NBC
Show Biz Friends Monologue
For the third week of Maya & Marty, the hosts got right to work with a little patter and a pretty humorous song about how the two are friends … show biz friends, that is. The best lyrics involved Maya being on “The A List” while Marty was on “a list” … but we won’t spoil the punchline. A good start.
NBC
Firemen
Marty, Kenan Thompson (who got a lot more to do this week) and Mikey Day are firemen who just got the news that one was selected to be Mr. July in a sexy firemen calendar. Ah, but there is one more guy in the ‘house, Bill (John Cena). While marty’s captain muses about himself being the model, Bill is the perfect specimen for a calendar as he pumps iron and cuddles a dalmatian but only one of the guys sees the obvious answer. This one was pretty funny as they cut back and forth between Cena – always saying any of the others would win – and the other guys talking themselves into the calendar.
NBC
Happy Birthday
Guest Eva Longoria (this episode was jam-packed with guests) is a music executive trying to have a private meal in a restaurant while she attempts to find the next Adele. And when the staff learn it’s also her birthday, what better way to audition than with a few birthday wishes. This sketches wasn’t the funniest, and it got a little unwieldy when Nick Jonas came from the kitchen with his backup band, but Marty almost saved it all in the end.
NBC
Artificial Intelligence
A pre-taped bit that riffed on the movie Ex-Machina as Short plays a man who’s paid $19 million for a robot that looks like the love of his life (whom he ever only met once, by the way). The inventor was played by Ben Stiller. Maya was the robot, a perfect recreation of the dream woman but her internet connection needed some work. This one had a few good moments, like when Marty had to yell into Maya’s mouth to activate her Bluetooth speaker to play “their song,” but the whole thing seemed to have just ended too abruptly.
NBC
Schuyler Sisters
One of the things I like about Maya & Marty is the performance showcases they’ve done, and this week’s episode featured three boys who have become YouTube sensations by performing roles they’d never get to play in real life. The boys, all Broadway actors, performed the “Schuyler Sisters” number from the Tony-winning Hamilton, and they were amazing.
NBC
Rap Battle
Hands down the best sketch of the night. It started out just so-so as Kenan Thompson and Nick Jonas waged a rap battle MC’d by Eva Longoria, with each man trying to top the other with more insulting lyrics. Typical rap battle stuff. But Nick’s dad played by Short, the whitest of white guys, was there to cheer him on leading to one of the hardest smackdowns in rap battle history. A real winner and Short really shined (and is it me or does he get A LOT more screen time than Maya?).
NBC
Jiminy Glick with Kevin Hart
Another Glick interview, this time with Kevin Hart (who is promoting his new movie Central Intelligence but never gets to talk about it). Glick takes no time to rib Hart about his denim outfit, noting that it looks like it has little snowflakes all over it, and his height. Hart tries to remain composed but loses it more than a few times. Short was on the money this week, even making comedy from Hart’s obvious attributes fresh.
NBC
Barnes and Son
Annoyed by those late night commercials for lawyers? This bit spoofs those, but goes terribly wrong. Very short and sweet.
NBC
Hogan Vs.
The second best sketch of the night features Cena auditioning for the next FX mini-series “Hulk Hogan vs Gawker.” Cena comes in thinking he’s doing a makeup test in full Hogan regalia, but it’s still just a screen test where he’s pitted against David Schwimmer (Short), who does his Hogan while Cena has the guy down to a T. Mikey Day plays James Van Der Beek auditioning for Bubba the Love Sponge and Eva Longoria was Rosie Perez as the girlfriend. Then Kena pops in as Cuba Gooding Jr as O.J. because O.J. is in all of FX’s shows now. Cena really nailed the Hulkster, but Short’s Schwimmer was pretty darned hilarious.
NBC
Until Then
Maya, Marty and Kenan sing a little ditty to close the show, harmonizing beautifully, until Jimmy Fallon pops in to tell them to wrap it up already.
It looks like Maya & Marty has finally found a good groove in its third week, moving away from pre-taped bits and focusing more on “live” sketches. And that’s a good thing. It’s just a shame they don’t really do the show live but a good balance of sketches, solid writing, guest stars and performances from Broadway (and being in New York, they should continue to take advantage of that) could keep this show on the air for a long time.
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