Saturday Night Live S39 Edward Norton/Janelle Monae Recap

Saturday Night Live returned after a week off for the annual Halloween episode, and it was the best show so far this new season. Hosting for the first time was Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, who wasn't on to promote anything other than the fact that he had never hosted SNL. He turned in solid work as host in an episode that balanced the large cast well, had a few surprises and featured one of the best sketches we're likely to see all season.

With the exception of the one truly terrific sketch (more on that one below), nothing presented this week was a total home run. But pretty much everything seemed to be trying for something, whether it was creating a specific character (and something new, too, not with the intention of repeating it six times this season) or showcasing the ensemble in a strong way. This felt like a week in which things started to click at SNL, and as long as there's not a huge backslide in next week's show, I can feel optimistic about this season and this new cast.

Sketch Highlights

"Cold Open: Obamacare" - After sort of avoiding it for three episodes, SNL returned to the status quo and did one of their "talking head" political cold opens, this time with Kate McKinnon's Kathleen Sebelius explaining the failures of the Obamacare website. Normally, I'd be pretty annoyed with this kind of thing, but I didn't really mind this week because a) I was happy to see McKinnon get a chance to open the show all by herself and b) there were actually a number of funny jokes. There was a clear missed opportunity to have Bobby Moynihan do the "Live from New York!" after he came out and smashed the TV -- it would have made this a really strong opening -- but instead it went on a few seconds too long. That's what we in the business call a "quibble," because this was pretty good overall. (Watch the "Cold Open: Obamacare" video)

"Edward Norton Monologue" - I was surprised to learn that Edward Norton has never hosted Saturday Night Live, but I guess because he was always such a SERIOUS ACTOR that maybe he felt it was beneath him. It's too bad, because he was fun as a host and found a couple of characters to play. Having 15-time host Alec Baldwin make a surprise cameo in the monologue made for an inspired bit, since he, too, has a reputation for being something of a prickly "actor's actor" but knows how to cut loose on SNL. Their rapport together was funny, and Norton even got to do a couple of strong impressions (his Woody Harrelson started out lame but became terrific). They were fun together. Unfortunately, the show then had to bring Miley Cyrus back out to remind us that the world can be a horrible place and we are all going to die someday. (Watch the "Edward Norton Monologue" video)
"Autumn's Eve" - I can't decide how to feel about this commercial parody. Like most of Saturday Night Live's pre-taped material, it was incredibly well-produced and accurate to the thing it was parodying. It also featured all of the female cast members, which I support. But it never really went beyond the first joke. Then I can't decide how to feel about that, either, because the show's inclination of late has been to go really dirty, so I should be applauding them for their restraint. Ultimately, it wasn't a sketch that was worth this much thought. It was kind of amusing, nothing more. That's all it intended to be. (Watch the "Autumn's Eve" video)
"School Visit" - The first proper sketch of the night found Norton in "character" as a police officer trying to explain stranger danger to a group of school kids. While this wasn't a great sketch, there were enough funny lines (Bobby Moynihan admonishing Norton for not taking care of his kids being the point) to make it worthwhile. Even the central idea -- that a stranger danger talk would backfire because the kids think a van sounds cool -- is a funny one, and smacks of that writers' room game of "What if?" that I tend to like. Norton didn't have a ton to do, but the cast got to shine. Better yet, the sketch used a lot of them. (Watch the "School Visit" video)
"The Steve Harvey Show" - Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said I never needed to see Kenan Thompson play Steve Harvey again? I wasn't kidding. (Watch the "Steve Harvey Show" video)
"New Horror Trailer" - Easily the high point of the night. This may even end up being a high point of the season. So much about this was great, from the funny title to the level of detail to Edward Norton's excellent Owen Wilson impression. There were so many brilliant touches, like the killers with a record player, or the typing of the letters back and forth, or -- my favorite -- Owen Wilson using a child's tent as a panic room. If there's one thing holding me back from calling this one of my favorite SNL sketches of the last several years (and, again, I'[m probably quibbling), it's that there weren't enough original touches. The writers were a little to happy to come up with stuff that's directly out of Wes Anderson movies, like the matching track suits or the falcon or Danny Glover, instead of stuff that could be out of a Wes Anderson movie, like the pup tent panic room. It's not a huge deal. This was really great. (Watch the "New Horror Trailer" video)
"Drug Deal" - I wanted to be irritated by this sketch, because I thought Rain Man jokes might have gotten old by 1990, much less 2013. But the show found some funny places to go with it, mostly thanks to Mike O'Brien's overhyping of his friend's counting abilities and having the Rain Man character (played by Norton) count totally banal things. Again, not a classic, but I laughed a handful of times and it was short. The night was full of sketches like this -- funny enough, and when added up made for a strong episode. (Watch the "Drug Deal" video)
"Critter Control" - Just when I was ready to call this week's episode a complete success, I'm reminded of this sketch. No, that's too harsh. This was was fine, too. Brooks Whelan got a little showcase, Norton got to play a character and there was some interesting staging/directing in the sketch. I wish that the second half had gotten more elaborate, with the two exterminators (rather, one exterminator and one friend) describing crazier and more outlandish things that the opossums were doing. Beck Bennett asking to keep the meeting going so he could see what happened was my favorite moment. (Watch the "Critter Control" video)
"Ruth's Chris" - I know I probably shouldn't have liked this sketch. It felt like it came right off the stage of Second City. But maybe I had enough goodwill towards the entire episode this week that I could cut this some slack. It was goofy without becoming mean spirited and, despite being entirely about sex, was never as dirty as SNL tends to get these days. That made it funnier; I'm not opposed to dirty, but I'll usually laugh at something more that's silly than at something that's graphic. This was very silly, and Aidy Bryant got to do some of those great deadpan reactions for which she's becoming better used. Call me crazy. This was one of my favorite sketches of the night. (Watch the "Ruth's Chris" video)
"12 Days Not a Slave" - Here's a sketch that did its best to be topical. While it was not one of my favorites this week, there were some good laughs in it. Jay Pharoah got to do something that wasn't just an impression and once again Aidy Bryant got the biggest laugh. I could have done without the night's second Miley Cyrus cameo. I really hope this doesn't become a thing. She is not Justin Timberlake. (Watch the "12 Days Not a Slave" video)
"Halloween Candy" - This was kind of an odd note on which to end, but I appreciate the fact that SNL didn't lose sight of the fact that this was the Halloween episode. Norton got to basically carry the sketch as a character, which is great; this is typically the sort of thing that's left to the regular cast (I could see Taran Killam doing it) while the guest host is reduced to a walk on. It never fully found its way, mostly because it was never able to decide on a specific tone (which goes for Norton's character, too), but there were a couple of laughs. Bobby Moynihan is always good at playing the idiot boy, even if he's asked to do it way too often. (Watch the "Halloween Candy" video)