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This Week's Jim Carrey Hosted 'SNL' Was Alright(y Then)!

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | October 26, 2014 |

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | October 26, 2014 |


Last night’s SNL is one of those episodes that you appreciate more than enjoy. Jim Carrey has historically been one of the show’s best hosts, and he ended up putting more efforts into a single episode than Bobby Moynhihan has put into his entire run on the show, as though he was banking on this episode of SNL to generate the tickets to Dumb and Dumber To that would resurrect his career. Carrey was tireless. Unfortunately, like the last decade of his movie output, most of the sketches were not very funny, and a lot of that effort sadly went to waste.

Ebola Czar Cold Open: President Obama, Ebola czar Ron Klain and Rev. Al Sharpton address Ebola concerns during a press conference. Like most cold opens these days, it was mostly obvious humor, though I feel like I learned more everything I know about Klain from this sketch. (Score: 4/10)

Jim Carrey Halloween Monologue: Jim Carrey debuts his Halloween costume, Helvis, and performs an original song about loving pecan pie, and this is what I was talking about in the intro: Huge musical number, most likely written by Carrey himself. He pulls out all the stops (including a gospel choir) and, unfortunately, it really doesn’t hit. I give him an A for effort, but … (Score: 4/10)

Lincoln Ad: Matthew McConaughey (Jim Carrey) ponders the important questions in a new set of commercials. I’ll be honest with you: One of the spots involves “McConaughey” talking about a “booger,” which is a disgusting word, and the the ads never seemed to recover after that image. Kenan Thompson — as Dennis Haysbert in the Allstate Insurance ads — adds a small jolt of life to the spots in the end. (Score: 5/10)

Carrey Family Reunion — Jim Carrey is reunited with relatives who share his similar manner of speaking, with a guest appearance by Jeff Daniels. I wouldn’t call this sketch funny, but it was very amusing and often very clever, as basically the entire cast trotted out their Jim Carrey impressions. The best, hands down, was Cecily Strong’s Fire Marshall Bill. (Score: 7.5/10)

Graveyard Song — The spooky residents of a cemetery attempt to frighten a pair of visitors but keep getting interrupted by ghosts Paul and Phil (Jim Carrey, Taran Killam). Another instance where clearly a lot of thought and effort went into the song, but it doesn’t land. At all. (Score: 3/10)

Weekend Update — At least “Weekend Update” was solid, all around last night. Colin Jost managed not to be terrible, and Michael Che (and Drunk Uncle) did all the heavy lifting. And yes: Jost actually landed a couple of decent jokes. Speaking of Jost, remember when he was announced as the new anchor, and everyone did their profiles on him, and everyone was sure to remind people that he was dating Rashida Jones. Whatever happened to that relationship? (Score: 8/10)



Romantic Comedy Expert — The weak point of “Update,” although Che was great in it.

Drunk Uncle — The best bit is Drunk Uncle’s reaction to Michael Che at the “Update” desk.

Secret Billionaire — One of these bachelors (Jim Carrey) is not like the others on dating show Secret Billionaire. Carrey, again, puts on a balls-out performance, and he has a few really good lines, but it’s not a sketch that’s really worth watching. (Score: 5/10)

Ghost Chasers — A team of paranormal researchers, a local historian and a skeptic (Leslie Jones) visit a haunted mansion. As stereotypes about black people and ghosts go, this one is OK, mostly because Leslie Jones is so good in it (Jones was added to the cast this week, and deservedly so).

High School — After the zombie apocalypse hits, one loving dad (Jim Carrey) has a hard time believing his son (Pete Davidson) has been infected. Bad. Obvious. Terrible. (Score: 2/10)

Halloween Party — When two people (Jim Carrey, Kate McKinnon) both dress as the dancer from Sia’s “Chandelier” music video, the only way to decide who wore it better is with a dance-off. This is actually my favorite sketch of the night. It’s not drop-dead funny, but McKinnon and Carrey’s impressions of the dancer are crowd-pleasing as hell. (Score: 9/10)

Geoff’s Halloween Emporium — This Halloween superstore boasts an owner (Jim Carrey) who’s been possessed by the demon Galadriel from Hell. Uh, cute? (Score: 5/10)