He's-a-Family Guy!
That's right folks, Seth MacFarlane hosts the new season of SNL on September 15, 2012. Season 38 is finally here, and SNL really blew me away with this season opener.
SNL's first opening skit of the season didn't surprise me, Jay Pharoah spoofs Obama at the Democratic Rally in Toledo, Ohio. Jason Sudeikis stars as Mitt Romney, while Taran Killam plays Paul Ryan. Learning from my first SNL review, I'll try to go through the content more quickly before I give the final review. In this skit, Obama exploits Romney's misunderstanding of lower class hardships, and Ryan's twisting of words. Pharoah impersonates Obama's public speaking technique spot on with Obama's reasoning, "There's your choice America. Stick with what's been barely working, or take your chances with them."
Seth MacFarlane impressed me beyond belief with his brilliant monologue. I'm a huge fan of the Fox TV show, Family Guy, so naturally, I knew I would be hearing some familiar voices in the monologue. I knew SNL picked a winner from the start of the monologue, with MacFarlane walking down the steps like a cool customer ready to deliver his monologue. MacFarlane reveals that he was an SNL fan as a kid and promised something to himself if he ever got to host. "Please go out with me, Farrah Fawcett," said MacFarlane to the cameras. Then he discusses the movie he directed, Ted, and the TV show he created, Family Guy. For those of you who do not know, he does many of the voices on the show such as Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire. After he talked in those voices, which was awesome, he sang a song talking about the voices in his head, using many other voices including Kermit the Frog and Marty McFly from Back to the Future.
Right after his monologue, SNL shifts right back to bashing President Obama and Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. It is basically a skit about an Obama approved message, but Obama isn't proud of it. This skit portrays a hilarious exaggeration of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital destroying American economic lives. My favorite story was the one from Kenan Thompson's character, Raymond McCoy. McCoy had worked for a textile mill until it was bought and shut down by Bain Capital. McCoy went from working to a piano factory, to a trucker company, to an Orange Julius, to a shoe shining booth, all being acquired by Bain Capital to lay off McCoy. Mitt Romney and Bain Capital was accused of buying a company for the sole purpose of laying McCoy off.
Later, Korean pop star PSY makes a special guest appearance in a skit that takes place at the mall store Lids. The skit itself held no relevance, but was very successful for featuring PSY. For those of you who don't know, PSY is responsible for the latest YouTube song/dance craze, "Gangnam Style". This video has had approximately 200 million hits, and is rapidly increasing in popularity.
Here is the original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0&safe=active
Frank Ocean performs after a hilarious sketch that featured puppets, and a classic Bill Hader performance. Early in his career, Ocean was a ghostwriter for artists including Justin Bieber. As of recently, he is known to perform often with Jay-Z and Kanye West. Once again since I am cut off from pop culture, I wasn't very educated on Frank Ocean, so I was caught off guard when he started hitting a barrage of high notes. His first song, "Thinkin bout You" was decent. I think the song was meant to be serious and emotional, but his facial expressions while hitting high notes had me rolling.
I just realized that Weekend Update is such as broad subject to cover, I might just have a Weekend Update Rip List to show who all was made fun of by Seth Meyers. Anyway, the most notable part of the segment was Seth MacFarlane playing Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte. MacFarlane poked at Lochte's intelligence and communication skills while he tried to show his thoughts on new TV shows such as: Animal Practice which MacFarlane refers to as Monkey Hospital, Go on which MacFarlane refers to as Goon. However, when Meyers asks about Fox's American Dad, MacFarlane snapped out of his stupidity trance and said "I've heard that's actually really good."
My favorite skit had to be the Drill Sergeant skit with Seth MacFarlane as the Sergeant. I know that MacFarlane doesn't have a stuttering problem, but he stutters often on Family Guy for comic effect. It took me until after the skit ended to fully grasp the meaning (I guess I'm sl- sl- sl- slow). I forgot that stereotypical sergeants always ask, "Did I stutter?" This fact gave the skit that extra witty factor considering that MacFarlane stuttered plenty of times. I can never explain the funniness of SNL fully on a blog, that is why it is important that you don't just read the review, and watch the show, too.
Frank Ocean closes a great SNL with a great song he calls "Pyramids".
Positives: Strong monologue, funny skits, Gangnam Style, Frank Ocean, Weekend Update
Negatives: As far as I've seen, not a strong featuring cast this year. No Andy Samberg, No Kristen Wiig
Overall review: 9 out of 10
Feel free to comment your thoughts, and thanks for reading.
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