Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
HALLELUJAH
untriumphant Hillary Clinton (KAM) plays piano & sings “Hallelujah”
— (*sigh*) Welp, here we go.
— When this originally aired, I remember being surprised SNL felt that Trump’s election win, as unfortunate as it was, warranted such a somber, joke-less cold opening, but I also found it to be really classy and I appreciated that classiness, and I also found Kate’s performance to be absolutely beautiful and captivating. In fact, the tender side that Kate showed of herself here only added to the “We are watching a legend in the making” viewpoint that I generally had about Kate back in these 2014-2017 years, and I also remember feeling that this cold opening added perfectly to the overall very important, special feel of this episode in general. However, my positive feelings towards this cold opening would go on to gradually change to a more negative one over the course of the next few years, possibly because of me being influenced by what I’ve heard a large number of other SNL fans negatively say about it. That being said, I’m going into my current viewing of this with somewhat of a clean slate, just to see how I’ll react to it.
— I’m aware that this might be an unpopular opinion, but in my current viewing of this cold opening so far, I’m not exactly hating it, and I’m still finding Kate’s performance to be beautiful and moving.
— I remember once reading a suggestion from some SNL fans that, if Kate had done this same cold opening while dressed as herself instead of as Hillary Clinton, people who are bothered by this opening would give this more of a pass. Interesting to think about, but I’m not sure how I feel about that suggestion. Plus, it’s kinda hard for me to picture Kate saying the famous ending message of this cold opening (“I’m not giving up…and neither should you”) as herself instead of as Hillary.
STARS: N/A (not a ratable segment)
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about angry whites, shootings, the presidency
— A nice long, very extended ovation that the audience gives Dave Chappelle at the beginning.
— Given the mood of the nation at the time, it’s very refreshing to have Dave to add his trademark brand of humor to the situation.
— I love how Dave’s even getting hilarious-but-tasteful humor out of really sensitive subjects like the Pulse Nightclub shooting and the story Dave tells about grabbing a handful of a housekeeper’s pussy while staying at the Trump Hotel this week (I also love Dave’s “Sorry about that, Lorne” addendum to the latter story).
— The zoo bit is particularly hilarious.
— I really like how the long pauses Dave always makes before jumping to another topic, as well as how he’s slowly pacing back and forth around the stage throughout this monologue, are giving this the feel of a legitimate stand-up special you’d see Dave do on cable. It also gives this monologue a bit of the feel of something you’d see in the earliest days of SNL’s original era. In fact, certain aspects of this episode in general, including the tone of and approach to this monologue, has always reminded me a little of the Richard Pryor episode from season 1, another important, memorable episode, much like this one.
— I really like the occasional serious, joke-less parts of this monologue, especially the history Dave tells of black people in the White House.
— Even Dave’s “I’m gonna give [Trump] a chance” announcement at the end doesn’t hurt this monologue for me, because, as poorly as it’s aged, Dave meant well at the time.
— An overall very lengthy monologue, but every minute of it was worth it to me.
STARS: *****
ELECTION NIGHT
unlike their white friends, (host) & (CSR) take election result in stride
— A very strong structure to this sketch’s format.
— Dave is fantastic as the only voice of reason in this group watching the election results. I especially love his facial expression after Beck’s “Florida’s goin’ blue. (*holds up his wine glass for a toast*) To Latinos!” line.
— Great progression to this, with the white characters increasingly stretching their reasoning for why Hillary is losing more and more states, as their mood slowly deflates while it becomes more and more obvious that Trump’s going to win the election.
— What’s with Chris Rock’s delivery? He seems like this is his very first time reading these lines, judging from the distractingly slow manner he’s reading them off the cue cards, and the fact that he keeps cracking up. Was he added to this sketch at literally the last minute? All that being said, he’s still making me laugh a lot here, and is still nailing his punchlines.
— Dave, after a distressed Aidy asks what’s going to happen to undocumented immigrants: “Come on, man, you act like everyone tryin’ to pick their own strawberries.”
— Perfect ending with Dave and Chris’ characters sharing a big, hearty, knowing laugh together after Beck cries out, “God, this is the most shameful thing America has ever done!”
STARS: *****
WALKING DEAD CHAPPELLE’S SHOW
host introduces clip featuring the return of Chappelle’s Show characters
The Walking Dead- Beautiful (Donnell Rawlings) & others fear Negan (host)
— Wow, a sketch starting out with a person introducing it on the home base stage (ala what Dave used to regularly do on Chappelle’s Show). You pretty much never that by this point of SNL’s run. That’s another thing about this episode that feels a little like a throwback to the earliest days of SNL’s original era.
— A very fun idea to this short, and a creative way to reprise Dave’s beloved Chappelle’s Show characters. This is a blast.
— Great, seamless editing to this, given how Dave is playing almost all of the characters.
— A very fitting and clever choice to make Dave’s Clayton Bigsby character a Trump supporter.
— Love the “Note to self: remind me to try crack!” line.
— Great sequence with Tyrone Biggums’ severed head giving a mock-inspirational speech to us.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We The People”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM) is digging in to protect her Supreme Court spot
— Ah, here we are. For obvious reasons, Colin and Michael are DEFINITELY going to have lots of interesting things to say tonight.
— When Michael started his opening election-related joke by saying, “Well…it’s official…”, I was hoping it would go in a similar direction to Norm Macdonald’s legendary “Well, it’s official: murder is now legal in the state of California” joke from the beginning of the first Update after the O.J. Simpson verdict, but Michael’s joke unfortunately ended up going in a completely different, less-funny direction, though still had a good punchline.
— Colin: “America is like Leslie Jones: addicted to white guys.”
— A noteworthy moment with Michael’s classic “Che, I’m Mexican! / Che, I’m Puerto Rican!” flub. Priceless. Colin also gets in some great ad-libbing about that afterwards.
— So far, Colin and Michael are not disappointing me with the election-related jokes tonight.
— Another freakin’ fantastic ad-lib from Colin tonight, where, after Michael follows a Chris Christie slam from Colin by ad-libbing “You know you still gotta drive to New Jersey, right?”, Colin ad-libs “I just won’t take the bridge!”
— I’m not finding myself too excited about seeing another Ruth Bader Ginsburg commentary from Kate, as they’re usually so by-the-numbers and I’m worried it’ll slow down the momentum of this extremely strong Update.
— Okay, Kate’s RBG did get a big laugh from me just now when “taking her vitamins”. I also really like the ad-libbing between her and Colin afterwards. (Man, this Update is filled with terrific ad-libs.)
— Blah, cue all the “You just got Ginsburned” dance breaks that are always a chore for me to sit through.
— That Colin Kaepernick “slam” from Kate’s RBG wasn’t anywhere near good nor biting enough to even warrant a “Ginsburned” dance break.
— I do love Kate-as-RBG’s Mike Pence slams right now.
— I’m pretty disappointed that they ended tonight’s Update with the RBG commentary. I’m also surprised that this Update had only one guest commentary, though I do like how this Update focused mostly on Colin and Michael giving their take on the election results. I kinda feel that SNL should’ve had this be a rare commentary-less Update. If they did, this might’ve been the very first Update to receive a perfect five-star rating from me.
STARS: ****½
JHERI’S PLACE / INSIDE SNL
unruly hair of Jheri’s Place employees makes it a health inspector target
host & cast members address Jheri’s Place fiasco in post-sketch press conference
— When this originally aired, I cringed so much at that extremely awkward gaffe from Leslie early on in this sketch, thinking it was real and another moment like what notoriously happened with her in that season 40 sketch with her and Chris Rock as the arguing married couple. I ended up being relieved to eventually see that her “gaffe” in this Jheri’s Place sketch was part of the script.
— Kyle’s horrible accent is cracking me up.
— Oh, I absolutely LOVE the turn this sketch takes with the sports-like “post-sketch conference” occurring after the disastrous Jheri’s Place sketch. A terrific meta turn.
— It’s sad how rare it’s starting to become to see Bobby this season, given the fact that he’s, you know, STILL IN THE CAST, and still has quite a bit left to offer, unlike most cast members when they reach their 9th season.
— Leslie, in her defense of her flub during the Jheri’s Place sketch: “Look – SNL knew what they was gettin’ into when they hired me.”
— I also love Leslie’s “We talkin’ ’bout cue cards right now?!?” rant, which is even funnier when you’re aware that it’s spoofing Allen Iverson’s famous “We in here talkin’ ’bout practice?!?” rant from a press conference.
— Dave, on how he thought putting on the jheri curl wig would’ve been enough for him to sell the sketch: “I really thought I was gonna be the next David S. Pumpkins.”
— Mikey: “(very smugly) Uh, any questions for me – Mikey Day???” Reporters: “……….” Bobby, as one of the reporters: “No. (*immediately moves on to the next question*)”
— Kenan, right before angrily storming off of this press conference: “Live from New York, ya’ll can kiss my ass!”
— Nice touch ending this sketch with a slow-motion replay of Leslie’s flub, spoofing how sports broadcasts often precede a commercial break by showing a slow-motion replay of an athlete either scoring a point or making a blunder.
STARS: *****
KIDS TALK POLITICS
host’s daughter Sonal [real] drops some Trump truth
— Wow, I strangely forgot all about this segment until now. And I thought I had remembered every single segment from this memorable episode.
— An interesting use of Vanessa.
— Some funny lines from the last child, Dave’s daughter, especially what she says about cats.
— Cute how you can see a strong facial resemblance between Dave and his daughter.
— I’m surprised by how short this was, but that’s not a complaint. I’m glad this got in, told its joke, and didn’t belabor the point.
STARS: ***½
LAST CALL
union of Sheila Sovage & (host) is too much for bartender Anfernee (KET)
— A very rare instance of this recurring sketch NOT being the final sketch of the night.
— I laughed SO damn hard at one reaction shot of Kenan responding to a particularly disgusting comment of Kate’s by just sternly staring at her silently for a few seconds, then holding up a yellow card and angrily saying “Yellow card!”
— Dave, on what the sex position “66” is: “That’s you facing away from me while I just work on myself.”
— Some other great reaction shots from Kenan throughout this.
— Dave: “You gave me a hard-off.” I liked that line better when Tim Meadows said it in that lesbians sketch from the season 25 Joshua Jackson episode.
— The “gross make-out” sessions of each installment of this recurring sketch are starting to get a little old for me, but the one in tonight’s sketch gets saved by the hilarious “Bellagio” effect that Dave and Kate do with the drink dispensers during their making-out. I can’t blame Kenan for cracking up at that.
— We finally find out the name of Kenan’s bartender character in this recurring sketch: Anfernee. Lots of SNL episode guides, including SNL Archives, claim Kenan’s character name is actually Anthony, but I definitely heard the name Anfernee come from Kenan’s mouth in this sketch (and, yes, Anfernee’s a real name, if anyone’s wondering). I stand corrected if anyone can prove me wrong.
— Meh, that gun ending was trying too hard to top the previous endings of this recurring sketch, and didn’t succeed.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest, Busta Rhymes, Consequence [real] sing “The Space Program”
LOVE AND LESLIE
backstage romance helps LEJ gain a relationship & KYM lose his virginity
— The debut of the series of Leslie/Kyle relationship shorts, which I’ve always been a huge fan of.
— A legitimately touching beginning with a tender Leslie expressing unhappiness over how difficult it is for her to find a man, and how much that hurts.
— Interesting seeing several photos of Leslie when she was younger.
— A very funny reveal of Kyle, of all people, being Leslie’s mysterious new man.
— Interesting how this short is done in the same style as the strong Kyle Vs. Kanye short from the preceding season.
— A very funny sudden brief appearance from Lorne, just showing up to say in a confessional that it’s important for Kyle to lose his virginity.
— Now this already-fantastic short gets even funnier when Kyle brings up his feelings about the Leslie/Colin story arc from Weekend Update, complete with a highlight reel being shown of some of those Leslie/Colin moments.
— Excellent ending with Dave’s reaction to finding out Leslie and Kyle had just had sex in his dressing room. By the way, this has to be by far the episode with the most uses of the word “goddamn”. Also BY FAR the episode with the most uses of the N-word (though it’s not used in this particular short).
STARS: *****
FOOTBALL PARTY
43-year-old (host) lives with his mom (LEJ) & is still breastfeeding
— After not making any live appearances in the preceding two episodes, Pete finally makes one tonight, only for it to just be a straight man role in the final sketch of the night. Ironically, he got more airtime in previous seasons as a featured player than he’s been getting this season as a repertory player so far.
— A good laugh from the sudden breastfeeding reveal.
— I like Kyle as the only one of Dave’s friends who isn’t weirded-out by the breastfeeding thing.
— This episode in general is so damn strong that even this dumb, thin sketch is absolutely working for me, whereas I probably wouldn’t have been so big on it had it appeared in a lesser episode. Every time I worry that the main joke of this sketch might start to get old, there’s a silly charm that keeps bringing me back stronger than ever. Even the breaking from some of the performers and the accidental glimpse of the bottle that Leslie is spraying milk from is actually adding a lot to the fun, silly nature of this sketch.
— Poor, poor Sasheer, making her only appearance of such a significant episode in a measly small, non-comedic walk-on role towards the end of the final sketch of the night.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not only an absolutely phenomenal, all-timer episode, but a very important and meaningful one in relation to current events and the mood of the nation that week. A Tribe Called Quest’s epic musical performances also added to the important, meaningful, current events-driven feel of the episode. Hell, even the drawn-out manner in which Dave Chappelle delivered his goodnights speech had a meaningful feel that added to the “This is a really special, history-in-the-making episode I’m watching” vibe that I remember getting from this episode when it originally aired. And as expected, Dave Chappelle was a fantastic host, especially for what was hyped at the time as his big comeback.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
(Much like some particularly terrific episodes I’ve reviewed lately, there are way too many things to pick for this episode’s “Best Of”, so I’ll narrow it down to what I feel are the particularly best highlights)
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Jheri’s Place / Inside SNL
Election Night
Monologue
Love and Leslie
Walking Dead Chappelle’s Show
Weekend Update
Last Call
Football Party
Kids Talk Politics
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Benedict Cumberbatch)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Kristen Wiig
That cold opening is such a disgrace.
The election night skit is hilarious. I kind of enjoy the looseness of Rock and Chappelle tripping over their lines and cracking each other up.
“What’s with Chris Rock’s delivery? He seems like this is his very first time reading these lines, judging from the distractingly slow manner he’s reading them off the cue cards, and the fact that he keeps cracking up. Was he added to this sketch at literally the last minute? All that being said, he’s still making me laugh a lot here, and is still nailing his punchlines.”
IIRC, either stage manager Jenna or someone else played his role at dress rehearsal. I’m sure I’m probably wrong, but I remember a behind-the-scenes photo of this.
“When Michael started his opening election-related joke by saying, ‘Well…it’s official…’, I was hoping it would go in a similar direction to Norm Macdonald’s legendary ‘Well, it’s official: murder is now legal in the state of California’ joke from the beginning of the first Update after the O.J. Simpson verdict, but Michael’s joke unfortunately ended up going in a completely different, less-funny direction, though still had a good punchline.“
In traditional Stooge manner, the moment I came to the WU review while reading, I was rewatching 21.02 and it landed on that particular joke. What are the lotto numbers?
So Wiig hosted the second episode where Trump was President-elect and also the last of his presidency? Interesting bookend
Aaaaaaaannnd I’m right. This did get a higher rating average than the Tom Hanks episode. Lucky me, I guess.
As for tomorrow’s episode, all I can say is: now we’re talking! Because I actually have seen the next episode in its entirety, and I remember a lot of stuff from that episode, so it’ll be kinda interesting to see you cover it. I know you’re not a fan of Secret Word, but this definitely has the funniest moment of someone saying the secret word. That’s all I can say, now off to watch highlights from this episode.
By the way, it’s official: this episode has the highest rating average in your entire SNL project so far! How cool is that?!
Wow, this may end up in the top 3 highest averages Stooge has ever given. FOUR five star ratings, and only one sketch under four stars? Incredible.
Well, like I said, it’s actually the highest. Jerry Seinfeld’s Season 17 hosting stint got an 89, but this got a 90.
Oh wow! That comment must have come in while I was writing mine, but very cool! Certainly not going to complain, as this is one of my all time favorites too.
Kate performing “Hallelujah” was also a tribute to Leonard Cohen, who had passed away that week.
I know a lot of people like to shit on the cold opening now, but that’s how a lot people were feeling at the time.
That’s also what I remembered about that cold open, and not because Hillary lost the election.
I wonder how many people were completely fooled by the Jheri’s Place sketch–I certainly was. There certainly have been worse sketch ideas to appear on the air! I was already firing off angry texts to friends about such a lame, sloppy sketch.
As cringe as the opening is, I do confess to being a big fan of the later season-ending reprisal of Trump playing Hallelujah.
If there was ever an episode in which the monologue conceivably should have led off of the show, I think this is that one–Chappelle’s monologue basically gets at the sentiment the opening was trying to express in a far more entertaining, non-cringe manner.
Jheri’s Place definitely had me fooled. I love how meta this season could be. You get almost none of that, now.
I’ll also agree with those saying the cold open may seem disingenuous because of what came before and after, but on that specific night it hit the mark. And I still can’t watch the part where Kate gets choked up singing “love is not a victory march” without feeling at least SOME emotion.
While it aged poorly, I will say Kate did a beautiful job playing/singing it. It’s still one of my favorite renditions, even if I don’t like the whole *gestures over the entire screen* of it. Heck, I believe if Kate left with Bobby/Vanessa/Sasheer, she would be a) a superstar in Hollywood right now, and b) much more respected by hard-core SNL fans like us who grew to be more tired of her when 43 started. But alas…
Trump actually played “Macho Man”.
Trumpwin played “Macho Man” in his final appearance, but in the S42 finale (possibly S43) they did a reprise of “Hallelujah” sung by Trumpwin and other cast members and cameos playing Trump goons. Some people liked it because it could be seen as a subtle acknowledgement of how lame the opening of this episode was, but I saw it as more empty than that, and just another example of SNL’s best attempt at political humor being “famous person does reference” (don’t get me fucking started on the Meet the Parents CO).
It probably is Anfernee. I wouldn’t have had a say in this until last night or this morning, when I saw a Tiktok of Tim Meadows saying Anfernee in Mean Girls, followed by a clip of a college basketball player named that.
I’m hallucinating at least one Che/Jost Update, so far, and one Norm Update getting 5 stars?
If only the second Chapelle episode was a fraction as good as this one… Not shocked at all that this is the highest rated episode, so far. It really was something special.
@OldSoul97
“I’m hallucinating at least one Che/Jost Update, so far, and one Norm Update getting 5 stars?”
Yeah. I have yet to give a 5-star rating to any Updates.
Stooge, did you actually gave any Updates 5 stars?
Nope, I haven’t.
Honestly these reviews lately have been very validating. I remember thinking the back half of S40 through most of S42 was a really special run that was only moderately received at the time and has been tarnished in retrospect because of what came next. Glad to see they hold up even better than I remembered.
Curious to see how you react to the 2020 Chappelle episode. It’s not on par with this by any means (mainly due to the fatigue of so many episodes in a row, and it seems like half the cast was absent that week). but Dave also delivers (I believe) the LONGEST monologue in SNL history, in the same semi-serious vein as this one.
He does deliver the longest monologue ever in his 2020 show, topping the previous record holder…his monologue from this episode. Rickles is in third I believe and then CK.
You are correct about that. Dave’s 2020 monologue lasted about 16 and a half minutes. 5 minutes longer than his 2016 one. Pretty confident with it holding the record, being the longest monologue in SNL History will be safe for a very long time. (Unless Dave hosts the 1st SNL after the 2024 Election in Season 50.)
Chappelle 2020 suffers from the thing that Lorne abhors the most, being preempted as Notre Dame-Clemson went into two OTs. To make matters worse, NBC left it up to the affiliates on how long they would air late local news casts. It has the same feel to it as Rosanna Arquette / Ric Ocasek which was infamously preempted for the Mets world series victory.
How Long Was Dave Chapel’s Monologue In 2016 ?
It’s interesting comparing this to Chappelle’s season 46 episode, which was, in comparison, a big disappointment (as it always would have been), but, outside of one sketch that I just have no use for (the Super Mario sketch), is compelling as a curio piece, a product of a very specific place and time and also full of a number of sketches that have a throwback feel (in a good way). The cold open is about as funny as a slap in the face, but is still interesting for the above reason. The biggest difference is how present Chappelle was here compared to that episode, where you could tell it just wasn’t as much of a priority.
I have watched Chappelle Show, but I’m not a devotee, so it’s high praise from me to say that I find the Negan pre-tape to be terrific – along with the Kyle and Leslie pre-tape, it’s my favorite part of the night, and I can rewatch a number of times and get the same level of enjoyment. The Kyle and Leslie pre-tapes over the next two seasons are Kyle’s peak with the backstage element (other than, “A New Kyle,” a CFT piece in the Idris Elba episode), and also a peak of using Leslie’s personal stories in a way that doesn’t feel as sad as her Update appearances can occasionally feel.
I can’t watch the election night sketch as often. The concept is brilliant, and much of the sketch works, but Chris’ line flubs are very distracting, and the more you watch the more the lines from some of the characters (especially Beck) become too obvious and the whole thing starts to feel a bit hollow.
I don’t want to be too critical of Kate’s cold open appearance, because it clearly meant a lot to her – she may have made fun of Hillary, but she also admired her and wanted her to win. Trump winning was numbing and terrifying, I imagine (my feelings at the time were mostly numbness as well), and given his level of engagement with SNL around this point via social media, much of the cast and crew likely felt even more vulnerable. The problem I have with this is, similar to Cecily’s emotional “To Sir With Love” performance a few months later, I am not sure if SNL is the best place to share said vulnerabilities. If you are going to do so, then talking directly to viewers might be a better idea. Instead, SNL had a very muddled approach (as is the norm for them in the last decade in particular…), and given how many people blamed them for Trump winning (which I do not, but the reaction doesn’t surprise me), this cold open just ended up getting them torn apart in many quarters. I was still on my break from the show at the time and I remember seeing the hostility toward this over and over – so much so that much of the goodwill the better moments of parts of season 42 should have provided were drowned out.
This cold open also helped lead to a real antipathy toward Kate due to SNL’s political material in the back half of her era, which isn’t entirely fair, as this is not her show. Still, it’s unfortunate just how horribly dated so much of her political work is – I’m not sure if anything on SNL, not counting bigoted material, has aged as fast or as grotesquely as so much of this stuff. That is one of the positives of her staying for this (presumably) final season, I guess – some episodes (like the Nick Jonas episode) have Kate performances that I can genuinely enjoy and remind that a lot of viewers were fond of her when she was a clown, rather than a one-woman revival of Spitting Image.
I have zero memory of the breastfeeding sketch even though I only watched this episode last year.
This episode also has a CFT piece by Julio Torres, with Dave Chappelle doing a voice of a swan in a motel room painting. It’s a good watch, although it’s very hard to find – I watched it last year but that link now seems to lead to spam.
Sorry, “A New Kyle” is the one where he’s rivals with Pete, which I am not a fan of. I think the one I meant is called “New Cast Member.”
I think the To Sir, With Love bit is far more cringey and embarrassing than the Hallelujah opening for a couple key reasons. For one, as you mentioned, misguided as it may have been, the Hallelujah opening clearly meant a lot to Kate and reflected the mood of a lot of the cast and crew (a group of nerdy theater kids mourns with a song, shocker). The To Sir, With Love bit CLEARLY felt like a push from Lorne because he was concerned about the show’s legacy and wanted to win back some liberal cred in the laziest, most pandering way possible. The other one is that, while I know a lot of people interpret it as a tribute to Hillary, the Hallelujah opening is more a reflection of grief than anything. The To Sir, With Love is a straight up tribute to an equally problematic (if slightly cooler) politician. And it’s also just such a clear attempt to re-do what they did here, which gives it another lame factor.
“The To Sir, With Love bit CLEARLY felt like a push from Lorne because he was concerned about the show’s legacy and wanted to win back some liberal cred in the laziest, most pandering way possible. The other one is that, while I know a lot of people interpret it as a tribute to Hillary, the Hallelujah opening is more a reflection of grief than anything.”
I’ve tended to assume the song was more Cecily’s idea, as she wears her heart on her sleeve, and she was very important to the show by this point (I’m not saying she demanded this get on the air – I’m sure it had full support). Given how high the show was riding at the time, and Lorne’s general “both sides” nature and rarely going this far into maudlin territory before, it’s hard for me to image his involvement, but then, it’s never a good idea for me to assume anything about Lorne.
I think one of the main problems many had with the cold open is they likely did not feel the show had a right to grieve in the first place. Hillary cosplay just made that even more muddled. I can see where Kate or Lorne or what have you felt like they had to say something – maybe nothing would have ever been enough. At least they kept Trumpwin out of this episode.
Kate should have given up. And so should have we.
Bang on, Mario. Goddam, what a miserable Cold Open. “Not a ratable segment” my ass. That’s a * – an absolute turkey. Honestly, a bottom five SNL moment for me. Such a flaccid, inept attempt at muddling two moments together (I’m sure Cohen would have been mortified to learn that his most insufferable song had been poorly sung as a tribute to…who? Hillary?). Just make the election night sketch the CO and be done with it.
Agreed. Give it * I was so mad watching it live.
Even if you disagree that it’s a ratable segment, it doesn’t sound like Stooge would give it below ** based off his review.
That’s kind of my feeling. It’s one thing to feel sad that Trump won, but to carry the conceit that Hillary would have been an improvement is mind-numbing in itself. If anything, it feels more like Kate was mourning the loss of a relevant reason to play Hillary for the next four seasons. As bad as SNL’s take on the Trump presidency was (mired less in satire and more in mash-up of events and trying to rile him on a personal level), I can’t help but think their portrayal of a Hillary presidency would have been worse, probably a lot of “Look at me, first woman president!” idol-worshipping on the level of those WU Ginsberg bits. Hillary wanted so badly to break the glass ceiling, but all she did was bump her head on it.
Someone cited the Dukakis “Can’t believe I’m losing to this guy” bit. Even though neither got any traction, it might have been interesting for the cast to do impressions of Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in a similar vein. Sort of a “If ever there was a year for a third-party candidate to make it” approach. Not the funniest idea, but neither is Kate crying at a piano.
Hmm, not a fan of Hillary at all, and not trying to turn my favorite comment section online into a political hellscape like the rest of the internet, but after four years of Trump we’re STILL going with “they’re just as bad”???
Yeah, I wouldn’t go so far as to be like “She’s just as bad.” I can dislike two people at once, but no, she wasn’t. Just quantifiably not true.
OK, no more politics.
I think the problem with the opening is it tries to be a normie Leonard Cohen tribute and a solemn response to Trump’s win at the same time. Both ideas are cloying (using “Hallelujah” is the embodiment of cliche) and slapped together with Kate’s Hillary as an avatar for a moderate liberal grieving process. It’s the culmination of all of SNL’s bad faith political positioning during this period and if it felt cathartic in the moment, it felt regrettable in immediate hindsight, like a drunken message on your girlfriend’s voicemail. I think political persuasion may have something to do with it. If you were won over by Hillary’s Yas Kweening and Pokemon Go to the polls-ing, this CO would have been right in your wheelhouse.
Welcome to “SNL: The Wine Mom Years”
The next 4 years is what I call “the death of political comedy” (not just SNL, other late night shows are guilty of this). Instead of making jokes of events or people, they either just repeat what happened or praise the other side in “cOmEbAcKs” that make me cringe. They’re not trying to get laughs, but rather get the audience to root for them (ie. “How’d you get in the WH?” “I got more votes.” *audience loses their shit while I throw tomatoes at my TV*). It’s very Jost/Drezen-ish and one of the reasons I lost a lot of respect for them as writers. The Warren cameo is a brilliant (for lack of a better term) example. They don’t make fun of her, she gives a speech, Kate bows to her and that’s it. No jokes. I have lost so much respect for Kate, Alec, Carrey, Maya, and basically almost everyone else who either cameoed or wrote in the Tr*mp era of SNL. And while it does seem to get a little better (but why the constant talk/game show formats), it’s not going to change dramatically unless the writing team changes before 47 and they stop altogether with cameos.
I think if Hillary had won, then we would have had 4 years of material that juggled praise for her and panning sexism alongside material about her being scheming and cold. Hillary losing knocked much of the latter element out of the writing, presumably because some at SNL took the criticism of the show being partly responsible for Hillary’s loss to heart. This paralysis hangs all over the screen with portrayals of Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, etc. (and some might say Biden after he won the nomination)
I’m not sure which is better or worse – and that type of writing would not have worked as well post-Hillary win or loss because her image was baked in to 25 years of media coverage (and SNL sketches…) – but the show is going to be faced with this problem from now on and if they don’t reshape how they tackle politics, then they should just phase that element out (I very much wish they would).
Carson, I Never Liked Hallelujah Because IT Was Too Slow ! How Ever, K D Lang Sang That AT The Olympics I Think ! One Time, I Saw A Teacher Sang That And The Kids Joined In AND IT Was A Very Powerful Song !
It’s a good song that I simply have become sick of due to ubiquity. lang’s version is very nice (basically a cover of Buckley’s) as is Buckley’s (basically a cover of Cale’s) as is Cale’s. I just don’t want to hear it ever again.
It wasn’t a “tribute to Hilary.” It was a way of dealing with the heightened hatred and horrible violence and flaring tempers that came to light following Trump’s win. The country was in a scary place and that was a way of dealing with it.
I remember that dress rehearsal photo that Curly Joe is talking about, I do know that Neal Brennan, co-creator of Chappelle’s Show and brother of former SNL writer and two-time Update guest, Kevin Brennan, was the one who convinced Chris Rock to appear in the live show and also wrote the Election Night sketch as well as the Walking Dead pretape. Dave had been working out his monologue jokes by doing sets at Caroline’s, I believe and Rock ended up performing with him. Neal Brennan also wrote the cold opens for the Aziz Ansari episode later this season and the cold open to Woody Harrelson \ Billie Eilish in season 45 and occasionally pitches Update jokes to Che.
This is a quintessential 5/5 stars episode. As it was airing, it definitely felt very special and different. The Kyle and Leslie saga is great, the meta-turn of Jheri’s Place is pretty unique for this era, Chappelle’s monologue has a few bumps or weirdly aged moments but was very poignant for the time, ATCQ brought one of the best musical performances of the entire 2010s, and the “66” line in Last Call is probably my #1 laugh-out-loud moment from this whole season. I had only seen a bit of Chappelle’s standup beforehand but this encouraged me to watch the first season of Chappelle’s Show. Speaking of which, I think Neal Brennan said that Chappelle had an Update piece that was cut from dress rehearsal. It might’ve been a Chappelle’s Show character but I don’t remember the details.
Special mention to the Election Night sketch. I’m of the opinion that SNL has always been more miss than hit when it comes to political satire, but Election Night is fantastic. It manages to be so true while still being funny. Chappelle felt like such an audience surrogate for me and a lot of others who weren’t so optimistic before the election, and it does kinda make up for all the premature celebration SNL was doing in the episodes before this.
“I remember once reading a suggestion from some SNL fans that, if Kate had done this same cold opening while dressed as herself instead of as Hillary Clinton, people who are bothered by this opening would give this more of a pass.”
This 100%. I’m neither here nor there on the Hallelujah open. I don’t really like it, but it doesn’t make me foam at the mouth in rage either. Though I definitely feel like it would’ve been significantly more poignant had Kate just been herself, even delivering that ending line as herself. I understand this C.O. represented how a lot of people felt—I certainly wasn’t happy about the election as well—but having it be Hillary still feels kinda off-putting to me.
Don Roy King said in an interview that Lorne thinks very highly of season 42 and almost views it with as much importance as the first season; this episode is probably why. It feels like Lorne keeps trying to chase how much this episode captured a mood and was on the pulse of things, but it’s never panned out. Chappelle’s 2020 episode is just plain awful and takes the complete opposite attitude of this one, imo. It does as many things wrong as this episode does right.
Chappelle 2020 is an interesting one, for sure. An absolute nothing cold open, then the longest monologue in history. That monologue is certainly more muddled than this one, but has its undeniable highs and I’m more positive than negative on it. I liked the Aunt Jemima sketch enough, though Dave definitely carried it. Then he just disappears, outside of a brief bit in that OJ sketch (a half formed idea that should have just been a 20 second Update joke). The Mario sketch is definitely the low point of the night, it feels like a Season 20/30 leftover. The pre tape with Beck and Ego was the only other thing I liked.
@Anthony Peter Coleman I’ll talk about it more when Stooge reaches it but I thought it was a pretty miserable and visibly exhausted episode all around. I didn’t even enjoy large swaths of Chappelle’s monologue because it felt like he was using the SNL studio audience to workshop jokes, as opposed to the well-crafted material that he had in this season 42 episode.
The news sketch with Kenan and Kate revealing their love story and the white Bronco sketch are both such compelling throwback type pieces to me (even if the former could have used a better ending), they tend to bump up my view of that episode.
I liked the Kate-Kenan couple sketch, though it’s basically just a bit right-of-centre from the Matt Schatt pieces. The Ford Bronco thing was a miss for me. I’m not really sure what they were going for with that.
The Aunt Jemima, though a great idea, was executed poorly. Dave was giving off a vibe of “I’m better than you” in his monologue. The Kate/Kenan sketch, while adorable, is also executed poorly. I blame Lorne on the one hand for making them go six weeks without a break and wanting to be “first” if the results came in. I also blame Dave for not being there for the first half of the week and just half-assing the whole night. I am a huge fan of Chappelle, but it just seems like he has become the guy that he was afraid of when he escaped to Africa. Between his two hosting stints, he went from “man of the people” to “fuck the people” in 4 years.
Yea, the Ford Bronco connection is way too muddy to work. I think it’s making the point that both men are obviously guilty, but it goes about it in a weird way and ends before any type of discernible point is made.
I thought the Bronco sketch had a clearer focus than many pieces tend to have now – they just wanted to have a thin framework to clown on Trump’s denials by comparing it to the infamous OJ footage. It wasn’t great (the execution was a bit sloppy, as was Chappelle’s delivery), but I was just glad to see such a short sketch, and one that had a bit of the madness of the mid-late ’90s news sketches. I also thought it was (very belatedly) a funnier use of Trump than we tended to get over the last 4 years.
“Don Roy King said in an interview that Lorne thinks very highly of season 42 and almost views it with as much importance as the first season; this episode is probably why. ”
I wonder how much of this belief is because SNL was seen as so very much a part of the national pulse in a way it had not even been as heavily in 2008 or 2000. After all, “both sides” played along in those elections, whereas this time it was SNL vs Trump for much of season 42, an even more amped up version of the conflicts with the Ford administration. It must be intoxicating, but yes, not a good thing at all to try to hold onto as an ideal – Melissa McCarthy dressing like a man and mugging somehow being a template for 5 seasons of political writing being one of the most blatant examples.
I maintain that McCarthy’s first appearance as Spicer is classic and easily one of the best things they ever did with Trump, but I agree it’s spoiled a bit in retrospect by the precedents it set.
Agree about Lorne’s feelings towards this season being affected by the show being back in the zeitgeist in a way it hadn’t since at least Palin. I remember seeing this season had the highest overall ratings since season 20, or something crazy like that.
Somber cold opening have been for 9-11, Sandy Hook, the Vegas shooting, the terrorist attack in France and the person you wanted to win losing an election.
One of these things is not like the others, especially after SNL enabled and endorsed Trump more than anyone.
The Obama tribute Cecily did was also bad.
Something I’ve always noticed is Bobby standing in the audience during the 2nd ATCQ performance (seen here at around 3:22 when it cuts to Busta and Consequence).
It’s funny to think of him just watching from there for the whole show, especially since his only appearance of the night had him in a similar setup [If that’s not really Bobby though, my mistake]
I’m just as shocked this episode got the highest average, but it’s well-deserved. Even if the Hallelujah opening got a rating, it would still be in the top 10 of this project.
Knowing about Leonard Cohen’s death allowed me to give the cold open a pass, but the surface level approach with Hillary was cringey backtracking in the making, due to the surefire arrogance in the past couple episodes and the fact that the guy was already given a platform by hosting the show.
Election Night really hit close because the trajectory from assuming Hillary would win in a landslide to the shame of watching the Trump victory was how it felt in my household. Between that awful experience and the looming uncertainty in this past 2020 election, I didn’t even watch the news that night and went to bed early (not that it mattered since the counting ended up taking 5 days). I was prone to that ignorance at the time, even rewatching the White House 2018 sketch as if it were about to be comedy….comedy…that I took at face value when watching it during the live show!! Even though I knew what a horrible person he is and dreaded the upcoming episode when it was first announced, I sat there and listened to him talk about how great his presidency would be and I just accepted it because I WAS ACTING LIKE A YOUNG FUCKING IDIOT WHO BELIEVED EVERY LITTLE THING THAT WAS TOLD IN THAT PROPAGANDA PIECE OF BULLSHIT JUST BECAUSE THEY SAID SO!! IT’S A GOOD THING THE ELECTION WASN’T THE NEXT DAY BECAUSE MY IMPRESSIONABLE ASS PROBABLY WOULD’VE VOTED FOR HIM THEN AND THERE!!! AT THE TIME, THIS WAS WHEN IT REALLY BEGAN TO FEEL LIKE SEASON 41 WAS A GREAT YEAR. NOT BECAUSE THE EPISODE WAS MEMORABLE IN THE WRONG WAYS, BUT BECAUSE MY STUPID MIND SAW IT AS A LEGITIMATELY STRONG EPISODE THAT MADE HIM LOOK GOOD AND WAS ONLY HAMPERED BY TRUMP’S LACK OF COMMITMENT AT TIMES!!!!! …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Sorry about that rant, I just hate myself for even thinking about my initial response to that show. I know this isn’t the place (nor the review) to bring up this type of stuff, but it felt necessary to share that hidden emotion after keeping it secret all these years. A friend of mine went public online a while ago about how she voted for Trump back in 2016 only to later regret the decision and it looked like a relieving type of therapy. I would’ve voted Hillary if I was old enough to vote at the time, but it just goes to show how many people are susceptible to influence based on surrounding attitudes.
Again, this is not the place to be sharing any of of this personal/political information and I don’t blame you Stooge if this comment gets removed.
Anyway, this episode works by capturing the mood of the moment while playing with the format and ushering in a new era of the show, for better or worse.
Allowing Chappelle to smoke during the presser sketch was wrong because in this era NO coach/player would ever be smoking in such a setting, unlike say the 1960s-1980s, when it would happen. It kind of robs the piece of some of its authenticity, as opposed to say, the Hunger Games presser. I know that sounds like a nitpick, but again, it takes away from the ‘feel’ of it. It ruined the effect for me of what otherwise was executed fairly well.
More than anyone? You really believe that?
They let him host their show and did a skit about what a great president he was going to be.
Yea, I’m not letting them off the hook for that, I’m just don’t believe they did more to promote him than Fox News, Facebook or even CNN.
I remember watching and enjoying “Hallejulah”, “Monologue”, and “Election Night” online and maybe some of the other skits spread throughout. Like I said about the last ep, I was back at my flood-effected house and didn’t have a workable TV at the time so going on YouTube or some other site was the only way I could watch any part of “SNL” during this period…
Commenters, cool it with the heated political discussion and ranting. While it hasn’t gotten TOO out of hand so far, I really don’t like the direction it’s going in. This is exactly why I was dreading reaching the Trump era of SNL in my reviews. The last thing I want is for the comments section of my blog to turn into what commenter Anthony Peter Coleman called “a political hellscape like the rest of the internet”. (And don’t worry, Vax Novier, your rant alone wasn’t what bothered me, it’s only the combination of it with all of the other heated political ranting in this episode’s comments section that feels very unpleasant to read altogether). It’s already an extremely demanding, exhausting process for me to churn these reviews out on a daily basis. Please don’t make me even MORE stressed out by having to deal with the comments section of my reviews turning into heated, toxic political discussions. This is absolutely NOT the place for that. And if you appreciate my reviews and respect how pleasant the comments section of this blog typically is, then please lead by example and do not continue any kind of heated political discourse here nor in the comments sections of any of my other reviews.
Oh, and for people complaining that I didn’t give the cold opening a rating, it’s a rule that I don’t give a rating to this specific type of somber, non-comedic cold opening addressing something major in the news (e.g. the post 9/11 cold opening, the post-Sandy Hook cold opening). Plain and simple. If you’ve been following this blog for a good while, you should’ve already known that. And if you’re mad because my review didn’t match your opinion that the Hallelujah cold opening deserves a one-star rating, GET OVER IT. Also, watch what you say to me. Reading comments like “Not a ratable segment, my ass” and “Give it *” really pisses me off. Friendly debating over an opinion of mine is absolutely fine, but you do NOT get to rudely demand what rating I give a segment. This is my blog, show me some damn respect. And at the end of the day, these are just dumb little episode reviews I do of a silly show. *I* don’t even take my reviews all that seriously, and neither should you.
If any, and I mean ANY kind of tension or unpleasantry continues in the comments section of this particular episode (including in response to this comment of mine), I’m closing the comments section for this episode, period. And from here on out, if any commenter goes off on any kind of unpleasant political rant in the comments section any other episode, that rant WILL be deleted.
Thank you for this, Stooge. It’s good to be reminded that despite our fandoms and strong opinions about SNL, at the end of the day it’s a silly little show. That’s what it’s been for forty-six years; a bunch of hard-working people make ninety minutes of live entertainment from scratch each week, they do the best they can with what they’ve got, and then the rest of us review it and dissect it for ages to come. It’s as simple and complicated as that. (If it gets any crazier, Stooge, you could consider putting the reviews of the political sketches behind a paywall … “I’m kiddiiiiing!” – Ferecito)
Back to the episode, I gotta say this one holds up really well. Despite its odd feel and format with no single cast member appearing in more than three sketches, and Kate going 3-for-3 with front-and-center roles, there’s a lot of fun to be had. A perfect mix of fan service (Walking Dead/Ruth Bader Ginsburn), meta moments (Jheri’s Place/Love and Leslie), reflections on current events (Monologue/Update/Kids Talk Politics), and just plain silliness and weirdness (Football Party/the cut Motel Swan sketch). Also, I have to say the Election Night sketch is not only one of the most consistently strong political sketches of this era, but it has one of the strongest sketch endings – if not *the* strongest sketch endings – of this era.
Duly noted and apologies for the confrontational tone. Although I would suggest that my tongue is perpetually planted in my cheek when I write. Am I actually upset about the Cold Open being an unrated segment? Of course not. Not at all. Am I “Internet angry”? No, not really, but I’m blustering a bit for shits and giggles. I’ll stop to keep the peace.
But I would also suggest that griping about scores is not a personal affront, it’s all about the debate. I appreciate this site and admire the commitment. I deeply appreciate your enthusiasm and happily concede that it has effectively won me over on sketches whose greatness I hadn’t really considered. I also really REALLY appreciate the community here and really respect everyone’s perspectives (lots of great, passionate writers) even when there are disagreements. I know that this episode, and the sketch in question, inspires a lot of strong opinions, particularly because it’s not so cut-and-dried (like compared to the Trump episode), but I’m not sure I was feeling the same sense of toxic behavior. This is a divisive episode and some of that has to do with political perspective (not right vs. left, but more left vs. left, which is trickier to parse) and I could see how it could venture into dicey territory that may require intervention, but I’m not sure if lines were crossed. Then again, I’m probably the one who crossed the line of being a dick to our gracious host, so I get why the proclamation was made.
Anyway, tl;dr – My bad, but also, this is a great community and the discussion was, imo, largely above board.
@Carson
It’s all good. Now that I’ve cooled down after leaving my comment, I can see that I overreacted to the political discussion on this page, but my main issue was that I was worried it might have eventually headed into a nasty direction, given how political discussions often turn out in the comments section of a lot of other sites out there. It was important that I intervened by laying down the ground rules for political discussion at my blog.
And Carson, I now see that I overreacted to the comment that you and wnyxmcneal made about my non-rating of the cold opening. I apologize for that overreaction of mine.
Absolutely all good. I could totally see how the trajectory could have gotten ugly. Better to cut it off early then have to clean things up when it REALLY got messy. Just know that there’s never any hard feelings, even if I like to quibble about star ratings.
Hey man, sorry I’m just seeing this now. Apology accepted and I’m sorry if you misinterpreted the tone of my comment.
Interesting tidbit (at least to me) about this episode. As many know theres a SNL standby line outside to get extra seats in the show for people who don’t show up for their guaranteed ones. Most shows seem to vary on how many are available but for many shows its a decent number. For Chappelle Live show 0 people who waited in the cold got in. I met the person who was #1in line and told me, it seems very rare for 0 people to get into a show too
Getting away from the politics–and I know that is next to impossible–the problem with the cold open is it is tremendously self-indulgent. Granted, I’m sure everyone was on board with it, but that self-indulgence would set the tone for the way the show is now, and that’s not a good thing. There are way too many pieces that are meant to appeal to a specific performer’s or a tandem of performers’ (think Kate/Aidy, Beck/Kyle, even Pete/Chris with the pretapes) fandom and the show hasn’t been that niche since the early days of Gary Weis and Albert Brooks, IMO. (Maybe some of the Fallon/Sanz pre-planned breaking pieces, I suppose, and some of the later Sandler and Farley stuff, but you get my drift.) Cecily also has fallen into the self-indulgent trap with some of her Update and ‘theatrical’ stuff, and IMO, it’s hurt her legacy which up until say, late 2019, was that of one of the greatest ‘glue’ performers in SNL history.
Re: Cecily, I see it another way. I feel like she’s really pulled herself out of a tailspin the last few seasons. Even as the show descended into the realm of pure corniness, Strong’s performances became a little more locked in. I’ve really appreciated her later work…though if she left the show tomorrow I wouldn’t shed a tear.
I would at least hope that her departure-as well as that of Kate and Ady-would inspire those that remain-as well as whoever arrives the following season-to do even better work than before! Of course, some cast members are irreplaceble, like Eddie Murphy…
There was an article published (IIRC, in The NY Times) regarding the week of this show and how confounded and emotional the cast & crew felt from Trump’s victory. Lorne gave a speech at the beginning of read-through to address the news and the fear felt in the room.
It’s just really sad that people are losing more and more shows that they used to be able to turn to for simple entertainment. “The politicization of everything” is what we’re facing. Even if you’re fighting an actual physical war, you need downtime, rest and relaxation. The idea that you don’t have somewhere you can reliably go to escape all the stress and conflict in life is very troubling. The old SNL or late-night talk shows used to be places you could go to laugh about all of the news events of the day. It wasn’t a place where only liberals, or only conservatives could expect to find solace. Those shows were there to unite everybody together under common themes that the vast majority of us could relate to. When these shows start taking sides, they lose the important function they had and create a void in the culture.
For that and a lot of other reasons, SNL is ripe to have a competitor mount a serious challenge. And I think the main thing that competitor should do is target an older audience. 50 is the new 40, 40 is the new 30 and 30 is the new 20. It’s completely backwards that SNL has become more and more obsessed with youth culture even while the country has continued aging. There is much more of an audience to be had among older people than there was in 1975. If one of the networks could put together a comedy show to run opposite SNL that has the below features, they could make SNL very nervous:
*More diversity in the age and political orientation of its cast members. You shouldn’t have to bring in a guest star every time you write a sketch about someone over 45.
*Be truly politically incorrect, not afraid to poke fun at anybody’s belief system. But don’t base your humor on anger or on fishing for applause lines because the audience agrees with your beliefs.
*Ask actors to give disciplined, believable performances based on capturing their characters’ personalities, not on mugging, going big and over-the-top, campy self-parody or breaking character.
*Create humor based on intelligent observations about life and the culture, not on immature references to sex, body parts and “bad” words.
j
There’s likely a pretty good reason why no one has mounted a challenge to SNL in that timeslot for decades – presumably, there’s little to no financial gain in trying, not so much because SNL is unassailable, but because sketch/variety has mostly been dead as a genre for a long time (outside of SNL).
“Those shows were there to unite everybody together under common themes that the vast majority of us could relate to. ”
I’m sure Lorne would agree with you, but I’d say SNL took sides fairly clearly most of the time – it’s just before 2016, those choices were not as scrutinized because the viewers agreed, or because social media wasn’t around. The anti-Clinton screeds of 1994 did not get any real backlash for that reason, even though they are much more severe than just about all of the very, very milquetoast, wishy-washy political material of modern SNL.
I do think that it would be good if another sketch show tried to appeal to a certain demo, partly because that might make SNL realize they have to stop the awkward, soulless pandering which one week tears into Boomers and a month later, Gen Z. Unfortunately, II imagine if that ever happens it would just be Gutfeld! moving against SNL..
Change a big step up to a a gargantuan step up of unmeasurable proportions
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Benedict Cumberbatch, as of September 5, 2021)
a colossal step up
The Election Night sketch with Rock should’ve been the cold open. It would’ve addressed the gravity of the moment without losing sight of the fact that SNL is a comedy show.
I probably don’t have anything to add that hasn’t been said, but the cold opening gets ickier every year for me. Maybe if Trump hadn’t already hosted, there’d be more of an air of sincerity behind it. But you can’t give the guy a vehicle for self-promotion with a hosting gig than pivot to portraying him as a dangerous, incompetent goon (regardless if it’s an accurate portrayal). I won’t go further than that.
Anyway, this was otherwise a fantastic episode. Shame Chapelle has since undone most of my good will towards him since this episode. It was really exciting at the time that he was hosting.