Saturday Night Live, Zac Efron and Yeah Yeah Yeah's (4/11/09): Sketch-by-Sketch Review

Jason Sudeikis' Joe Biden is hanging out in the Oval Office feeling a bit upset that he's not got more to do, so he decides to brag to Obama about everything he's done the past few days while Obama's been out of town. Fred Armisen continues to do his best Fred Armisen impersonation as Obama. Sudeikis does a far better job than Armisen of turning Biden into a character, but can't make yet another snoozer of an opening sketch funny. I'm not sure why Lorne continues to put these lame political satires in the very front of the show. Is there something written somewhere that the opener has to be topical? Why not just make it funny?

Zac Efron Monologue -- 6

Zac Efron looks like the love child of Rob Lowe and a Barbie doll and honestly. He kinda creeps me out. Zac speaks to the "tweens" in the audience in a pretty funny speech while Kristen Wiig and Abby Elliiott play tweens in the audience. Cute, but not great, still, one of the better monologues this year.

Today with Hoda Kotb & Kathie Lee Gifford -- 6

Kristin Wiig captures the craziness of Kathie Lee well, and Michaela Watkins does a great straight person as Hoda Kotb. It's Kathie's birthday and she's celebrating as a drunk. Zac Efron, appropriately plays Cody Gifford and he's as bat^%&$ crazy as she is, dancing inappropriately with her. Amusing, but it would have been MUCH funnier if Cody had expressed his lifelong displeasure with Mom's forever trotting him out and tossed her out the giant window behind them. (Sorry, that's where I thought the sketch was going.)

Science Fair -- Gilly -- 7

One of Kristin Wiig's funnier obnoxious characters, Gilly, a sadistic, sociopathic bully who looks like a children's literature character. Zac Efron is very amusing as a German exchange student. Gilley manages to up the stakes from the average mischief maker during the science fair, including electrocuting one class mate with a potato. It's another high concept sketch, but at least its a concept, and its amusing enough to make me laugh.

Alliance of Direct Mail Marketers Commercial -- 7

Jason Sudeikis plays the creepy head of the Direct Mail marketers, who is unapologetic about killing trees, getting sensitive information about people, and being a constant annoyance. It's a well shot commercial, but much of the commercial is too obvious to be funny, although having Sudeikis talk about how they use your information to identify what you like (by talking about the deeply personal information of one of their marketing targets) was amusing. One of the better commercials this year, if only because it wasn't toilet humor.

The Bar That Never Cards -- 9

I won't spoil the fun, but Andy Samburg and Zac Efron are two high schoolers who have their first drink at a bar that serves underage patrons. Unfortunately the ending completely destroys the humor of the piece, which would have been better served with something much more subtle. I have a feeling SNL is going to get flack for this one. Still, one of the bigger laughs I've had this season.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Zero -- 8

Hey, I enjoyed it. Two weeks in a row without some sort of crappy rap or R&B artist, and music with actual hooks. Nice.

Weekend Update -- 6

It gets harder and harder to review Weekend Update because it seems to follow the same exact pattern. Mildly topical jokes by Seth Meyers, some of which he recites too quickly, a few "guest commentators", and then.... the end. Whatever happened to remote reports, like Al Franken's head mounted satellite dish reports, or the reports from the Blaine Hotel in the early days? Where are the REAL celebrities to do commentary? Why do they keep repeating the same ridiculous premises?

Tonight we get the "Gay Couple from New Jersey" in which two Sopranos wannabes talk about gay marriage, which is amusing, and Michaela Watkins' snarky blogger from the bitchpleeze website (which seems intent on creating a catchphrase), which made me laugh because Michaela perfectly captures the ridiculous nature of such websites, and the ending of her segment is very funny. Also returning is "Jon Bovi" the Bon Jovi opposite band, which wasn't funny the last time and isn't that funny this time.

Funny lines: (In reference to the Guiding Light) "The shows viewership dropped in recent months after white people started having REAL problems."

High School Musical 4 -- 9

Zac Efron returns to school from college to talk to that year's graduates. He's got bad news about college for the kids, "No one sings at college", and from what he can tell, "this is America's only singing high school". He talks of the horrors of breaking into song on his first day and no choreography happens at all. Its a very funny send up of the High School Musical movies and includes digs at Disney and Lindsey Lohan. Great sketch.

Off to World War I -- 5

Zac Efron plays a soldier going off to war and Casey Wilson plays his girlfriend, who is seeing him off on a train. She chases after his train and manages to keep up for miles to profess her love. I think I've seen the bit before, and while there are some amusing sight gags, the sketch is a throwaway.

Jeno's Pizza Roll Commercial -- 8

Zac Efron and Andy Samberg play two high school students coming home to get some food from Zac's mom, played by Fred Armisen in drag. When Zac makes your standard commercial joke about mom's cooking, she goes ballistic, with very funny results. Anyone catch the CSI reference on the director's slate? And if SNL ever decides to do an Octomom spoof, Fred will be perfect for the role. Taking off a point because they didn't know how to end it.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Maps -- 5

This one didn't do much for me.

Little Brother Looks for Advice from Big Brother -- 8

Jason Sudeikis plays the world's most disgusting older brother, and gives little brother Zac Efron some advice on how to please a woman, showing him how to give a foot rub using Zac's foot. It's very gross, very disturbing, and very funny.

Overall -- 8

No lame digital short, a well used guest star, and some funny sketches made for a much better than average episode of Saturday Night Live. Zac Efron seems to prove the rule of this season. The guest hosts you assume will suck do well in a good show and people like Seth Rogan, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin are delivered a piece of crap episode to slog through. Tonights was very good, and Zac Efron was much better than I gave him credit for.