‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Dr. Evil, Serial, Kristen Wiig, North Korea in Amy Adams show

“Saturday Night Live” wasted very little time getting to the main topic of this week in news, and that is simple: North Korea versus Sony on the subject of “The Interview.” We knew that this was probably coming, but it was nice to see it with a very unique and EVIL twist.

Dr. Evil is back! Mike Myers returned to the show to mock the entire situation using his famed character, and that is something that we definitely did not see coming in a million years. Still, it worked, though most of his commentary was a little expected and meant for quick applause.

Still, who doesn’t enjoy a jab at “The Love Guru”? It was a good way to start off the holiday show, since we always love a good celebrity cameo thrown in there.

Now that we’ve said all of this, let’s move on to some of the night’s other sketches.

Amy Adams monologue – It was great to see Kristen Wiig again, but this is the second time already this season! We smiled in here more than laughed; it probably had too much going on, which may have been the point … but still.

Asian American Doll – This was completely ridiculous, but such a true account of what we see time and time again in this extremely politically-correct world. This doll has almost no features that could ever upset anyone, and that is precisely the goal.

Family viral video – This was ridiculous in its own way. We laughed, but in a very awkward way. Mostly, the MVP award goes to Taran Killam, who killed it in the cold open as Sam Smith.

Serial – We don’t know how many “SNL” viewers are also Serial listeners, since this seems to still be a very specific thing. We’re familiar with the podcast, but we’re not an active enough listener to love this parody as much as we probably would otherwise. We still laughed, and we hear that Cecily Strong’s impression was impeccable.

Girlfriends Talk Show – We never liked this sketch, and we still don’t. Also, One Direction really doesn’t need to be in a sketch unless there’s a purpose for them. We’d actually prefer to only focus on one or two of them rather than all five.

Office Christmas Party – Didn’t Pete Davidson and Jay Pharoah dress a little too much like Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg? This was just a little too loud to be funny, though there were a few moments in here that were fun, point out the ordinary at a party in a loud, screeching voice.

Weekend Update – We really like the overly-positive Willie, but why, “Saturday Night Live”? Haven’t we had enough of Garth and Kat over the past few years? This segment took away from some of the great jokes, and seeing Bobby Moynihan start to make fun of Kim Jong-Un, only to be encouraged otherwise.

A Very Cuban Christmas – This was probably the first real dud of the night for us, mostly because at least the Girlfriends Talk Show had an element of surprise to it. Most of the impressions in here were barely that, and this entire sketch was horribly disjointed.

Bar sketch – This was … weird. Very weird. A secret raccoon fantasy to live as humans, and impress guys at an old-timey bar. Good performance by the ladies, but not particularly funny.

Cat store – Basically, any chance to see Kate McKinnon front and center is something we can sign off on. Good job by her just delivering the lines, and dealing with all of the cats.

Overall, this was a solid show overall that made us laugh at times, but probably is the weakest Christmas show in a while. There surprisingly wasn’t that much Christmas, or that much Amy Adams, in here overall. Grade: B-.

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