Sunday, January 15, 2012
SNL - JAN 14, 2012 - DANIEL RADCLIFFE WITH LANA DEL REY
This was a middle-of-the-road average show with one great sketch. The performances were fine. Radcliffe is a real pro, though he's best in character comedy (where he plays a character who is funny, rather than telling jokes, or being wild).
Lana Del Rey, who stirred some controversy for being a bit green -- her first album is not quite out yet -- was not much worse or better in performance than most musical artists. I find the SNL mix a fairly unflattering pulpit for most artists, even really famous ones.
Here's some notes on the show:
Cold Open -- A rather confused Mitt Romney. Not a great impersonation. Poorly written. Some of the usual Romney jokes.
Monologue -- Pleasant enough, but it seemed lacking in inspiration.
Ricky Gervais -- was funny, but the real Ricky Gervais is funnier (though the impersonation was so good, maybe it was the real Ricky Gervais). This was also a not-so-subtle plug for the Golden Globes tomorrow (Sunday 1/15) on NBC.
Target -- The crazy clerk. Nothing that hasn't been done before. More strange than funny.
You Can Do Anything -- This was an homage to SNL's favorite source of comedy: incompetence. The character's anthem: "I tried and therefore no one can criticize me."
Spin the Bottle -- Radcliffe was game for a bit of gross-out humor.
Delaware Fellas -- Another sketch based on incompetence humor; but they've got the plot of musical-group movies down pat.
Hogwart's 2020 -- The inevitable Potter sketch. The renditions of Potter characters years down the road was spot-on! But not much else in the sketch was funny.
Lana Del Rey -- She looks pretty. Her sound is a bit strange but she seems to have a huge range. Her mannerisms are seductive in a way that, together with her unusual sound, might generate either passionate cult fans or hilarious parody (or both). How many words rhyme with "do"? (You, few, two, .............)
Weekend Update -- The jokes were just OK. The North Koreans were just OK. Casey Anthony's dog was a star.
X27B Theater -- Taking a page from Sleeper, an audience 100 years from now looks at a play about people's behavior in 2012 and they find it ridiculously funny. A great concept, but not that well written or executed. Some things the future people find funny: our clothes, our bathrooms, our food, our commute to work...
Glenda Okones -- A candidate provides attack ads against herself. Not that well done, but each new Okones ad in between other commercials improves the concept a bit.
Jay Pharoah Show -- A combination of the two leading types of SNL humor: incompetence and impressions. Pharoah is one of my favorite newcomers, but this sketch is just the usual incompetent interview when the interviewer knows nothing about the interviewee -- in this case Daniel Radcliffe as himself -- and just does impressions.
Concord NH Exit Poll -- This is the one best sketch of the night; a brilliant parody of the classic Exit Interview. (Maybe it's not a parody, and is more like a documentary reconstruction.)
Headz Up -- Second best sketch of the night: An App that tells you what's happening in front of you. (Driving, and texting, the App tells you when to turn, crossing the street and texting, it tells you when you are about to get hit by a car, etc..) Alas, too many people could really use this product if it worked.
Not a bad SNL, but not a really good one either. Three good sketches: the Dog, the App, and the Pollster.
VIDEO CLIPS:
GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR AD #1
CASEY ANTHONY'S DOG
GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR AD #2
EXIT POLLING IN NH
GLENDA OKONES FOR MAYOR AD #3
HEADZ UP APP
Look for more videos at:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/
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SONNETS-BY-SHAKESPEARE -- Sonnets & other works by & about Shakespeare
QPORIT3D - A new blog about consumer 3D
QPORIT3D - A new blog about consumer 3D
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Labels: Daniel Radcliffe, Glenda Okones, Lana Del Rey, Saturday Night Live, SNL
