rarely listen to graduation anymore but i still know all the words thanks for sharing. The couple's high-profile status and respective careers have resulted in their relationship becoming subject to heavy media coverage; The New York Times referred to their marriage as "a historic blizzard of celebrity". Their other children were all baptized at Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the mother church of the Armenian Church, on October 7, 2019. Stoogie, if you take a day off between the Williams and Fey shows, I wont be offended. (Then again, George F. Smoot is a funny name in itself.) Once again, despite the one-note nature of this character, Im still enjoying these early sketches of hers. As much as I despise the guy, LeBron did a pretty decent job as host. Simon Rich talks about a cut sketch he wrote: https://www.vulture.com/2008/09/24-year-old_snl_writer_simon_r.html, The first sketch I ever wrote, which was cut, involved a man complaining about his memory foam mattress. A good use of LeBrons characters from a series of Nike commercials he did at the time. Ehh, I chalk all the camera gaffes in this sketch up to the fact that this is a season premiere, and SNLs control room crew understandably must be a little rusty after their summer break. The Don Pardo mic mess is absolutely hilarious. A nice subversion of the usual Whats everyone looking at? Nothing! bit in these AGD cartoons. Will (good to see him in a pitchman role) and Kristen are excellent in the dog food commercial but its the type of piece that mostly just leaves me uneasy. I do get why Penelope comes in handy in an episode like this, and the sight of Wiig with the long beard amused me. Interesting how not only has SNL made him recurring after only one episode, but hes gotten spun-off from an ensemble sketch into his own sketch. STARS: ****, CHILDRENS HOPE AUCTION West explored diverse musical elements such as orchestral arrangements, synthesizers, and autotune on the albums Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and 808s & Heartbreak (2008). During the solo Seth years it was too bright, like the Tina Fey set with that weird S30 lighting. A timely tie-in to the Larry Craig toe-tapping/bathroom stall scandal going on at this time. I also wonder why Jason wasnt in this as he probably would have fit in with his dancing. He made the comment and acknowledged the possibility of Kardashian ending their marriage because of it. None of the animated segments theyve had on the show since then have come anywhere near the hilarity that Smigel used to bring on a weekly basis. This show being aired on BET, of all channels, is hilarious. Jay Pharoah as Kanye West on the November 13, 2010 episode during the Weekend Update segment. ?, and Jason answers from off-camera by yelling THATS A BOOK! Kardashian was declared legally single on March 2, 2022. 