May 14, 2016 – Drake (S41 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TRUMP TOWER
Chris Christie (BOM) angles to be Donald Trump’s (DAH) running mate

— This ends up being the last time Darrell Hammond plays Donald Trump, before a certain non-cast member would famously take over the impression at the beginning of the following season. Yep, that’s right, we’re approaching THAT era of the show.
— Vanessa plays Ivanka Trump for the second episode in a row. I’m still baffled over how I had no memory of this impression of Vanessa’s before I did this SNL project.
— Watching this cold opening, it’s easy to see why SNL would soon re-cast the role of Donald Trump. Darrell’s impression is outdated by this point, being too boring, low-energy, and stuck in the Apprentice era, none of which matches how Trump was at this point in 2016.
— I do love this exchange between Darrell’s Trump and Bobby’s Chris Christie, when Bobby’s Christie suggests Bruce Springsteen as a possible running mate for Trump: “He’s a democrat.” “HE IS A GOD!!!”
— Meh, aside from a few lines from Bobby’s Christie, I’m not caring for this cold opening.
— The usual funny appearance from Jay’s Ben Carson impression, making what ends up being its final appearance.
— Boy, that sure was one sloppily-timed group LFNY.
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
hurt by online teasing, host sings that he is “More Than A Meme”

 

— I like how the meme gags throughout this song of Drake’s is a unique concept for an SNL monologue. That being said, the memes here are only mildly funny to me.
— The mid-song interlude with Drake impersonating Rihanna, while at least KINDA fun because of Drake’s performance, felt way too random and unneeded, despite the connection I know Drake and Rihanna have.
— I did get a pretty good laugh from the “When u afraid Leslie gonna kill u” meme of Drake sitting on Leslie’s lap.
STARS: **½

PREMIUM RENT-A-CAR
car rental employees (host) & (JAP) have no vehicle for (BEB) & (VAB)

— A lazy, badly-written, stereotypical character that’s been given to Drake, but Drake’s charisma is saving it from being a dud.
— Despite the writing still being weak, Jay is now adding good life to this sketch with a fun performance and a characterization that we’ve never really seen him do before, which is interesting when you know in hindsight that this ends up being his second-to-last episode before getting fired.
— Nothing else I can find to say about this sketch so far, except it has absolutely no business being in the post-monologue lead-off spot, which sadly seems like it’s becoming a trend for SNL lately, after this season’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus episode inexplicably led off with that Huge Jewelry sketch, which was a 10-to-1 sketch if I ever saw one.
— What was with that non-ending?
STARS: **½

AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR
feel-good story of tornado resilience (BOM) fails

— A big laugh from Bobby immediately failing HARD in his daunting physical challenge.
— Beck, regarding Bobby’s Captain Tornado character after he failed: “Maybe naming yourself after the thing that destroyed your town wasn’t the best choice.”
— A lot of other good laughs from the visuals (especially with Bobby’s very funny physicality throughout this), as well as the observations from Beck and Drake.
STARS: ****

SEXY KINDA EVENING WITH DENNIS WALLS & THE COOKIES
singer’s (host) 1978 special is sabotaged by director

— A funny surprising reveal of Kyle having been hidden behind Leslie all this time.
— SNL’s getting a lot of mileage lately from their vocal modifier, with this being the third consecutive episode to use it. (The usage in the previous two episodes was with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kate’s alien characters in a bar sketch, and Taran’s demonic turn as Ted Cruz in a Church Chat cold opening.)
— Mixed feelings on this sketch so far.
— More and more as this sketch goes on, the less and less I’m liking these dumb random gags. Yet another example of writers James Anderson and Kent Sublette being bad at attempting absurdist, random humor, usually my favorite type of comedy.
— Drake’s character, on all the bizarre things happening on his show: “This is bad, this is terrible.” Those words pretty much sum up my thoughts on this sketch.
STARS: *½

BABY BOSS
Paul Ryan (TAK) vets Mr. Patterson as potential Donald Trump replacement

— As yet another sign of how diminished his importance on SNL has become this season, as well as the fact that the end for him is near, Taran is JUST NOW making his first appearance all night. It used to be unheard of for him to make his first appearance this far into an episode.
— This is the first appearance this Baby Boss recurring sketch has made in a year and a half, and this ends up being its final appearance. As I mentioned in my review of the Cameron Diaz installment of this recurring sketch, I have no memory of this Drake installment.
— At least placing Baby Boss in a topical Paul Ryan sketch is a fairly creative change of pace.
— Love the “Where’d he go??? Ah, there he is!” bit being done multiple times in a row.
— Hate to say it, but even with the long absence, some of the baby mannerisms from Beck are feeling kinda old hat tonight. I’m still getting some laughs, but yeah, SNL has definitely done everything with this character that they can.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
CSR introduces host

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “One Dance”

WEEKEND UPDATE
anguished Olya Povlatsky sees Donald Trump as America’s Vladimir Putin

48 year-old LEJ says age is no barrier to achieving your dreams

JAP uses impressions to recap a secret meeting of rappers, including host

— As usual for Update lately, we start off with lots of great riffing on Trump from Colin and Michael.
— Nice to see that “Dan Quayle is dumb” jokes on Weekend Update haven’t gone out of style after all these decades.
— A funny beginning to Kate’s Olya Povlatsky commentary, with her greeting Colin and Michael and “Colin and Black Colin”.
— Colin, to Olya Povlatsky after she sneezes: “God bless you.” Olya: “(in a dead serious manner) He never has and he never will.”
— As usual for Olya Povlatsky commentaries, a lot of good laughs and a likable performance from Kate.
— Here we have Leslie mentioning that she tore her ACL playing a ninja in the Shanice Goodwin sketch from a few episodes prior. She would surprisingly still end up doing a sequel to that sketch the following season anyway.
— Leslie, in an analogy to Oprah getting fired from a job in her early 20s: “Lorne Michaels created SNL 41 years ago. But maybe if he had got fired like Oprah…he wouldn’t still be workin’ the same damn job.”
— Colin, after Leslie reveals she does yoga: “Namaste. And also, what’s your favorite position?” Leslie: “(sultrily) Downward facing Colin. I JUST WANNA NAMA YO STE, JOST!”
— Great to see Jay doing another Update commentary as himself where he does a rapid-fire string of celebrity impressions (this time of rappers instead of comedians), especially when you’re aware in hindsight that this ends up being his second-to-last episode on SNL. He’s been having a pretty big night so far, and this Update commentary makes a good unintentional last hurrah for him. It’s kinda interesting the different trajectories Jay and Taran are ending their tenures with. Jay is reaching something of a peak in tonight’s episode and probably had one more good season left in him after this, whereas Taran has fizzled out this season and definitely seems to be on his last legs as a cast member by tonight’s episode (despite him saying in an interview shortly after his firing that, prior to being let go, he had it in the back of his head that the following season was going to be his last one).
— Like the commentary he did as himself earlier this season, Jay’s commentary tonight is fun as hell, and he’s coming off so damn charismatic. While I’ve liked Jay as a cast member over the years, I wish we saw this charisma from him more often.
— Love the bit with Colin naming Will Smith as a rapper he likes, and then, after Jay fulfills Colin’s request to do a Will Smith impression, Colin responds “I got my money’s worth!” Michael also responds hilariously to that by saying an amused “You fool.”
— Seeing Jay, in what ends up being his final Update commentary, briefly do his Will Smith impression here is, in hindsight, meaningful and a full-circle moment, given the fact that Jay’s breakout moment in his very first episode was playing Will Smith on Update.
— Nice to see some new rapper impressions that Jay never did previously on SNL, such as 50 Cent and Nicki Minaj.
— Even the bit with Drake confronting Jay on his impression of him has a lot of fun charm and is avoiding enough of the corniness that these “sneaker-upper” bits (i.e. when a cast member is confronted by the celebrity they’re impersonating) sometimes have.
STARS: ****

BLACK JEOPARDY!
black Canadian (host) has different cultural touchstones

— An interesting change of pace from the two Black Jeopardy sketches that were done prior this, and a good way to get mileage out of Drake’s Canadian roots.
— Great little line from Kenan about Jay-Z now having 100 problems after Beyonce’s Lemonade song.
— Some of the audience members are REALLY into this sketch. If you listen carefully, you can even hear one of those audience members say an amused “Oh, shit!” to themselves in response to Kenan reading off the “Oh snap!” category title on the Black Jeopardy board.
— Kenan to Drake: “I know you’re speakin’ English, but, uh…it ain’t my English.”
— The aforementioned lively audience is starting to get a little rowdy now, starting during the “Today’s winner will receive…” segment. Even Drake seems taken aback by the audience’s rowdiness at one point when the camera cuts to a close-up of him.
— Who is that mic’ed person who I keep hearing busting out laughing off-camera all throughout this sketch? Since the person is mic’ed, it’s obviously not one of the aforementioned rowdy audience members.
— Overall, this was good, but couldn’t hold a candle to the previous installments of this sketch (Louis C.K. and Elizabeth Banks), to say nothing of the classic Tom Hanks and Chadwick Boseman installments that are still to come.
STARS: ***½

DRAKE’S BEEF
minor slights during host’s SNL week generate ill will

— A fun short, and an amusing conceit with how increasingly trivial things are setting off an angry Drake rap. I also like the running bit with him growling “DAMN!” at the camera at the end of every rap.
— Another hilarious running bit, with how Drake’s raps keep randomly mentioning his admiration of Josh Gad, of all people.
— A particularly funny bit between Drake and the cleaning lady, the latter of whom steals this short without even saying a word.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Hype”

SPRING FLING
high school dance chaperone (host) looks fifteen years into the past

— This sketch is so dumb so far, and I remember that so many online SNL fans trashed this sketch when it originally aired, but dammit, something about Drake’s performance is consistently tickling the hell out me throughout this dumb sketch. I’m probably one of the very few people who likes this.
— Some of the audience members continue to be a little rowdy tonight.
— Oh, right. Another reminder that Taran Killam is, in fact, still on the show. Man, he’s really disappearing by this late stage of his SNL tenure. That being said, I do love the stupid, goofy freeze-frame he and Drake do together at the end of this sketch.
— Overall, a so-dumb-it’s-funny guilty pleasure of mine.
STARS: ***½

GOODNIGHTS

---

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very weak first half, where I barely cared much for anything. The show improved in the second half, but even then, one of the segments (Spring Fling) was really bad on paper and only got by in execution due to the way Drake performed it. Overall, a step down from Drake’s previous episode, but he himself did another strong job as host, and came off charismatic and fun even in the weaker material he was given.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

 

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Weekend Update
Drake’s Beef
American Ninja Warrior
Black Jeopardy!
Spring Fling
Baby Boss
Monologue
Premium Rent-A-Car
Trump Tower
Sexy Kinda Evening with Dennis Walls & The Cookies

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Brie Larson)
a step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Season 41 comes to an end, with host Fred Armisen. It’s the final episode for Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah, and Jon Rudnitsky.