‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Alex Cross 2, Mrs. Claus, J-Pop, and Jamie Foxx win

When “Saturday Night Live” first announced that their host was going to be none other than Jamie Foxx, we had a feeling that this was going to be a funny show. However, what we did not see coming was that this was going to be one of the more uproarious shows of the entire year. There was nary a terrible sketch during the whole episode, and there were even a few that we are going to remember for quite some time. We love it when everyone is on the top of their game, from the writers to the cast. As a matter of fact, the worst part of the night was the guy in the audience who kept yelling at inappropriate times.

We won’t spend much time focusing on the negative here, mostly because it’s so few and far between; but if you managed to miss the “Marcus Banks: Tree Pimp” sketch an hour into the show, you may be a better person because of it. Now, let’s turn to the actual highlights.

Jamie Foxx’s monologue – Yes, Jamie did some singing in the monologue, but it was part of a larger routine about being black that got better and better as it went on. What really sold this (and what really sold the whole show) was Jamie’s commitment: he took his lines seriously, and he delivered them with such a punch that you couldn’t help but smile.

“B*tch, What’s the Answer?” and “Dylan McDermott or Dermot Mulroney?” – Who thought that “SNL” would have two funny game-show sketches on the same night? Even though racial stereotypes were in some ways a part of both bits, it was all good-natured fun … and it was really funny. The latter sketch may be the stronger one thanks largely to Dermot Mulroney actually appearing, and also believing for a minute that he was actually Dylan McDermott rather than himself.

J-Pop America Fun Time Now – Jamie Foxx saved this usually ho-hum recurring sketch. There’s really not much else to say about this, though we did actually know some people who acted like this at one point in life.

Alex Cross 2 – This was pure brilliance, as Foxx took on Tyler Perry’s character from his recent action movie along with his famed character of Madea. To make things even better, he played both of them at the same time as though he was Two-Face from Batman. We have no idea who came up with this idea, but the mere premise here was so good that we were laughing before any of the individual jokes came up.

“Weekend Update” – Aidy Bryant found her best character since joining the show, and it’s rather sad that it is someone in Mrs. Claus who is only relevant a small portion of the year. As for Jamie Foxx’s Ding-Dong, it was a brilliant send-up of the great Twinkie crisis in America. Seth Meyers bookended the strong installment this week with some great one-liners that showed once again his strength as a head writer.

While it was not necessarily as stellar as the bits mentioned above, even the political cold-open this week was pretty funny as Bill Hader’s John Boehner was defended by Jay Pharoah’s President Obama over being “bullied” by Republicans over some of the recent drama surrounding the fiscal cliff.

Did Jamie Foxx’s show work for you like it worked for us? Be sure to vote in the poll below! We’ll have videos from the show up in the morning, and you can watch some other highlights from this season over here.

Photo: NBC