Honestly, I don’t know who’s cuter, Jason Segel or Muppets. I went into last night’s episode knowing I was going to have a pretty good time (unless the Muppets didn’t show up, which would have just been weird). This was another solid episode in what’s proving a strong, if weirdly under-the-radar season for SNL; my only problem was the lack of screen time given over to Segel, since he was obviously more than up to the task in the sketches.
For example, my favorite sketch of the night was Andre the Giant choosing an ice cream flavor, which was Segel, and Segel only – most likely something he pitched to the writers because he knew he could do it, but nonetheless he was spot-on in his impression. SNL sketches are almost always better off when they’re shorter – it’s one reason why the digital shorts have proven so popular. But I’m gonna re-watch the hell out of that thing on Hulu.
After a very dull Mitt Romney sketch – Sudeikis is funny, the gag that he’s a boring dude is fine, but let’s find a new angle, folks – Segel started things off well by singing with the Muppets in that trademark Muppet style: sweet, heartwarming with a nice little jokey edge. Kermit’s Ray Romano impression and the appearance of Statler and Waldorf were what did it for me here. Even a re-run of the “Red Flag” perfume ad wasn’t going to dampen my spirits, I was pumped.
What followed were a bunch of mediocre skits – on paper, I should be ranting. The Live with Kelly replacement host thing was just an excuse for a bunch of impressions. The return of the Vogelchecks is hardly groundbreaking. New Jack Swing was targeting a very specific period in music and only kinda hitting the mark. And that overlong retirement party sketch with Segel as the overly dramatic buffoon was aiming for something, and occasionally hit on it with its pregnant pauses, but mostly missed the mark.
But, honestly, I was laughing pretty consistently through it all. The string of impressions ranged from the usual stuff like Jay Pharoah doing Denzel, Kenan Thompson as Charles Barkley and Bobby Moynihan as an over-the-top lady (this time, Rosie O’Donnell) but I very much enjoyed Sudeikis nailing Ricky Gervais’ grating, giggly mannerisms, Fred Armisen barely able to sit in a chair as George Lopez and, best of all, Bill Hader as Garrison Keillor (Hader just has the market cornered on famous old cranks). But Segel’s appearance at the end as Antonio Banderas felt tacked-on, just a way to get him in the sketch without letting him do too much in it.
The same happened with New Jack Swing – he was fine in his 15 seconds, but the placement of him at the end was kind of unusual, leading me to just wonder the whole time if/when he was going to show up. It’s not like he got less to do than most guest hosts – he was the star of three or four skits and background-y in the others, which is typical – it was just more noticeable, and more unfortunate because of how funny he is.
The Vogelchecks basically are what they are – every sketch since the first one is just an escalation game to see what silly mouth-related thing they can do to each other. But they always pick good hosts for the concept (James Franco, Paul Rudd) and the surprise appearance of Rudd (who Segel basically started to eat by the end of their make-out session) fed into a weird concept of the sketches all being linked which I found extremely amusing. I’m also always happy to see Paul Rudd.