'Saturday Night Live': Tina Fey rocks, Justin Bieber is hot for teacher

The April 10 episode of "Saturday Night Live" is one of the funniest offerings the show has had in awhile. Of course there were a few duds, but by and large we laughed out loud for 70 solid minutes.

Tina Fey's comedic timing is nothing short of brilliant and the show obviously misses her presence. Though there's no shortage of talented male cast members right now, the series is hurting from the departures of Fey and Amy Poehler. We can't wait to see the duo back with Betty White on May 8. But let's talk about this episode now:

Cold Open
This had Fred Armisen's Barack Obama explaining the census, with questions about sexual habits and other personal matters. It was mildly amusing, the best part being the question for "those whose primary language is Spanish," "Esta aqui ilegalmente?"




Monologue
Host Tina Fey had some great lines, including a comment on all the girls who'd been there all week. "I'm a more a role model for young women than I thought," she quipped, then quickly reminded us the girls were there for Justin Bieber. She then sang "I'm Every Woman" while introducing all the people who help her juggle her life -- two nannies, some factory workers, New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez, Steve Martin, Justin Bieber and Chaka Khan (Kenan Thompson). Not a bad effort.





















Fake Commercial
The Duncan Hines' Brownie Husband commercial was actually reminiscent of those great old fake commercials like "The Bass-O-Matic," and "Crystal Gravy" -- a fake food product that manages to totally gross us out. Nobody can do a beautiful white negligee while also chowing down on her brownie husband like Tina Fey. "We pronounce you full." Ew.




The Masters
This was the first real laugh-out-loud sketch. Tina was Ashlyn St. Cloud, a Shakers stripper and "Tiger Woods expert." She had some jarringly funny lines. "Michael Jordan has the funniest video of him choking me a little bit" ... "Filthy Ambien zombie sex" .... "PS: If Asians and Indians can compete with black people, it's not a sport."




The Sarah Palin Network
Here's a list of shows from the Sarah Palin Network: "My Daughter Only Sprained Her Ankle, You Can't Seriously Be Considering Euthanizing Her," "Tea Party Wheel of Fortune" (Obamar is a Terrist), "Are You Smarter than a Half-term Governor," "Elites," "Hey Journalist, I Gotcha," "Alaskanence: The show about a single woman who doesn't believe in having sex before marriage, who is struggling to raise her three young children," and what do you get when a renegade snowmobile cop from Anchorage gets transferred to New York City? "Todd." "Fat Cat$" "Painting for Patriots with Ned Redstone," "Man in a Helipcoter With a Sniper Rifle vs Wild," "So You Think You Can Make Me Fill Out the Census," "Dateline: To Catch a Levi Johnston," "That's So Palin," "Dancing with the Real Stars: America's Small Business Owners," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and "30 Main Street," where Palin plays Lez Lemons, an uppity b**** so focused on her career that she's in her late 30s and still doesn't have grandchildren. Also starring Stephen Baldwin, Gov. Bobby Jindal and RNC chair Michael Steele.



Hot for Teacher
Justin Bieber as a high school student who is hot for his teacher Tina Fey. This sketch did a solid job of staying on the funny side of the line and not crossing over into the Mary Kay Letourneau territory.
 
Tina's characterization of Bieber: "His smile is like watching a baby bunny sniffing a tiny flower" had us dying and then Bieber's song! "Hey lonely lady with the big brown eyes. I'm thinking you're sadder than you realize ... Jump on my skateboard, eat some cake along the lake ... I'll buy you a panini and some Spanx to make you teeny, lovely lady with the big brown eyes."





Weekend Update
Update got off to a slow start, but Seth Myers did make us choke on our wine soda pop when he talked about the new KFC breadless sandwich that consists of two chicken fillets with two slices of bacon and two slices of cheese in between. "For an extra dollar, you can have the KFC cashier stab you in the heart."

But the real gem was Tina Fey's segment on Women's News. This actually made us cry with laughter. "There are four women in space right now ... 20 years ago that would've only been possible in a porn movie. Now it's science." and on Michelle "Bombshell" McGee: "When your body looks like a dirtbag's binder from 7th grade metal shop, it doesn't bode well for your character. For every Sandra Bullock out there, there's a woman who got a tattoo on her forehead because she ran out of room on her labia. For every Elin Nordegren, there's a Hooters waitress who spells her name Jamie with two Es and a star. If Hitler were alive today, even he would be like, "Armer Sandra Bullock, sie sind so liebenswert" ("Poor Sandra Bullock, she is so likable.")



Al Roker's Ruff, Rugged and Roker
This wasn't an A+ plus sketch, but the times when Kenan Thompson's Al Roker went back to his "Today" weather map were quite funny and Tina Fey nailed it as Dina Lohan talking about her "concealer for chest freckles called 'Checkles.'" It's Long Island at its finest.

The show always goes downhill a bit after the second musical performance -- and on a side note, Justin Bieber's "Baby" might be the catchiest song ever. The high school dance sketch and 9-inch woman sketch both fell a little flat, but it doesn't even matter. The first 70 minutes of "SNL" was the best the show has done since Peyton Manning hosted three years ago.



Bonus: Behind-the-scenes of Justin Bieber and Tina Fey promo shoot




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Photo credit: NBC