Featured Player Update 2/5 - Jay and Paul's winning impressions, Nasim rocks Church Lady, & Taran outdances Dana

Commercial - Celebrity Teen Crisis Center

To start us off, Jay Pharoah pulls out an impression that's better than those from Fred Armisen, Dana Carvey, and Bill Hader (which begins to show where Jay is headed as the future star of SNL).

Dana Carvey ... Mickey Rooney
Fred Armisen ... Ice-T
Paul Brittain ... caller
Abby Elliott ... Anna Faris
Bill Hader ... Alan Alda
Steve Higgins ... announcer (voice)
Taran Killam ... caller
Nasim Pedrad ... caller
Jay Pharoah ... Eddie Murphy
Kenan Thompson ... caller
Kristen Wiig ... caller

A new VH1 show features celebrities who answer calls for a teen crisis line and attempt to offer help.



Hahahaha. The crew take turns slamming their impressions in. Billy's Alan Alda was #1 (maybe #2 behind Jon Hamm's Robin Williams) in the Back to the Future DVD gauntlet of impressions, but here Bill's Alda doesn't stack up to the humor of the others.

Likewise, Dana Carvey's Mickey Roony just isn't all that funny in comparison to these other impressions. Of course, Jay Pharoah's Murphy stands out the most.

Here's how I'd rank them (just in how entertaining they are):
1. Jay Pharoah - Eddie Murphy
2. Abby Elliott - Anna Farris
3. Fred Armisen - Ice T
4. Dana Carvey - Mickey Roony
5. Bill Hader - Alan Alda


Paul Brittain is James Franco

Oscar host and best actor nominee James Franco stops by to talk about the multitude of projects he's working on right now.



Hahahaha. Paul nails this James Franco impression. Hilarious! I love that bit at the end about the news. Honestly, this has to be my favorite "skit" from Paul Brittain yet.


Show - Church Chat

First up is Nasim Pedrad, who busts out Kim Kardashian (and sisters) to contront the Church Lady (interestingly, Nasim brought new life into her Kim impression when she brought in Abby and Vanessa to play her sisters).

Dana Carvey ... Church Lady
Justin Bieber
Vanessa Bayer ... Kourtney Kardashian
Abby Elliott ... Khloé Kardashian
Bill Hader ... Father Sabatino
Phil Hartman ... announcer (voice)
Bobby Moynihan ... Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi
Nasim Pedrad ... Kim Kardashian
Jason Sudeikis ... Jesus (voice)

The church lady welcomes the Kardashian sisters, Snooki and Justin Bieber, who has a profound effect on her.



Bonus that they used old Phil Hartman (who is deceased) recordings to announce Wayne's World and Church Chat.

Nasim Pedrad does her Kim Kardashian to perfection here again. Abby also gets one good joke in with, "I'm third."


Sketch - Sports Bar

Next up, Taran Killam is in a supporting role, but his dancing at the end shows up Fred Armisen and Dana Carvey.

Dana Carvey ... musician
Fred Armisen ... musician
Paul Brittain ... musician
Bill Hader ... musician
Taran Killam ... Patrick
Bobby Moynihan ... patron
Jason Sudeikis ... patron
Kenan Thompson ... patron

It's Super Bowl weekend and 'The Fingerlings' annoy all the patrons of a Green Bay Packers bar with their song choice.



So Dana and Bobby are hilarious here, but the song itself isn't overly funny. This was obviously out of Fred's head. Fred actually came from the music industry before he was a comedian, so he finds ways to integrate his music into the show.

Taran Killam comes on at the end and outdances Dana Carvey. Wow Taran. You need to write yourself into the show so that people can see what you can do.


OVERALL:

So how would I rank the featured players this week?

1. Paul Brittain - I never thought Paul would make it to the top of one of my lists like this, but here he is. Paul's James Franco impression was hilarious, and he also had 3 supporting roles this week. That's enough to give him a slight edge over Jay Pharoah.

2. Jay Pharoah - With his Eddie Murphy impression and supporting roles in two commercials, Jay proves that he'll be the star of SNL a few years from now!

3. Nasim Pedrad - With her Kim Kardashian and Kelly Ripa, and 3 more supporting roles, Nasim proves that she's going to be bumped up to regular cast member next year.

4. Taran Killam - Dancing in the Sports Bar sketch, on Regis and Kelly, and another two supporting roles, I've got to give it to Taran for the awesome dancing!

5. Vanessa Bayer - Vanessa also had a good show with her Kourtney Kardashian, an amusing little girl beauty pageant model, and one more supporting role.

Enjoy!