'SNL' Scorecard: Josh Hutcherson Is Offered Up As A Serviceable Tribute
Josh Hutcherson as an âSNLâ host was ⦠serviceable. He certainly wasnât great -- Iâm not sure he brought really anything special to the table except having a nice attitude about the whole thing -- but, at the same time, he didnât get in the way.
Hutcherson just kind of blended in to his surroundings until the show was over (much like Peeta in the first âHunger Gamesâ movie, really). And, honestly, Iâd take this any week over a host who makes the whole proceedings about him or her. (I donât think we have to mention any names here.)
Join me, if you will. For this weekâs edition of the SNL Scorecard:
(Also: Iâd be remiss if I didnât mention the work of Chris Harnick who gets up every Sunday to edit these posts and who is now moving on to bigger and better things. Anyway, expect more typos in the future.)
Sketch of the Night
âOffice Bossâ (Beck Bennett, Josh Hutcherson, Kenan Thompson, Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer) Iâm under the impression that Beck Bennett used this adult baby character as his audition and that would make perfect sense. And itâs nice that he finally got to do it on the show. And thereâs no way that we wonât be seeing this as a recurring character in the future. I mean, with Bennettâs deep, monotone voice, this is near impossible not to laugh at.
Score: 8.0
The Good
ââ80s Partyâ (Vanessa Bayer, Josh Hutcherson, Ensemble) My least favorite part of this sketch was the fact the punchline was Rick Springfieldâs âJessieâs Girl.â After basing an entire sketch on a known, but certainly not overplayed song from The Outfieldâs âPlay Deepâ album (âYour Loveâ peaked at number seven on the Hot 100), the punchline of the sketch turns out to be the most overplayed, perhaps widely known song from the entire decade of the 1980s. I can only guess this came down to âWell, we need to play something else at the end and the most obvious choice was used. Also, I wish Josh Hutcherson knew the lyrics to "Your Love" because his lip-synching was pretty lousy. Alas. Still, hey. âSNLâ based an entire sketch on The Outfieldâs âYour Love.â
(Due to song rights issues, this sketch isn't online.)
Score: 7.8
âDancingâ (Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett) Iâm glad that Mooney and Bennett are getting this kind of stuff on the air. And Mooney is quietly having a pretty nice rookie season -- I say âquietlyâ because his stuff is airing deeper into the show and isnât quite getting the recognition it deserves.
Score: 7.5
âMatchbox 3â (Jay Pharoah, Kenan Thompson, Josh Hutcherson, John Milhiser) I honestly wonder if this is funny to anyone who doesnât live in New York City. Perhaps this kind of sketch falls on deaf ears much like my disdain for âThe Californians.â Regardless, I do live in New York City and this was pretty dead on stuff -- especially when subway performers try to do their act during rush hour, it really does wind up being something kind of like this.
Score: 7.2
âBugsâ (Mike OâBrien, Josh Hutcherson) Mike OâBrien: What a weirdo. I mean that in the most positive way possible. I honestly could watch a 30 minute show of Mike OâBrien talking to bugs. (OK, yes, that last statement might be hyperbolic -- but not counting âParks & Rec,â have you actually seen NBCâs primetime lineup? I feel âMike OâBrien Talks To Bugsâ would do quite well in comparison.)
Score: 6.5
âJosh Hutcherson Monologueâ (Josh Hutcherson, Kate McKinnon, Noel Wells, Cecily Strong, Vanessa Bayer, Kenan Thompson, Bobby Moynihan) Well, he seems nice. And the âeasily injuredâ joke was solid. Yeah, yeah, the whole âHunger Gamesâ theme was a bit convoluted, but we couldnât have an entire show without some mention of the movie and itâs actually impressive that this was the only mention of the movie. And, again, Hutcherson seems nice.
Score: 6.5
The Bad
âWeekend Updateâ (Seth Meyers, Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant) Iâm not sure what happened here: Aidy Bryantâs âThe Worst Lady on an Airplaneâ should have been comedy gold. Itâs one of those âWeekend Updateâ segments that, when the title of the character is announced, itâs hard not to get excited because we all know terrible people on airplanes! Alas: it didnât hit. It happens, but this one felt a little more disappointing than usual. Actually, this was the most disappointing âUpdateâ of the season -- and certainly the shortest. The whole thing just felt rushed. Honestly, itâs hard to be too critical of âUpdateâ considering how good itâs been overall this season -- just not tonight.
Score: 5.5
âThanksgiving Guestâ (Vanessa Bayer, Josh Hutcherson, Aidy Bryant, Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan, Kyle Mooney) Yeah ⦠Iâm not sure if this sketch knew if it wanted to be a play on âGuess Whoâs Coming To Dinnerâ or if it just wanted to be a sketch about a turkey that is dating a human being. Anyway, this seems like a bit of a missed opportunity. (Though, the shot of an actual turkey leaving the house was quite bizarre.)
Score: 5.0
âGirlfriends Talk Showâ (Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, Josh Hutcherson) Itâs usually Aidy Bryant who makes this recurring sketch at least notable -- but Bryantâs yin to Cecily Strongâs yang just seemed off for whatever reason.
Score: 4.5
âCold Open: Piers Morganâ (Taran Killam, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Moynihan, Beck Bennett) OK, yes, the George Zimmer/George Zimmerman joke wasnât bad. But other than that this was possibly the most lackluster cold open of the season. Câmon, just bring Moynihanâs Mayor Rob Ford back again -- thereâs no shame in that, I guarantee it.
Score: 4.5
âAnimal Hospitalâ (Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant, Josh Hutcherson, Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Brooks Wheelan) Boy, this went nowhere. There seemed to be an interesting idea here -â" and, hey, live animals! -- but I think there may have been too much of an attempt to be âweirdâ as opposed to just being weird (see Mooney and Bennettâs âDancingâ).
Score: 4.0
The Ugly
âBest Buyâ (Bobby Moynihan, Cecily Strong, Josh Hutcherson, Ensemble) I donât know what else to say about this recurring sketch other than, again, it just seems mean-spirited and crass. And the best thing about this sketch -- Tim Robinsonâs dopey boss character -- is now gone. I get that it puts the whole cast on stage at once, but when the main joke here is the overuse of the word âbitchâ -- please, please put this one out to pasture. Actually, no, I would never want to eat cheese made from this sketch. Just make it go away.
Score: 2.0
Average Score for this Show: 5.75
· Lady Gaga 6.06
· Edward Norton 5.91
· Josh Hutcherson 5.75
· Bruce Willis 5.68
· Kerry Washington 5.60
· Tina Fey 5.35
· Miley Cyrus 5.20
Mike Ryan is senior writer for Huffington Post Entertainment. You can contact him directly on Twitter. Celebrity - The Huffington Post
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