Saturday Night Live: Kevin Spacey and Nelly Furtado (finale)

(S31E20) Hiya. This is Annie, filling in for Jonathan Toomey. It's probably better that he didn't get a chance to watch the episode because it was somewhat disappointing. I was expecting the season finale to end with a bang, but that was a really stupid thing to wish. Honestly, I'm not even sure why I was expecting that, because the whole season has been somewhat lackluster. However, this episode has cemented my belief that they need to dump their oldest talent (and Finesse) and immediately bump their Featured Players to full status. The host, Kevin Spacey, did a pretty good job with the material given, which wasn't much. Let's just say I'm not going to be pining for this show over the summer.


Anderson Cooper 360° - This cold open featured Seth Meyers back as Anderson Cooper. I remember liking his impression a lot more when he did the Katrina report during the season premiere (hosted by Steve Carell). In that episode, he had the Anderson pout going on, but this time, it was just Seth with grey hair. Anyway, Cooper was doing a report about the situation at the Mexican border. He interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger about what actions California was taking. It was good to see Darrell Hammond actually doing some work on the show, but he stumbled a few times. His energy hasn't been the same in a long time... I love that guy, but I hope they'll drop him this summer and put him out of his (and our) misery. Cooper also interviewed a soldier (Kenan Thompson) who was stationed there, mighty pleased to be anywhere but Iraq. His Jimmy Buffett reference ("Wasting away again in Not-Iraq!") got the most laughs/cheers, I think. That should say a lot about how strong (or how weak, really) this open was.

Kevin Spacey's Monologue - Ahh, another one of those singing ones. At least this one had a point behind it. Spacey demonstrated all the tricks to become an American Idol star. This was a cute concept, but it was awkwardly executed. I don't think the techies could keep up. The best part of this was Spacey rolling around on the stage (a la Madonna's famed MTV "Like a Virgin" performance), making the "Puerto Rican judge who's always drunk" cry with his sincerity. And no, Paula Abdul is not Puerto Rican. She's Syrian-Brazilian-Canadian-American. I looked it up. Oh, and holding up the fingers for the number to call was a nice touch.

Two A-Holes at a Crime Scene - Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig returned as the two a-holes. This time around, they witnessed a car theft and had to describe the perp to the detective, Spacey. Save for "He looked like Jesus" and "Do you know Inspector Gadget?", this sketch wasn't particularly funny. I liked these characters the past few times, but this one was relatively weaker.

Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball - This was a commercial (but not a commercial-commercial like those pre-taped SNL bits) for Oprah's big get-together for all the women that have ever inspired her. Really, this was just an excuse to see Kenan and Finesse in drag again (poor Finesse didn't get any laughs... What a waste of make-up time). Darrell's John Travolta impression slipped into a Bill Clinton one for a few moments (seriously, someone take him off the show. NOW). The best part was a silent, pointless five-second appearance by Seth and Amy as TomKat.

It's Carol - Carol tried to hook up with Spacey's character ("Oooh! You talk like Hannibal Lecter!") and the usual obnoxious "I'm Caaaarol!" cries ensued. Spacey almost started laughing in the middle of the scene, though. I'm not sure if it was because he thought it was funny or if he could feel his integrity slip down the drain. I liked the joke about modeling for plus-sized coffins, though.

TV Funhouse: All New Presidential Out-Takes - Audio of Bush and company making promises that weren't so promising in hindsight. Characters in the background did spit-takes, finally ending with the levees being one giant spit-take. I laughed out loud at the deer spitting out the water from the river during Bush's speech.

"I Lied!" - Spacey called Andy Samberg to his dressing room to bitch him out for being late. Andy gave a rather lengthy explanation as to why he was late and then apologized by offering Spacey some tickets to see Radiohead. Only after Andy left did Spacey realize that he had fabricated the entire story (and apology) by taking ideas from objects around his dressing room. I thought this was really, really funny, because the items just became more and more absurd. It began rather simply with items like a sandwich from Subway (causing Andy to say that he got stuck on the subway) and ended with totally crazy items, like a the radio and disembodied head. The weirdest one was the full string of items... An 'I" (or was it an actual eye? I can't remember that one), a saw, a ewe, an "I", a piece of felt, a fish gill, and a cup of tea ("I saw you and I felt guilty"). Andy's buddy Jorma from The Lonely Island made an appearance at the very end. They should just get to it and make Jorma a cast member.

Weekend Update - Nothing too remarkable about this edition. Um... Jason Sudeikis popped in as Taylor Hicks. Sooooul Patrol! He promised to continue to "sing from the heart and scare the hell out of children". Tina gloated over the fact that she totally called that Britney Spears would get a huge ass in five years time back when she did WU with Jimmy Fallon. Nothing to be proud of, Tina... Everyone knew that body wouldn't last. Oh, I liked the joke about the Cannes reception of The Da Vinci Code being so bad that Sharon Stone ran in and asked, "Was I in this?!" They randomly brought in Maya Rudolph as Whitney Houston to celebrate Tina's 180th episode. That was about it. [Annie edits: Oh. It was Tina's last show, apparently. Thank goodness.]

The Falconer - The Falconer kept using a time machine (made out of twigs) to go back in time and save Donald from getting shot. This resulted in multiple Falconers popping up. Half of the cast showed up wearing beards and crazy hair. Tall Falconers, short Falconers, lady Falconers, black Falconers... It was a Falconer rainbow. Heh, I actually kind of liked this. I'm not sure if it was because it was getting late or if it was genuinely amusing.

Andy's version of "Jay-walking" - Andy Samberg did his take of Leno's Jay-walking by going on the street and asking people simple questions, preparing to laugh when they answered incorrectly. The fact that everyone knew both the first US president and the current vice president did not stop Andy from laughing in their faces.

"Legends of History" - A profile of the man who invented sarcasm, Phillip Sarc. This sketch was worth a few chuckles... probably because Bill Hader reminded me of that real-life Peter Pan fellow.

Neil Young's new album - Spacey dressed up as Neil Young, promoting his new album, "I Do Not Agree With Many Of This Administration's Policies". He sung samples, including the sure-fire hit "George W. Liar" and a song with special guests the Dixie Chicks and Conor Oberst. Nothing to write home about. I mean, not that I write home when there's a particularly good sketch or anything. You know what I mean.

Nelly Furtado - She performed "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland, who's lost a lot of weight) and "Maneater". I miss the old Nelly "I'm Like A Bird" Furtado. Back then, she was kind of cool and... unslutty. Alas, she has been sucked into the world of hip-hop giant collaborations and scantily-clad gyrations.