Infinite MonkeysLast night was the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, and it was excellent. The show opened with (of course) a lengthy satire of the presidential debate. As is often the case lately, SNL deftly skewered both debate participants, as well as moderator Jim Lehrer. Seth Meyers' take on Kerry was priceless, complete with exaggerated hand motions and brazen self-contradiction. SNL has struggled finding a good player to imitate W. since Will Ferrell left the cast. Chris Parnell (who played Lehrer in this sketch) never rose above adequate. The normally spot-on impressionist Darrell Hammond, while accurately imitating many of Bush's ticks and speaking habits, was never able to make it actually, well, FUNNY. Will Forte did a very good job in this sketch, playing the whiny, stuttering "debate Bush" with a touch of his hilarious deer-in-the-headlights "Tim Calhoun" character.
Ben Affleck was the host, and later in the show they did another election-season sketch, with Meyers again playing Kerry, Maya Rudolph playing wife Theresa, and Affleck (equipped with bald-cap) playing Democratic adviser/attack dog James Carville with sarcastic relish. Later in the sketch, Hammond appeared as his best-loved character, Bill Clinton, and his arrival was met with enthusiastic audience applause.
In the last several seasons, Weekend Update has again been a regular highlight of the show, and Jimmy Fallon's departure at the end of last year made me wonder if we were in for another "Update slump". Fortunately, they've continued the two-anchor format, keeping Tina Fey and adding Amy Poehler. Poehler was a little nervous during her first "Update" outing, but she and Fey seem to have good chemistry, and they both joked about both Poehler's nervousness and the fact that now that Jimmy was gone, she would have to be Tina's new love interest. Mmmm. Hot girl-anchor on girl-anchor action.
As is typical for SNL, a few of the sketches fell flat, but on balance it was a very entertaining season premiere, with cameo appearances from both Alec Baldwin (who interrupted Affleck's monologue to accuse him of "stealing his moves") and James Gandolfini, who was a guest on Weekend Update as his Tony Soprano character.
There was one thing that would have made the show better: More cowbell.
Posted by RobbL at October 3, 2004 06:13 PM | TrackBack