Tonight, Helen Mirren will host Saturday Night Live; the musical guest is Foo Fighters. Mirren is promoting the new version of Arthur, in which she co-stars with a former SNL host, Russell Brand.
While many think of her as a primarily serious actor, Mirren has always had her bawdy side, which should enable her to fit right in with the current version of SNL, Our Holy Temple of the Perpetual Double Entendre.
Any guesses as to what topics the show might address this week? Government shut-down? Glenn Beck? Will Russell Brand make a cameo appearance, and would that be a welcome thing?
State your opinions and your guesses below, please. Then come back here early tomorrow morning for a piping-hot, fresh review of the show; thanks.
Twitter: @kentucker
Bring back Aunt Linda!
Looking forward to this one. Helen will be funnier than you think and the Foos will bring the rock!
Maybe another royal wedding sketch with her reprising her role as the Queen- Kate and William could be doing their gift registry at Harrods and the Queen tags along.
ah YES, that is one of the best skits going on this season.
She does have a delightfully bawdy side to her. And she doesn’t take herself too seriously. I’m convinced: Helen Mirren can do anything! I don’t watch SNL regularly, but I’ll be watching tonight.
Did anyone see how hammered Uma Thurman was on Jimmy Fallon last night? They even gave # 2 guest Anthony Anderson more time. I think they got Uma off the set early.
FIRE Ken Tucker! Lamest critic out there. Piping hot fresh? Really!?
He uses that phrase on a semi-monthly basis it seems.
Its called a catchphrase. A lot of journalists have one. I personally find Ken’s to be friendly and welcoming.
I do think Tucker’s reviews have gotten lazy recently. He gave positive reviews to the fx show lights and the last oscars, which were awful.
helen mirren brings the fire to the rock and the heat to the roll- this show should chomo mega-bigtime!
I know it is quite trendy to bash the quality of this show currently. I don’t feel it’s terrible or genius, somewhere in between. But I must say, I have been really impressed with their line-up of hosts this season. There is no “how the heck did THEY get to host?” people this year (January Jones). They’ve done a nice balance of young and old, men and women, current and classic, and almost all have been able to bring some funny.
some funny- key words
I wonder if Helen Mirren’s Queen E will interact with Fred Armisen’s Queen E.
Ken, you should live blog SNL sometime.
Good idea.
lol at the digital short. That’s the kind of absurdity those have been lacking as of late.
It already sucks. Some weeks you can tell from the start that the writers didn’t do their homework on the host, and don’t know how to use her. And you can tell Helen is doing anything they ask to show she’s down, cool, game, whatever. So, we get a digital short about her “titties” and bad impressions of Helena Bonham Carter. If I were her, I’d hop on a plane while Foo Fighters are playing.
What’s with all the commercials after the monolouge? I turned it off after the second ad break.
I will watch it online, and save 30 minutes of time from the same ads 5 trimes, and the long Pharma lectures.
Yes, but beware if you watch at Hulu… they rarely have the entire show (and I’m not just talking about omitting the musical guests’ songs). Almost every week there is a sketch or two missing from their showing.
Wow. I hate to be “that” person, but they really didn’t research Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” very well. The monster was yellow–not green, there was no Igor in the book…it’s not very similar to the movies which everyone knows.
haven’t read the book but thats so wierd. i had always thought the monster in the movies/book was called Frankenstein though too.
I agree- not to mention that Mary Shelley was probably in her early twenties when she wrote Frankenstein. Still, I thought the sketch worked.
I love Helen, but there hasn’t been a single laugh and the show has been on for forty-five minutes. As usual, the writers are dismal.
Did Aunt Helen show up during WU?
Oops. I meant Aunt Linda.
Thank goodness, No! But I think I’m one of the few Kristen Wiig haters out there.
Okay, add bad Julie Andrews impersonation to the list. The trouble with this week is, they could have given any of Helen’s parts to another cast member and it wouldn’t have mattered. That is, other than the short where they ogled her breasts, of course. Sigh.
Pretty much a waste of Helen Mirren tonight. Last week with Elton John showed some promise but not even Mirren’s charm and ability (not to mention beauty) can revive this zombie. The skits are all obviously written to appeal to a younger audience (not just in terms of references, which is fine, but in terms of attention span and depth). Very disappointing…again.
I thought this has been one of the better episodes of this season(though that is not saying much).
Plus, Foo makes everything better.
No offense, but this has easily been the worst episode of the season. I can promise you I haven’t laughed once.
I did like seeing taran killam’s bare legs (twice), arms and chest. That was a good part.