One problem with preceding a new “Saturday Night Live” with one of the greatest in recent memory, featuring Louis C.K., in prime time, 30 minutes before the new live show featuring a comic that, at least to me, has never been funny, and you’re in for bigtime disappointment.
And Saturday’s installment of “SNL” with Kevin Hart was one of the flattest of the season. Compared to recent episodes that were filled with more events to lampoon than they could fit in, this one never rose to a chuckle.
It began with Jay Pharoah doing an Obama sequestration press conference, pulling out examples of those who’d be hurt by it. Eventually it included the entire membership of the Village People, who did their YMCA signals to get the point across. It warmed up and was OK.
But you knew things were going wrong when Hart unleashed his monologue carping about not passing a previous audition for the show (for obvious reasons) and following with a long unfunny story that turned offensive when he compared homeless people to disease carrying monkeys.
The first sketch had Kenan Thompson doing his Steve Harvey impersonation with Hart as a guest who was afraid of horses. It didn’t seem to go anywhere.
In a poor attempt to wrap two events of the past week together, a sketch revealed the newly named pope as none other than 9-year-old Oscar Nominee Quvenzhane Wallis, played by Hart. It wasn’t exactly funny and only reminded people, after the Onion blunder, how making fun of even celebrity kids hardly ever works out.
They did a repeat of that weird skit from sometime back where Bobby Moynihan and Cecily Strong talk trash about all of their fellow employees. Before it was at McDonald’s, now it’s at Barnes & Noble. And with no more of a point! Hart was one of the employees.
In a “Weekend Update” where it was Pharoh and Moynihan who did Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong-un, Hart tried to uphold his half of a “Really?” but had to read one cue card three times.
It seems like “SNL” would get around to doing a parody of “The Walking Dead” and “Shark Tank,” but they squandered both opportunities with some lame bits, one right after the other. Then it just went downhill.
And what of the musical guests? Well, if you didn’t know better Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis would seem to be a comic skit as well. And one of the better ones from Saturday.