SNL - "Louis CK/fun."

Season 38, Episode 6

Let’s just get this out there: I’m extremely worried for how tonight’s SNL is going to turn out with Louis CK in the host’s chair. By his own admission, CK isn’t a very good actor, and he even admitted that he didn’t feel that confident about his job during rehearsals. Even though he did a pretty good job in the promos for this week (and the promos were well-written to work around him), CK’s acting range is very limited – mostly he just acts exasperated on Louie – and I can’t imagine the show trying to have him do the one thing he’s good at for all of the sketches of the night. But I guess we’ll see. And who knows – maybe we’ll get a short film from CK out of the whole ordeal.

Cold Open: I get it, I do. Michael Bloomberg’s attempts to reach as many people as possible with this press conferences in which he speak Spanish and uses an ASL translator, while well intentioned, usually go somewhat humorously awry, so it’s not like it’s a bad premise for a sketch, exactly. But it does seem a little tame in light of all the possible topics do to for a sketch, and bouncing around between ASL translators, poor Spanish, Christ Christie, and Bloomberg’s anti-soda laws, its feels like a mish-mash of topics, and that lack of focus hurts the sketch. Additionally – and this may just be because I’ve been watching so much Switched at Birth lately – but it also seemed as if the sketch was a little offensive to the deaf community, which irked me a little bit.

Monologue: An actual standup monologue is perhaps the most predictable move SNL could have come up with, but it’s probably also the smartest. CK is a highly regarded standup for a reason, and it’s good to seem him tell some hilarious jokes while still being able to work within FCC guidelines.

Fox and Friends: It’s interesting that SNL would follow one political sketch with another, only putting a monologue in between, but it can’t be the first time that it’s happened. Much like with the cold open, this sketch is a bit unfocused, but it’s in a framework that can make a multi-target sketch like this one work. Even better, this sketch was able to work in CK with very little contortion, even if he was still playing an exasperated man, albeit with a confounding, Peter Griffin-like voice.

Lincoln: This may not be an original short from CK, but it’s probably going to be the best we’re going to get out of this episode. That being said, this was still fantastic, and one of the highlights of this young season. I’m not sure exactly how many people with completely get this joke, given the small audience that Louie actually gets when it airs on FX, but it was a perfect facsimile of both the feel and themes of the show.

Australian Screen Legends: Now this is the sort of sketch that I feared would happen tonight, one where CK was buried within the sketch, which is said because up until this point, he hadn’t really proven that that need be the case. Granted, he did seem to have some problems getting a workable Australian accent, but that wasn’t really the main problem with this sketch. It was mostly a “aren’t accents funny?” type of sketch, and while their was a smarter “romance done in a matter of fact way” gag, it wasn’t prominent to really propel this sketch forward.

Weekend Update: In addition to Seth Meyer’s usual shtick, we also got…Mitt Romney appearing to make one final plea for being President. I get that SNL wants to get in as many political jokes as it can while it still has time, but this is the third time that the show is making Sandy-related jokes, and it’s getting a little old…Social Media Expert Courtney Barnes felt a little too much like “kids get off my damn lawn” type of humor, but Aidy Bryant sold it the best that she could, and there were some funny one-liners from the internet comments used…Finally, Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party was apparently popular enough on her appearance on one of those Weekend Update Thursdays, so she came back.

Zog: What can I say? The funniest parts of the sketch were where CK misjudged a sound cue and flubbed a line. Other than that, it was a pretty formless, laugh-less mess.

Hotel Checkout: At the start of this sketch, I had feared that this episode had officially fallen off a cliff, so long did it take to get to the actual jokes, and even longer to those that were actually funny. This sketch would have been better served had the charges listed had more time to get just really weird and random, but that’s a common complaint that I have with SNL sketches, and this was fine for what it was and how late in the program it aired.

Last Call: On Louie, there have been many stories about Louie meeting women, and this feel like the live sketch show version of those kinds of vignettes. Granted, it was far weirder than anything romance-related that Louie has ever done, but it was just as awkward. This is the example of the sort of weirdness that I wish SNL would do more often, and it perfectly captured the desperation that comes with looking for a hook-up during last call. And if nothing else, it gave us the grossest, greatest worst kiss ever captured for TV.

Oh Louie – can I call you Louie? – I’m sorry that I ever doubted you. You were a fine host for this episode of SNL, able to bring the laughs even while playing something other than “exasperated middle-aged guy”. It’s just too bad that that show couldn’t come up with consistent material for you to work with, and that you only got one live sketch and one filmed segment that really took advantage of your comedic chops.

Best Sketch – Lincoln

Worst Sketch – Zog

Next Week: Anne Hathaway tries to repeat her solid appearance two years ago, and Rhianna returns for her fourth performance. That’s right. FOURTH.

Quotes, Etc.:

“White people love ‘Homeland’.”

“While, she might be dead. Anybody I’m not looking at might be dead.”

“I thought I was helping an old lady, now I have an old lady.”

“What about piranhas with AIDS, which I call ‘parades’.”

“It’s just you’re all emancipated, and that’s good, right?”

“My wife is crazy. She’s literally, historically insane.”

“I’m Edward Dunlop, but you can call me maybe….We just got that down here.”

“Any last words?” “Uh, kangaroo, I guess.”

“That was during a Republican candidate debate. That’s like judging a person’s character while they’re pledging a fraternity.”

“Though it’s suspicious that the five words he can say are ‘help this elephant swallowed me’.”

“Zeesus Jist.”

“Argon, it’s a noble gas.”

“I give it two vaginas down.”