SNL 11-18-06: Ludacris

What has Ludacris ever done to prove he should get a shot at hosting what once was the premiere sketch comedy show on television?

Cold Open: Jason Sudekis is doing Bush now?  Interesting.  Is Will Forte sick or will this actually be the  fifth cast member to attempt it?  Anyway, he's better at it that Forte was, not as entertaining as Ferrell, but the material is still weak.  Bush is an idiot, we get it. 

Monologue: Is Don Pardo saying his name "Lou-DAY-Kris"?  Ugh.  He said it like that twice.  Anyway, Lou-DAY-Kris says it's about damn time (I guess in reference to him getting to host SNL) and that's about where I zoned out.  Kenan shows up to save the segment. 

Young Douglas: Funny bit, but it's a bit that would have worked with anyone.  Having a rapper play a rapper isn't exactly cutting edge comedy.  Ooo, Lou-DAY-Kris was the only one who could have played that rapper...

Samantha Hawkins Informercial: Domestic abuse isn't funny, except for that movie Enough with Jennifer Lopez.  That was hilarious.  Sounds like the forgot to roll the audio clip that was supposed to play over the sketch's final graphic.  Wouldn't have helped.  God help me I liked the fart joke sketch from the Hugh Laurie episode better than this. 

In two weeks: Matthew Fox and Tenacious D.  I approve.

O'Reilly Factor: Here's Darrell Hammond's weekly appearance.  This is all about Lou-DAY-Kris, first they talk about Lou-DAY-Kris and then Lou-DAY-Kris comes on as a character, and then the character Lou-DAY-Kris plays talks about Lou-DAY-Kris.  The crowd doesn't seem to care.  O'Reilly is an idiot, we get it. 

Booty Bidness: Lou-DAY-Kris plays himself in a commercial parody for businesswear that has things like "Tasty" and "Bi-curious" on them.  You know, like casual clothes do. 

Blizzard Man: Lou-DAY-Kris plays himself, in the studio, and there's a visit from The Blizzard Man (Samberg) who's white and nerdy and a rapper.  Lou-DAY-Kris thinks he's a genius and everyone else thinks he's white and nerdy.   

Lou-DAY-Kris performs: Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig introduce Lou-DAY-Kris dressed as turkeys.  At least there are hootchie girls dancing around in the background so this isn't a total waste of airtime.

Weekend Update: Bill Hader as John Mark Karr talking about the OJ Simpson book/TV special was amusing.  A totally out of nowhere appearane by Sudekis as Bobby Knight was interesting enough.  Then Maya Rudolph shows up as a teenage promoting not eating.  "Hello, SNL?  Melanie Hutsell is on the phone."  And Seth's Google and Muslim jokes were good. 

Pool Watch: A new show on the CW Network.  A new sketch.

Plastic Surgery Trailer: Will Forte finally shows up.  I wonder if he was trapped in a small Nevada town up until now.  I'm not even sure what this sketch was about.  I'm surprised this didn't end with the cast addressing the audience telling us how stupid we are for not getting it. 

Lesbian Cruise: Lou-DAY-Kris is the captain of a lesbian cruise, and he likes lesbians.  Maya at one point says "Is there a point to this?"  I like it when the dialogue in the sketches makes my job easier. 

Lou-DAY-Kris performs again: Kenan introduces him dressed as a turkey this time.  No hootchies.

Old Men: Darrell Hammond is in two sketches, the second at 12:55am?  Weird.  And he's only doing a character, not an impression.  He and Lou-DAY-Kris are old men talking about how things used to be.  Hammond had about an hour to get his moustache glued on for this sketch and it still falls off, which produces a gigglefest. 

Will Forte was in one sketch.  Fred Armisen wasn't even on camera until the goodnights.  Such a disappointment after last week's awesome episode.

Comments

[Brandon]

I haven't seen an episode since the pretty good John C. Reilly show but it sounds like from your reviews that they have been pretty good.

Sadly, I returned to SNL with this god awful episode. There wasn't anything that even made me smile. The Young Douglas sketch came closest only because it's something that I have been doing for years to bug my wife while we are listening to music.

Hopefully this was just a case where the host was so bad that they couldn't do anything to stop it from sucking.

[Bri]

I just discovered this site and I adore it. I praise you for analyzing the show. I'm an aspiring sketch writer, and although the show might be going down the tubes, I still want to work for it.

I agree with 98% of your comments, hands down.

[dvdguy]

Glad to have you here Bri!