LeBron James hosted, the first athlete since Charles Barkley in 1993 to host a season premiere. He was a good sport (no pun intended), but distractedly reading cue cards in every bit wasn’t exactly what I’d call a winning performance (damn, there I go again). Kanye West was the musical guest, and while his two performances were mostly good, his long, cringe-worthy freestyle attempt ruined the moment.
Only two skits were worth the effort of tuning in for. The first was Kanye’s obligatory self-parody sketch where he appeared as a guest on BET’s ‘106 & Park’ show, and had to explain a series of clips showing him storming the stage at the Kids’ Choice Awards, The Nobel Prize and even a pumpkin contest, throwing fits because he didn’t win. West did a good job playing into his own diva image.
The second and final worthwhile bit was Andy Samberg’s love song to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad (played by the great Fred Armisen), featuring Maroon 5’s Adam Levine. It was no “Dick in a Box”, but I didn’t have to be stoned to laugh my ass off.
Somehow even Weekend Update, usually the highlight of every episode, fell flat. Amy Pohler and Seth Myers make a great team, but the jokes just didn’t deliver this time.
There isn’t much dead weight to the cast, but what little there is really pulls down the show. What Darrell Hammond is still doing on the show after a record 13 seasons is anyone’s guess, besides being the go-to guy for a spot-on Bill Clinton impression. The unbearable Kristen Wiig, on the other hand, just needs to go. She’s as annoying and unfunny as they come. I’m on the fence about Will Forte, however. He can be hysterical, but the weird outweighs the funny in many of his bits. Better writing would do the trick for him.
Four or five laughs in an hour and a half hardly seem worthwhile. I’m discouraged for this season, but I’ll reserve judgement until next week, when Knocked Up’s Seth Rogan and the Foo Fighters are the guests.
