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'Saturday Night Live': Emma Stone, nerds and a French danceoff
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Emma Stone took her first shot at hosting "Saturday Night Live" this week. The "Easy A" star didn't hit on every sketch she was in, but we give her a solid B+ for the episode.Here's a rundown of the highlights.
The Monologue
Audience-participation monologues are pretty reliable for laughs on "SNL," and Stone did well with hers. After explaining how she started pursuing her acting dream as a teenager (all of seven years ago), she noted that being in movies like "Superbad" and "Zombieland" attracts a certain kind of fan. Cue several nerded-up male cast members in the audience asking questions, with the answer to all of them being, "No, I won't make out with you." Also? Having Bobby Moynihan and Taran Killam play "Superbad" stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera was a stroke of genius.
"Dream Home Extreme"/"Channel 9 News"
Nothing much to see here. In the first sketch, Stone plays the very underwhelmed winner of an HGTV contest and Kristen Wiig doing her over-excited bit, this time with a Southern accent. The news sketch has leering reporter Bill Hader uncovering all sorts of fake-scary teen trends and Stone not buying a single word of it.
Digital short
It started off as just a funny bit about Stone's high-school girl repeatedly slipping on a blob of grape jelly -- then it took a turn for the extremely weird when the grape jelly (as personified by Andy Samberg) answered. Deeply weird, but in a good way.
"The View"
We didn't really laugh, but at least it took advantage of Stone's uncanny resemblance to Lindsay Lohan by having her actually play LiLo. (Side note: Why is it that Fred Armisen looks his most masculine when he's playing Joy Behar?)
"Les jeunes de Paris"
We're not entirely sure how this post-"Weekend Update" sketch made it on the air, as it was performed entirely in French and consisted mostly of a danceoff between Stone and Killam. But we're kind of glad it did make the cut -- it was goofy and loose and just sort of fun to watch.
Other bits
The show had two very funny filmed bits: the ads for Baby Spanx and Brett Favre's open-fly jeans ("it's always camera-ready"). "Weekend Update" was hit and miss as usual, but watching Hader (as city correspondent Stefon) try not to crack up while describing New York's hottest clubs was pretty great. And we expect to incorporate the phrase "stank basket" into regular conversation, thanks to the late-in-the-show Googie Rene sketch. Here's the Favre ad:
"SNL" has been up and down this season, but Stone was a pretty strong host, musical guest Kings of Leon sounded clear and strong in their two songs and the non-host material was pretty strong as well. We're chalking it up as one of the show's better efforts so far this season.
What did you think?
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"SNL" has been up and down this season.
Yeah, that's been true for about thirty five years now.
What are you smoking? Emma Stone looks nothing like Lohan!! Granted they are both white females, but I think that's that where the resemblance ends.
Why didn't they air the 2nd Kings of Leon song in the Mountain Time Zone?
Emma Stone practically looks just like Lohan! She could play her in a movie if they asked her to.
This week had news elements ripe for satirizing - Juan Williams, Christine O'Donnell not knowing what the first amendment says...
A one liner on Seth Meyer's pathetic Weekend Update isn't enough. Someone remind me why he's still listed as a cast-member when all he does (in this role of cast-member) is Weekend Update. Yes, I know he's the head writer, but he should pick a role and stick with it.
The Monologue was good, the rest not so much. It wasn't bad just ok.
I 'Easily' give Emma Stone an A as host... This girl is talented...Not only can she act, but she has great comedic timing and skills. Plus (even though we didn't get to see much of it on the show,) she's an awesome singer, too...and she can obviously dance, ha. She's an all around talented entertainer...good choice for a host.
Yeah, what Lisa said- What happened to the 2nd Kings of Leon song in the Mountain Time Zone? I had to go to youtube to see it. And why isn't anyone talking about it? The SNL broadcast didn't play it, and they showed the last sketch twice- "Googie Rene’s Partially Damaged Halloween Costume Discount Barn". Thanks, Lisa! I thought I was going crazy or something!
Emma is great and I think see has a future in the bizz, as long as she dosen't turn into LiLo off camara.
I always love seeing Stefon on WU. He's one of those characters where less is definitely more. If he were featured more frequently, he would lose a lot of what makes the character so funny. You don't need constant repetition, especially with a catchphrase, to try to force the humor (see Gilly, just to name one).
I know Seth is the headwriter and I believe he is the sole writer for Weekend Update, except for the character segments, but he seems to be more hit and miss over the past couple of seasons. It seems like WU was much funnier in seasons past than recently. I don't know if it's time for him to give up the desk; if he did, I'm not sure what he could do on the show for face-time. (Having said all that, I still have to say that Seth is very handsome and it would be a shame not to see him on a weekly basis.)