Posts Tagged ‘comedy’

Review: Daniel Craig on Saturday Night Live

Posted: October 7, 2012 in Review
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Well, here it is, folks. My final review of an episode of SNL for a while. And I’m sorry I’m getting it out later than I usually do, but them’s the breaks.

Alright, starting with Mr. Craig himself. As the current James Bond and a professional at killing people on screen while making women real and fictional swoon, we’ve been expecting a lot from this episode, and from Mr. Craig, who has not really done comedy up till this point. Sad to say, I was a little disappointed. I mean, he was great in the opening monologue…until they did that “In Memoriam” thing. And then it was just full of disappointments to me. Craig seems very expressionless, and although his New Jersey accent is convincing, he just doesn’t deliver the lines with the zing you expect from hosts on SNL. In fact, the cast members seem to overshadow him. Overshadow 007! Speaking of which, I was hoping he would do a whole skit on Bond, but all we got was a joke ad, with Craig in it only a quarter of the time. What’s up with that?

The rest of the cast was phenomenal as usual. Jay Pharaoh did a good impression of Obama that was both funny and painful to watch for me. Aidy Bryant finally had more than a single line in an episode, and was hilarious as a crazy woman, so I hope I get to see her full range in later episodes. It was cool to see Chris Parnell come back as Lehrer during the cold open, and Bobby Moynihan is great as a kitten-obsessed dude that, while we sympathize with him, we also want to punch him. Oh, and Fred Armisen, I don’t know how you feel about getting in drag, but you always kill me when you are!

The skits themselves were so-so. The psychic woman skit was a laugh, with everyone tearing up. I enjoyed Weekend Update especially, with Kate McKinnon as a weird Italian artist, and–oh, Big Bird was there! How did they get him on the show? I don’t know how, but kudos to the producers for that! And he was funny as welll as appropriate, which with Big Bird I guess is required.

No comments on the musical guest Muse, since I’m more of a pop/rap/screaming metal kind of guy, but they did alright I guess. And was that Michelle Obama in the cold open, or was that footage from a debate? Someone tell me.

Overall, I give it a 3,8 out of 5. Look forward to my next reviews, when I go to see movies like Taken 2, Alex Cross, and Skyfall, where Daniel Craig shines in the mode he’s best at: serious.

Review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Saturday Night Live

Posted: September 23, 2012 in Review
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Yes, I’m doing another SNL review. But before you groan, let me just say, I got some very positive responses on the season premiere, and the SNL cast and writers are doing very well on fulfilling expectations. So I’ve got four words for you: can you blame me?

Alright, on to the review part of the post. Joseph Gordon-Levitt; oh my God, I think that guy became a sex symbol for both women and gay men this evening, when he not only did an impression of Magic Mike during the opening monologue, but cross-dressed during the latter half of the show. I think someone out there might’ve fallen in love with that guy. But that wasn’t all; he was funny, he could do various accents and impressions, and he reminds me of guys I knew at Jewish summer cap, so that’s a plus in my book. Add all the serious roles he’s done lately, and I think Mr. Gordon-Levitt could have a very long career in Hollywood as a star who can do many different roles. Just don’t go weird Scientology on us or jump on couches while on a talk show and we’ll be good.

As for the skits…damn! The writers seem to be thriving under the pressure. That cold open was great! And having Mumford & Sons, the musical guest, play a song during one of the skits was just great, especially when the writers somehow manage to work in an actually decent Jerry Sandusky joke. And Kate McKinnon on Weekend Update as Ann Romney had me laughing so hard. I hope she plays that role some more before the election is over. A special mention goes to the Republican-sponsored birth control fake ad and the rapper’s fashion talk show where it showed two rappers slowly becoming effeminate. Also, I’d like to say the “Powers & Powers” skit was great, though I was sad it had to be cut short due to time constraints.

Final score on the review scale: 4.7 out of 5. Join me for another review of SNL in two weeks, when Daniel Craig tries his hand at comedy (and if they really do have Jennifer Lawrence of Hunger Games fame afterwards, like the rumors are saying, I’ll review that too. Oh don’t roll your eyes, I like this show, and it’s doing really well so far this season!).

An Evening On The 8th Floor

Posted: September 9, 2012 in Living and Life
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8th Floor Improv, to be exact. You see, this evening I went with some members of my dorm to see the campus improv-comedy group, 8th Floor Improv. I’d never seen an improv show before, so I was expecting the show would be awesome or a total fail. Luckily, it was awesome.

Of course, that’s not what I’m here to write about. I’m writing about something the members of 8th Floor did that was very special to me. You see, at some point during the show, the cast asked for a volunteer. Guess who got picked? ME. They sat me down for a candid interview al a Jon Stewart at the Daily Show to talk about who I was, my political impressions, and I got to plug my blog and short story Aasif (which may explain the sudden rise on my stats counter). I also got to show a little of my creepy side, perhaps a little more than I intended, but still enough to show that I’m serious about being the next big wave in horror, and I got to talk about Hunger Games, the book of which I’m reading for the first time, and how I would use economic warfare to bring the Hunger Games to a grinding halt.

It was pretty fun, and afterwards the actors used the discussion to “portray my dreams and nightmares”, which was pretty funny; the actress playing me nearly got me confused with Mitt Romney, couldn’t pronounce my legal name, tried to kill someone criticizing her by writing that person into a short story, and nearly got sued by actors playing Stephanie Meyers and Suzanne Collins.

To 8th Floor Improv, thanks for making me laugh till I nearly puked. In return, I’ll put the link to your website here for anyone who’s interested (http://8thfloorimprov.com/). And if anyone from the group wandered onto this blog, here’s the link to that child-soldier short story you sounded so interested in (http://mobiusmagazine.com/). It’s the fifth one on the list right under “Fiction”. Enjoy.

Oh, and to those who follow this blog and write also, I got a question or two for you: have you ever been interviewed? And if so, do you have any tips? Because like I said, I got to show my creepy side, but I worry sometimes that when I show it, I show too much of it.

Post-It Note Prank: Why This High School Is Overreacting.

Posted: May 16, 2012 in Living and Life
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So I log onto my computer barely five minutes ago, planning to check my email and whatever before I start on the last bit of homweork for today. On AOL News, I see this article about students getting suspended for a senior prank. Curious, I click on it. What I found shocked me: a bunch of students had come into their high school over the weekend with the help of the custodian, and they had preceded to cover up the hallway in colorful little sticky notes. For that, they got suspended for being in the school after hours without permission and the custodian was fired for helping.

Funny thing though: my junior year of high school, the graduating seniors did the same thing to my high school and got away with it! I’m not kidding, they came back from a convention (most of the school belongs to the same regional youth group, and the school sets a few short weeks based on these conventions) and went through the school putting up sticky notes. One of the teachers, who was chaperoning the convention, later was heard saying, “Oh, so that was why they were all agreeing to meet up at Staples!”

Those seniors didn’t get in trouble for it, and I could understand why; it was hilarious! Imagine walking into the high school wing of the school and seeing the entire hallway covered in sticky notes! It’s a gas. The only thing the seniors really had to do was clean up the mess after a day or two.

So do I think the high school in the news article is overreacting? Yes, I do! It was a harmless prank, and the worst thing that could happen would be that the sticky notes wouldn’t get put in a recycling bin. The students shouldn’t have been suspended, and that janitor should be allowed back with retroactive pay and a bonus. Apparently, some of the students at the school agree with me too, because they’ve been having sit-down protests since this whole thing started. Go get ’em, guys!

I’m putting the article’s link below. Tell me what you think after you read it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/post-it-note-prank-cascade-high-school_n_1521649.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D161526

Review: Vanessa Bayer & John Mulaney

Posted: April 20, 2012 in Living and Life, Review
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Alright, so last night I went to Ohio State’s Union (yes, I’m naming my university now; since the article came up and my stats went through the roof, people have obviously seen the article and know the Pulse is an OSU publication, so what’s the point in hiding it now?) to see Vanessa Bayer and John Mulaney perform. Now Vanessa Bayer is a cast member of SNL, and you know how I love SNL, right? So I was super excited to see her live. John Mulaney I was less familiar with, but I found myself liking him very much, as you’ll soon see.

So, the show started out with a surprise opening act by (and I hope he’ll forgive me if I spell his name wrong) Shen Wang: a Chinese-American comedian from New York with a deep voice and the funniest drunk idiot stories about himself. He was pretty good, and he really connected to the audience, pointing out that our mascot was a poisonous tree nut. Smooth, man.

Then Vanessa Bayer came on, and boy was she awesome! She made fun of herself, of what she was like in college, she even showed us a video she’d made when she’d tried one of those dating video services. It was just great to see her live and hear her do her Miley impersonation. Huh-lare-eee-ose!

Vanessa Bayer, John Mulaney, and a very blurry Shen Wang. So sorry about the quality of the photo.

And finally, John Mulaney with his stories of black-outs, and his making-fun of whatever was on people’s T-shirts. This uy was great; he even told us about how he was confused for an Asian American woman as a child (strangely) and made fun of Law & Order: SVU, or more specifically, Ice-T’s character. Great job.

All in all, I gave the show–which I assume is playing in some other city right about now–a 5 out of 5. (And for those of you who think I don’t do any bad reviews, I just haven’t seen any bad shows or movies lately. But seriously, do you want me to recommend bad stuff or good stuff to you?)

 

Review: Jonah Hill on Saturday Night Live

Posted: March 11, 2012 in Review
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As last week I wrote a rather scathing review of Lindsay Lohan’s performance on SNL, I thought I’d follow up with Jonah Hill’s performance on last night’s episode. I’m happy to say, the man did not disappoint. Indeed, he fulfilled all my expectations and then some. From his hilarious impression of an annoying, fast-talking six-year-old wise guy to his performance of a Coolio song near the end of the show, he was hitting all the right notes. Heck, he even made the J-Pop sketch look good when he played a samurai who was out of breath and holding his sword wrong, and as a fan of manga and anime I usually get incensed when they do the J-Pop sketch.

Other highlights include the Weekend Update, featuring guest appearances by Kristen Wiig as Paula Deen, Andy Sandberg trying on the Sarah Palin persona because of an apparently sick Tina Fey, and Bill Hader as Stefon (and if SNL has any shippers obsessed with the Seth Meyers/Stefon relationship, I highly reccommend they watch this episode!).

All told, a very good show, even if the musical guests weren’t my type of music. I give this week’s episode, a 5 out of 5 (I’d feel guilty just taking off points for the musical guest).

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