We were all pretty geared up for Gabourey Sidibe to be completely awesome, weren’t we? Well, most of us were. And to her credit, she did give one of the best monologues in recent memory. She started with the premise that everyone feels sympathetic towards her because they think she’s Precious. She went on to sing and dance to a surprisingly awesome song “I’m not Precious, I’m Gabourey”. Gaby has a great voice, and she just seems so bubbly and happy and thrilled to be there, it was difficult not to root for her. Unfortunately, this video isn’t at SNL online or Hulu, so here’s a low-quality version:
Even though I love her, I was slightly disappointed in general with Gaby’s appearance. They didn’t use her as much as, say, Tina Fey two weeks ago. And Gaby flubbed her lines several times. But she did have some really great moments, like the digital short Gaby did with Andy Samberg, which was surprisingly strange and deliciously weird – I give you “Cherry Battle”:
I thought this one was cute one for Gaby too. By the way, why did they make her do so many accents? She was good at some of them (like the one below), but some, not so much:
This was actually my favorite of the night, but it didn‘t include Gaby. Bill Hader is insane, and he’s crazy funny in this one. So funny he cracked himself up. I’ve watched this three times already:
Photos courtesy of NBC & SNL online.
I loved the Stefan skit!
My husband doesn’t like it too much when an actor starts laughing. He doesn’t like Jimmy Fallon for that reason because he says he’s constantly ruining the skit by cracking up. I don’t mind it so much. It’s funny!
i enjoyed sidibe, even with the flubs. i thought she was refreshing and fun. MGMT was a treat and so was hader doing his “teddy graham guy” etc reviews… i am glad they did not focus on her weight and gave her a chance to do something fum after the super intense “Precious”.
she needs to lose weight. it’s distracting…
She was really cute! I liked it.
You go girl!
I thought the show sucked. Gabourey really messed up A LOT. I mean, pretty much every sketch she was in. She looked out of breath or something a few times.
teresa: publications were saying she’s a one hit wonder. she’s trying something new (+ getting steadywork elsewhere) so it seems normal to for folks to critique in response.
I love SNL,but I gotta say this show sucked major ass
I thought she did pretty well! I liked the monologue a lot, I thought it was fun and perfect for her. The rest of the skits were a bit lame, I don’t think she had too much to work with there, but she did well with what she had. She did flub a couple of lines, but corrected quickly – not bad for live performance from a new actor. I’ve seen “veteran” actors host SNL and be unable to tear their eyes from the cue cards, and I find that far worse than a few word slips here and there.
Cherry Battle was funny, but in a really weird way.
I saw the commercial for Laura Linney’s new show, Gabby has a role on that too. She seems like such a sweet, fun girl, I wish the best for her.
SNL is more annoying than funny. It’s gone downhill ever since Tina Fey left. Most of the current cast is stupid and unfunny.
Gabby wasn’t great but still likeable. She’s still getting used to acting and was probably nervous doing something live. Doing interviews is probably easier since she’s just being herself.
The poor girl just isn’t funny. She’s great in random red carpet interviews but she seemed really nervous and kept messing up her lines.
Messing up lines is one of those things that breaks the rhythm of the scene and whatever they say that was meant to be funny isn’t funny anymore.
Whoa, surprisingly tame comments coming down here. Everyone sheathed their sharpened tongues, I see. Gabourey was sweet and enthusiastic. I like her. BUT, she was very amateurish, messing up on her lines, bad timing, sloppy accents. And she scared me during her singing monologue getting so clearly out of breath. To top it off, there was hardly a funny skit throughout, and none that she was involved in. It shows how much a host can influence the momentum of a show. Too bad.
It was really painful to watch.
Gabourey was not funny at all. I wish reviewers would stop giving her a free pass because of her weight. She’s a performer. She should get used to hearing truly honest criticism. And I’m not talking about the Howard Stern/weight-hating criticism. Her perfromance on SNL was just BAD! Prolly one of the worst of the season. She constantly flubbed her lines which ruined sketches and it was very apparent that she was reading the cue cards during her scenes because she kept squinting, which was distracting. Plus, she seemed generally nervous, out of place, awkward and had absolutely no sense of comedic timing whatsoever. Some people are blaming the writing, but even a good perfomer can make do with what they’re given and at least be entertaining. I didn’t find Gaby the least bit entertaining.
Ana, I agree with your husband.
It’s not Gabby’s fault that the writing on SNL sucks and the skits generally aren’t funny anymore.
I thought her monologue was terrible, and the little line she said about not having to go to college because she was famous … yeah, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
What a “great role model” she is to young women … be a typecast one-hit wonder in a movie and act like you don’t have to do anything productive with your life after that because you’re “famous”. What a joke.
SNL needs to be put out of its misery already… that is one flogged horse.
Not sure this is her niche but it’s good to see her trying new things. As for the flubbing, even though she’s an Oscar nominee, she doesn’t have an acting track record, or comedy training so it seems odd that she would be given this opportunity. I frickin’ hate SNL, I don’t think it is funny at all, so she didn’t seem that out of place to me.
As an aside, her skin is so beautiful. She was so cute in those Andy Samberg promos..
I thought she was cute. Her enthusiasm was infectious. She seemed so tickled to be there.
I actually didn’t think the flubbing was that bad. Especially given her lines in the ‘crazy lady talking nonsense’ skit. That wasn’t amateur writing.
I like it. I’ve seen actors with a lot more on their resume mess up the same amount of times. Plus she’s genuinely likable.
I wish I could see more skits with her and Andy Samburg. They make a really good comedic pair.
Agree with Aspie. SNL usually has two funny minutes out of the entire show and the guest host will sometimes be part of those minutes, but usually not. And when I used to watch, there were many hosts who flubbed their lines and were obviously reading cue cards.
And why shouldn’t she host? Better someone with some actual acting experience versus an athlete. I’m not defending her performance (because I’ve only seen the posted clips) but saying that being host of SNL is a thankless job and usually no one comes out unscathed.
I thought the writers were off and did her a disservice. The skits were awful. I think she would have done better if they gave her something funny. Granted she seemed nervous and flubbed her lines a bit, but over all it was the material that sucked, not her. Get it together SNL we all want to love her and you didn’t help that at all.
ITA with original kate. SNL does need to be put out of its misery already. I haven’t watched it in years because it sucks. Just. Plain. Sucks. Plus it’s not hard to find something better to do on a Saturday night. Clipping my toenails come to mind. So I didn’t watch this episode, just the clips provided. It looks sucky as usual, but not because of her. I don’t think she did any worse than any other host. I look forward to seeing her in many more things. Her positivity is refreshing!!
I thought she was good considering the mostly dumb sketches and she’s so young and new at acting.
Hader was the best part of the night. The episode fell flat for me, the writing has really gone down hill.
omg, the girl scout cookie rant had me crying. I could not stop laughing for half and hour. Who is that guy? Is he a writer on SNL? He needs to get up there and be a regular. Seriously hysterical I am starting to laugh just thinking about it.
Am I the only one who can’t stand Kristen Wiig? They seem to try to put her in as many sketches as possible and she never fails to annoy me.
@Relli: He is a writer and I agree – he should get in on some skits! His rant was perfect.
Weekend Update is consistently funny and Hader had me dying. I wish that the skits were as good as WU is. But I also totally heart Seth Meyers.
WTF with the Hollywood jokes in the alarm clock one? I think 1998 wants its cultural references back.
@KG – ummmm, too stupid to realize it was just a joke, are you?