Saturday Night Live -- Jeff Bridges with Musical Guests Eminem and Lil Wayne -- a Review - 12/18/10

A funny sketch in which politicians daydream of the headlines for 2011. Obama sees headlines about McCain being a Muslim. Pelosi dreams of an all gay military. And Biden sees headlines that he and Denzel Washington team up to stop a runaway Amtrak. Funny and clever political opener for a change.

MONOLOGUE -- Jeff Bridges -- 9

Jeff Bridges talks about his first time hosting since 1983 and how he has little in common with "The Dude" from the Big Lebowski. Then he invites special guest Cookie Monster to sing a duet with him. Cookie Monster is asked what he wants for Christmas, and he says "an iPad", then tells Jeff, "no, just joking, I want cookie." Sweet and funny.

Julian Assange on Mark Zuckerberg -- 8

Julian Assange (played by Bill Hader) breaks in on Mark Zuckerberg giving a talk about being named Time Magazine's Man of the Year to insult him and the magazine with lines like, "Time Magazine, always on the edge, discovering Facebook just weeks after your grandmother." This could have been a repeat of last week's Assange sketch, but it manages to be quite funny and sharp in its jabs at Facebook.

Miley Cyrus Show -- 5

Vanessa Bayer's great impersonation of Miley Cyrus is great, but is killing my ears. Jeff Bridges is her guest, playing Nick Nolte. The two talk about drugs and scandal and preview her Afterschool Special on drugs. What was originally very funny has become tiresome because it's all about the obnoxiousness of Miley. Tiring.

SNL Digital Short -- I Just Had Sex -- 2

An attempt to make another Dick In A Box finds the Lonely Island crew doing a crude and unfunny song about having sex that features Akon, Blake Lively, Jessica Biel, John McEnroe and others.

Larry King Live -- 6

Fred Armisen continues his trend of being nothing like the people he impersonates with Larry King, but at least the writing is funny here. His guests are the Judds, Jermaine Jackson, and Dog The Bounty Hunter (played by Jeff Bridges). The sketch gets the inanity of Larry King just right, with irrelevant questions and attention to C list celebrities. Funnier than most things Armisen has been in this year.

Crunkmas Karnival -- 6

A follow up to last year's underground music festival. This one features another list of hardcore bands including Mary Poopins, Homeless Wedding, Dump, Frogblast, Third Eye Blind, and Scrotum Fire, among others. Nowhere near as funny as last year's commercial because the special guests are not as funny and Jay Pharoah decides to do yet another strange vocal tic within the sketch (like last week's principal sketch) that calls attention to itself without being funny.

Eminem & Lil Wayne - No Love -- 7

It's kind of amusing to see an x-rated song being performed on SNL, especially when you watch Eminem & Lil Wayne leave out the profanities without a problem. Not a live rap fan, but this isn't bad.

Weekend Update -- 2

I saw an interesting stain on the floor during Weekend Update that took my attention away from a pointless Michael Steele Bit, a terrible Brad Pitt impersonation that sounded like Ed Norton crossed with Yogi Bear, and Snooki, Stefon and Governor David Patterson all show up to sing Oh Christmas Tree. The only funny moment is below.

Funny Line: "MTV announced that as part of its New Year's Eve Special, Jersey Shore star Snooki will be placed inside a ball that drops inside of Times Square. Though I have a feeling this isn't the first party Snooki has spent drunkenly going down on something while people cheered."

This You Call a Wonderful Life? -- 7

Turner Classic Movies shows clips from a lost Hanukkah version of It's a Wonderful Life were all the people of the town, instead of banding together to help George Bailey, bring food and argue. Yes, it deals in stereotypes, but it's pretty funny.

Jeff'd -- 5

Jeff Bridges introduces his version of Punk'd where he pranks his friends and co-stars. Unfortunately, Jeff seems to have no idea what a prank is, as his pranks are incredibly lame and he interrupts them before they're even over to tell them they've been "Jeff'd". The only funny one is the last one with Andy Samberg as Billy Bob Thornton, because Billy Bob completely overreacts to the dumb prank.

Eminem -- Won't Back Down -- 7
Lil-Wayne -- Six Foot - Seven Foot -- 3

Eminem is catchy and rhythmic, Lil Wayne is driving nails through your cerebral cortex.

Tunstall General Store Gift Wrapping -- -5

Jeff Bridges and Kristen Wiig play gift wrappers in an old west town. This may be the single worst sketch I've seen on SNL, an asinine premise without a laugh.

Holiday Message from the Kardashians -- 1

Nasim Pedrad, Vanessa Bayer, and Abby Elliott play the Kardashians in a sketch even more devoid of wit than the famous sisters. Painful.

Overall -- 5

It's looking like SNL needs a house cleaning year. The sketches this season have been poorly realized for the most part and the cast seems to be going through the motions. The guest hosts have been poorly used as well. Some laughs, but another mediocre episode this season.