Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
TRUMP PRESS CONFERENCE
reporters ask about pee at Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) press conference
— A fairly funny listing-off of celebrities who will be at Trump’s inauguration.
— Pete makes his first appearance in three episodes, after being in rehab during the last two episodes.
— Blah at the part with Alec Baldwin’s Trump making a string of pee euphemisms in his speech.
— When the non-Pete cast members playing reporters are speaking, a seemingly-bored Pete can be seen in the background mildly making faces, including sticking his tongue out of his mouth at one point.
— Great to see Mikey and Alex’s Trump Brothers impressions become recurring.
— Cecily is great in her scene, and I got a good laugh from her reveal of the pile of documents all being fake.
— The non-Trump parts of this cold opening continue to be good, this time with Kenan making an appearance as Steve Harvey.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
Princess Leia-like hologram of TIF gives nervous host advice about doing SNL
— Early on in this monologue, Felicity Jones’ natural nervousness is on display, but she’s coming off affable enough in her delivery. However, the writers have saddled her with some fairly blah jokes here.
— I laughed at Tina Fey’s initial mention of having a lot in common with Tupac, but that Dr. Dre/podiatrist joke she told immediately afterwards was groanworthy.
— Felicity, on hosting SNL: “I’m a bit nervous, to be honest.” Tina: “No, don’t be. If Steven Seagal can do it, so can you.”
— Felicity: “Does this show get reviewed?” Tina: “Yes. Waaay too much.” (*Stooge shifts his eyes nervously*)
— Tina: “Back in season 35, I put a fatal flaw in the system. If you take out Kenan Thompson, the studio will explode.” I was about to jokingly say, “Oh, so THAT’S why the season 35 January Jones episode was so bad” (Kenan is absent in that episode), but then I remembered that episode aired before Tina’s season 35 hosting stint.
STARS: ***½
BEARD HUNK
reality show bachelorettes all possess various flaws
— Our annual Bachelor/“Can I steal him for a sec?” sketch.
— Vanessa’s scene is good.
— At first, I almost thought that “Ashley/ally” mix-up from Felicity was a genuine gaffe (I guess due to her visible nerves again), but that mix-up seems to be part the script.
— Ha, Aidy’s “jack you off” line came out of nowhere.
— Felicity’s apparent attempt at an American accent is iffy.
— Kate, when telling Beck about herself: “I’m a judge…mental bitch.”
— It feels like this recurring sketch gets slightly less funny with each passing installment, though I never find it bad enough to give it a weak rating.
STARS: ***
SHONDRA & MALIK
car trouble preempts an urban turf war between (LEJ) & (KET)
— Yet another instance of Vanessa playing against type in her last two seasons.
— Great tone to this piece so far, and it’s bringing nice realism to go alongside the comedy.
— A funny sudden cutaway to Leslie helpfully trying to solve Kenan’s car troubles after its been established how much they hate each other.
— Some more laughs from Leslie and Kenan’s additional helpful actions toward each other while still maintaining their rivalry.
— Didn’t care for that ending.
STARS: ****
THEATRE DONOR
106-year-old (MID) disrupts the theater-in-the-round production he funded
— Feels rare in this early stage of Mikey’s tenure to see him doing wild physical comedy like this. He’s doing a very good job here and is cracking me up.
— I have mixed feelings on that ending, but I liked it more than I didn’t.
STARS: ***½
THE PRINCESS AND THE CURSE
princess’ (host) 15-pound weight gain is a deal-breaker for prince (BEB)
— Kate slipping into her Hillary when doing her evil sorceress laugh here, I see.
— Felicity’s big reveal and the direction this sketch takes afterwards isn’t making me laugh much.
— Pretty weak ending.
STARS: **
SUSAN B. ANTHONY HOUSE
summoned Susan B. Anthony (KAM) can’t keep modern women’s attention
— Not a bad conceit with the ladies’ increasingly dismissive attitudes towards Kate’s Susan B. Anthony when she keeps interrupting their trivial conversations, but something about this conceit isn’t fully coming together in the execution.
— Tonight’s theme of weak/iffy endings continues.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Keep It Between The Lines”
WEEKEND UPDATE
PED gives his first impressions of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees
self-described pop sensation BEB specializes in very short songs
— I love the old-timey Southern tycoon-type voice Michael uses when saying “Jeff Beauregard Sessions”.
— A change of pace for Pete’s Update commentaries, with him trying out a “First Impressions” segment.
— I’m liking how Pete’s “First Impressions” segment has a David Spade “Hollywood Minute” vibe.
— Pete made me laugh out loud when doing the Silence Of The Lambs “Put the lotion in the basket!” imitation.
— Surprisingly, this is Beck’s first-ever appearance at the Update desk.
— I have mixed feelings on Beck’s commentary so far. His songs here aren’t all that funny to me, but his delivery of them and some of the jokes in between the songs are kinda amusing me.
STARS: ***½
FANDANGO ALL ACCESS
dumb sex comedy creators (host), (BEB), (KYM) cite political influences
— Beck’s busy night continues.
— The very dignified, straitlaced, low-key discussion about Felicity, Beck, and Kyle’s extremely low-brow, dumb movie is funny, especially when the movie gets tied into the tense election.
— Kyle and Beck both did a great job playing off of Beck’s genuine gaffe where he started saying the wrong line when it was Kyle’s turn to speak. I wonder if that gaffe of Beck’s is a sign that, as solid a performer as he is, perhaps he’s being spread a little TOO thin in tonight’s episode.
— A pretty good laugh from the movie clip.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Call To Arms”
CORPORATE RETREAT
timid (CES), (host), (MEV) tell intercourse jokes at a corporate retreat
— Wow, Beck has been in practically EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT tonight. He’s had one of the busiest nights a cast member has had in recent memory.
— Melissa finally gets a comedic lead role (if she had one in a previous episode, I don’t remember it), and even then, it’s only a co-starring role that she’s sharing with two others.
— I’m kinda meh on the conceit of the timid Cecily/Felicity/Melissa group always telling sexual-themed “loose” jokes, but I did like Felicity’s joke, as well as her delivery of it. I also like how fitting this timid, giggly character type feels for Melissa. I want to see her be given better material, though.
STARS: **½
IN MEMORIAM
a photo of TOR marks his passing
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While not all that bad, this was an extremely forgettable and somewhat iffy episode. Almost none of the segments in this episode stood out to me as strong, and, after the decent first 25 minutes, this episode took a hit-and-miss route, and even then, the hits weren’t particularly great.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Shondra & Malik
Theatre Donor
Weekend Update
Fandango All Access
Monologue
Trump Press Conference
Beard Hunk
Corporate Retreat
Susan B. Anthony House
The Princess And The Curse
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Casey Affleck)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Aziz Ansari
As I said in a previous review, I strongly disliked this episode due to a lack of Rogue One sketches and cameos. Of course, reading this review, I realize that maybe it wasn’t too great in the first place.
As for tomorrow’s episode, I recall it being an improvement, and there are a lot of sketches that I enjoy. But I guess I’ll just have to see how my opinions differ from yours.
Not sure what you mean by a lack of cameos when we got Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey (interesting 30 Rock connection).
What I mean is there weren’t as many cameos as the Casey Affleck episode. But like I said, I was very naive at the time, so what the hell did you expect?
Wow Stooge, you must be a psychic. You posted this review on the same day that I thought about possibly rewatching Rogue One. And in the same month as I’ve heard a Sturgill Simpson song!
(I generally enjoy those comments, by the way, just poking a wee bit of gentle fun at how much of a stretch they can be every once in a while).
Susan B. Anthony died on March 13th, and this episode has a Susan B. Anthony sketch. Obviously Stooge planned this entire SNL project specifically to line up with that date but accidentally was a day off. /s
(I’m fine with these comments too. Don’t be discouraged, anyone.)
Wow, 3 and 1/2 seasons before Beck gets an Update piece. Pretty incredible. Has anyone gone longer.
Melissa gets her first showcase tomorrow (iirc)
On an unrelated note, since we’re halfway through this season, why don’t we take a look at the rating averages of the episodes you’ve covered so far?
Margot Robbie – 78
Lin-Manuel Miranda – 65
Emily Blunt – 72
Tom Hanks – 81
Benedict Cumberbatch – 68
Dave Chappelle – 90
Kristen Wiig – 65
Emma Stone – 73
John Cena – 67
Casey Affleck – 53
Felicity Jones – 62
Overall Average (so far): 70
I really love Shondra and Malik, but everything else was pretty ehh. I agree it wasn’t bad though. We get two strong episodes after this, the latter one being one of my favorites of this whole era.
This’ll seem like a bad take to some, but this episode is proof of why I don’t like that Beck has become SNL’s utility guy. He’s always saddled with a lot of douchey parts (The Princess and the Curse) or stuff that’s kinda grating (his Update piece.) I think his strength is when he does his more niche material with Kyle. He’s sometimes very good in a Hartman or Sudeikis-esque role but when they try to make him carry an episode like this it doesn’t totally work. He reminds me a bit of how Michael McKean was on SNL; he should be great but something just isn’t clicking for me, even beyond the writing. I’d like to see how Alex Moffat would do being their go-to utility guy instead.
I really like Alex and I agree he should have been put in more utility roles, but when they put him into smarmy parts it doesn’t work for me either (it’s one of the reasons I’m not as fond of the Guy Who Just Bought a Boat as many are). I think it takes a very specific personality, like Sudeikis, to make these parts work, and even in his case in limited doses.
The last few seasons they’ve seemed to acknowledge Beck playing too many douchebags (like his line in the Scarjo monologue) and have let him have more of a variety of roles in the utility format, which I think has benefited him, although I can see where after 8 seasons people would feel like they’ve had enough.
Agree on Alex. I like him and think he should have more to do, but I feel like some people act like Lorne’s got some modern day Hartman he’s not using, when there’s been several times he’s got a bigger role and come off rather bland (ex. when he played Tucker Carlson recently I thought it was a pretty weak take).
It is possible that Alex might be too bland, but there have been a few times where he’s gotten something out of a small role that I liked more than the actual sketch (the ‘Peter, Paula, and Murray’ and ‘Hoops’ sketches from season 45 come to mind.) But I would like to at least see how he’d fare playing more dads or game show hosts or what have you.
And like John touched on, a lot of it has to do with the fact that Beck’s been on the show for eight seasons and I just got kinda tired of him, as hollow as that is to say.
I thought his Tucker was fine, but admittedly he just sort of came and went compared to the usual Kate and Aidy routine.
I don’t ever know if Alex is just difficult to write for, or if the show just struggles to write beyond basic tropes for many of the cast, and Alex’s tropes are already taken by other white guys in the cast. (similar to what happened with Beck and Taran, where Beck steadily ate away at Taran’s voice on the show).
I was reading a Beck profile from 2017 where they talked about how his Putin impression was his breakout moment, and were very dismissive of his past work (they mostly seemed to just mention Baby Boss, and not all that positively). It reminded me of how arbitrary the idea of ‘making it’ on this show is, and how little it tends to match the performer’s best work. I guess if Alex ever gets that type of ‘making it’ moment it would probably be for Biden (if we ever see that impression again), barring some of the brief praise he got for Eric Trump, but he can do more. I just hope by the time the cast turnover gets to that point it won’t be too late.
@Ruby Lol. I’m 2½ years late, but it’s obviously not Beck’s fault that this episode sucked so bad. It’s Felicity Jones and the writers’ fault. Heck, I’m even sure if his heyday, that Phil Hartman played utility player in a bunch of episodes that were terrible and had bad hosts.
Anyways, I’d actually argue he became this era’s go to utility guy, because Taran Killam was gone, and Beck had seniority over Alex. Additionally, Beck was a decent straightnan/utility player when needed. Plus, I started watching the show in S42, so between S42-S46, it seemed like those d-bag roles slowly dried up.
Accumulating in his best season (S46). His last.
It’s too bad Alex never found his mark on the show, but as much as I like Mikey Day as a cast member, his main shtick seems to be the ‘guy who loudly explains the joke’. Yet oddly, no complaints about Mikey.
Heck, even Kyle had limited range, but again, no complaints about him oddly enough.
So, even if I disagree with your thoughts on Beck, I still respect your opinion, at the end of the day.
I cannot wait for the next episode. This is the first episode of SNL in the trump administration after all.
I remember Rachel Maddow was also a fan of using “Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions” any time she could.
I watched this episode last year, and I did not care a great deal for Shondra & Malik. When watching it back tonight I initially didn’t remember why – it has a nice slice-of-life feel, and understated performances from everyone involved. It’s a good showcase of Leslie, which, along with Tina [in one of her more tolerable appearances of the last 5 years] jabbing about the dubious use of her in past seasons, is another reminder that she’s going to close out her last few seasons on a high note. Unfortunately, the ending reminded me of why – it’s just awful, does not match the rest of the piece AT ALL, and feels very much like Lorne or someone else saying, “This isn’t funny. Where is the part that’s funny?” I try to still remember the better elements, but it’s not easy. SNL has been so afraid in the last 20-25 years to just let simple, quiet pieces get on the air. What a disappointment.
The ending with berating Kenan for having his phone on also does not work for me – it’s the classic ending which probably seemed much, much better on paper. Still, I appreciate the creativity in the set design, and I appreciate Mikey’s performance – he’s always at his best for me when he does heavy physical work.
Last but not least, the ending also damages the cruise ship sketch for me – admittedly, this isn’t an especially good sketch in the first place (another Anderlette piece, I assume), but the part focusing on Melissa/Cecily/Felicity almost works, between Melissa and Cecily barely holding on (although that may have just been character work), and Felicity being enjoyable in the one part of the night that gives her a chance. Kate’s role in this sketch reminds me of the comment someone here made about how by this point, Kate could not have a basic part – she had to be a big character or have the end moment.
Pete’s Update jokes remind me of the very unfortunate reprisal a few years later that leads to Dan Crenshaw getting an unearned chance to shill a grifter’s fantasy of bipartisanship on SNL (hopefully the last time SNL ever goes down that road). These seem like they were written by someone else and shoved into his mouth. Doesn’t work for me. Beck’s appearance doesn’t really work for me either – playing himself is an odd choice. He redresses this whole bit as Jules, and while that material also isn’t perfect, I think it generally works better.
I guess the best sketch of the night was the movie interview – SNL poking holes in the period around 2017 and 2018 when so many projects were branding themselves as important and aware and part of the resistance, etc. Too long, and we shouldn’t have seen the clip, but at least it is well-constructed and the end fits.
My main problem with the Bachelor sketches is they are always, always too long. You can tell various writers have been saving up all kinds of crazy lines, but throwing so many out there, on top of all the annoying nasal variations on “Can I steal him for a sec?” weigh the concept down. Felicity was best served this time, especially her comments about how she was born 8 months premature and fought for life, and now she is an iced tea influencer on Instagram.
If (again) the Susan B Anthony sketch had been seriously shortened, then I think it would have worked – the idea is sound, and the end actually works well for me.
Felicity comes across like one of those hosts who washed in from the late ’90s or early ’00s – heavily worked around in the writing, heavily generic. She is likeable enough though, and doesn’t drag anything down.
I can’t even remember if Bobby was in this episode…
Promos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybG1t7g9s3Y&list=PLS_gQd8UB-hIe_T2qjQT30S6s18Hf2Dl8&index=15
Sorry to be a broken record (showing my age), scratched CD? (not much better), but Shondra and Malik is such a waste of Vanessa that it’s hard for me to even watch. Yeah, it’s playing against type, but to what end? There’s nothing there for her. And yes, it’s a nice character piece, as someone commented, ruined by a horrific twist ending that is tonally out of whack with the rest of it. A waste of time and talent, especially when you consider the location shooting, going ‘off-campus,’ etc. A misfire.
I actually got a kick out of Beck’s dumb songs but the rest of the bit had nothing to carry it.
This episode was forgettable. The only thing I remember was the monologue, yet Tina and Kenan carried it, not Felicity. All of her parts were forgettable compared to the other two.
I wonder if Tina was brought in after it was evident that Felicity wasn’t going to be promising before showtime.
This and the Casey Affleck ep are two more I missed while sleeping in my flood-affected home and not yet having my big-screen TV. I would’ve remembered Tony Rosato’s “In Memoriam” card, otherwise….
@avmon – You didn’t miss much from the one-two punch of the mostly bland shows. BTW, I’m sorry you went through a flood.
SNLLover, thanks for your concern. I’m just glad being through it made me miss Trump’s inauguration!
The Tina Fey as Leia was possibly also a tribute to the late Carrie Fisher