SNL Continues to Surprise

September 24, 2012 Patrick Hickey Jr. TV 0

Joseph Gordon-Levitt had some gigantic comedic shoes to fill after Seth MacFarlane’s appearance on SNL’s season premiere last week.

But after stripping, cross-dressing, playing the son of the world’s most interesting man and even an overly enthusiastic urban fashion designer, the Gordon-Levitt powered edition of SNL provided more than ample laughs.

The show didn’t depend on political satire as much as it did last week, especially after this Thursday’s Weekend Update prime-time special. Those who needed their political humor fix still got what they needed. The few politically-charged sketches, involving republican funded tampons, ill-informed voters and a lengthy Weekend Update provided the show with a solid balance of material.

The prime-time edition of SNL’s weekend update on Thursday covered many of the political goings-on of the week, but Seth Myers had plenty of new material. The republican presidential campaign was Meyers’ main target; Mitt Romney’s gaff on Spanish television, Ann Romney’s “this is hard” comments and Paul Ryan’s speech for the AARP were all highlighted.

Myers also had a message to president Barack Obama. Meyers told the president to pull a Queen Elizabeth and “just wave.” Kate McKinnon’s Ann Romney finished up the political coverage with a bang; she channeled her inner-Beyonce Knowles and showed the crowd her “totally awesome hair.”

Weekend Update wrapped up covering the inadequate play of the New York Jets. Channeling ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Jay Pharaoh exclaimed, “Tebow’s arm is proof there is no god.”

Gordon-Levitt was a natural as host. His opening monologue poked fun at Channing Tatum’s “Magic Mike” and got the frenetic pace of the show going. Gordon-Levitt’s energy was simply contagious.

Musical guest Mumford and Sons provided a musical showcase with tracks “I Will Wait” and “Below My Feet.” Much like Gordon-Levitt, they had an undeniable energy and audience-wide appeal. Their appearance as a Beatles cover band during one skit got a huge rise out of the crowd.

Much like last week, the cast was stellar. Pharaoh was hilarious in the season premiere as Barack Obama, but his Michael Strahan and Stephen A. Smith impersonations were equally laugh inducing. Bill Hader’s Robert Pattinson and caricature-drawing private detective spots were also charmingly silly.

Behind the energetic hosting of Gordon-Levitt, an enjoyable second Weekend Update segment this week and great music, SNL didn’t lose any of its momentum after a fantastic season premiere.

Read more about SNL’s 38 season from Patrick Hickey Jr. @ NBCNewYork.com.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14319 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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