Tonight Jon Hamm hosts SNL for the third time in three seasons. He hosted on the night Amy Poehler gave birth in season 34, which featured musical guest Coldplay, the final Two A-Holes sketch (although both Sudeikis and Wiig are still on the show) which featured Mad Men co-stars Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery, and Hamm as JFK in one of the better sketches of the past few years, The Barack Obama Variety Half-Hour. He returned last season with musical guest Michael Buble, which featured one of the best sketches of last season, Hamm & Buble.
SNL and Mad Men also have a relatively odd (unique?) relationship. Along with Hamm hosting for the third time, January Jones hosted last season, and as mentioned Moss and Slattery appeared the first time Hamm hosted. Hamm has also had a recurring role on Tina Fey's 30 Rock. Jones dates SNL cast member Jason Sudeikis, and Moss was married to SNL's Fred Armisen for a year before filing for divorce earlier this year. If you want to stretch it even further, former 30 Rock writer Donald Glover costars with Mad Men's Alison Brie on Community.
Rihanna is the musical guest for the second time. She appeared for last season's Blake Lively episode, and was in a digital short.
My baseless predictions:
-Two cameos. January Jones and someone else.
-Rihanna is in at least 1 sketch.
-Cold open will be something political, with the election coming up this Tuesday. I doubt it will involve today's Rally to Restore Sanity, but that could be funny.
Back at 11:30!
Sketch 1- And we're off, with a Biden sketch. Sudeikis does Biden significantly better than Armisen does Obama. People are complaining a lot, but it is a lot better than being one of the Chilean miners. And that was pretty much it, for 3 straight minutes. Not terrible, but not special. B+.
Monologue- It's his second time hosting the Halloween show, less nervous this time. Because of Mad Men advertising role he now thinks of slogans for every product he thinks of. Random cast members (Hader, Pedrad, Thompson, Samberg to be precise) name products. Also he thinks Hader is a woman. B-.
Sketch 2- Digital short time. Rihanna is talking to a nervous Samberg, and it is Shy Ronnie part 2, the sequel to Rihanna's first digital short. This time they're robbing a bank. Hard to explain but pretty funny, especially as a sequel. A-.
Commercial Break- It looks like a Vincent Price's Halloween Special. BTW I called this when it was announced that Hamm was hosting the Halloween ep before the season. Forgot about it until now.
Sketch 3- And it is Vincent Price's 1960 Halloween Special. And it is pretty much like every other Vincent Price holiday sketch. Wiig as Judy Garland. Hamm as JFK and Pedrad as his date/prostitute, Candy. And Armisen reprises his role as Liberace. D-.
Sketch 4- Parody ad for Back to the Future 25th Anniversary DVD. Screen tests for Al Pacino (Hader), Eddie Murphy (Pharoah), Jennifer Tilly (Wiig)...Hamm can do a fantastic Robin Williams impression. Tremendous. A.
NEXT NEW EP: NOVEMBER 13: SCARLETT JOHANSSON/ARCADE FIRE
Sketch 5- Casting for something. Sudeikis is doing the casting, Wiig auditioning. Wiig lists things she will and won't do. It goes on and on. Sudeikis tells her she isn't getting the part. Hamm as her husband walks in to see how it is going, when she tells him she didn't get it, he goes off on a rant. Next auditioner is Hamm in a cape. Sudeikis jumps out window. Not even mediocre. D-.
Sketch 6- More Back to the Future screen tests. Nic Cage (Samberg), Alan Alda (dead on Hader), Prince (Armisen), Bill Cosby (Thompson, again dead on), keeps going...same sketch, same grade. A.
Music 1- Rihanna is singing What's My Name which is apparantly her new single. Not bad, it sounds like most other Rihanna songs. B.
Weekend Update- Best line "Well Jon Cryer, I think you can go ahead and book that vacation." Our first guest is Hader's always funny Carville. Makes some moderately decent political points. Solid Chilean miner joke. And Garth and Katt are back with some yet-to-be-written Halloween songs. Armisen is losing it very quickly. Decent. Still expect more from WU. B-.
Sketch 7- A talk show called "I Didn't Ask For This" hosted by Moynihan. This is terrible. The only F I have given so far is for a sketch in French, but this looks like it has potential. And it is. Terrible. F.
Sketch 8- Highway Cops, an old NBC show. Sudeikis and Hamm are cops, Thompson is the chief. This isn't moderately amusing. This is actually worse than the last sketch, but that got the lowest grade possible, so here it is again. F.
Two terrible sketches in a row on Halloween and I'm out. I'll sum up the last couple tomorrow when they are on Hulu.
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