SNL Featured Player Update 2/12/11 - Taran Killam rocks Eminem

Taran Killam rocks Eminem. Jay supports well as Lil Wayne. Vanessa tries in Livin Single (and doesn't too well), Nasim supports decently well, and Paul plays bit roles.


Weekend Update
Taran Killam ... Eminem
Jay Pharoah ... Lil Wayne


Rap icons Lil' Wayne and Eminem stop by Weekend Update to drop their edgy Valentine's Day song.

Hahahaha! Taran kills as Eminem! Listen to the audience! The audience loves his impression, and it's obvious why. He sounds like a great parody of Eminem and the gag comes across clear. Let's see more of his Eminem!


Sketch - Royal Taster
Russell Brand ... King Reginald
Bill Hader ... chef
Taran Killam ... taster
Michael Patrick O'Brien ... servant
Kristen Wiig ... narrator (voice)

It's not easy to taste all of a king's food for poison when the royal figure is a volatile person.



Taran is cute as the scared taste tester.


Show - Livin' Single
Russell Brand ... Damian Cryer
Vanessa Bayer ... Dina D'Angelo
Abby Elliott ... audience member
Taran Killam ... DJ Terry
Kristen Wiig ... audience member

Super single host Dina DeAngelos gets extra friendly with her guest much to the dismay of her friend, DJ Terry.



Is Vanessa funny? Hmm. In her Miley Cyrus skit, but I don't really think so in this one. Taran can't help, but Brand saves her a little.


OVERALL:
Here is our rank of how well I think they did overall...

1. Taran Killam - His Eminem was hilarious. The audience was dying whenever he opened his mouth, and it got to where they were laughing just when they looked at him nodding and staring stone faced. He also was in 5 other skits that night, the most of any cast member. He played a pretty good straight man as the concerned taste tester for the king. But he couldn't save Vanessa's Livin Single skit (luckily Brand saved it from being completely painful).

I think this is a huge step for Taran. This will hopefully prove that he should come back next year. Now it's a question of whether or not he can leverage this and deliver more funny. An easy way to do that is to bring this impression back the way Jay has brought his Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, and Denzel Washington back (and in different ways, each time).

2. Jay Pharoah - He played an amusing Lil Wayne, opposite Taran's Eminem on Weekend Update. Jay tweeted that Taran's Eminem really showed up his Wayne impression, but he promised to get them next time. Jay also supported in the Spider-man lawsuit commercial. Another Spider-man musical joke? Don't they have movies or other events to make fun of? Why does SNL have to be about current events?

I still think Jay should follow up his Denzel Washington skit with a sequel where Denzel is driving a taxi cab to prepare for a movie.

3. Nasim Pedrad - Sure Nasim didn't lead in any skits, but she was funny supporting in Bill Hader's English movie trailer, so I give her the edge over Vanessa, who starred in her own skit but still had less laughs than Nasim. Nasim supported in three skits this episode.

4. Vanessa Bayer - Vanessa starred in the Livin Single skit and she supported in the Spider-man commercial (a lot of the cast did). She wasn't overly funny, but at least she was featured on this show, which is more than we can say about...

5. Paul Brittain - Paul supports in two skits. Unfortunately nothing funny came from him this episode. After his James Franco impression, we're hoping he can keep proving himself. I still think there's a chance that he might not be back next season.

Enjoy!