Saturday Night Live -- Drew Barrymore and Regina Spektor -- 10/10/09 -- a Review

Funnier opening than last week as Obama (played poorly by Fred Armisen) talks about winning the Nobel Peace Prize (for not being George W. Bush), and being lucky enough to win Powerball. The opening is very short, lasting less than three minutes, but managed more laughs than either of the long winded openings the past two weeks.

Monologue -- Drew Barrymore -- 6

Drew mentions how much she loves the stage and shows some rare footage of her family members, Ethel Barrymore (played by Kristen Wiig) and John Barrymore (played by Bill Hader) doing work on the stage. Both of them have the same speech patterns and talk exactly like Drew Barrymore. Unfortunately, they kill the gag by repeating it numerous times.

Gilly -- 4

Another episode of Kristen Wiig's recurring holy terror of a kid, this time with Drew Barrymore as an Italian exchange student named Gigli. Keenan is once again the funniest person in this sketch as a smart-mouthed kid in a body cast. The sketch is another retread of a lame premise that was funny once, but has been stretched WAY too thin. Bringing Drew Barrymore into the sketch to imitate Wiig does nothing except highlight that Drew needs some dental work.

Biography Channel -- Celebrity Ghost Stories -- 7

Celebrities talk about their encounters with ghosts, except all of their stories are essentially their misunderstanding of reality. Andy Samberg does a great Billy Bob Thorton impersonation. Who knew? Justin Long shows up to do a funny Matthew McConaughey.

University of Westfield Online Commercial -- 8

An online university that specializes in providing ways to help you not let on that you went to an online school. Funny commercial.

La Rivista Della Television -- 7

Another repeating sketch, with Bill Hader doing an Italian talk show talking to guests (like Drew Barrymore) in Italian. This episode manages to be a bit funny as he talks about seeing the move "Et" and tries to get her to do a naked dance for him like David Letterman. Amusing.

Regina Spektor -- Eet -- 5

Wow, for a second there, I thought I'd turned on a rerun of Grey's Anatomy. Boring chick folk music that fades into the background. Bleah!

Weekend Update -- 7

Bill Hader does a brilliant and very funny James Carville impersonation that I hope is repeated. His digs at Rush Limbaugh and himself are very funny. Andy Samberg shows up as an amusing Scrooge McDuck where we find out that he wasn't always a duck, his money was so full of disease it caused him to mutate. Keenan Thompson even amuses for once as an angry Maya Angelou. Sadly, the weak link remains Seth Meyers, who does not know how to tell a joke. Still, the "guest" commentaries were much funnier than normal.

Tampax to the Max Ladies Pool Tournament on ESPN Classic -- 7

Remember the days when ESPN showed nothing but crappy sports? This sketch has two clueless pool announcers spouting gross (but very funny) slogans for Tampax and having nothing of value to say about pool. It goes nowhere, but it still made me laugh.

Cooking Al Fresco -- 8

This food show is set in the outdoors in NYC, and as the hosts try to cook outside, they find out the pitfalls of trying to cook outdoors. Bobby Moynihan shows up as Guy Fieri, which is pretty funny until he amps up the Chris Farley obnoxiousness. A silly sketch, but what happens to the hosts is pretty funny.

Larry King Live -- 2

Fred Armisen does another clueless impersonation, this time of Larry King. A panel talks to Larry about why men keep getting involved in sex scandals. They say it is because people like hearing about "Powerful men and their weiners". Nothing like 2nd grade potty humor to spice up a sketch. Nothing funny here. Please move on.

Digital Short -- Brenda and Shawn -- 3

Drew Barrymore and Fred Armisen play two 70's era illusionists with light-up fingers who want to light up your life in various situations. Pure time filler.

Regina Spektor -- The Calculation -- 7

A nice, upbeat jaunty number straight from the 70's, with just a bit too much in the vocal tic department for my tastes.

Book Reading -- Living With The Devil -- 3

Drew Barrymore is an author reading from her memoir about a failed relationship. The subject of her book, Will Forte, shows up to torment her at the reading. Forte is creepy, but the sketch just isn't funny.

Overall -- 6

Tonight's episode was not the crapfest that was the season opener, but again seemed to waste a guest host who has proven herself capable of getting laughs. There weren't really any gutbuster laughs here, but there were some more clever bits than usual, such as the James Carville appearance and the online university commercial. This season still has yet to catch fire.