Seth Rogen returned to host Saturday Night Live for a third time. He was not alone on stage in his monologue as James Franco, Taylor Swift and Zooey Deschanel stopped by after he insisted he did not need celebrity cameos! Check out a roundup of reviews and see video highlights of the show.
The actor and director will soon be seen in ‘Neighbors’ opposite Zac Efron who would have also been a likely celebrity cameo. But as it was, foremost we had James Franco — not seeing him that night would have been the surprise. And the set up was perfect, as Seth Rogen mocked Franco’s recent Instagram scandal which saw him attempting to hook up with a 17-year-old Scottish teenager after a performance of his Broadway show ‘Of Mice and Men.’ Naturally Rogen took credit for pranking him, saying he had posed as the teen.
For her part Taylor Swift mocked her dating life which has famously become fodder for her songs, saying, “Whenever a man shows emotion, that’s when I appear.” And actress Zooey Deschanel, who is also one half of the musical duo ‘She & Him,’ brought along a ukelele! Swift’s appearance on the show is most likely in support of the musical guest, Ed Sheeran, who has been on her Red tour as a supporting act. And for his part, with new songs and acoustic guitar he was a standout.
Seth Rogen or not, Saturday Night Live had the usual hits and misses of sketches which are perhaps more closely watched these days in the aftermath of Seth Meyers’ departure from the show to host ‘Late Night,’ as he had been both ‘Weekend Update’ anchor and head writer. A standout was the mocking of CNN’s incessant news coverage of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 with a “CNN Pregnancy Test” offering up such gems as “Breaking. Search for pregnancy enters third week.”
The episode also featured a memorable SNL Digital Short, ‘Monster Pal,’ starring Mike O’Brien. It was an emotionally compelling and ultimately sad mini-drama about two monsters whose friendship is disrupted when one of them gets plastic surgery to look like a human and thus blend in.
After his five-year hiatus did Seth Rogen deliver, in the view of the television critics? Here’s a roundup of what some have had to say of return to SNL hosting duties.
“….A tale of two halves. Much like the Kerry Washington episode, this episode featured a pretty killer line-up pre-“Update” and then ran out of gas. I’d still rank this as a pretty good episode as a whole, but upon rewatch, I’d just stop after Jacob The Bar Mitvah Boy leaves….” — Hitfix
“…Overall, this wasn’t a bad show at all. It wasn’t perfect, but there were some genuinely hilarious and charming sketches. Rogen was also great through and through, and had there not been a couple of clunkers, this may have been in the “Best of the Season” category. Not bad for coming on at a time when there is typically weak material. ….” — CarterMatt
“…. Seth Rogen and Saturday Night Live hit it out of the park multiple times this week with a little help from James Franco…..” — The Hollywood Reporter
“…while he wasn’t a terrible host and the show wasn’t awful, it wasn’t as good as it could have been. It’s been a bad stretch for the show recently and after Anna Kendrick failed to follow up Lena Dunham’s hosting duty with anything to add, there was hope Rogen would at least give us some sort of a win.
But the sketches just only half worked it seemed with the jokes landing but not with the power they could have. As usual, the Weekend Update was the stongest — and longest — part of the show and helped rejuvenate things halfway through…..” — FanSided
See the video highlights below from last night’s show below.
Opening Monologue
Monster Pals
Weekend Update
Wedding Rehearsal Dinner
Al Sharpton goes undercover
Pictures: PR Photos
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/SAYWbvyA7Nw/
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