Saturday Night Live -- Neil Patrick Harris and Taylor Swift -- Sketch by Sketch Review -- 1/10/09

Abby Elliott does a pretty good job of imitating Rachel's twisted mouth and head shaking. Keenan Thompson is actually pretty funny here as Roland Burriss, explaining the extremes he went to in order to get into the Senate itself, including through the vents. Jason Sudeikis is also funny as a gaybaiting Rod Blagojevich, calling Rachel "Billie Jean King", "Ellen", and even "Chachi". One of the more amusing, if slight, openings this year.

Monologue -- Neil Patrick Harris -- 7

Neil Patrick Harris says that he was going to host 18 years ago, but Fred Savage did instead. This leads to an amusing bit about not being bitter, even though he knows the entire episode by heart and is able to pick apart Fred's performance from memory. He's then interrupted by four hecklers, including Andy Samberg playing Mark Walhberg. Not overly hysterical, but much better than most monologues this year.

Today Show Fourth Hour -- 7

Kristen Wiig is very funny here playing a hyper-amped Kathy Lee Gifford to Michaela Watkins' very frightened Hoda Kotb. Wiig's continuous insults of Watkins' Kotb are very funny. Neil Patrick Harris appears as a very energetic exercise instructor. The sketch ends with Kotb punching out Gifford with an ambitious exercise move. Slight premise, but funny.

Broadway Tries to Save Broadway -- 9

Funny premise as broadway characters try to figure out ways to save their shows. Funny moments include "The Phantom" telling people that Cats is like the Michael Jordan of Broadway and getting blank stares from everyone. Also, Neil Patrick Harris'
Rent

character telling the witch from
Wicked

that if her show fails, she can always be in a
Shrek

musical (with her green skin) causing her to call him a racist. A nice double ending as the Phantom tries to bring the house down with a pathetic chandelier and the
Fiddler On the Roof

jumps from the roof.

Penelope In Group Therapy -- 9

Normally I find Penelope to be annoying but not funny, but here as she tries to outdo everyone in group therapy, including the therapist, the bit is very funny, especially a stress video in class and a wonderful ending in which we learn that maybe Penelope isn't such a liar after all.

Digital Short -- Doogie Plays Doogie -- 7

Neil Patrick Harris plays the Doogie Houser theme with a full orchestra behind him. Cute.

Taylor Swift -- 6

Song is inoffensive. She's cute. The fiddle player is hotter though.

Weekend Update -- 7

A pretty funny Weekend Update, with Keenan playing Sir Charles Barkley, and Will Forte singing a song about hideous things he loves in addition to the BCS.

Funny lines -- Regarding the lunch that Obama and Bush had with former presidents and who would pay the lunch tab, "They decided to leave it up to future generations."

"President Elect Obama said that he is unwilling to give up his Blackberry, sort of the same way that Bush wouldn't give up his Leap Frog."

Two First Names -- 8

The premise is a Neil Patrick Harris talk show about celebrities with two first names, like "Neil Patrick" Harris and "Billy Bob" Thorton. The entire cast steps up to do impersonations with Jason Sudeikis doing an excellent Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Oddly, the only weak link is Darrell Hammond, doing a poor Tommy Lee Jones. The sketch is pretty funny, with Neil Patrick tossing off "Daniel Dave" Lewis when he finds out that his middle name is "Day".

Two Air Traffic Controllers -- 8

Two southern women with big nails (played by Kristen Wiig and Neil Patrick Harris) talk about their lives while sharing lotion, and doing air traffic control. If it sounds stupid, it just might be. But it is absolutely bizarre, which winds up making it incredibly funny. By playing the sketch far less broad than SNL normally would, they wind up creating something funny.

Frost / Other People --7

The premise is that David Frost, fresh off his success with Nixon, goes after other 70's icons. Hit or miss as much of the cast comes in for impersonations, with the funniest being Fred Armisen's Paul Lynde. One of the weaker sketches tonight, but still funny. Neil is very good here.

Taylor Swift Second Song -- 7

She's still cute. But is she really singing? And is she playing guitar? Who cares. A musical guest that is easy to look at and who hasn't given me a headache. I'm all for that.

Burger King Whopper Virgins -- 9

A very funny parody of those annoying BK commercials in which some pathetic foreigners either don't understand the premise, or simply want the food so they can feed the hungry people in their villiage.

Overall -- 9

While there were no sketches that knocked the ball out of the park, this is one of the first episodes of SNL in which every sketch was amusing. Couple this with a halfway decent musical guest, and its a keeper. My guess is Neil Patrick Harris will be back next year.