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Videos: Jonah Hill Joined By Leonardo DiCaprio & Michael Cera On <em>Saturday Night Live</em>
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 26, 2014
Modified Jan 26, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 26, 2014
Modified Jan 26, 2014
Share
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Jonah Hill was a solid host during his third appearance on Saturday Night Live last night. He brought along with him his recurring Adam Grossman/Benihana sketch (although without Bill Hader, it wasn't quite as effective as previous times), as well as lots of emphatic yelling (Work Dinner Party), some quality Scorsese jokes (Lamborghini) and appearances by Leonardo DiCaprio (Monologue) and Michael Cera (Me a parody of Her).
But overall, this transitionary season is really starting to suffocate under the weight of the huge cast. Certain cast members were barely seen tonight (Nasim Pedrad, Brooks Wheelan, Mike O'Brien, Noel Wells, Sasheer Zamata), while the people who should be heavyweights (Bobby Moynihan, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Taran Killam) only got into two or three sketches. After the cast exodus at the end of last season, it made sense to throw a lot of comedians at the wall and see who stood out—but at this point, there's just not enough time to give any of them the spotlight they deserve.
There were highlights of course, including the return of some of the best recurring characters of the past two seasons: the ex-porn stars were hilarious in the final sketch of the night, and McKinnon's Olya Povlatsky is becoming one of the most reliable Weekend Update characters. The Spike Jonze /Her parody was pretty good, even if didn't reach the heights of previous film parodies of Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. The Hit sketch, wherein some hit men get distracted from the job at hand by the beauty of nature all around them, didn't outstay its welcome and had some great Carole King references. And the cold open, while not great, had some great physical humor from Moynihan and Jay Pharoah—and at least it wasn't an Obama/political/press conference sketch.
Then there was the bad stuff, like the dead-in-the-water Sweetland Ranch sketch (unavailable online because of Cecily Strong singing Joni Mitchell) and the disappointing Inside SoCal (the latest digital short from Kyle Mooney/Beck Bennett). There seemed to be an over reliance on toilet humor (Couples Quiz, Work Dinner Party), and while Hill was perfectly solid (and especially good in the Monologue), he wasn't as exciting a host as Drake last week (and the Adam Grossman sketch has probably lost its mojo at this point).
So overall, it was a perfectly average episode of SNL—albeit one that exposed the serious problems with the show right now. As we've been saying since the season started, SNL is in transition this year, something that will continue next week when we bid farewell to Seth Meyers with host Melissa McCarthy and musical guest Imagine Dragons. After that, head writer Colin Jost will join Strong at the Weekend Update desk; hopefully by the end of the season, SNL will have figured out a way to better balance the cast's screentime...or cut some of the fat.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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