The Phenomenal Martin Freeman-Hosted 'SNL' Included One of the Best Sketches of 2014

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | December 14, 2014 |

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | December 14, 2014 |

Before we cover the rest of the show, I’m going to jump right to what I thought was one of the best sketches of year, a spot-on, hilarious, amazing spoof of both the BBC’s The Office and The Hobbit, featuring Martin Freeman as The Hobbit/Tim. (Score:10/10)

Charlie Rose Cold Open — This is the slightly more edgy cold open than last week’s episode was missing. Charlie Rose (Taran Killam) learns the two psychologists (Bobby Moynihan, Kyle Mooney) who devised the torture outlined in the CIA report are also behind self-checkout and autocorrect. It’s the glee of the psychologists that really sells it. (Score: 7/10)

Martin Freeman Monologue — After a couple of weeks of short, throw-away monologues, it was nice to see Freeman pull off a more traditional opening. It felt like a monologue, in the best kind of way. (Score: 6.5/10)

Sump’n Clause — A really well produced and highly amusing Christmas sketch featuring Sump’n Claus, a former Santa’s helper who now assures those who have been crossed off of Santa’s list of a little sump’n. (Score: 7/10)

Wedding Objections — WNBA athlete Alberta (Leslie Jones) and White Castle owner Ian (Martin Freeman) are getting married no matter what anyone says. Sitting through all the objections is totally worth it for Kate MacKinnon’s objection in the end (and Leslie Jones cracking). She turned a 5 sketch until a: (Score: 7/10)

Right Side of the Bed —While appearing on the daytime talk show Right Side of the Bed, Louis the handyman (Martin Freeman) keeps getting awkwardly cut to. This may have been the worst sketch of the first half, but it would’ve been one of the best sketches in recent episodes. (Score: 5/10)

St. Joseph’s Christmas Mass Spectacular— It wasn’t advertising Christmas mass like one advertises a Monster Truck rally that was so good about this sketch, it was how ridiculously spot on it was about satirizing all the details in Christmas masses (it may be one of those, ‘You had to be there,’ sketches, though).

Weekend Update — Colin Jost is really beginning to grow on me, and even Michael Che — after a bad month at ‘Weekend Update’ — showed improvement over recent weeks. Still, there’s something about Che’s delivery that just doesn’t work that well on “Update”: A kind of defensive smugness. And even when his jokes are funny (the Dick Cheney one, for instance), they feel out of character for “Weekend Update.” That said, overall, I thought it was one of the better “Updates” this season. (Score: 7/10)

Weekend Update: One-Dimensional Female Character from a Male Driven Comedy — Heather (Cecily Strong) is the girl from work who eats burgers and wings but has the body of a salad girl. Great concept, perfect execution. (Score: 8/10)

Weekend Update: Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy on Hanukkah— The only good part of this tired recurring guest was Michael Che. (Score: 3/10)

Assembly Line — The front end was so loaded this week, that it hardly mattered that the back end was no good because there were only three sketches. This one was incredibly weak. (Score: 2/10)

Holiday Gig —- Kenan’s character in this so reminded me of his “What’s Up with That!” character that I kept waiting for Jason Sudeikis to pop out in a track suit and start dancing. I was so disappointed when he did not. (Score: 4/10)

Waterbed Commercial — When Dom (Martin Freeman) wants to advertise his Waterbed Warehouse, he turns to his wife, Janine (Aidy Bryant). Not only was this a terrible sketch, it has a heinous earworm in it that’s been stuck in my head all morning. Avoid. (Score: 2/10)