I was excited for this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live because Kevin Hart is generally great, and it was easy to imagine him doing very well as a host. And he did do very well as a host! It is just too bad that the rest of the show didn’t do particularly well at being the rest of the show! The cold open about the sequester budget cuts was disappointing in the way that almost all political cold opens are disappointing: it didn’t have anything to say. I love silly jokes — they are my favorite kind of jokes — but they’re better reserved for more creative scenarios. A parade of silly budget cuts ending with a YMCA joke seems (TO ME) (maybe you loved it!) like a waste of political material. Do something different if you don’t have anything to say about politics! We’ll still know Obama exists! I PROMISE! Moving on, Kevin Hart’s monologue was ridiculous. As comedians tend, he did a selection of stand-up that, out of place in its SNL opening monologue setting, reminded me so much of ?one of the Billy Balowski? rambling monologues from The Young Ones that I actually kind of loved it? Hahah. It was so silly! And rapid-fire! I’LL TAKE IT! The show went from the monologue into a terrible Steve Harvey sketch, which, like the rest of the night, showed Kevin Hart obviously trying his very best with what he was given. Let’s take a look at when it worked!

I want to open with the “Z-Shirt” sketch because it was so fucking great and I loved it so much. Kevin Hart was great. The idea was great. Very silly, which I LOVE, AS YOU KNOW. A+.

And when it came back at the funeral? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A++++++

I liked the “Recording Session” sketch. I forget whether it came before or after the “Z Shirt” sketch during the show (though I think it came after), but it FOR SURE only seemed like another “Kevin Hart is very funny when he yells”-type of sketch, and I FOR SURE still thought it was funny. So. I understand if you didn’t like it! One problem I had, though, was Vanessa Bayer’s ALSO joke-y vocal. If the humor comes in the contrast of what would be good for the commercial and what would be bad for it, then I think it would have made more sense if the “good” one were actually good? Right?

Haha, the “Barnes & Noble employees” sketch is another one that I definitely understand someone disliking, as it was only a direct re-do of the “McDonalds employees” sketch that a bunch of people didn’t like the first time around, but I still thought it was funny! 0/10 points for creativity but 8/10 points for making me laugh a bunch of times.

Did you guys like the “Walking Dead” sketch? The reliance upon race-based humor was a little overwhelming in this episode overall and reached its peak here. I wasn’t a fan, really! Though maybe the Walking Dead jokes were enough to save it for you guys? Or did it just bring up bad memories of how Gabe is no longer doing Walking Dead recaps?

Weekend Update was enjoyable this week and included a “Really?!,” which is always nice to see.

Finally, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performed “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us.” I know Macklemore has become someone people love to hate, but I do not hate him! He seems like a real sweetheart and his songs are fun and I like to watch him dance. Chill out, dudes. His SNL performances were entertaining and actually sounded good, which is rare for an SNL performance.

NEXT WEEK: JUSTIN TIIIMBERRRLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!