SNL Finale: Old Man McCain, Japanese Office, and Amy Poehler's Baby-Mama Boobs

Last night was the SNL season finale, hosted by The Office's Steve Carrell, and there were a few standouts: John McCain's cameo, obviously, but also the great Hillary/Obama split-screen sketch; the welcome return of the Two A-Holes, ruining karaoke night; a Japanese Office parody that was a season-wide high, and called back to the hilarious Laverne & Shirley parody "Rabun to Shuri" of yesteryear (yeah, I said yesteryear — it was in October 2000. Time flies); and Amy Poehler's comely pregnancy cleavage. Baby Mama-mia! Wiig was an MVP this ep, playing Japanese Pam, a too-coy model stealing the "Deal Or No Deal" sketch, and belting out a tune with Carrell. Also a nice segment on Update for Kenan Thompson and Darrell Hammond as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, in that duo's first appearance since the all-but-ignored "Obama Files" cartoon from the Ellen Page ep, I believe.

As for McCain, good stuff for him but the Update segment was, in my opinion, much fresher and funnier (since "Things Younger Than McCain" sort of stole that thunder) — the "yes, fight amongst yourselves" line was terrific. Well played, all. Alas, not a single appeasement joke — hard to pull off when McCain is sitting right there but still, it was sort of the giant elephant in the room (but we hear he was mixing and mingling at the afterparty, so I guess that part was less awkward).Still, we liked this joke: "On Wednesday, John Edwards officially endorsed himself for Vice-President...it's believed the Edwards endorsement of Senator Obama will help Obama nail down the critical handsome millionaire vote" (runner-up: How the California gay marriage ruling was "great news for the state's mesh tuxedo industry"). Also a CPR sketch that made me feel sort of sick but I guess that was the point (lots of blood, gore and viscera — plus cameo from musical guest Usher! He had some great moves).

At any rate this season may be gone but you won't have to wait as long for the next episode — they'll be starting early in September so they can get as much election-mockery time in as possible. For now, content yourselves with this week's vids. Congrats on a great season, SNL! Let's see more of Casey Wilson next year.

Barack and Hillary: "There Can Only Be One"

Japanese "Office":

McCain on Update: "Democrats, Take All The Time You Need"

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McCain Is Old:

Bless This Child:

Deal or No Deal:

The Sort-of-Bizarre-But-Great-Sight-Gag Charlie Flitt Show:

Cold Open - Commencement Ceremony For People With Funny-Sounding Names (SNL loves its double-entendre pun sketches (cf. Cork Soakers and Colonel Angus):

Comments

[Maanu]

Most people say SNL has been bad for years, which in a lot of ways it has. But I thoroughly enjoyed the Robert Smigel cartoons, Lazy Sunday, Dick in a Box, Poehler's Hillary, and come to think of it, a lot of stuff.
What I'm not feeling is Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz not being able to keep a straight face. Are they supposed to be laughing spontaneously, does it call for that in the script, is that part of the joke and or "writing"? Just deliver your lines and let me decide when to giggle. I wish Jimmy the best in replacing Conan, but he might want to retool his approach to include jokes with punchlines that even he can nail.

[9Leon]

SNL makes McCain look pretty appealing; I have not viewed anything quite harmful about him on this show. They appear to have focused on the Democratic contest, where both candidates have looked bad at times. Lorne Michaels (SNL Creator) appears to have donated $5,300 to McCain (or related entities) since 2000, including maxing out at $2,300 on his primary campaign.

http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Lorne_Michaels.php

Lorne Michaels and SNL certainly have a right to have their voices heard, but consumers should also be aware of where this voice is coming from.

[LulaB]

I remember the Obama files - I thought it was kinda racist. Can SNL higher more people of color writers and actresses of color?

[robXdion]

SNL is like a clique at a predominately white high school that thinks it's hip and diverse because they have one token black, a token latino/asian and they know some of the lyrics to rap songs. They could never understand how lame they seem. Their audience cheers so wildly because they can relate to this metaphor.