SNL - "Jimmy Fallon/Michael Buble"

Season 37, Episode 10

Unlike say, Will Ferrell or Dana Carvey, Jimmy Fallon doesn’t exactly have the best track record on the show. More known for his breaking than his recurring characters, Fallon fell into a fairly love-or-hate relationship early into his tenure on the show, and as he became even more exposed thanks to said characters or his co-hosting gig on Weekend Update, that disparity only grew stronger. So now he’s back, and apart from say another “Hamm and Buble” sketch – which of course has nothing to do with Fallon – I can’t say there’s a whole lot of anticipation for tonight’s outing. So let’s see how he did, shall we?

 

Cold Open – The Boston Teens: Well, that didn’t take long. I mean, I figured that there would be a return of at least one of Fallon’s returning character, but I didn’t expect that it would it be so early, let alone that it would bump the political cold open. Although considering how limp the political sketches have been this year, it’s not like I feel the need to complain about it. What I do feel the need to complain about is that while I was never the biggest fan of the Boston Teens, I at least recognized their comedic worth, and this wasn’t the best example of that. It felt more like they were trying to hit the required beats of the sketch rather than trying to make it actually funny.

Monologue: Okay, so maybe Fallon won’t be relying on his past characters, given how he name checks them here. But not like that matters. This monologue used Fallon’s familiarity with the SNL studio to give this monologue a good deal of breathing room. And while having Fallon playing guitar feels like a second instance of the show curving around the host instead of vice-versa, I like that the show was able to incorporate the whole cast. It felt big in an enjoyable way, and it was the right way to kick-off the rest of the show.

(Man, my NBC station just rolled from showing Fallon on SNL to Fallon in that Capital One commercial. Weird.)

The Today Show: I feel like I’ve criticized this sketch before (and I probably have), so I’m at a lack of things to say here. Wiig plays another version of every character she plays, Pedrad plays an unfunny straight woman, etc. But hey, Fallon’s Regis wasn’t half-bad.

Michael Buble’s Christmas Duets: Okay, I’ll admit that SNL has been given to an over-reliance of impression sketches this season. I’ll also cop to the fact that I’ve perhaps been too easy on the show for this, because I guess I’m just a sucker for them. However, I’d posit that this is among the better impression sketches that the show has done in quite a while because the show went beyond just doing straight-up impression by incorporating the singer’s public personas as part of the humor. The best one? MIA, of course.

Fallon Backstage: Apparently this sketch was callback to something Fallon did with Mick Jagger so many years ago, but it’s not like you had to have known that in order to get the joke. (Or at least I didn’t.)  Instead, it was surreal joke that stood on its own, while also mocking the fact that Fallon himself tends to rely on impressions above other types of humor. (I mean, you saw how many appearances he made in the previous sketch, right?) Plus, I like how the show was upfront about the fact that Timberlake wasn’t going to show up.

Song and Dance: So not only does Wiig have to play another grating character, but Fallon has to join in too? And then we the sketch has to follow up the original song/dance jokes with shortened version covering A Christmas Carol? Jeez, that was awkward. I did like the raccoon gag, though.

Tommy Palmese: I….I don’t even. Mixed heritage jokes? One man show jokes? Just awful.

Christmas Song: So I’m guessing this is another one of those recurring things that Fallon used to do, which explains why Morgan, Kattan, and Sanz showed up. I don’t want to say that I hated it, but if it was supposed to be funny (which hey, given that Fallon kept breaking, I guess it was), I didn’t really get it. And if it wasn’t supposed to be funny – if it was just supposed to earn SNL’s claim as a “variety” show – then, couldn’t they pick a more entertaining song?

Weekend Update: So, this one was pretty short, most likely to make way for more of Fallon’s recurring characters/sketches. That being said, at least they made it count. The return of “In the Cage” with Nic Cage was as funny as always, although Jude Law didn’t really add anything to the proceedings. Now the Joke-Off seemed like just another way to stick Fallon into a sketch (and Poehler and Fey additionally, because holiday episodes are one of those times when SNL like to stuff in cameos), but it worked well enough that I didn’t really bother me.

Meet Beethoven’s Orchestra: Between all the music puns and Fallon posturing, there were some solid jokes here. When the sketch was willing to go into weird territory – Hitler’s dad, a jug player, BB King – the sketch was pretty funny. However, these sketches were few and far between, and without any really build between them, even the jokes that worked didn’t hit as well as they should have.

Warm Horse: So War Horse was a play first? Huh, you learn something new every day. Anyways, this sketch didn’t seem like it should work – I human standing in for a puppet is kind of an easy joke – but Fallon gave his horse impression enough effort, and the sketch took this joke to even further extremes, thus elevating the material. Probably could have done with a little less of Hader and Wiig’s straight men, however.

(Heh. Way to miss the timing on the music and splash card, show. Running a bit ahead of schedule, are we?)

Tebow Meet Jesus: Okay, so Tebow jokes have been done to death at this point, and much like the previous sketch, this one shouldn’t have worked. (And on that note, in terms of weirdness, these two should have been switched, given that “Warm Horse” was the far weirder one, but no matter.) However, I like the manic, oppressive energy that Killam gave to his Tebow characterization, and Sudeikis’ laidback energy as Jesus, and it genial nature allowed the jokes to fly much easier.

Goodnights: Ummm, so what exactly was gained by filming that from the ice rink at Rockefeller center? I think it was meant to evoke SNL Christmas episodes of the past (as was the bee costume that Fallon was wearing, obviously), but I’m not really sure if it added anything to what is generally a cast-off segment of the show.

Best Sketch – Michael Buble’s Christmas Duets

Worst Sketch – Tommy Palmese

Biggest Disappointment - Amidst all the surprise cameos, the show couldn’t get Jon Hamm for a second “Hamm and Buble” sketch.

On January 7th: We pretend to care about Charles Barkley’s presence, and we seek to remember a Kelly Clarkson single that isn’t “Since U Been Gone”.

Quotes, Etc.:

“What about a verse for the Jews?”

“Jesus, I’m so much better than you.”

“Oh my god, I’m a huge fan of bread, are you kidding me?”

“Yeah, he’s probably doing crunches or something.”

“‘Oh, snap!’ said the voice inside Romney’s head.”

“No, I never read anything, including the scripts for the movies I’m in. That’s why I always look so surprised. I’m learning about the plot twists along with the audience.”

“You like a psychotic Ryan Gosling.” “That’s high praise.”

“DON’T SASS ME, HAT!”

“Two men enter, Two Men and a Baby leave.”

“That’s Mozart, you son of a bitch.”

“Look, now he’s dancing! My horse can dance!”

“Leave a little room for the Holy Ghost, okay?”

“Oh, one more thing: Mormonism – all true, every single word.”