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Iam not a huge fan of Zooey. Its not because she isn’t talented, I just am not afan of this obviously beautiful girl always presenting herself as, “so awkward.”I could go on but I believe this article from Cracked.comreally sums up my feelings.
Now,back to me being open minded. Zooey’s new show, New Girl is doing pretty well an a lot of my friends stress to me Ineed to watch the show because the boys are so funny. So maybe I will check itout.
Lastweek’s episode gave me a bummed out feeling so I am really hoping the show getsout of their weird slump.
Opening – Talkingwith Mitt
Backto the regular opening where a politician addresses America. Today Mitt Romney remindsthe public how much better he is doing than Newt. Those two really do hate eachother. Then Mitt tries to show how much he is an average Joe by introducing usto his dog who really doesn’t like him. Anytime I see a real animal on thisshow it gets me excited to see if it will misbehave on live TV. The dog keptbarking through the “Live from New York…” line so I couldn’t tell if it was an accidentor not.
Monologue
Herecomes Zooey in a standard adorable sundress with hearts. She then addresses thefact that she is wearing an adorable dress. I give her points for beingself-aware. Zooey then sings a cute little song about when men forgetValentine’s on her ukulele. Yes, it’s all very cute.
Clint EastwoodChrysler Commercials
Clint’ssuperbowl commercial caused some backlash from politicians believing Clint wasbeing too political. These parodies (which aired at three different times) wereamazing. Clint is still reminding America that the game isn’t over,and Chinaand Mexicoare beating us. I love the way they portray Clint as a cranky old man. (Remindsme of my old man). And the gag with the pants was priceless. I’m tempted not toprovide a screen shot because I think you should see it. Oh what they hell.“These Mexicans are like my pants.”
“I’vehad ‘em up to here.”
Piers Morgan
Onthe show Piers (Taran Killam) interviews all the colourful characters involvedin last week’s fingergate. Can I call it fingergate? Well, you know MIA got introuble for showing the middle finger during the Superbowl. Piers interviewsMIA who is not going to apologize, LMFAO who just look weird and a concernedmother from Minnesota.The concerned mother describes how awkward it was when her children asked“Where are the rest of her fingers?” I thought that line really stuck it to allthose “concerned parents” out there. Later Madonna is interviewed and Kristendoes a good job with her weird faux British accent. I enjoyed Taran’s befuddledimpression of Piers Morgan who isn’t sure what question he is going to ask. Healso interviewed the tightrope guy from the half time show.
Iam one of the few people who didn’t watch the Superbowl or the halftime showbut out of context this character still seemed funny.
Fast talkingNewspaper
Ilove fast talking in old timey movies. I always wonder, why do people talk likethis in movies? Then I wonder who was the genius who thought, ‘maybe we shouldslow down this dialogue?’ Zooey plays the new “ace” reporter who is havingdifficulty listening to her new co-workers. I do appreciate Zooey in this skitas she attempts some witty dialogue. And then I love Bobbi’s cutaway face.
Les Jeunes de Paris
Itmakes total sense that Zooey is in this sketch because they only use the “cute”hosts to participate. As usual some Parisian youth are experiencing a dramaticmoment and can only solve it with dancing. This time, Jean Dujardin the star ofthis year’s multi-nominated Oscar picture, TheArtist, shows up to dance. I did not laugh during this sketch but I was100% delighted throughout it. It inspired me to go see the movie.
Bein’ Quirky withZooey
Thiswas brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Everyone was perfection in this sketchabout famous people who are just so gosh darn quirky. Host Zooey (Abbey Elliot)and her sidekick Micheal Cera (Taran Killim) welcome guests Mary Kate Olsen(Zooey Deschenel) and Bjork (Kristen Wiig) and discuss bein’ quirky. Here aresome quirky examples: knitting while listening to Hawaiian music, findingclothes from garbage cans, and pretending to fall. I was losing it during thiswhole sketch. Every time Micheal Cera spoke I was in tears. Zooey, you are nowOK in my books for going with this. I appreciate her humour and her excellentMary Kate impression.
Crab Legs
Somewriter must have overheard some ladies with thick Maryland accents talk about crab legs andwrote this sketch. I was getting annoyed with this sketch because I startedcraving crab legs. And that’s pretty funny because I have never eaten crablegs. SNL, has the crab board got to you too? I hope they gave you some moneyfor this?
Weekend Update
Seth’sfirst guest was Arianna Huffington. You know her? She is in charge of theHuffington Post. She comes by to comment on all the recent stories relatingwomen’s rights in the news. I didn’t find this very funny but I felt the accentwas dead on. I watched this on Sunday with my dad who under his breath said,“She’s terrible and has too much money.” Tell me how you really feel, Pop.
Nextwas the Nicolas Cage’s In the Cagesegment where Nicolas Cage’s guest was Nicolas Cage. (Who would have everthought I would have to write that man’s name so many times.) The Cages explainto Seth that they are clones. While one clone is calm and Zen-like the other isan exaggerated screaming psychopath. Apparently Cage’s catchphrase is, “that’shigh praise.” Does he really say that a lot? I laughed at the two things thatare in every Nicolas Cage movie.
1) Allthe dialogue is whispered or screamed
2) Everythingin the movie is on fire.
Kudosto Nic Cage for participating in this sketch and an even bigger kudos to himfor not laughing.
Theweek’s update went really fast again but here is Seth’s joke of the night.
Aman was sentenced by a judge to take his wife to Red Lobster: “Red Lobster,where people are sentenced to dinner.”
Verizon Ad
Wedon’t have Verizon here in Canadabut I feel the same way talking to any cell phone company. The tag line to thead was great but I just realized my three-year contract is almost up and Idon’t look forward to this conversation. Sigh.
Letter Writing
Thissketch was hilarious, especially for being the last sketch of the night. Allthe “prospective men” were great visual gags and I think the cast enjoyed doingit. I have a feeling whoever wrote this sketch was a single woman. Why? Becausethis sketch was a wonderful reminder to every single lady on Valentine’s Day:Would you rather be single in this age or be single in 1860 where you HAD topick a man no matter who it was. Even this guy:
(Insertphoto)
AlsoI would like to note how Zooey was wearing some super sparkly eye shadow inthis sketch. Wow! Way to make this whole sketch less authentic.
Final Thoughts
Iwas thoroughly impressed with this whole episode. I feel the writers were veryinspired by Zooey so I guess there is a good reason she is quirky. I may not bea complete convert to Zooey fan but I applaud your work and an excellent show.Here here!
Nextweek’s SNL host is alum Maya Rudolph. In other words how many SNL former castmates will be showing up?
I'm a loyal reader of Couchtime and I look forward to your SNL recaps as I've been a fan of that show since it began.This week's show was by far the best of the season. Like you, I'm not a huge Zooey fan but I don't think she overdid the "cutesy" stuff at all.The Clint Eastwood ads were great and Bill Hader really nailed the character. He totally channeled the cranky old man vibe from Gran Torino. We need to see more of this. Everyone was good in the Piers Morgan skit with the exception of Piers Morgan. It was a very bad impersonation and I didn't find anything about him funny.The best sketch of the night was Bein' Quirky with Zooey. Many times when they do a skit about the host as played by someone else, it doesn't work very well. This time, Abby Elliot nailed it.I enjoyed Les Jeunes de Paris, Fast Talking Newspaper and the Verizon Ad. Weekend Update was enjoyable and Arianna Huffington and Nic Cage bits were right on.Worst sketch was Crab Legs. I didn't think it was funny at all and found it totally annoying.I was very happy to see more of Abby Elliot and Nasim Pedrad as they've been absent for the last few shows. I think Nasim is the MVP of the current cast and she shines in all her sketches. There was a positive energy about this show which I hope carries forward to this week.Great recap, Allison…keep them coming !!