'SNL' Recap: Martin Freeman and Charli XCX
From the moment he strode onto Studio 8H's main stage clad in a spiffy purple suit, Martin Freeman brought a dose of British charm and class to Saturday Night Live. The actor's winning mix of understated humor and genial good-naturedness has enlivened everything he's appeared in from TV shows like The Office and Sherlock to movies like Hot Fuzz and The Hobbit, and it came in handy for his SNL hosting stint as well.
Even when trapped in the sloppiest and most random of sketches, Freeman stayed engaged and on-point, which was a welcome relief after James Franco's barely-there performance last Saturday night. Unfortunately, Freeman didn't inspire the writers to really raise their game this week, with too many skits starting strong before petering out, a pattern set by the overlong "Sump'n Claus" music video at the top of the episode.
And where was the Benedict Cumberbatch cameo, guys? We would have forgiven you almost everything — even that random ketchup factory sketch — to see Sherlock & Watson (and Bilbo & Smaug) sharing the stage.
Best Sketch: St. Joseph's Christmas Mass Spectacular
An heir to those great "Underground Rock Festival" skits that Jason Sudeikis used to headline, this pre-filmed commercial gave audiences the experience of going to Christmas mass without actually having to leave the house. One of the evening's shortest sketches — another reason it takes this honor — it also nailed certain personality types everyone knows from their own houses of worship (no matter the particular religion), from the overeager showboats to the teens who would really rather be anywhere else. There are a lot of sanctimonious holiday specials coming down the pike, so it was nice to be reminded that this is also the season to be sarcastic.
Worst Sketch: Right Side of the Bed
A regional skit so bad, it made us pine for The Californians (and we never pine for The Californians), this Atlanta-set send-up of early morning talk shows forced the generally likable Taran Killam and Cecily Strong to play a pair of obnoxiously broad Southern TV anchors who hated each other almost as much as we did. The not-so-subtle "joke" of the sketch was that Killam's gay and Strong's a shrew, and they have a penchant for making their guests (like Freeman's local contractor) wait on the sidelines while they eat up airtime with bickering banter. Cancel it now, please.
Best Use of Freeman: The Office: Middle Earth
Sure, it was an easy lay-up on the writers' part to combine the two things that Freeman is best known for into the same sketch. But when an easy gag is executed this well, it's hard to complain too much. Since the chances of an actual U.K. Office reunion are slim-to-none, Freeman's Bilbo/Tim hybrid (Biltim? Timbo?) will be the closest we get to seeing him as the soft-spoken, prank-prone paper salesman that won our hearts in the early young 21st century. Bobby Moynihan's Gandalf/Brent and Killam's Gollum/Gareth were pretty amusing, too, but Freeman was the heart and soul of the skit… just as he was in the original Office.
Episode MVP: Kate McKinnon
One of SNL's most reliable scene-stealers has been relegated to the background in recent weeks, but McKinnon grabbed the spotlight back this episode, leading off with a great Maggie Smith impression that looked ten times better — and twenty times more British — alongside Killam's dire Alan Rickman. (It's a toss-up whether his Rickman or Charlie Rose won the night's prize for "Worst Impression.") She followed that up by being the only good thing about that overlong wedding sketch (besides Freeman's "Chocolate in the morning, chocolate in the evening, chocolate at suppertime, thank you" line reading), almost causing Leslie Jones to lose it Jimmy Fallon-style at the altar. It's no surprise that McKinnon was the stand-in for Bilbo/Tim's love interest Dawn during the Middle-earth Office spoof. On nights like these, we've got a crush on her, too.
Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. on NBC.
