Hee- Haw, Farm Hunk, and a Wishing Boot; what do they all have in common? They were all bits on the past episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by country star Blake Shelton. After the deflate gate sketch and opening credits all attention was on the man of the night as Blake, or as he calls himself, “the Justin Bieber of country music, just a trouble-makin’ cutie”.
Blake and the cast start off trying to make light hearted “gotcha” jokes in the style of a comedy show Blake watched when he was younger called Hee Haw. It turns around on Blake turning him into the butt of the gangs’ jokes and he retorts, “This isn’t a roast…come on…nice country jokes”. This was not my favorite bit of the episode, but I can appreciate Blake using something he knows well to entertain his audience and introduce everyone watching to a different kind of comedy.
After his opening monologue, Blake stars in a Bachelor-esque sketch where the women keep wanting to steal him for a conversation. This was probably my least favorite sketch. I found it to be very repetitive, but that wouldn’t be Blake’s fault. He was simply saying the lines that were written for him. If I hear “tell me about yourself” one more time, I might scream (internally). The sketch does capture the essence of The Bachelor in its first few episodes each season with its slightly crazy women trying to say what the bachelor wants them to hear just to last another week. Blake’s character even tries to scare them away from his home town in Iowa but the women just love it. Plus, take a look at Blake’s wig in this sketch; it’s a little unsettling. Although, it wasn’t my favorite sketch of the night it still made me laugh at times.
In my opinion, the show stealer was definitely Wishing Boot. The song first implies maybe a God as “something out there watching over you”. But this is SNL, so instead of a song about a God, we have a song about a magical wishing boot. I’m not sure if it’s the personality this inanimate object has or how people react to it, this song just makes me laugh.
I can agree with CMT that the Family Feud skit was only “so-so”. Facing The Voice judges against American Idol judges seemed like the easy way out and they overplayed Blake and Adam Levine’s bromance. This was the first half hour of the show with Blake’s performance of Neon Light at around the halfway point. After SNL’s news skit, Blake played a parole board member deciding on a prisoner’s execution. This performance was not worth talking about. It was a time killer and Kenan Thompson stole this scene. Later, Blake plays a local artist who helps an old man write a song for his late wife. It starts off really sweet, but then the truth comes out. The funny, sad truth. This is why Blake hosted, so he could have funny songs in his episode.
Then we hear Boys ‘Round Here as Blake’s second song performance of the night. However the show ends with a bang and Blake’s best acting of the night. Blake acts as a heckler at a magic show who interrupts the show wishing for various powers, and guns as different body parts. I feel this is when Blake finally had a part that he really enjoyed.
Blake seemed pretty pleased with himself for doubling as host and musical guest this past weekend. I would say he did a pretty good job considering he isn’t an actor. But Blake, please stick to being that southern boy from Ada.
I seriously can't say thanks enough to yall for the all the nice feedback… Had a blast!!!
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) January 25, 2015
I hosted Saturday Night Live lastnight….. I HOSTED SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE LASTNIGHT!!!!!!!
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) January 25, 2015
How do you think Blake did hosting SNL? What was your favorite or least favorite sketch? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
I appreciate your run-down of all the episode’s skits and also that you include some of the tweets Shelton posted after it was over. Sometimes I think the only reason that people tolerate him is that he’s so humble. I mean, who can’t love a guy who hosts SNL and then tweets about how cool it was to host SNL?