SNL: "Gwyneth Paltrow/Cee-Lo Green"

Upon hearing that Gwyneth Paltrow was to host SNL, I was a bit worried. Though Paltrow was funny on Glee (and btw, she'll be returning to that show later this season), when it comes to funny, she mostly does romantic comedies. And if Jim Carrey failed so spectacularly last week, how good could Paltrow be? (Click through to find out.) 

“Fox News: Embracing Civility” Open – While Fox News satires have been done before, the strength of the actors playing all of the different pundits. This one didn't really go anywhere, but it didn't have to. It just breezed by on all of the personalities bouncing off of each other, especially Jason Sudekies' turn as a trying-to-be-civil Glenn Beck. Plus the return of Bill Hader's James Carvill!

Monologue -...And my fears of Gwyenth Paltrow's comedy chops are realized. Not only are we subjected to a single joke (Paltrow doesn't really know country, despite starring in “Country Strong” HA!), which she couldn't sell, but when it came to the duet with “Kenny Rogers” she was totally flat. ...But hey, it's Cee-Lo Green! Kudos to the show for turning our expectations for that “Fuck You” duet against us. But still, not funny.

“The Cape” knock-offs – Maybe it was because I didn't like the The Cape itself, but this got a few laughs out of me. At least up until “The Bolo Tie” and beyond. Just too much.

Secret Word – The problem with this recurring sketch is that Kristen Wiig's turn here got old a long time ago, and thus the job always falls to the host. While Paltrow's entrance was charming, the rest fell flat. Thankfully it was short.

Pee Wee Herman Digital Short – What can I say beside it being a delightful dose of surreal hilarity? Well, I could talk about Anderson Cooper's appearance. He was quite good.

Jacob's Rockin' Bar Mitzvah – Unless the spoof in question is by Weird Al, I'm usually not interested. Plus I don't like Taylor Swift and Paltrow imitating a country star felt like an unsubtle plug. But I did like seeing Jay Pharoh's Jay-Z impression (and bringing out “Alicia Keys” was a nice touch) and I guess I'm just a sucker for the tune of Cee-Lo's “Fuck You” even if including this in the sketch sounds over-obvious.

Motherforgetters - Okay seriously, SNL, you're pushing it. But this was a nice play on the whole editing of Cee-Lo's single. I liked the colorful language they used as swearword substitutes (especially “Country Strong”) although Paltrow obviously struggled to make some of the phrases come off as natural. Although apparently this was just set up for....

Cee-Lo Green - “Forget You” - Seriously, aren't you kind of undercutting yourself by using that skit as an opener to this performance? I mean I get that the skit was used as justification of a sorts, but I just made me hate the FCC for destroying the original. Also, why don't they introduce more songs with skirts? It's refreshing.

Weekend Update – Seth Meyers unfortunately wasn't as funny this week. I especially take off points for the whole “Constitution Corner: Gun Control” speech. It was just awkward.
-Keenan Thompson's first turn as Jimmy McMillan was quite funny, even if he was just spouting things McMillan said in real life. But this time, by forcing that rhetoric into something else, it lost some of the humor
-The Golden Globes pre-party was funny when it was just Cher and Christina, but lost something when Chaz Bono showed up.
-Garth and Cath...aw, crap. Why do they keep coming back? And then they had to add Paltrow to mix? Jeez... (Please note that I thought Paltrow gave her all here, I just really hate Garth & Cath.)

Shakespeare Previews – As a man who hates all of the tropes present in todays previews, I found this to be sport on. But what really sold it, I think were the other bits between each preview. Not only were they funny, but they created breathing room for each of the jokes.

'Fresh Prince' DVD – While this was a good showcase for Pharoh's Will Smith impression (seriously, what black personality can't this guy do?) this was an unfortunate case of doing the same joke three times in a row without adding any new layers to it.

Sports Center Desportes – You know what's slightly funny? Listening to Spanish speakers trying to work English phrases into their dialogue. You know what isn't funny? This sketch.

Parker/Spitzer host audition – Not funny for the first two auditions, but I enjoyed the Heidi Klum audition, and the final punch of the show becoming “Patterson/Spitzer” was funny. 

This was a large step up from last week's episode. Yet it had little to do with Paltrow (she wasn't distractingly bad, but she certainly wasn't a stand-out here.) This episode seemed to almost breeze by, in a good way. And was it just me, or were there more sketches this week. I know adding the “Forget You” intro sketch added at least one, but I feel there were at 2-3 extra. Or maybe it was just the clipped pace of this episode. 

See you in two weeks.

Additional Thoughts: 

-“I would like to remind my students we're having a quiz on asparagus tomorrow.”

-“Johnson & Johnson baby cages”? Isn't that the same as a play pen?

-“Do you know what would happen if I lost these eyes? They're a national treasure.”

-I don't know why, but that joke about bending forks made my laugh.

-“The french-fry is about to be the prison cigarette of public schools.”

-“Let's burn this place down!” “And so they did. And no one ever heard of Shakespeare again.”

-“Sure that line didn't make sense then, but we put it in Independence Day, and that made 800 million dollars.”

-”Guten tag.” “Perfect. Yes. Hired.”