While Alec Baldwin‘s presence on SNl always makes the show better, last night’s finale was pretty phoned in. There were still funny parts, though — and, notably, the worst sketch of the entire season. Let’s focus on those.
After a so-so cold open featuring those dastardly oil executives, Baldwin gave his monologue as Saturday Night Live‘s “commencement address,” with a little help from Steve Martin:
The highlight of the show (which was so good my viewing partner and I immediately re-wound it and watched it again, which never happens) was the Digital Short, about Andy Samberg’s great day. The entire episode was saved by this short:
If you ever attempt to watch morning TV, you can’t miss seeing Sally Field’s commercials for the osteoporosis drug Boniva, in which she oddly says “I only get this one body and this one life,” and it’s been begging for the parody treatment. Abby Elliot does a good Sally Field in this spoof commercial for “Preniva,” the drug you take because you’re scared:
Weekend Update was strong this week, with three not-terrible guest appearances. Stefon is growing on me (“a cat from a bodega”):
And, as always, Snooki is…Snooki:
Even though Garth and Kat are more of a stunt act than a comedy team, they’re always kind of mesmerizing:
Bedelia, the teen who prefers her parents’ company to that of her peers, is back (though Baldwin calls her “Belinda” in the first line of the sketch):
I liked this one, “Some Big Shot,” with Baldwin as a businessman and Jenny Slate as a hooker because the punchline reminded me of the Mr. Show sensibility:
And now…the worst Saturday Night Live sketch of the 2009-2010 season: “Arizona Evenings,” starring Kristen Wiig as Starfish, the soap opera script supervisor who is terrible at her job due for some reason to having an overbite. I’m not going to get all “Why does Kristen Wiig keep relying on characters with physical deformities (or unusual-ties, or whatever) who also act inappropriately?” because, you know, it’s a comedy show, but it is starting to get repetitive and annoying and most of all, lazy. There isn’t a single moment in this sketch that isn’t a total cliche (“Thanks teeth, I mean Starfish.” Really? Are we that lazy? That’s basically a vaudeville joke):
This was a solid C finale to a B+ season, however (that’s a compliment!), and the Betty White episode proved SNL can try new things and succeed. So maybe next season will be the best ever!