SUNDAY MORNING LIVE: Like That Dookie-Filled Cruise, Christoph Waltz's 'SNL' Episode Could Have Been Better

Welcome to Edition No. 14 of Sunday Morning Live, Popculturology's look at the latest edition of Saturday Night Live. All of your questions about the Christoph Waltz-hosted episode will be answered after the jump.

How'd Waltz do?



OK, SNL, I'm proposing a new rule for the rest of this season: No more singing during the monologue. When you have Jason Segel singing with the Muppets, it's one thing, but the show has gone to this trick way too many times during Season 38, with Waltz's monologue being the latest recycling of this sketch. Honestly, unless Jimmy Fallon is going to come back and sing his way through the SNL studio again, I don't want to see another host sing during the monologue for a long, long time.

Going into this episode, I was worried that SNL would relegate Waltz to being sketch furniture during this episode, and unfortunately, that's what happened during most of the episode. Waltz did an admirable job with the material that he was given, but for the most part, the actor had to stand around while the SNL cast acted around him.


What were the best sketches of the night?



SNL has never really seemed to know what to do with Nasim Pedrad, which is why I love a sketch like this when it finally comes around.



When a character drops the line "There's dookies on the wall, man" in a sketch, you've won me over. This cruise ship experience sounded awful, so I'm glad SNL went after it. Bobby Moyihan as the animal expert wondering who ate his bird was a glice touch. By the way, where has Cecily Strong been the past few weeks? The freshman castmember had been dominating this season, but then suddenly disappeared. Where was she, Lorne Michaels?

Look, another sketch with Strong. Let's not let her disappear again, Lorne. This sketch, where Waltz played a security guard trying to figure out who sent Strong's character a creepy love note even though he was the one who sent it, reminds me of Melissa McCarthy's secret admirer sketch from her episode. Not in terms of epic laughs, though — just in terms of setup.



Kate McKinnon should be on Weekend Update every episode. Her portrayal of an Ural Mountain region woman who wished the meteorite had hit her killed me. I saw Identity Thief over the weekend, and that movie tried to find some new humor in a character singing "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard" but failed to do so. McKinnon did in thirty seconds what that movie couldn't do in two hours, not only making that Milkshake song funny again but also doing the same for Who Let the Dogs Out.


How about pseudo Digital Shorts?



I would've guessed that Pope Benedict XVI would have made Weekend Update, but SNL instead used that news story for one of its shorts, giving us a commercial for Papal Securities, the company that helps popes plot out their lives after they step down. Of course, the company doesn't have many clients ...



If Quentin Tarantino keeps making altered-history films, he would have eventually stumbled upon the idea of turning Jesus into a gun-totting warrior who fought against Pontius Pilate and Judas.


With the State of the Union coming last week, did we see Jay Pharoah as President Barack Obama again?



No President Barack Obama this week, but SNL still worked the State of the Union into the episode. If you're trying to figure out who's going to play who for the 2016 presidential election, SNL tipped its Marco Rubio hand last night, debuting Taran Killam as the Florida senator and likely presidential candidate. That darn water is just so far away.


Any part of the show just not work at all?



Fred Armisen needs to go. I'm pretty sure he's been on SNL for at least 20 years, and by now, he's worn out his welcome. I don't find Armisen in drag funny anymore, which is unfortunate since the show still believes that it's comedy gold. This sketch was awful when they used it during Daniel Craig's episode early in the season, and it was still awful this weekend.


What's next?

SNL is back on March 2 with Kevin Hart hosting and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis as the musical guests.


Previous editions of Sunday Morning Live

Feb. 10, 2013: Justin Bieber
Jan. 27, 2013: Adam Levine
Jan. 20, 2013: Jennifer Lawrence
Dec. 16, 2012: Martin Short
Dec. 9, 2012: Jamie Foxx
Nov. 18, 2012: Jeremy Renner
Nov. 11, 2012: Anne Hathaway
Nov. 4, 2012: Louis C.K.
Oct. 21, 2012: Bruno Mars
Oct. 14, 2012: Christina Applegate
Oct. 7, 2012: Daniel Craig
Sept. 23, 2012: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Sept. 16, 2012: Seth MacFarlane