Last night, Alec Baldwin hosted the premiere of the 37th season of Saturday Night Live, breaking his (and Steve Martin’s) previous hosting record by clocking in his 16th show. Yesterday we gave you a rundown of the Baldwin’s best skits in his history with the show, and while we don’t think this episode added any to the list, we still think he was great as usual, putting his talent for deadpan humor as well as enthusiastic over-the-top acting to some serious use. All in all, it was a pretty good show, and we’re feeling optimistic about this season. Click through to see the best and worst skits of the evening, and of course, let us know if you agree or completely disagree with our assessments in the comments!
The Best:
The “7th or 8th” GOP Debate Cold Open
Political impersonations are always SNL‘s strong point, and they certainly have a lot to work with this year. What with Baldwin alienating everyone (“I believe all ten-year-old girls should be vaccinated against HPV so that they can enter into meaningful sexual relationships”) and then falling asleep as Rick Perry, Jason Sudeikis as Mitt Romney comparing himself favorably to everyone else (“Next to Newt Gingrich, I have a normal, human-sized head”) and much mugging from the rest of the gang, this was the best skit of the night.
Red Flag
We’re always huge fans of Kristen Wiig, and she delivered up to her usual standard last night. This perfume commercial manages to show her looking elegant and completely insane all at once, which is, after all the point: “She’s exquisite. She’s the most stunning woman in the room. She’s lived in Vegas for 11 years. Red flag.”
Child Psychologist
Though actually having to listen to all the wailing in this clip was relatively harrowing, Baldwin was great as the deadpan child psychologist father trying to convince his date to ignore his pleading daughter. Great payoff, too.
The Worst:
Dying Wish
This was just a mildly elevated ‘Your Mom’ joke that lasted four minutes.
Satellite Delay
Again, our problem with this sketch is that it was the same (kind of lame) two jokes over and over again: there’s a delay in the transmission from news desk to newscaster in Costa Rica and the aforementioned newscaster has had way too much Botox. There were a few funny moments, but it was all a bit too pointlessly slapstick for us.