A haiku:

Justin Timberlake
A host with the most, you know?
Ciara sings too!

Post those SBSs, reviews, thoughts, quips, and questions about tonight's episodes here.

As always, remember to play nice...

-Nick

nick, r u going to see either of these shows live (or in dress)

I was going to try to get to this one, but my line-sitting partner had some personal things come up so I won't be able to go up until next season because I something else already scheduled for next weekend.

Oh well...

-Nick

Man, they are just regurgitating the old Justin Timberlake skits.
At this rate, they will probably do the Barry Gibb Talk show too.
Timberlake tries hard to be funny, but not cutting it.
This is weak.
Goin to bed before it gets worse.

Well, you had to have expected a "Bring It On Down to ______ville" skit. The DS wasn't too bad. It's only bad if you compare it to D*** In a Box.

Another SNL digital classic...must have been what Godfather fans felt when Godfather II came out...well, maybe not, but it was very funny.

But when will Timberlake get a galpal who's easy on the eyes?

and how come Leonard Nimoy still looks like he did 25 years ago? is there a creepy portrait of him deteriorating in someone's closet?

Bonzo Called It!

Justin Timberlake ROCKS! This was one of the BEST shows in a very long time. The SNL digital short and the Plastic surgery skit had me rolling on the floor laughing. Ciara was awesome. Great job guys! I hope this episode will be available online as an all time classic.

I knew half of these skits would show up going in, but still loved it.

Great episode, although it was the night of to many stars.

What was Fallon holding at the end of the show, was it the peabody award the show won? hmm

Amazing best show ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

really? i thought that this DS was waaaay better than d*ck in a box. :\

Okay show. I didn't laugh out loud much but I was amused.
I didn't really care for any of the recurring stuff and the digital short.. I actually kind of liked Target lady though. I don't like the target lady character, but I thought Justin was funny.
Everything else was amusing in my opinion. I like behind the scenes monologues and it was nice having a new commercial instead of a repeat. I thought the pirates and disney pirates sketch was pretty funny.
Spitzer and Patterson during update was my favorite part of the night. Putting those two together was a brilliant idea!
I was surprised there wasn't a final sketch after the second song.

I was never into Justin Timberlake's music but I downloaded a few songs since he did Dead and gone with TI,great song and some of his own songs now grew on me.What made me pay attention was the movie Alpha dog which he did a while back,not saying he's a great actor but I really liked the movie.Ok this was his second time on SNL and I can't believe how bad it was,I think the writers are just using the copy/paste method too often like the Lindsay Lohan Debbie Downer skit.Did you guys learn nothing from The God Father/The Matrix/ect.ect.I really liked the "bring it on down to omeletteville ?"and laughed my ass off at the Bee Gee's skit the first time around(when Jimmy Fallon was dancing/kicking over the flowers in a fit at the end)but tonight it was just so watered down,so re manufactured it was just a big let down.

Hey, I thought Justin was Funny in Target Lady. I thought Justin was kind of Funny with Them being on the Boat Coming to America. Jody

Loved the mom celebrity translator.

3rd.

He even said in the monologue.

Geithner Address – As somebody who has been following the banking scandal and the not-so-stressful tests with great interest, I liked this sketch. The sketch kept it simple and didn't focus on the questionable assumptions in the test. Good representation of the general level of the cluelessness of the banks and their contempt for anything remotely approaching regulation. Grade: B

Timberlake Monologue – Justin sings during the monologue. I didn't see that coming. It's kind of an amusing backstage sketch. The best part was the “wardrobe malfunction” reference when he yanked off part of Kristen's dress. Grade: B-

Celebrity Name Translator – Mildly amusing commercial of a situation we have probably all experienced. The product was clever and the parts were well played. Grade: B+

Target Lady – The JT episodes are becoming too predictable. I guess we should hold him accountable for bringing back this sketch since the host has a lot of input on what sketches air and this one was on last time. I found this to be the worst of this horrible recurring sketch. Nothing funny here and a terrible choice for the first post-monologue live sketch. Grade: F

Coming to America - I guess you gotta be a JT fan to love such an ego piece as this one. Nothing more than a recounting of his life under the guise of a sketch. What's with all of the little girls screaming in this episode anyway? When Andy walked out it was if Brad Pitt just stepped on stage. The only good part was when Bobby asked it would lessen the excitement if JT kept reappearing on the same show. If they keep doing crappy sketches, then yes it definitely lessens the excitement. Grade: D-

Mother Lover digital short – The DIAB guys are back but not quite reformed. Doing each other's mother as a Mother's Day gift is a funny concept and the video was well done. Not as shocking or catchy as Dick but still pretty good. Love the Susan Sarandon cameo. Grade: A-

Plasticville – Wow, what a surprise! They bring back the street singer. It was funny the first time when JT was an omelet, but they have bled this turnip dry. Even Forte looked bored with this one. The refrain “Bring it on down to Plasticville” seems forced and is no longer funny. Grade: D

Weekend Update - The jokes were decent especially the Photoshop jokes. Patterson is definitely getting old but it was much more tolerable to see him together with Spitzer. Hader and Armisen make a good comedy duo. Even though I love Star Trek and Spock is my favorite all-time TV character, I winced at the obvious paid promotion during Weekend Update. Even more obvious, the “commentary” was immediately followed by a Star Trek commercial. Grade: B+

Barry Gibb Show – And no JT template show is complete without the highly annoying Barry Gibb Show. As usual, buddy Fallon returns but this time without Drew or Cameron. Grade: F

Somalian Pirates - Perhaps the only really original sketch tonight and easily my favorite. The idea that the shipments got mixed up between the real pirate and the Disney pirates is a good one. And it was well played by all. Kenan makes a great pirate and JT seems natural as a gay pirate (Orlando's character). Grade: A

Overall – Tonight JT solidified his reputation as the most overrated host with me anyway. He brings nothing new to the show and his infamous “energy” is easily overshadowed by his equally infamous ego. What happened to the five-to-one sketch? Did they run out of time because of the Star Trek commercial? Most of what I wrote last time JT hosted is true for last night as well. Lame show. Justin's 2006 Appearance Grade: C-

that was his college diploma that he just got

Episode Review: Justin Timberlake

Pre-show thoughts. I have to lay my cards on the table straightaway and say that I’ve only got a limited amount of tolerance for JT, so much so that I almost skipped this episode. I don’t think he’s a bad person (far from it), but I just find his giggly smugness inexplicably irritating. Anyway, we shall see.

CO. I though this was a pretty dull opener. Will did this Tim Geitner skit as a CO a few episodes ago and I though it was slow then. It’s not that they’re unfunny, they’re just a bit pedestrian, partly because Geitner is such a drab character in the first place.

Monologue. Justin knows his way around. Not a surprise that he broke into a song, and I don’t like his voice, but I have to give JT credit here. He pulled this off well, very like a Broadway number in fact, a lively performance and I particularly enjoyed the way he worked all this season’s hosts in. I love seeing the backstage stuff, and a classy cameo from Lorne again. Good monologue.

Celebrity translator for Moms. This was a cute idea, not laugh out loud funny perhaps but original.

Target Lady. I’m a bit tired of this sketch really, and this didn’t elevate it above any of its previous versions. JTs character wasn’t great, and I thought the risqué Barbara Bush joke more embarrassing than dangerous (as did the audience, judging by the audible mass intake of breath).

Immigrants. Some ropey Irish accents here! A nice ensemble sketch, with a few good jokes thrown in by several cast members (Bobby’s – so your grandson will be a girl – was the best). I realize that JT is poking fun at himself here, but you still get the feeling that he is his own number one fan. Huge studio laughs at the nailing Britney joke, which I felt was rather cruel, personally.

Digital Short. Well, a predictable rude one here. I’m probably the only person who didn’t think D*** in a box was that funny, and I thought this was OK but not great. Just not my sort of humour I am afraid, though if I was 15 years younger I might have enjoyed it more.

Omeletteville-type skit. Predictably, another one of these sketches. Will’s not so good a straight man as Parnell was in the original, he doesn’t have Parnell’s pathos. I found this a bit tedious really, the energetic dancing by JT got old quickly.

WU. Yet again, the highlight of the show. The quality of the WUs has been really high this whole season, so credit to Seth and the writers. I loved the Photoshop opener, what a brilliant observation. Great idea to bring in Patterson and Spitzer together, two great impressions and the way they yanked each others chains was great. Good interplay. Bill looked an awful like Jim Carrey’s Grinch with his cheesy smile. Fun to see the Star Trek folks too, nice round of applause for the likeable Nimoy. Good to see a cameo like this.

Barry Gibb. Yet another predictable sketch. I thought this was a really funny sketch the first time but the joke is wearing conspicuously thin now. The other actors are basically bit-parts who get a sentence or two then Jimmy gets angry. Same old, same old.

Somali Pirates. The most original idea of the night by far, the real pirates and the Disney pirates get mixed up. Some good lines by Kristen, since I am sure the actors in these roles get seriously sick of the tourists. I think they should have had this sketch before WU and extended it even more, in lieu of the repetitive sketches that they did use.

Overall, I felt faintly bored by this episode. JT had a lively monologue in which he impressed me, but the rest of the episode just reinforced my view of him as smug and irritating. I wish they hadn’t put so many reworked sketches in as it just comes across as laziness on behalf of the writers, though of course I don’t know what went on behind the scenes so it may be that JT pushed strongly to have them included. The show seemed really light tonight too, with an unusually high number of intervals and musical breaks. I hope there’s a bit of a break before JT hosts again, I don’t know if I can stand Omeletville or Barry Gibb any more.

I didn’t post a review of the Tracy Morgan episode because I couldn’t raise the enthusiasm. I never thought Tracy was that funny personally, most of his comedy was just based on him ‘talking street’ and the episode was a series of fairly uninspired redos of his old characters. The monologue was good, to be fair.

Still, Will Ferrell is hosting the finale, with Green Day as the musical act so hopefully the season will end on a high note after a clear slump once the election stuff was past. I’m a huge fan of Ferrell and Green Day are a quality band, so fingers crossed for a big finale.

I thought last night's show with Justin Timberlake was just too Timberlake.
The guy is way too hammy.
So he's the host,
then he shows up in every single skit,
even though Bill Hader doesn't show up until the show is half over.
Then, Timberlake shows up again with the musical act.
He's talented to a degree, but not so much that
he should dominate the entire show.
If he hosts again, hopefully they trim him down some.

I only caught the WU portion of the show since my sister thought I wouldn't want to watch it at all (not being a Timberlake fan at all...or a Ciara one for that matter). My DVR wasn't kind enough to tape it on both TV's I was happy to see Quinto and Pine (and Nimoy...oh Leonard Nimoy you shall always remain my first Trek crush no matter how old you get) and how sad is it that while they might or might not have understood what they were talking about I could instantly think of which companion book they needed to get the facts straight?

Regardless my father liked the political skit at the beginning, had no use for most of the rest of the show, enjoyed most of the WU (he usually does however, though he isn't sure if he's keen on Seth staying a solo act or not), and well as usual he wanted to throw something at the TV when the digital short came on. He hasn't liked a single one of those (though the Seth Rogan one a few weeks ago got him to chuckle at least).

I thought this show was Great!!!
(smiling just remembering some of the skits!)

Not a fan of Timberlake but he had his funny moments.

The cameos by all the actors in or out of skits were Funtastic as well!!

And it looks like they had fun doing it!

!!SNL ROCKS!!

Might as well add my two bits before I read the thread, I don't want anyone else's reaction to the show to even affect mine subconsciously.
J-Tim/Ciara 5/9/08

Cold Open:
Geithner bit again, a little more entertaining than the first one. Did go on, but I am a patient caveman.

Monologue:
Not a big fan of the monologue portion, or boy band music, but this was highly entertaining. I love them using so many cast members, the Lorne cameo I like so much when they throw it in there, and the song was well written, "I Think I Know My Way Around", I loved the wardrobe malfunction callback when he ripped Kristen's dress, and of course mentioning the name of every host of the season.

Commercial:
Celebrity Name Mom Translator.
Refreshingly original and 'cute'.

Ellis Island, 1883:
A little self indulgent, but I liked it. Newly arriving immigrants speculate about their great great grandkids, Justin obviiously sings about his story, the boy band, the clothing style, 'tapping that' (Britney), and then Andy's bit. I liked his self-deprecating humor, his voice is 'workable'.
You know what, Jew, you're all right (and here we go).
TO THE NEW WORLD!

Digital Short:
ALL RIGHT! A direct sequel that I hoped they'd do.
3 months later, Andy & Justin get out of jail, throw away their boxes with holes in them, then sing about banging each other's Moms for Mother's Day. They're going to have to re-name it "All up under the covers Day".
Nice cameo by Susan Sarandon, the Moms seem like cougars who liked it.
I give it an eleven.

Sidewalk Rivals:
I'm glad they brought back this bit, I always like it.
It made me want to "Bring it on down to Plastic-ville".
Mores songs per square minute in this show than I can remember, Justin earned his scale this week, that's for sure...

WU:
Good jokes.
Guests include Spitzer and Patterson, always a hit with me. Funny stuff
Other guests include Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto, plugging the new Star Trek movie, getting the stinkeye from Trekkies in the audience.
I loved Leonard Nimoy's cameo as Spock calling the ones who don't like the movie 'd!ckheads'.

Barry Gibb Talk Show:'I would have been unsatisfied if they didn't do this bit, what with Jimmy working in the building.
Talkin' 'bout chest hair....talkin;' 'bout crazy cool medalluions.
I will rip out you innards and play jump rope with them!
Do you have anything to say, Robin? No. No, I don't.

Cargo Shipping Malfunctions:
Interesting premise, Somali pirates get their arms shipment mixed up with Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, and get toys while the cast get real weapons. Loved it, best 12:50 sketch in a long time.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
USE MY SKETCH IDEAS!
I SHALL NOT BE MOCKED!

Only one show to go?
What oh what will I do this summer, have to talk to my family? Yikes!

See you at the finale
~mr michael~
//00\\

Cold Open : Funny enough take on the bank stress tests, but maybe a little obvious. I am glad to see the banks get made fun of though, and to see SNL represent the world's general disillusionment with the world's banks.

6/10

Monologue: Being the classy showman that he is, Timberlake was excellent at this song-and-dance routine. While it may not have been hilarious, it left me with a big stupid grin on my face, and got me pumped for the show.

8/10

Celebrity Name Translator – Hilarious concept, as it is exactly what my own mother does, but it wasn't executed as well as I'd have liked it. One thing in particular that stands out is "Breakdance Fountain" - Mom-speak for Brokeback Mountain.

6/10

Target Lady – Oh man, I loved this. Timberlake was characteristically awesome here as Target Lady's friend Peg, and most definitely outshone the titular character. His delivery was just perfect, as was the costuming. I also loved Kenan's character's description of Target Lady's voice : a voice box covered in egg.

8/10


Coming to America - Possibly my favourite of the night. Being Irish, I got to laugh at the accents - Timberlake's was surprisingly the best. It may have just been an excuse to relive some of Justin Timberlake's earlier career, but it was high-larious. My favourite line: "He'll sing a song about bringing sexy back."..." 'Twill be gone & he'll bring it back!" I loved Samberg's ancestor character also - "With him, it'll be more about the charisma." Also, props to the set and costumes crew - nice work!

9/10

Motherlover Digital Short: The D*ck In A Box guys make a welcome return to carry out the "second-best idea" they've ever had. I could tell you what it's about but it wouldn't seem nearly as funny as it actually is. Nice cameos from Susan Sarandon & Patricia Clarkson as the guys' mothers. Best DS in a while.

8/10


Plasticville - To be honest, I never saw the big deal about this one. Amusing - sure, hilarious and meriting a recurring sketch - no. But I appear to be in the minority judging by the audience's response last night. What I did like was JT's take of Poker Face (Mediocre Face). However I did spend a chunk of the sketch looking for split ends in my hair. But it's probably just me.

6/10

Weekend Update - Not as good as some recent Weekend Updates. I can literally remember two jokes that made me laugh out loud - the Manny Ramirez one & the Maggie Gyllenhaal/Peter Sarsgaard (or is that Aaaraa) jokes. Others were just amusing. Regarding Spitzer & Paterson, I've decided I like Paterson better sans Spitzer. Frankly the thought of Eliot Spitzer with a prostitute makes my stomach churn, and I can't muster up laughs for it, so a good chunk of that sketch was spent repressing horrible visual images that wouldn't go away. I loved the cameos of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto & Leonard Nimoy. Also, did Nimoy get away with saying dickheads on air? Nice!

7.5/10

Barry Gibb Show – I love these ones & while I don't think this was as funny as the last one, I still really enjoyed it. Perhaps my favourite part of the sketch was when Barry pleaded with Robin to say something, and pretend that there was nobody there, causing Timberlake to briefly break character. I have also been singing the theme tune all day, so that's gotta count for something.

8/10

Somalian Pirates - One of the most original, imaginative, high concept sketches in a while. It consisted of a mix-up causing Somali pirates to receive a shipment of toy swords and guns, while a Pirates of the Caribbean street performance group received authentic swords and AK-47's (is that right, gun nuts?) I thought it really succeeded in condensing the story to a few minutes. I literally need a list for all the things I loved in this sketch:

Fred playing with the toy pirate.
Michaela Watkins' bored and apathetic helpline girl.
Bill's character proclaiming that being in The Little Mermaid was his dream.
Justin's gay pirate voice.
Kristen's character asking for Thursday off.
9/10

Justin Timberlake is awesome-every time he's on the show-whether as host or just making a guest appearance-it's amazing. I love his timing and the fact that he can make fun of himself. I hope he continues to pop up on the show for a long time to come.

The pirates and disney pirates sketch was so funny. When Kristen's character came out with the machine gun and cigar, I couldn't stop laughing.

I never saw the full other two episodes in which Mr. Timberlake hosted. I knew the take it on to ____vile was from the one of the times he hosted.

Overall I thought it was funny.

I thought Weekend Update was kind of weak up until the governors and star trek bits.

I get that same feeling too.

I agree with you. While I did laugh at the joke I thoght it was childish and in very bad taste.
I thought JT was better than that. Guess not.


Did you guys notice all the booing that occured during WU? The crowd was very against The Spitzer and Pattinson bit.

i would imagine that that's from all of the new jersey jokes. i bet there's a lot of people who see the show who are from there or like it, or whatever. lol.

according to rumors, rachel dratch appeared in dress as debbie downer

Actually, that might not have been it. I noticed that they stronly disapproved of the "poll" joke. (Maybe my fav joke all night...)

Hey FarleyRules. Sorry about being Sooo Late with Last Week's Show. I Couldn't Get To My Review Until Friday and then It wouldn't Go. I didn't care for the Cold Opening. I guess that I will Give C. I think I will Give the Monologue B. I will Give that Mom's Translator A. I did think that Bill and Bobby were Too Old to be Michalea's Sons. I am going to Give 2 Grades for Target Lady. I will Give Target Lady F because Kristen did Nothing and I will Give A for Justin because I thought he was Hilarious. I thought Justin was Funnier than when He had his Chap Stick. I Liked Justin in Target Lady Better than Neil Patrick Harris in the Traffic Controllers. I Enjoyed Them Coming To America. I think I will Give B. I thought This was THE Best Digital Short of the Season. I Liked D*ck In A Box the Best, but I will Give A. I Liked Andy Singing to Maya and I Liked the Dancing in D*ck In A Box. I Hated Plasticville. I will Give F because I Wanted Will to Sing Far Out, but I guess that He knows that He Can't Outdo Justin and also The Person is Supposed to not be Good. Also, I think that Justin was Bored. He just Waved His Arms and did A Few Steps. Usually, He does some Good Dance Moves. I thought that was A Pretty Good Week End Update. I think Bill and Fred are Good Together, but I am Getting Tired of David Patterson. I didn't think Fred would Wander around the Studio with Bill there, but I was Wrong. I Enjoyed Star Trek and I don't even like Star Trek. I liked the way that Leonard Nimoy Called the People who don't like the New Star Trek Movie D*ckheads and I Liked Bobby and Kenan's Reaction by Turning their Head to the Side as if to say Hmmm, You know He's Right. I Guess that I will Give B. I don't think that Cameron or Drew has ever been on Barry Gibb. I will Give 2 Grades for Barry Gibb. I will Give F for the Guests. I Really Enjoyed Jimmy and Justin and how Justin got Tickled with Jimmy so I will Give A. I didn't care for the Pirates. I think that was A Clever Idea, but I don't think it was Funny when I saw It. I will Give F. I Still didn't care for Ciara. I Give F for Both Songs. I Like Justin Timberlake, but Plasticville and Barry Gibb Brought This Down. I guess that I will Give C Overall. Jody

JT is wearing out his welcome on the show as far as I'm concerned, but this episode is still worth a look to see the digital short and Somalian Pirates sketch.

Hey UnFrozeCavemanLawyer. You Forgot Target Lady. I know that Nobody Likes Target Lady, but did you like Justin as Peg ? I thought Justin was Hilarious. Jody

Hey FallSemester. Justin had that _____ vile Sketch on the Other 2 Times He Hosted.

The First Time He Hosted, Christ Parnell I think was Advertising A Resturant and that was when Justin had Omeletvile. The Second Time He Hosted, It looked like Seth to me and He was Santa Claus. Justin was Rasing Money for the Homeless so He had Homelessvile. Jody

Well when i watched the backstage stuff it said that they were suppose to do one more skit but they didn't have time so they had to cut it but that they would be doing it again

did anyone else have a childrens miracle network marathon thing on nbc until about 3am instead of snl?

nope i had snl, i thought the stanley cup finals would get in the way but i was wrong

Ditto what that guy said.

I thought this episode was awesome! I was so excited to see "Motherlover". Andy Samberg is such an amazing man!