or...

The Host With The Most Movies That I've Been Meaning To See But Have Yet To Watch A Single One

I went into this viewing fully aware of Colin Firth as a name but I couldn't for the life of me picture what he looked like or what movies he was in. That said, his name is so familiar that I thought for sure all that it would take was seeing his face to trigger thoughts of, "Oh yeah, he's that one guy from that one film, but, unfortunately, that didn't end up being the case. Hell, I was surprised to find out he was British, but then again, that actually makes a lot of sense.

Though I don't mind British films from certain genres, that is a lot of cinema from this region that I don't feel all that inspired to watch. At the same time, I'm aware that I would actually enjoy a lot of these films if I'd only give them a chance. In fact, while looking over Colin's IMDB page there were at least a dozen movies that I've been really meaning to see, which probably explains why his name is so familiar to me even though watching him throughout the entire night he as a person never hit that chord of familiarity.

I mean, I've genuinely wanted to see both Bridget Jones Diary, Love Actually, and The King's Speech ever since each movie came out but for some reason, I just never got around to watching them. The King's Speech kind of makes sense because that movie came out after I attended film school and the magic of cinema became lost on me because I can now clearly see all of the smoke and the mirrors involved. Not seeing the other two movies and his earlier work isn't as easy of an answer because they do seem like movies that I would have seen. Especially while I was still connected with an art-house movie chain.

Oh well, it is what it is and now it's time to discuss the episode I just watch. Though I was unfamiliar with Firth at first, I was still open to the viewing not just because the last several episodes have been so good but from what I did know of the man, I knew that at least his acting would be good, even if he wasn't known for his jokes. Thankfully, my suspicions were spot on, as I spent the close to an hour and a half watching the show while having fun.

Though I wouldn't say this episode was laugh out loud hilarious, I never felt like the show was dragging which is impressive considering that this was also a fourteen-segment night. If you've read more than one my reviews, you probably already know that fourteen is a segment count that I dread. After writing these last couple of lines, I'm now thinking back and really can't think of a single segment that I felt was dragging on. If that's not the sign of a good episode, I don't know what is.

So this show makes six good shows in a row, which in turn, has me even more excited about the rest of the season and can not wait to watch tomorrow's show. With that said, it's now time for me to wrap this thing up by sharing what I saw, as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with another parody of Nightline where, once again, Darrell Hammond played Ted Koppel, this time to question special guest, Ana Gasteyer as Martha Stewart about her pending prison sentence. This was after interviewing Kenan Thompson as a juror who was happy to get revenge on whitey, Will Forte as the person from Merrill Lynch who got Martha Stewart in the first place, and Horatio Sanz as Rosie O'Donnell again but this just seemed to be because they liked the impersonation. Of course, with this being the opening sketch, it eventually led to the announcement of, "Live from New York..."
Colin Firth then officially opened the show with a monolog about how he has zero experience doing live comedy before going on to list his resume before several cast members joined our host on stage, all donning fake Shakespearean accents in an effort to impress him, considering his experience and the fact that he was classically trained.
Bad Accents had Colin Firth as an English actor who struggled to nail down the Southern accent while attempting to film a romantic scene where he was playing a Southern soldier who sounded more like Charles Nelson Reilly than the manly man that the scene actually called for.
Fred Armisen's "Ay, dios mio," catchphrase slinging comedian character, Ferecito, then debuted his first non-news segment called Show Biz Grande Explosion! That said, the joke was pretty much the same with Ferecito attempting to teach Colin Firth how to tell a joke by simply coming up with his own catchphrase to emphasize the funny bits.
TV Funhouse the showed us was classic cartoon characters would look like if the FCC had its way following the Janet Jackson Super Bowl Halftime Show fiasco, adding censor bars and blurs to the animals that only either the top or bottom half of their bodies. At the end of the bit, it was revealed that it was Howard Stern who was drawing all of these filthy cartoons.
Tim Calhoun On Trial was Will Forte's titular character's first non-news segment as well. For this sketch, the monotone political hopeful stood trial on drug charges that totally contradicted his, calm to the point of boring, personality.
Norah Jones then took to the stage to perform Sunrise.
Once again, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey gave us the news. This week, Maya Rudolph check in from the street of New Hampshire where middle-aged white women were rioting over Martha Stewart's upcoming prison sentence. Horatio Sanz also stopped by as Peter Jackson to award Rachel Dratch as Elijah Woods a stick of gum to make up for the fact that he'd been snubbed by so many award show while Jackson was winning everything he was nominated for. Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton then wrapped up the news by breaking down the remain Democratic presidential hopefuls from this year.
Hotel Wilson had Kena Thompson as a horny bellhop who kept misreading signals given by Colin Firth who played an English businessman and was just trying to check into the hotel after a long day of traveling.
This was followed by a parody of Meet The Press where Will Forte played "ass-kisser" John Edward who refused to talk bad about John Kerry, no matter how hard Darrell Hammond as Tim Russert tried to get him to bash his biggest competitor.
We then got a parody of The Sopranos where the characters were on hiatus so long that they struggled to remember the storylines they were involved with upon their return to shoot the new season of the show.
Norah Jones then returned to the stage to perform What Am I To You?
Jesus: Hollywood vs. History was a sketch that countered Mel Gibson's Passion Of The Christ by having Colin Firth as Liam Neeson to present some never-before-seen footage of Will Forte as Benny Hill who, in the world of the sketch, played Jesus while at the height of his wacky career.
Finally, Colin Firth closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

As I said up above, this episode makes six good shows in a row and now it's time to share these three of my favorite sketches that contained my favorite moments of the night. First, I loved Jesus: Hollywood vs. History because, as an atheist, I liked the blasphamy but more important, I loved the impersonation of Benny Hill who was my favorite British person when I was a child. Next, I really liked the Sopranos parody and I've never even seen the real show but the idea of the actors forgetting their storylines during an extended break in shooting, really cracked me up. Finally, I was a fan of the Bad Accent sketch because I will always laugh at anyone who does a Charles Nelson Reilley impersonation.