SNL - 40th Anniversary Special

OH DEAR GOD. I don't know the last time I was so excited for something. Probably when I went to see Billy Joel last March. That was amazing. But this is having me hyperventilating and fangirling and giggling and tearing up all in one. My sister (who has never seen a full episode of SNL, only the odd sketch I've shown her) is watching with me, for at least the first little bit. This'll be interesting.
I can't believe they have LITERALLY EVERYONE on this show. How do you even manage that? And I was concerned they wouldn't be able to fit everyone into the studio... This post will be rambling and full of exclamation points. Try to keep up. (Also this thing is over 3 hours long and I'm too lazy to include a lot of pictures, so...)

DANCE JIMMY DANCE!!!! AND JUSTIN!!!! Of course they'd open the show with these two. They're so amazingly cool. OH MY GOD THEY'RE BLENDING EVERYTHING INTO A SONG AND I'M CRYING AT THIS!!! Justin's 'well isn't that special' was on point! This monologue (dialogue?) is going to be HUUUGE online tomorrow. *Bring it on down to SNL!!!!*
And Rachel is there to bring it down, as per usual... Blues Brothers reference!!! I still haven't watched that movie...
MORE COWBELL!!!! And Mary Catherine Gallagher!!!!

Oh dear god are they going to go through literally every single person appearing tonight?
A+ job by whoever edited these opening credits... And they had so many shots of deceased cast members - not sure if as a tribute, or just to make us cry, but well done.

Does Steve Martin opening this monologue count as 'hosting'? Look out, Alec Baldwin!! And Jon Lovitz isn't dead!
TOM HANKS!!!! "Acting is yelling for money!"  "HEY!" GOLD!!!!! (Hey, I could be an actor..)
Damnit, there's Alec. Guess he can count this as a hosting gig too... That competition. Loving it.
Ugh. They had to ruin this by bringing out Miley? My sister's reaction: 'ew'. Proud of her.
BILLY CRYSTAL!!!! He's adorable. And rather short.

Surprised the photographer managed to hold the camera still. They were probably laughing so hard.

'Singers named Paul'. Very small demographic. But what a talented one!

Obviously they had to use a pre-recorded clip for John and Gilda and Phil, and Chris Farley. And so we could all remember what Chevy Chase looked like in the seventies. All the way through to the modern sketches. Wow. So much funny. And my sister didn't know what any of them were. She has much to learn.

AYKROYD!!!! BASS-O-MATIC!!!! He doesn't seem as creepy as he did in the original... And the blender jammed hahaha awkward. That's live TV!!!

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY!!!! Oh man, they even busted out the old Jeopardy board for this. Darrell Hammond hasn't aged at all. And I never thought I'd see Sean Connery and Justin Beiber in the same scene. Surprise appearance by Norm McDonald as Burt Reynolds/Turd Ferguson. Hearing Taran as Christoph Waltz say 'heart heart wink and point' was so bizarre. I love it. And Jim Carrey as Matthew McConaughey is the best. How many people are on that stage right now?? Oh god why would they do a Bill Cosby reference?? 'We taped that in June!' Good save.

Somehow just playing Matthew McConaughey makes Jim Carrey more handsome.

Oh my god they're showing auditions, that's incredible. They're all so young and I want to cry. Why has Seth never done a British accent on the show?? It's excellent!! I'm astonished of how many of these characters they just made up themselves - Target Lady, Church Lady, - and holy shit Andy's short-shorts. Sudeikis' sideburns make me so happy.

I have such fond rememembrances of that hair.

There's nothing I love more than a good montage set to a sappy song. You go Alicia Keyes.
I took the opportunity provided by that commercial break to educate my sister on the wonderfulness that is Choppin' Broccoli.

I'm a little surprised that they're doing any full-song musical performances during this... But if anyone deserves one, it's Paul McCartney. I also just realized that SNL started before John Lennon died. Holy crap. That's a long time.

There are a lot of previously-done 'best of' montages happening here... What happened to 'it's mostly gonna be live'?

OMG THE CALIFORNIANS!!!!! I'M DYING!!!! I keep referring to all the cast members by their first names and my sister doesn't know who I'm talking about. This is a problem. 'The one with the sunglasses?' 'No, the one in the plaid'. 'Yeah that's Bill'. Bradley Cooper does an amazing job. And he's the father of Kristen's baby. And I'm loving Taylor Swift too. BETTY!!!!!! (And she's talking normally of course) THEY CRACKED!!!! Yesss! First crack of the night!! I never thought I'd see Bradley Cooper and Betty White make out. For not the first time in my life, I'm incredibly jealous of Betty White. 

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!

Crossover to the flight attendants sketch. David Spade bringing the snark. He's so underrated. But I'm confused - they got Cecily to do it this time, who used to do it with him?

3-lady Weekend Update. Best. Idea, Ever. Although I'd love for my baby Seth to be there with his cheeky smile. FOX News zinger in there too. BAM!
Emma Stone as Roseanne Rosanadanna (I have no idea how to spell that name). That's so cute.
EDWARD NORTON AS STEFON???!!!! OH MY GOD I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!!!! And then real Stefon - this is better than when Nicolas Cage was on 'Get in the Cage!' SETH!!! I could not be happier right now!!! 
Melissa McCarthy as Matt Foley was great, then Amy's sarcastic 'oh no, this is the only desk we have' and a last-second Land Shark tribute (apparently played by Bobby Moynihan)! Wonderful!
I miss 'Really?!!' so so so much. The worst part about Amy leaving was no more of that.
'Bitch is the new black'. Oh yeah. Seth in a navy tux. *swoons*.

Amy could care less.Love it.

I just had to explain to my sister the sad story of Phil Hartman. The Colon Blow fauxmercial is hilarious, but we weren't exactly laughing.

Martin Short is a fascinating person. I don't understand how he's so adorable and so ominous at the same time. AND MAYA RUDOLPH!!! AS BEYONCE!!!! MY FAVOURITE GIRL DOING ONE OF HER BEST IMPRESSIONS!!! AND SINGING IS INVOLVED!!! SHE'S SO IN HER ELEMENT. That woman needs her own show. OK full confession - I've never really liked Garth and Kat. We get it. You're unprepared. And you have weird vests. Give Maya more lines!!

Maya Rudolph: The SNL castwoman I would most like to be BFFs with.

Ana Gasteyer knows where my funny bone is. Her and Will doing that Culp Twins sketch was killing me.
CHOPPIN BROCCOLI!!! Oh come on, you're not going to give him time to do the whole song?!! Not fair... Adam Sandler looks like my uncle.
I HAVE NOT SEEN A 'WHAT'S UP WITH THAT' SKETCH IN SO LONG!!!! AND JASON IS BACK AS THE RUNNING MAN I CAN'T BREATHE!!!

Pictured: The third thing that caused me to hyperventilate in the last ten minutes. SUDEIKIS!!!!

I think 'love theme from Jaws' is an oxymoron. Bill Murray looks skinny.

THIS. ALL OF THIS. Two Bills is better than one.

Funny, I remember one of the Blues Brothers being taller than the other one... Then again, Jim Belushi is taller than John, may he rest in peace. My sister actually knew who he was. Good job, sister.

I knew Eddie Murphy as 'the funny dad' in a bunch of random movies when I was a kid. It's strange to think of him as an SNL cast member. Let alone a legendary one.

I had no idea Wayne Gretzky had ever been on SNL... But along with Mike Myers as Wayne from 'Wayne's World', that's an awesome pair of Canadian Waynes.

It's no secret, Will Forte is one of my favourite underrated SNL cast members of all time. But the ESPN commentating sketch was never his best one. Couldn't we do a MacGruber bit?!! Or three?!! That man also needs his own show.

Miss you Will!!!! (Although lose the 'stache)

Why is this show obsessed with Arcade Fire? They had one of the guys introduce Miley Cyrus (MUUUUTE, BTW, they could have had SOMEONE more important and classic than her on here, I mean how dare they put her and Sir Paul in the same category... Plus why is she singing a Paul Simon song?? They have the man himself RIGHT THERE!!!) and they're not even that popular in Canada. Where they're from. As am I.

I think I just spotted Jeff Goldblum in the audience. Did he ever host? Look at all these famous people!! That shot of Michael Douglas contained Edward Norton. Which reminds me - Edward Norton is always so serious and scary in his movies (Wes Anderson films, aside) that seeing him on SNL as this adorable cheerful person just makes me so happy. And I'm still astonished that they got him to be Stefon earlier. This is like the Oscars, I just keep looking in the background for interesting people.

I have such a soft spot for Edward Norton. Seth, clearly, does not.

MOM JEANS!! No need for redoing it - it's perfect as-is.

Aw.. sad moment about Tracey Morgan not being well enough to be there. But for them to use a Bryan Fellows bit as a tribute to him was perfect. That was always hilarious.

Why is Kanye lying on the floor. Why. Why. Oh right nevermind, it's 'artistry' and he's a genius. Sorry I asked. Can we get Dana Carvey to play Beck and come out and smack him in the face?
(Friendly monthly reminder, Dana Carvey follows me on Twitter. Be jealous. Be very jealous.)
Oh hello Sia, I didn't see you there. Probably because you're wearing a tutu on your head again. Is Kristen going to dance?

All I am thinking is that they could have used these musical interlude times for sketches. Or Digital Shorts. Shame. At least Kanye is a bit more of an influential, longer-lasting musician than Miley (although don't tell him I said that!)

OK now they're doing a tribute to the pre-recorded bits. Good. Although not nearly enough Digital Short bits. If it were up to me, they'd have a full 3-hour special just of Digital Shorts. But that's just me. So I was mistaken, during that Kanye performance, apparently it wasn't Sia, it was Zach Galifianakis. My bad!

OH DEAR GOD THEY MADE A NEW DIGITAL SHORT!!! WITH SANDLER!!!! AND IT'S ABOUT CRACKING UP (BREAKING) DURING SKETCHES!!!! Ripoff of Tina Turner's 'You're Simply the Best' and dare I say it - that was the best Digital Short ever. A self-referential sketch is the best kind of sketch.

Bill joined them and my heart soared.

Oh no, they had to do an 'in memoriam' bit. Bring down the tone. Now I'm sad. And Bill is too. Although the stopping and then restarting of the applause for each person is a little awkward. And it always makes me so sad when they have a picture of two cast members (John and Radna, Phil and Chris Farley) who are both deceased. And I miss Don Pardo's voice so much.
But then they brought it back up again - Jon Lovitz is not dead!!! But the Generalissimo still is! Ooooh SNL, you clever people.
(My sister has pointed out that it would be really really awkward if Jon Lovitz is the next SNL cast member to die. Let's hope none of them ever do.) 

WAYNE'S WORLD!!!! YESSSS!!!!! They couldn't not. I mean come on. And Mike hadn't been in any sketches yet. And they poked fun at Kanye West. Excellent.
Garth thinks Beck was even better than Beyonce. Yet another reason for me to love Garth. And they love Lorne (although their wine glasses are clearly fake). "We're not worthy!! The crew, ladies and gentlemen!!" I worked backstage at plays in highschool - and I can tell you, the crew is the most underrated part of the production.

SIT YOUR ASS DOWN KANYE!!!! Attaboy Garth.

Oh sure, NOW they let Paul Simon sing. I can't believe it's almost over. Three and a half hours. I would have easily sat through six. It's a long weekend, I've got nothing to do. (Sister has gone to bed, she missed the last 20ish minutes. I will force her to watch the PVR recording tomorrow. Especially that Wayne's World sketch. That was beautiful.)

This just in: Lorne Michaels is 70. This also just in: Lorne Michaels does not in any way shape or form, look as though he's 70.

SNL - Bill Hader

Disclaimer: Former cast members hosting SNL is my favourite SNL-related thing. Ever. So expect a lot of fangirling this post. Sorry in advance. ON WITH THE SHOW!!! Tonight is also the exact 39-year anniversary of the premiere of SNL. Couldn't think of a better way to celebrate!!!

Bobby makes a hilarious Kim-Jong Un, talking about how athletic he is while being extremely short and telling one of his soldiers to punch him. Side note: I never noticed this, but Beck Bennett looks a lot like a young Darryl Hammond. I'm actually very curious as to where Kim-Jong Un actually has been the last few weeks. North Korea is weird.

BILL!!!!!!! He looks so skinny!! Maybe that's just the suit. And he's nervous, awww... Apparently Megan Mullalley is the one who discovered him and told Lorne to hire him - THANK YOU MEGAN!!!! We owe her so many laughs!!! KRISTEN!!!!!!!!!! She wants Bill to sing - and now I kinda do, too. "Don't make me sing!" This is not a Bill monologue! I was looking forward to a Bill monologue and it's all just Kristen singing... Oh well. I'm glad to have them both back. And then he sings and sounds like Harvey Fierstein... Who is now there too! Ohh how I love Bill's facial expressions... I wasn't at all surprised that Kristen showed up, I mean 1) they have that new movie coming out together and 2) she's everybody's favourite and 3) They are so amazing together and obviously besties.

That stache is legendary.

Herb Welch is back!!! Yaaay!! And he's interviewing Pete who's playing a highschooler who's taking a virginity pledge - and Herb thinks Taran is a mannequin. Who did they used to get to do the newsanchor for this sketch? Sudeikis? What the hell has he been up to lately? And how about Will Forte? I love that guy! Where has he been??

This next sketch is too funny - it's a mock-trailer that's a combination of all the young-adult post-apocalyptic franshises (Divergent, the Hunger Games, the Maze Runner, The Giver etc.) Bill is someone like Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games and talking in a high voice that reminds me of the Knights Who Say 'Ni' from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Pete is the main character, the 'chosen one' in this sketch - I'm so glad they're using him so much this week, he almost disappeared the last episode.

Funniest. Movie. Ever.

AND JIM CARREY IS HOSTING ON THE 25TH WHAAAAT!!!! Probably promoting the new Dumb & Dumber movie - which reminds me, I still need to watch the first one...

Kate MacKinnon does an excellent impression of Jane Lynch (although she's not nearly tall enough). Beck sound exactly like, but looks nothing like, Nick Offerman (I mean, they could have at LEAST given him blue contacts! Come on, people!) And more of Kristen!! We've reinforced what Bill said in his monologue - he only does impressions of people over 70. Al Pacino this time - who was apparently the first impression he ever did on the show.

The next fauxmercial is kinda awkward... They're making fun of those commercials where they ask for a really small amount of money to feed some people in a poor country - 'Why 39 cents??' But hey, Leslie Jones is back!

This is kind of sweet, they're showing an old sketch as tribute to Jan Hooks. Do they do this every time an ex-cast member dies? This one is really sad though, because it's her and Phil Hartman, and they're both dead now.

I've never heard of this guy Hozier before - but holy crap, that voice!!

WEEEEKENNNND UUUUPDAAAAATE!!!!! More Pete, this time as 'a hip-hop fan' explaining the new no-guns policy at the BET awards. He's so dry, too... Could give Colin a run for his money. Apparently he's 6 foot 3, 145 pounds and has a problem with wind. And he slouches. He's so cute.

He says he has bad posture because he hates himself... But look at that FACE!!!!

Billy Crystal was just accused of robbing the Yogi Berra museum! Wonder if he's going to take this! I also find it hilarious that Colin laughs at a lot of Michael's jokes, but none of his own.

I mean, he's got enough Yankees memorabilia... Right??

STEFON!!!!!!!!! YESSSS!!!!! (I totally called it, but STILL!!!!) He called Michael and Colin 'Barack and Mitt' hahaha he's cracking up, OF COURSE, I mean can you blame him?? And apparently Seth couldn't come, because he's 'at home, practicing how to sit behind a desk'.

I'd say he does a pretty good job of it.

WHAT THE HELL is that noise he just made?? I have no idea. I can't handle this. The rest of the episode could just be Stefon talking, and I would die happy. I really wish he'd interact with Colin, though - he's sitting beside Michael so they're just going back and forth. Apparently Stefon is pregnant!!! Hahaha COULD YOU IMAGINE how cute their kid would be??!!!

We need to send a huge thank-you to John Mulaney for creating Stefon (and making Bill crack up every time!!)

Now they're doing that sketch that I'd forgotten about, with the puppets where Bill's is a really scary army vet. Now with smoke coming out of the mouth!

(Commercial break) Holy crap I just realized that iPhone commercial with the two guys competing are voiced by JIMMY FALLON AND JUSTIN FREAKING TIMBERLAKE!!!

KYLE!! He hasn't done a weird-skater-guy sketch yet this season now he's hosting an 'inside SoCal' news-type show and I don't understand what's going on, but he's so cute so I don't care. Also, there are a lot of pre-recorded sketches this week.  Bill is being one of the other young dudes on the show and I don't buy it... Probably because his character is not over 70.

This Hozier guy has really strong eyebrow game.

The last sketch of the night was Aidy and Pete being adorable children who summon the Cat in the Hat (Bill) to come play with them and he knew their mother... *knew* their mother... But she's now married to Thing 2 who goes by 'Jonathing' now. (Side note, I had a cameo as Thing 2 when I helped backstage at my school's production of Seussical the Musical. True story.)

I wasn't lying.

Bill got so emotional at the goodbye, awww... and holy crap, Hozier is really tall.
My one criticism: THEY DIDN'T DO WHAT'S UP WITH THAT!!!! Although I guess too many of the people they used in that one are now gone. Sad Emily is sad.
But oh well, this was a wonderful episode and bless this show and bless all the people on it. And bless you all for reading, and bless Bill Hader for existing. (It's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, so I'm very grateful for things!) Goodnight to you all, and I'll see you on the 25th!

SNL - Melissa McCarthy & Phoenix

We open, naturally, with a sketch about Kim Jong Un. Apparently he's more progressive with same-sex marriage than the USA - which is unrelated to the fact that he wants to bomb them. Aaaaand now he's talking about all the women he's slept with. And now his NCAA pool. And in between everything he says, there are shots of North Korean army people applauding. Holy crap they actually brought out Dennis Rodman!! Who I have been watching on Celebrity Apprentice for several weeks... He's as crazy as you'd expect.
Melissa McCarthy is having some trouble getting down the stairs in some crazy high shoes hahah 'are you sure that intro song wasn't shorter than last time?' And then she takes the saxaphone player's chair. And faceplants on the stage! Well, I must say that's probably a first for the monologues on this show.
Taran pops out in a vest and hat and bowtie because apparently they were supposed to be doing a musical number, but she can't stand up - HOLY CRAP THAT GUY CAN DANCE! He jumped and did a split midair!! And he can sing too!! How come he never gets any musical sketches?! PS it was his Taran's birthday on Monday (April Fool's day, coincidentally... Not surprised!) Happy Birthday Taran!!! Love you!!! :)

And he's engaged to Cobie Smulders from How I Met Your Mother!!! What a hilarious couple!!!

Bill Heder is a super-serious news anchor talking about a basketball coach who is even worse than the violent asshole who was fired from Rutgers University for swearing, hitting, and belittling his team this week. She's Tasering a teacher, insisting that the teams serve her meals.. And threw a toaster at someone. Well that was unpleasant. Parody of The Voice, Melissa squeals out a 'song' that I didn't quite understand.. Bill does a remarkable impersonation of Adam Levine! And everyone loved her kinda-singing but she kinda doesn't understand what any of them want from her. And she decides to go with Cee-Lo, even though he's not a judge this season! Ahahaha...
Next she's a chef who takes the ham bake-off way too seriously, and does a song and dance routine with Taran and Bobby dressed like pigs to try to influence the judges... 

Somehow pricelessly weird. Maybe it's Taran's face. Or the caption.

And then places 7th out of 8, which is good enough for her!
A fauxmercial for something that allows you to have an entire office workstation in the stall of the bathroom - which is a hilarious idea hahaha plus I love things that fit into a tiny space! Except then it's a 'fake' fauxmercial and at the end it says 'don't let it come to this. Stop texting and checking e-mail on the toilet. Nothing's that important. And it's disgusting.' Well said, SNL, well said!!
I have never heard of this band Phoenix. Is that me being out of touch, or SNL being all hipster again? Not sure.
But anyway, speaking of phoenixes (phoeni? I was never sure, that was my highschool mascot and we never knew how to pluralise it), here's the awesome second song off the new Fall Out Boy album - I give you 'The Phoenix'!!!!

AND OH MY GOD IT WOULD BE SO AWESOME IF FALL OUT BOY WENT ON SNL TO CELEBRATE THE END OF THEIR 'HIATUS'!!! *fingers crossed this happens soon*
As for people I love almost as much as Pete Wentz (really close race guys), here's Seth Meyers!! I think I missed a joke somewhere, because Seth made a cute smiley face at the camera and the audience loved it.
Jacob the bar mitzvah boy is back!! So cute!!
I was too busy enjoying Seth's cuteness to remember any of his jokes to quote.. But now we have Charles Barkley on as a guest to talk about the NCAA tournament! And about that one player who broke his leg HORRIBLY (I saw the video, and photos, and it made me - someone who regularly looks at decomposing bodies - feel nauseous) he says 'You know how he broke his leg? He jumped. If you hurt yourself that badly just from jumping, basketball may not be the sport for you'.
OH MY GOD DRUNK UNCLE!!!! He's my third-favourite recurring Weekend Update guest, after That Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party, and this guy:

STEFON!!!! I can never get enough of him!!!

At one point, Drunk Uncle just looks at his glass and starts singing: 'I wanna know what love is...' Seth interrupts and then 'I want you to show me!!!!' AND THEN OH MY GOD DRUNK UNCLE HAS A BROTHER AND IT'S PETER DINKLEDGE FROM GAME OF THRONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS PRICELESS!!!!!

"People are all 'Tumble me, Tumble me'" and then they both started singing and I had to bury my face in a pillow to stifle my laughter and not wake up my roommate. Damn you, SNL, for being on so late at night!
The next sketch is a ripoff of Wheel of Fortune and Bill is the awesome host and Melissa is the Vanna White replacement who doesn't know what she's doing and flips over all the letters on the board when she's trying to find the D's because she doesn't know where anything is, but she manages to do it all while flipping back and forth and gesturing and it's just so silly - especially Bill's reactions to everything! Then she flips over everything because she's trying to 'concentrate' and Fred goes 'I'd like to solve the puzzle' and Bill says 'I'd imagine you would' haha and he guesses the wrong quote.. what a dumbass.
Melissa goes into a bank and asks Jason for a loan so that she can start her own business - to eat pizza. She wants to eat people's leftover pizza, as her job, and keeps repeating her full name and trying to hand him a pen to sign a cheque. I am so confused. Somehow I'm both hungry for pizza and really nauseous at the same time. So she leaves (after shoving a slice of old pizza in her mouth) and then Fred walks in with a box of pizza and says he wishes there was a better way to get rid of old pizza instead of just throwing it out - then Jason stares at him and goes 'oh my god' and back in she comes! Takes the pizza and runs out - in slo-motion, no less.
Kate and Cecily are hosting a fake 90s era show about how women should act to impress men at parties. I love it when they let the new girls carry the sketch! These two are golden! And apparently topics that will attract men include sports scores, blazers, travel mugs, and sports rumours. No wonder I don't have a boyfriend! I have definitely never talked to a guy about travel mugs - or done their next tip, which is 'cupping his elbow in both your hands while raising one knee'. What the hell?!
That was a pretty awesome episode - not quite the 'best ever' as Taran tweeted earlier, but pretty damn good nonetheless!!!