http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/snl-make...n-and-gaga_6821

congrats to drew for being the first women to host more than 5 times.

oops that is supposed to say the 10 and not the 8. Sorry about that, how do i edit that?

With my magic fingers.

thank you magic one

I'm really looking forward to this one. I love Drew Barrymore & I love Regina Spektor even more.

*same*

I hope they bring down Fallon for this episode.

Hi, I've planned a holiday in NY around this date and as I love Regina Spektor I thought I'd try and get a standby ticket. How popular is this one likely to get, can anyone make an educated guess? I don't particularly want to be there from mid-day on friday!

Well then, as someone who's done the Standby Line, I'd say that you'd be risking not getting a ticket. The weather will be the biggest indicator of how late you can show up to the line. Better weather means people show up earlier, worse weather; later. Though, if you're looking to show up any time on Saturday itself, odds are you won't get into the show.

You can always check the line out before you sit in it. I know I've seen people scoping out the line a few hours in advance of them getting into it. That way they don't stay in it any longer than they need to.

Good luck!

-Nick

Ack! I love Regina.I will stay up to see that show.

I'm a big SNL fan, but that Larry King/wiener skit was one of the worst ever.
Also, I don't get the appeal of Drew Barrymore.

Where is everybody?

Yeah, not a great show.

The Obama open was lame. Nick's Kanye West & Gandhi (interrupting Obama's peace prize award) would have rocked.

Larry King? Wasn't he parodied like 100 years ago? Is he still alive?

Note to the writers: Rush Limbaugh has lost weight and is not fat. Doesn't everyone know this?

This was the show that almost could have been funny. I don't know if it was the writing or the actors that caused everything to fall just short of funny.

Scrooge McDuck....Lame! Rush Limbaugh is not fat anymore and his drug problems are old news. Come on guys stay up to date, think of something new to say or better yet, something actually funny!!!!

Tonight's show was horrible.
After last weeks with Lady Gaga I had high hopes, however tonights show was an embarassment, and a parody of SNL.
Ever Skit was worse than the next.
Drew seemed unprepaired as did some of the players.
That Al Fresco thing was just plain ridiculous.
And Who and Why is Regina?..That song was well....worthless.

That was great! Regina Spektor rocked. Thanks!

I completely agree! What were the writers thinking? There is stupid and there is "STUPID!" Seriously what were they thinking???

So the President gets given a Nobel Peace Prize for doing diddly-squat and you open SNL with THAT?! Is that all you can come up with? Oh come on!! You're being given material on a plate and all the writers could come up with was THAT lousy intro to the show?!!

Look guys, the intro to SNL is INCREDIBLY important. It was so lame that it set the tone for the rest of the show. Please don't use the excuse that you only had a day to write that sketch, there were funnier jokes on the Internet in a couple of HOURS of the nobel peace prize news hitting the airwaves, and that AWFUL intro is all you could come up with?!! Or did you do it on purpose because you're all such Obama fan boys??!! Seriously guys, LAME intro for an absolutely DISASTROUS show.

Tonight's show was so incredibly lame (yes, I have to keep using the word lame because if I used words that I really meant, this post would get deleted and you'd never see it...), that here I am, writing on a message board hardly anyone reads because I feel that strongly about it.

Opening intro by Drew Barrymore: LAME. It was the same joke, like 7 times. Ha, ha, she said "Barrymore!" Ha, ha, the cast member poked fun at my slanty mouth. LAME.

Gilly? LAME. You TOTALLY killed the Gilly series tonight. I was fond of that sketch until you killed it this evening. You dragged it out (probably because you lazy lame writers couldn't think of anything new to write) and over-exposed the sketch to the point where no-one cares about Gilly any more. First time you used it? HILARIOUS. Second time you used it, ENJOYABLE! Third time you used it? Okay, it used to be good. And tonight? LAME. It was long and predictable and, oh, did I say LAME?

Biography Channel / Celebrity Ghosts: Guess what? LAME. Who the heck knows who Charlene Yi is?!! The audience didn't that's for sure. Watch your own show back, NO-ONE LAUGHED. There was like a puzzled silence and a polite laugh. You must sit around your writers table thinking that everyone is so clever and funny as you, well, guys, you're NOT funny. LISTEN TO YOUR AUDIENCE. Lame. Lame. LAME.

University of Westfield Credit where credit is due, this was the ONLY decent part of the show tonight. How embarrassing is that -- that this was the ONLY thing worth watching tonight?! The mumble at the end by Jenny Slate was great and it was good to see the fringe cast members in on this sketch.

Vinny Videcci Awful. And I'm only using the word "awful" because you're probably bored of me using the word "lame". It's lame that I was using the word "lame" so often. Your lameness is contagious and now I am lame. But I will carry on being lame for the rest of this blog post BECAUSE YOU WERE LAME FOR ONE AND A HALF HOURS SO ONE EXTRA LAME FORUM POST ISN'T GOING TO MATTER!!! Nothing funny whatsoever in the Vinny Videcci sketch, what a waste of talent those cast members are. You should try playing to their strengths instead of lazy-lame sketch-writing that is simply not funny.

Regina Spekter Did she KNOW the show was lame?! Is that why she thought she would sing out of tune during her first song?!! My goodness!! I actually like Regina Spekter's records but her SNL appearances tonight were absolutely awful!!! And Drew Barrymore GUSHING all over her and referring to her as the "talented Regina Spekter" and/or the "brilliant Regina Spekter" (Spekter/Spektor, whatever, I'm going to be LAME and not spell check anything...) that was just embarrassing. You can't gush over someone who sings out of tune.

What the heck was going on tonight?! What was going on in the writer's office this week?! Did you all get cocky over the success of last week's show, which was EPIC?! Brilliant show last week, absolutely ABYSMAL show this week. I have no idea how the cast took to the stage at the end of the show and had the AUDACITY to start smiling and waving to the audience after. Actually, I think the cast knew how bad the show was. They hardly hugged anyone and they were looking around to see how quickly they could get off the stage. And I don't blame them.

WRITERS OF SNL: TRY BEING FUNNY. SNL PRODUCERS: HIRE SOME WRITERS WHO ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO BE FUNNY OR WRITE COMEDY.

Weekend Report Again, lame as a llama that is medically lame. Still no decent Obama/Nobel Peace Prize jokes here?!! Oh come on Seth, I was hoping you could salvage the show but alas not. The Gold Duck guest spot?! No WONDER Andy Samberg asked to play that character, it meant he could totally disguise himself so he wouldn't get recognized that he was part of such a LAME show. Again, credit where credit is due, Keenan playing Maya Angelou got a SMIRK out of me.

ESPN Women's Pool You have GOT to be kidding me? 10 minutes of the lamest SET UP just for the "pulling the strings" gag? This is beyond inexperienced writing, this is the kind of writing you get from 8 year old who put on skits for their family. Actually, I take that back because that's doing a disservice to 8 year olds. "Pulling the strings"?!! Who the heck is pulling the strings at NBC letting this lousy lame show go out at all? This sketch was horrible. Totally pointless. Not funny. Complete waste of time.

Cooking Al Fresco No-one knows what you're talking about!!! No-one knows what the heck this was. Was it a parody? If so, you know people need to know what you are parodying before you parody, right? Otherwise, it's not parody. Has the world gone mad?!! Is the world on drugs?!!! Is the world so drugged that they gave a Nobel Peace Prize to someone who "had a vision", and is the world so drugged that the SNL writers thought they could get away with this MONSTROSITY of UNFUNNY TV? See? I'm even resorting to calling it "TV" because tonight was not even a "comedy". Do you even know what comedy is anymore?!!!

So let's recap. Awful season opener. Awesome Show #2. Lamest SNL ever in week 3. That's terrible consistency and does not give high hopes for the rest of the season, does it? That's a 33% winning streak. You're like the LA Galaxy soccer team with David Beckham on your team. Everyone's talking about you and you're the hottest team in the league, yet you hardly ever win and you never win anything. LAME.

Larry King Skit Unfunny. Lame. Not even sure why you got out of bed this week.

Digital Short I am SO naive. I thought, "Yay! A digital short will save this show!", but what a LAME thought that was. How lame am I to naively think something could be funny this week. Literally, the WORST Digital Short EVER. It was so bad it does not even deserve to be titled as a Digital Short.

Barnes & Noble skit Good. God. This was LAME. It was like watching CSPAN!!! How was this supposed to be funny? Again, do you even know who is watching your show?!! Did you really think they would find this funny?!!

Yes, mock the fact that my point and post is so irrelevant because all I've got to say is "Lame, Lame, Lame", but trust me, all your viewers now?!! They're gonna have a hard time justifying watching your show again. Because it was LAME. And the truth needs to be told.

SNL = Still No Laughter

And that's because you're all LAME.

+1

Last week's show was awesome.

This week? Worst ever. Incredibly bad.

What makes it worse is all the things in the news this week that they could have used as material: Obama and the mysterious Nobel Peace Prize award, David Letterman caught with his pants down, and NASA trying to blow up the moon. I guess you tried (but failed miserably) with the Obama jokes tonight. I guess that was because it happened on Friday and you didn't have time to write anything. Approximately 24+ hours to write a joke about Obama and that's all you came up with tonight?! 13 year olds were photoshopping better jokes within HOURS of seeing the news. Obviously 24+ hours isn't enough for you guys. I HATE to think what opening sketch you pulled to replace it with the Obama sketch, you obviously had one lined up until the Nobel Peace Prize news story on Friday. And you replaced it with that trash?! Why didn't you cover any of the other big stories in the news this week?

Incredibly disappointed with SNL tonight. I really can't be bothered to watch it again.

Absolutely AWFUL show tonight. So bad that I've mentioned it totally sucked in like 4 forum threads here already. I hope to God that someone in NBC and someone close to SNL reads all this feedback. And what makes that funnier is that I am an athiest.

She sang out of tune. It was an incredibly moribund and insipid performance. Just like the rest of the show.

That's kinda odd, considering last week people said that episode was the worst. And the week before that everybody said that episode was the worst ever. I cant wait to see what you guys say about next weeks episode.

Drew Barrymore/Regina Spektor

Pre-show thoughts. I am quite optimistic about this one, given Drew’s familiarity with hosting and last week’s great episode. Don’t know much about Regina Spektor.

CO. Not a surprise to see a piece about Obama’s Nobel. Not a bad start, though it had a really rushed feel to it and ended very abruptly. Fred’s impression was better than before, though still not great. To be fair to Fred, Obama doesn’t give him a lot of mannerisms to work with, and it doesn’t help that Fred’s face has got noticeably chubbier over the years!

Monologue. Good to see a host who looks so happy and excited to be there. I like Drew as a person, and the idea behind her introducing clips of famous old Barrymores was a good one, but it fell a bit flat sadly. I honestly couldn’t see what the joke was. Was it that the Victorians were all talking in the style of modern teenagers? I didn’t get it I am afraid.

Gilly. (these sketches may be listed out of sequence, I am going from memory). I shuddered when I saw the set-up for this hideous skit. What partly redeemed it from being the exact same thing every time was Drew’s Italian counterpart. Still, I changed channels halfway through and didn’t feel like I missed much. I did enjoy Abby’s character though, she has enough youth on her side to play this part well (to my embarrassment, I didn’t realize until recently that she’s the daughter of Chris Elliot, the former SNL player and self-confessed flop).

Digital short. Magicians. This was a flubber that I presume was written by the same people who did the commercial where Kristen can’t get the lid off the jar and ends up killing her husband etc etc. It started off as being reasonably funny but then got extended to the point of being ridiculous and I couldn’t wait for it to end, partly because it reminded me of that awful Noonies sketch Fred used to be in. I realize that a lot of comedy is based on a normal situation that gets elevated but in this case it seemed to go off on a tangent.

Musical guest. Regina had an annoying, whiny high pitched voice that I just couldn’t stomach. The songs themselves were pretty mundane too.

WU. Not one of the better WUs but still the best part of the show by a long way. I do agree with other posters that hammering Rush for prescription drug abuse is rather old.
Bill’s James Carville impression was probably the highlight for me, he really captures his general creepiness and the way he laughs.

Vinnie Vedecci. One of the better ones of this rather formulaic sketch, I especially liked the gag about her baring her assets to Letterman. Kudos to Drew for tackling her childhood drugs abuse too.

Al fresco cooking. Though this was undeniably stupid, I did rather enjoy it. It was quite a fun idea to have birds alighting on the food and also dipping the bread in the marinara sauce. I’d never thought of cooking shows being ruined in this way, so it was neat concept.

Pool players. Not a bad sketch, with some good interplay between Jason and Will, even though it did feel a little like the judges from ‘Best in Show’ (Fred Willard’s character plus the British judge). Great final line about pulling some strings – I wonder if Tina Fey popped back in briefly to write that one. To their credit, Jason and Will do play well off each other.

I wonder why they insist on using Kristen in generic skits like this one. I don’t recall her having anything to say, so why couldn’t they have used one of the new cast members in this role and given them some experience?

Celebrities seeing ghosts. This didn’t quite come off, but I give them credit here for at least having a funny idea. Abby’s Anna Faris impression was superb (she looks a bit like her in real life, now that I think of it). Good MacConnaughey impression by Drew’s man from the computer commercials, can’t recall his name.

Overall thoughts. This was somewhere between the ‘average’ and ‘average to low’ scale, not helped by a weak musical guest and a WU that was a tad weaker than usual.

Having said that, I didn’t think it was nearly as bad a show as everyone else apparently did. Drew did what she could, she was bubbly and energetic, and there were a couple of sketches here that weren’t far off being great. Can you imagine the birds eating the Al Fresco food sketch if it had starred Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch for instance, or Chris Farley and Cheri Oteri? Those would have been brilliant. And even the celebrities seeing ghosts sketch was a gem of an idea, it just fell short on the night for some reason. The pool players sketch was an original idea too, and now that I think back, this show contained a higher proportion of original sketches than, say, a Justin Timberlake show. I like to see original sketches, particularly since they spare us the likes of Gilly.

Gerard Butler next week will be an interesting host I think, he seems like the kind of person who will throw himself into things and be willing to try some crazy ideas.

Cold Open: Obama winning the Nobel prize, what a shock!! They could've done much better than what they did. And once again Armisen's Obama was weak. It's like he's phoning it in. C

Monologue: Meh. It's cool that Barrymore is the first female host to be on more than 5 times but overall it was average. The "old timey videos" were OK but Wiig ruined it with her "one size fits all" female character voice. OTOH Jenny Slate(I think she was in it) did great. C+

Gilly: FAIL! Who the hell wants to watch Wiig do her Suze Orman voice in few word bursts? Plus whenever something happens, the teacher going in the same order between the students got old fast. How dense do you gotta be to not realize it's Gilly's fault? UGH!! And Bobby Moynihan's over the top squeaky little kid voice got old fast too. I think it was appropriate to name Barrymore's "Gigli" like the crappy, forgettable movie. Why couldn't they both blow up? F

Celebrity Ghosts: Meh. Seemed more like an excuse to have celebrity cameos thrown in. Is everyone going to have a "significant other" this season? C

Digital Short: Continuing the streak of not so good shorts this season. I agree that it was too long. That's another trend: skits that are painful are extended longer than they should be. C-

Vinny Veddicci: Yet another example of why Bill Hader is the best guy currently on the show. The writing was a bit weak, but Hader still did the best with what he was given, and so did Barrymore. Big Bobby as his "kid" was blah, but the picture of Vinny's "wife" was WIN. A-

Regina Specter #1: Who? I never heard of this chick before and I can see why, and it doesn't have to do with the fact she's not in my favourite genre of music(hint: it's in my name!). How boring! This was like a boring lounge act, not a SNL musical performance. I'm no fan of Lady GaGa, but at least she put on a show! I didn't care for her singing but she is one hell of a performer. I'm surprised the audience wasn't comatose after that. D

Weekend Update: A little better with the Obama Nobel jokes. And Bill Hader's Carville was spot on. Some people complain about the Limbaugh jokes being "dated", but I don't care. Any time Rush is bashed, it's good. It's timely because it shows his hypocrisy. B(overall) A(Hader's Carville)

Pool Players: It was OK, although some of the best lines out of this skit were in out of the Tampax "commercials". At least that's all I can remember from it. B-

Regina Specter #2: Boring like the first one. I found myself checking my pulse after that. All she can do is smile. D-

Cooking Show: Finally, Bobby Moynihan had a role where he shined!! That was the best Guy Fieri impression I've seen. It was spot on and he looked like him. SNL needs to do a Diners and Drive Ins spoof. The rest of the skit was boring, minus the fake birds(which I thought were bats at first!). Comically fake animals are always a win. Fieri and the fake birds are forcing me to give this a higher grade. B

I thought Reg did a fabulous job,but that's coming from a Spektor fan.She's a very original artist,not like most people these days.

For those of you who didn't like the performance,maybe you should try this.

I kinda liked that they did the Charlene Yi impression to wrap the Celeb Ghost Hunters sketch, but did anyone outside of UCB or The Groundlings get it?

i got it. haha. she's been on 30 rock and was in that paper hearts movie. plus she's done a couple talk shows and such. but i did think it was fairly obscure.

Shorter than usual review due to time constraints and the feeling that if the SNL writers won't put forth much effort, why should I?

Cold Open - Very rushed without any surprises. Just poking fun at the Nobel prize isn't enough. Watercoolers around the world had better jokes than this. Grade: D

Monologue - Drew is likable, but has been a surprisingly inconsistent host. Like the Walken sketch a few years back, everybody gets a chance to do their impression of the host. Abby was the best, Andy was the worst. Grade: C-

Gilly - There are some SERIOUS problems in SNL land if the powers that be actually think this sketch is funny, let alone funny enough to be the first sketch. Repetition can be funny but, does not guarantee laughs. I hate it when the audience applauds a character merely because they RECOGNIZE the character, not because the sketch is any good. Seems to be SNL's MO these days. Pathetic. Grade: F

Celebrity Ghosts - Gee, an impression sketch. How original. The "stories" were completely forgettable so we were left with moderately bad to awful impressions of "celebrities". Grade: D

Vinny Vedecci - Another recurring sketch with nothing new added. Fill in the blanks with the script. Grade: C-

Weekend Update - Pretty much par for the course: Some decent jokes followed by at least one watchable guest (Hader) and a couple of crummy guests (Samberg and Thompson). Grade: C+

Pool Tournament - 90s retro. A chance for Drew to do an eccentric character. Her character was funny, but unfortunately the focus was on Sudeikis and Forte as clueless commentators. Missed opportunity. Grade: C

Larry King Live - Truly a one-joke sketch that was funny for about 10 seconds. The Urigro/Bladdivan writer continues his obsession with penises, this time focusing on the other thing they can do. Grade: C-

Digital Short: Magicians - When Drew hosts, the Lonely Island bunch seems to go 80s retro. Remember the 80s exercise video? This one was just mildly amusing and not nearly as annoying as another rap video. Grade: C

Book Reading - Wow, another character we have seen a few times before. This time we learn his name his Hamilton and we get to learn a little of his back story. As it turns out, it is a story best left untold. Grade: D

Overall - A hugely disappointing episode especially after following two incredibly weak episodes to start the season. 2009-2010 is on track to be the worst season in recent memory. Grade: D+

The Monologue at least had the Cast Playing Members of her Family. Kristen was being Ethel Barrymore and Bill was being Lionel Barrymore. The Last Sketch was not like Watching CSPAN. They don't do that on CSPAN. Will was being that Creepy Guy and He was Funny. Jody

Hello PuddleDuck. The Magicians were near the End of the Show. I didn't think Regina Spector was Whiny, but She was All over the Place. She sang High and then she sang Low and I Read that She sang out of Tune. I Hated Her. I think that She may be the Worst Singer ever. Jody

Hello RancidPunk. I thought that Kristen's Ethel Barrymore was Probably how she sounds. What I didn't like about Regina Spector is that She Can Not Sing. If she had A Great Voice, then I myself wouldn't mind if she was A Lounge Singer. You said that Bill did the Best he could and Drew did the Best she could with the Weak Writing on Vinnie Vedicci. Shouldn't that be more like B- or B- for the Skit, but A- for Bobby as Vinnie's Wife ? Jody

Hello ColbertGal. Okay, but that is A Video. Also, She didn't Sing that good on SNL. If she had sung that Song or Sang with that kind of Voice, then I would have Liked her Better on SNL. She could have Sung that Song while Playing the Piano OR Maybe they could have A Screen behind her and show the Video while she is Singing that Same Song at the Piano. Jody

I think she was in the Movie that was Knocked Up. Jody

Hello FarleyRules. I guess that I will Give the Cold Opening C. I Enjoyed the Monologue and I thought Kristen was Great and I wasn't sure if that is how Lionel was. I Give A because I thought it was Great to have the Cast and Not have Them Ask Questions from the Audience. Every Time they do Gilly, they keep Adding Something to It, but I DO Wish they would Stop Having It Already. I Give F. I didn't like the Celebrity Ghosts and Drew was Horrible as Sharon Osbourne. I think that Abby's Nancy Grace was even Worse Last Week. I Guess that I will Give F. I don't mind Vinnie Vedecci and I thought it was Good that he said ET and She said It was E.T. Bobby was Drinking because Drew was Drinking when She was A Child. Maybe I will Give C. I think I will Give C for Week End Update. I Laughed at the Different Phrases that Jason said with Rhyming Tampax with Max, but I think I will Give C because They did Practically Nothing with the Pool Playing. I Give F for Larry King. I thought They were going to Explain why These Men are Like This. They could say It was Ego or to give them Power or Something. I didn't care for the Magicians. I Give F. I thought that Will was Hilarious so I will Give A. I thought This was about the Funniest 5 to 1 Sketch that they have had. I Hated Regina Spector. She was All Over the Place. She Sang High and She Sang Low and I have Read that She Sang out of Tune. I Give F for Both Songs. Despite the Monologue and the Last Sketch, They had some of the Stupidest Sketches on This Show. Excuse Stupidest, but that Explains It the Best. I don't know if the Writers are Lazy or being Juvenile or what Their Problem is, but this is THE Worst that the Writers have Been. When I say Juvenile, I mean Larry King or having the Birds Attack or the Tampax or even the Magicians. I am going to Give F Overall. Maybe Gerard Butler will be Better. I think that Shakira will be Better. Jody

Might have been the worst SNL ever in my opinion... I didn't laugh once... not even close. I don't even know why I watched the whole thing.

Terrible... just terrible...