Emily Lynne

The recently, alas, late great Tim Conway had a line about jokes being funny on the third time, terrible on the eighth, and uproarious on the 43rd. This is relevant as regards this radio-play in that the first few episodes are pretty close to being a slog. Borrowing the greatest song of the early aughts for the title and theme music is both a blessing and a curse in that it is the only real energy in those first 100 minutes.

But then the jokes get to the repetitions that are into the high twenties, the grace-note asides become much more entertaining ("Costo. Sounds like a quick place to stop by. Wouldn't take a whole afternoon or anything."), and all of the character work starts to pay off with odd interactions between the story lines, the way that Seinfeld episodes used to attempt to conclude the B story with the A story's logical endpoint. This is very writerly, of course, but works well as a diversion, if that is what you are looking for.

Final note: Rating is tricky because if this was truly a love of labor, i.e. sisters and friends recording it in a bedroom in their spare-time, it would be a miracle of exuberance. But that it is an ultra-polished Audible product with a dozen recognizable actors makes it less charming by a lot. Still, those actors all tend toward the excellent, with McKinnon in particular being her usual amazing self, and the ending is pretty close to perfect.… (més)

Kate McKinnon is by far my favorite SNL cast member, past or present. The way she becomes her character and is never afraid to go big reminds me so much of the original cast, when Dan Aykroyd blended a whole fish and John Belushi had a little too much fun with a prop samurai sword. So, when Heads Will Roll popped up as another “free” offering from Audible to its subscribers, I knew it was something I wanted in my library.

I am so glad I downloaded it and even happier that I finally listened to it. Heads Will Roll made me laugh out loud, something you tend not to want to do when at work. Ms. McKinnon and her sister are the stars, but the cast is just as impressive. As the queen’s assistant, Tim Gunn is a spectacular casting choice, and he does an AMAZING job. Meryl Streep sounded like she had way too much fun, as did Audra McDonald and Carol Kane. As for the Fab 5, they become part of one of the best scenes of the entire audiobook.

Written by Ms. McKinnon and Ms. Lynne, the story is hilariously crass and, in general, very charming. We follow Queen Mortuana and her raven assistant JoJo as they attempt to stop a peasant uprising, and, in true comedic fashion, shenanigans ensue. I initially worried that I wouldn’t recognize any voices, but that is not the case. It became a lot of fun to anticipate when I would hear another famous voice and what that character would be like.

The almost five hours of listening flew by, and Heads Will Roll was over long before I wanted it to be over. Irreverent, entertaining, and at times surprisingly endearing, the sisters wrote an excellent story. I haven’t enjoyed an audiobook experience as much as I did this one in quite some time.… (més)