SNL: "Zach Galifiankis/Jessie J"

Which Zach Galifianakis hosted SNL last season, there was a lot on anticipation, and even more disappointment. Admittedly, it had little to do with Galifianakis, who gave a genuine effort, and more with the writing, but there was still some trepidation over what Galifianakis' return tonight will signal for the show. See how he did as a second time host, after the jump....


Selection Sunday Cold Open – While not a political sketch per say, it certainly was topical in nature. Yet by mixing up the types of crazy at play in this “March Madness” bracket, the skit ended up including a few different types of humor. Don't like political jokes? Here are some about international issues. That's not your speed? How about some good, reliable Hollywood jokes? While not the funniest sketch, it made sure to include a variety of jokes, and that's admirable. Plus, it provided a welcome return of Hader's Charlie Sheen impression.

Monologue – During his last appearance, Galifianakis did a similar anti-comedy routine, that time set to music he played on the piano. Here, he followed up his anti-comedy with a surreal set of written-word jokes set to “Tomorrow” from Annie. I can't tell you why, but this monologue was better. So much better. In fact, it's the best monologue of the season.

The Talk – Who watches The Talk, really? I mean, I know it's still on the air, but considering the low expectations the show faced, it not that big of an accomplishment. Without a significant audience, who was going to get these jokes? Overall, it was a waste of Galifianakis, and Hader's Steven Tyler impression seemed shoehorned in. I think a better version of this sketch would have placed more focus on the feud between The Talk and The View.

The Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy – I can't tell if it's because I don't find catchphrase comedy itself funny, or if the sketch itself just wasn't well done. And yes, I know that this was meant to be mocking catchphrases, so I should have found it funny on some level. Yet apart from the air horn, and some of those comics from the random list at the end (“Dr. Velociraptor” and “White Bernie Mac” were two of my favorites), I didn't find much of it funny.

Scared Straight – I remember this format from the Betty White episode, but luckily that wasn't one of the times were White carried the sketch (though her presence did help). Thompson was on fire then, and he did good work here. Galifianakis playing a Hannibal Lechter-like character didn't add much, but his back and forth with Thompson was fairly funny. Though I could have done without the shout-out to The Hangover. It was a bit too on the nose.

Zach Looks For a New Assistant – It was a few minutes Galifianakis interviewing kids. What's not to like? It was a fairly genial sketch, one where some jokes landed and other didn't, but overall, very solid.

Weekend Update – Seth Meyers did his usual thing. Elsewhere, appearances by Julie Taymor and Liam, the teenager who just woke up, were dull. I did however like how Meyers added the serious note about relief for the Japanese Tsunami victims, so at least something good came out of this segment.

Noodles Is Dead – Though the beginning where is just seemed like the jokes were about how to softball a dog's death to kids was boring, it began to improve when the lies of how the dog died became more and more complex. By the time we got to the real reason – auto-erotic asphyxiation - it was disturbing enough to be funny. And to have Noodles live, and then sing a song, was surrealy hilarious. This is the kind of sketch fitting of SNL's late night spot.

Celebrity Scoop – During my lifetime, I've had a few overly in-depth conversations about whether or not comedy is always mean-spirited. Apart from puns, sight gags, and knock-knock jokes, I always maintain that yes, it is. So you imagine how I just couldn't find the idea of “the nice Canadian Hollywood news show” funny. Nor do I find “funny accents” funny, because ironically enough, that's the kind of humor I find too mean/insensitive to be funny. (It's also just lazy comedy.) The only thing here that made me laugh was the sight of their producer, a moose.

Corn Syrup PSA – Though I've never seen this one before, I feel like this has to have been on the show before, given it's quite dated topicality. That said, I like how this cut to the heart of bitchiness of those commercials. Even better, they still managed to sneak in a good sight gag about the unhealthiness of corn syrup.

Titanic Survivors – The idea of a man posing as woman to get off the sinking ship isn't very funny, and think that's what brought down this sketch. Sure, Galifianakis' yelling was funny, and so was Hader as a “baby,” and there were other good lines, but the main joke of cross dressing failed, and that kept it from being as funny as it could have been.

Overall, this was a very up-and-down episode of SNL. For every good sketch, there was a bad one to match. So maybe it wasn't all that great as a whole, but at least is was better than last week's episode, so I'll take it.

Best Sketch: "Noodles Is Dead"
Worst Sketch: "The Talk"

Best Pleasant Surprise: An actually funny monologue

What did everybody else think?

Additional Thoughts:

“There's no “I” in Gadahfi. Depending on the spelling.”

“Oh, I ask a lot of rhetorical questions, baby!”

“It's called “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner,” and it's going to be EPIC!”

“Stop stealing my tomatoes.”

“If you don't get that joke, then you're not racist.”

“Hoobastank is here...no, not again!”

“Instead of hitting Joe Pesci in the face with paint, you'll get hit in the mouth with nuts and taint.”

“Well, actually, there's a good chance it will be Mike Tyson.”

“It like I say to my actors: LOOK OUT, GET OUT OF THERE!”

“I'm just surprised the student survived the brain explosion that must occur when you see your teacher in the porn that you're watching.”

“..and NEVER enough chlorine.”

“I don't know if I like him in my lap.”

“And uh, how were the reviews?”

“Iceberg up ahead. I think I'll blast through that sucker. But first, tequila shots.”

“Unfortunately, we did not get to the Mr. T sketch.”