> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theomnicosm.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Bill Hader and Kate McKinnon shine during Vince Vaughn's mediocre episode - URL: https://www.theomnicosm.com/bill-hader-and-kate-mckinnon-shine-during-vince-vaughns-mediocre-episode/ - Published: 2013-04-13T14:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-10-16T21:23:25.000Z - Description: A republished recap of the April 13, 2013, episode of ‘SNL’ hosted by Vince Vaughn. - Author: Bill Kuchman - Tags: The Cold Open • From the Archive, SNL Season 38, The Cold Open, SNL, The Cold Open • Episode Reviews, Vince Vaughn *I wrote* SNL *recaps for the original version of Popculturology from 2012 to 2015\. The opinions voiced in these recaps may be outdated based on the events that have occurred since their writing. This article was originally published on April 14, 2013.* Welcome to Edition No. 18 of *Sunday Morning Live*, **Popculturology**'s look at the latest episode of *Saturday Night Live*. All of your questions about the **Vince Vaughn**\-hosted episode will be answered after the jump. ### How'd Vaughn do? Now that we're eighteen episodes into Season 38 of *SNL*, the shows start to blur together. I can remember standout episodes like **Louis CK**'s and **Justin Timberlake**'s, but the mediocre (or worse) episodes become a fuzzy haze of meh. Vaughn's episode joined that haze of meh before the show was even over. I can't tell yet whether this weekend's *SNL* was the worst of the season, but I think it's definitely a challenger for most uneventful. *SNL* thrives on buzz, which means an uneventful episode is even worse than an awful episode. People will talk about an awful episode. An uneventful episode will dead on arrival. Vaughn spent much of the night reading cue cards, appearing stiff and uncomfortable. I have no idea what his monologue was trying to accomplish. I don't even really want to highlight the best sketches of the night. I would rather talk about how **Bill Hader** and **Kate McKinnon** worked as hard as they could to keep whatever tiny spark of life this episode had going alive. ## Sign up Join the hundreds of ****Deep SNL Thoughts** subscribers who already get free editions including the episode recaps, news and more. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. ➕ Already a ****Deep SNL Thoughts** subscriber? ****Please consider becoming a supporter** by [****upgrading your account**](https://www.popculturology.news/?ref=theomnicosm.com#/portal/). 🍿🍪 Wanna add ****Popculturology** and ****Snackology** to your subscription? ****Update your email preferences** [****on your account page**](https://www.popculturology.news/?ref=theomnicosm.com#/portal/). ### So you'd like to talk about Bill Hader and Kate McKinnon? Yes, I'd like to discuss Hader and McKinnon and how they dominated Vaughn's episode. While Vaughn was snoozing his way through *SNL*, Hader and McKinnon were on full display. I pegged McKinnon as the next *SNL* star last season, but her first full season hasn't exactly made good on that potential. I don't blame her — I blame the show itself. Between McKinnon and **Cecily Strong**, *SNL* has two dynamic and hilarious female castmembers, but it refuses to properly highlight them. Strong was pretty much missing from the entire episode this week, something that seems to happen to McKinnon too way more often than it should. *SNL* wasted little time this week going to a short, giving Hader the chance to set the episode's tone early with the *Al Pacino Accused Murderer Biopic Series*. After **Al Pacino** played both **Jack Kevorkian** and **Phil Spector** in HBO biopics, *SNL* figured the actor could also portray famous accused murderers like **Amanda Knox**, the Unabomber and the Mendendez brothers. We'll gladly accept any opportunity for Hader to break out a bunch of impressions, even though we'll laugh very, very uncomfortably when he's in blackface. Short-Term Memory Loss Theater may have been the highlight of a vanilla episode. Hader was the central character in this one, playing a doctor/director/actor of a theater troupe made up of people with short-term memory loss. Even though his techniques were supposed to make everyone remember their lines, no one could remember anything, forcing Hader's character to constantly feed his actors lines. When **Fred Armisen** and Vaughn have trouble navigating the stage, Hader can't keep it together anymore and starts to break. We know from past episodes this season that Hader and Armisen are a dangerous breaking combo. McKinnon playing **Marina Chapman**, a woman who claims to have been raised by monkeys. What more do I need to say? While McKinnon dove headfirst into this sketch (or, technically slid headfirst up this sketch's stretchy shirt), it just couldn't compare to the first time *SNL* did this sketch this season. Sorry, Vaughn, you're no Louis C.K. ### Anything else even worth mentioning from this episode? This sketch was the non-Hader/McKinnon highlight of the night, shedding light on the origins of NBC's NBA theme music. Who knew the Tesh brothers and a pair of tiny hammers were involved? "That’s right, burn it down, Teshes!" **Jason Sudeikis** actually showed up in a lot of sketches during this episode. Just think, we're only a few weeks away from overanalyzing whether or not he's leaving the show again. It was also odd to *SNL* do a sketch about **Margaret Thatcher** so early in the night. Does the audience *SNL* is trying to attract find Thatcher-related humor captivating? Based on Twitter, [the kids at the helm of the social media ship don't even know who Thatcher was](http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/people-who-have-never-heard-of-margaret-thatcher?ref=theomnicosm.com). *SNL* tried to make a statement on Congress' inability to function as a governing body, but the sketch was maybe a bit too heavy handed for a cold open. It was also disappointed to see *SNL* use up the "**Jay-Z** goes to Cuba" story in a throwaway line by **Jay Pharoah**'s President **Barack Obama**. "We did it. Racism is over." ****Deep SNL Thoughts** is written and produced by ****Bill Kuchman**. Copyediting by ****Tim Kuchman**. 💰 Like what you’re reading on ****Deep SNL Thoughts**? [Send ****a one-time tip to show your support** for the newsletter. ](https://www.popculturology.news/?ref=theomnicosm.com#/portal/support) ➕ Already a ****Deep SNL Thoughts** subscriber? ****Please consider becoming a supporter** by [****upgrading your account**](https://www.popculturology.news/?ref=theomnicosm.com#/portal/). 🍿🍪 Wanna add ****Popculturology** and ****Snackology** to your subscription? ****Update your email preferences** [****on your account page**](https://www.popculturology.news/?ref=theomnicosm.com#/portal/). 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