Last night Jon Hamm returned to host SNL for the second time, and I think most of us had fairly high expectations. He's a charming and handsome dude who obviously enjoys doing comedy, and his last time hosting was received favorably. I have to admit though that last night I wasn't exactly peeing my pants with laughter and hence wasn't feeling the episode, but this morning, as I look back at the individual sketches, I think it was a stronger episode than I first judged it to be. Something about a whole and sum of its parts and the forest and the trees and shitting in the woods. Anyway, point being, I'm not exactly sure what grade to slap on the episode—do I grade it against the other episodes of the season (in which case it would be in A territory) or how it made me feel at the time (C-ish)? I'll split the difference.
The cold open began with promise, utilizing the State of the Union camerawork and cuts to the audience. I laughed when, shaming Martha Coakley for losing the Massachusetts election, Fred Armisen's Obama said "You stunk up the joint" and the crowd sprung to its feet. The piece meandered too much for me, though, next with Obama claiming the White House was a (literal) mess when he moved in, what jobs were available, and regarding health care, "I really don't care anymore." With all the reaction shots to the crowd I thought "I wonder if they'll show that Brendan Fraser clip from the Golden Globes," and they totally did.
Most of the sketches traded either on Hamm's Mad Men character or his handsomeness, or both. In his monologue he talked about prior acting jobs wherein he essentially played Don Draper, both on QVC and a Saved by the Bell type show, showing up in a suit, looking grim, telling everyone to calm down and have a little respect. I think the whole monologue might have been written, however, for the sole purpose of having Jon Hamm say, deadpan (from his Def Comedy Jam days), "They need to wash they ass." In another homage to Hamm's face, he played a charming Scott Brown illicitly entering the fantasies of the stalwarts of the Democratic party. The sketch was basically just an excuse to have Hamm dancing around in underwear and a lab coat, a shirtless Evel Knievel getup, and Village People construction garb. My favorite part was Robert Byrd dreaming of Brown dancing in a flapper outfit—even the cartoon hearts were black and white.
Weekend Update was pretty strong last night: I got a kick out of the "Incompetent Ali" picture and the mini-monologue-type jokes about Osama Bin Laden's opinion on global warming and a shoplifting priest. I didn't really dig Nasim Pedrad's Sonya Sotomayor impression (she's from the Bronx; everyone on the Supreme Court is a white male, yes, even Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas—now you know all you need to know). I don't care what any of you say; I enjoy Bobby Moynihan's Jersey Shore Snooki. First of all, if you watch SNL on a nice big TV like I do, the brightness of his orangeness was the equivalent of five minutes in direct sunlight. I guess I like that, as his character says, she's stupid but she's not friggin' stupid. Then we met The Predicament, AKA the Situation's mom, who has Mom abs.
Michael Bublé is a talented singer, but not my style. I think I've seen too many guys on American Idol try to be him to enjoy him. And it seemed like he had some issues with singing directly into the mic last night or something. However I did appreciate that he did a duet with Sharon Jones for his second song. She is awesome so I can't help but feel slightly more favorable towards him for bringing her up there.