SUNDAY MORNING LIVE: Jennifer Lawrence Spoofs 'The Hunger Games' and Insults Diner Customers

Welcome to the eleventh edition of Sunday Morning Live, Popculturology's look at the latest edition of Saturday Night Live. All of your questions about the Jennifer Lawrence-hosted episode will be answered after the jump.

How'd Jennifer Lawrence do?



If you aren't a fan of Lawrence, I don't understand you. Not only is she a fantastic actress, earning two Best Actress nominations by the age of 22, but she's incredibly down to earth and willing to make fun of the whole acting thing. Providing Lawrence carried this approach over to hosting SNL, I figured she'd be a great host. While the actress won't go down as a legendary SNL host, Lawrence delivered an above-average show, playing a host of characters, donning whatever stupid costumes they gave her and showing no sign of cue-card addiction.

This episode felt like it went by very quickly, a mood that was set by Lawrence's monologue. The actress took shots at her fellow Best Actress Oscar nominees, but found herself compelled to say something nice about each one at the same time.



SNL even got Lawrence to dress up as a dog. Let me point out again that this is a two-time Oscar nominee and someone who is probably going to win an Oscar this year.


What were the best sketches of the night?



While some people thought it was derivative of old Chris Farley sketches, I loved Girlfriends Talk Show the first time SNL did it. The pairing of Cecily Strong as a popular girl who's clueless to the real needs of her friend played by Aidy Bryant was perfect, and I thought the two SNL freshmen worked well together. It seems like Strong's first-year dominance has worn off a bit (I have no idea why, though), so I was happy to see SNL return to Girlfriend Talk Show. Lawrence was a great edition, playing a girl named Jessie who was in a band called Vag Hat. I'm sure Bryant's character was right when she told Jessie that she "wished she pooped little pellets."



The Johnny Two Tones sketch makes this part of Sunday Morning Live purely because it got Lawrence, one of the nicest stars in showbiz, to say horribly cruel things. "You’re trash. You’re both trash. And the saddest part is that you both know that all you are is garbage." "That water is from the toilet." And perhaps my favorite: "You peaked in high school, and now you’ll sleep with anyone who asks." I love people who peaked in high school. They make me look forward to my ten-year reunion.



SNL has done this sketch before, and while I can't remember if Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan were the guys playing the early morning show co-hosts, Lawrence once again was the key to the sketch. She was so close to coming up with a successful rap — maybe next time she'll get it.


You predicted that SNL would do a Hunger Games sketch tonight. Did that happen?



Of course it did. There was no way SNL would pass on the opportunity to spoof The Hunger Games with Lawrence hosting. Instead of just doing a straight parody, though, SNL staged a post-Hunger Games news conference, giving us Lawrence's Katniss, Killam as Peeta and Bill Hader as the guy with the awesome beard answering reporters' questions. Let's be honest too — SNL nailed it by pointing out that Peeta sucks. He probably was taking performance-reducing drugs.


How about the rest of the week's news stories? Did SNL poke fun at Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o?



The show wasted little time when it came to checking Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o off its list of subject to parody after Christmas break. Both Armstrong and Te'o were included in SNL's Piers Morgan cold open, with Jason Sudeikis playing Armstrong as a man swinging between remorseful and anger ("Who said that? Who? They’re liars! Fat bitches!") and Moynihan portraying Te'o as a guy who just hasn't caught onto the fact that his girlfriend is imaginary. SNL even threw in Kate McKinnon as Jodie Foster, completing the trifecta when it came to celebrity news for the past week.


Anything new on the post-Digital Shorts front?



If you thought Peter Jackson's plan to turn The Hobbit into three movies was ridiculous, just wait until you what The Hobbit 4 through 19 look like.



SNL is still trying to find it's groove in the post-Digital Shorts era. The show delivered a decent spoof on Starbucks home-brewing machine, pretending the appliance would treat you just like a barista would in person.



The show's second-to-last sketch was a fake-dubbed short called Danielle. I'm not really sure what the joke was supposed to be, whether we were supposed to laugh at the dubbing or the fact that people wanted to have sex with Lawrence.


You don't normally talk about the musical guests, but Sunday Morning Live wants to know what you think about The Lumineers.





I'm glad you brought this up, Sunday Morning Live (not quite sure about you talking about yourself in the third person, though). The Lumineers are fantastic, and I'm stoked that America got to see them play live during SNL. Ho Hey has been on the radio since this summer, and I still stop flipping through stations whenever I find it. I actually listened to the band's album while putting together this installment of Sunday Morning Live. While they played Ho Hey and Stubborn Love on SNL, you really should check out Slow It Down too. Probably the best song on the album.


Thanks for pointing that out. I'll check out Slow It Down.

No problem, Sunday Morning Live. I'm happy to pass along my recommendations.


What's next?

SNL is back on Jan. 26 with Adam Levine hosting and Kendrick Lamar as the music guest.


Previous editions of Sunday Morning Live

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