Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
A PAID MESSAGE FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Donald Trump fan Vladimir Putin (BEB) addresses post-inauguration America
— We have officially arrived at a new presidency during SNL’s timeline…even though the new president (Trump) isn’t actually portrayed in this cold opening about his inauguration. The reason for that is because Alec Baldwin was participating in the women’s march that night, and wasn’t available for an SNL appearance. Yet another sign of what a poor decision it is on SNL’s part to have a non-cast member play the president. SNL had enough time between the election results and Trump’s inauguration to figure out which current cast member should play Trump in his presidency. I know Alec’s Trump got a lot of positive press in the pre-election portion of this season, but COME ON. And in my opinion, his impression had already gotten tired sometime between the election results and inauguration.
— Olya Povlatsky! Great to see this character make a non-Weekend Update appearance for once. This ends up being her final appearance in general.
— Some okay lines from Beck’s Vladimir Putin throughout this.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about Donald Trump’s electors & re-emergent xenophobia
— Aziz Ansari’s Chris Brown bit made me laugh a lot.
— The whole bit about the “lower-case KKK” is great.
— Another solid bit, this time about what causes Islamophobia.
— Much like Dave Chappelle’s monologue from earlier this same season, I like the occasional dead-serious parts of this, and how Aziz is taking his time getting to the eventual punchline of those dead-serious parts.
STARS: ****
BEAT THE BOOKWORM
pop culture category benefits contestant (VAB) over The Bookworm (host)
— A solid character for Aziz.
— A very funny stretched-out panicked yell of “Noooooooo!” from Aziz in reaction to the 90s Pop Culture category.
— The speed round segment is pretty good.
— An okay running gag with how Mikey’s host character, while maintaining his pleasant and professional demeanor, keeps sternly pointing out to Vanessa that she shouldn’t say “Damn” on this show.
— A nice and appropriate short length to this overall sketch.
STARS: ***½
INTERROGATION
cops (BEB) & (CES) interrogate (host) for not totally loving La La Land
— Something about the way Cecily said the name “Santangeli” in that tough cop voice early on in this sketch made me laugh, even though it wasn’t intended to.
— A funny reveal of the “crime” that Aziz committed, and this comedic conceit is being executed very well.
— Cecily is selling the HELL out of her character’s intensity.
— I love Beck’s reaction to Aziz revealing he fell asleep during La La Land.
STARS: ****½
KELLYANNE CONWAY
jubilant attention-hungry Kellyanne Conway (KAM) sings “Roxie” variant
— Beck continues to get lots of airtime, ever since the preceding episode.
— A change of pace having a The Lead With Jake Tapper sketch be pre-taped, though you soon see that this ends up taking a completely different direction from typical The Lead/Tapper sketches. This also ends up being the first of several Jake Tapper/Kellyanne Conway pre-taped shorts, each of which spoof a different movie, IIRC.
— Kate’s performance of this Chicago-esque number is solid, and I’m glad the show has changed their portrayal of Kellyanne by this point, given the inaccurate, overly positive way they previously portrayed her.
— I’m enjoying how the political TV show titles that Kellyanne is naming off in song are being flashed onscreen in fancy neon logos, Broadway-style.
STARS: ***½
BRODERICK & GANZ
personal-injury lawyers Broderick (KAM) & Ganz (BOM) are unequal partners
— Sad how extremely rare it’s become this season for Bobby to get a lead role.
— A perfect character for Bobby, who’s selling this so damn well.
— Aziz’s various reactions are very funny. I especially love his “So, wait – this guy’s walkin’ around with NO KIDNEYS?!?” line.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bounce Back”
WEEKEND UPDATE
LEJ highlights inventions that deserve acclaim beyond Black History Month
nice guy Jake Rocheck (MID) can’t move himself out of (CES)’s friend zone
— Interestingly, it seems to have become a regular thing lately for Michael to do the opening joke, after it had long been a regular thing for Colin to do that most weeks.
— Lots of strong jokes from Colin and Michael about Trump’s inauguration.
— Many great lines from Leslie about the things she recently learned were invented by a black person.
— Leslie, on how she sees herself: “Pam Grier about 15 years ago and Malia Obama 10 years from now!”
— Lots of fun ad-libs between Colin and Michael throughout this Update.
— A good running gag with that Michelle Obama photo that Michael vocalizes.
— Mikey in his very first Update commentary. (My apologies if I’m forgetting something.) The format of this particular “Friend Zone” commentary of his is an interesting change of pace for this era of Update.
— Mikey is always very good at playing this type of role. I especially like his straitlaced, affable delivery of “I am a little baby bitch boy.”
— A heartbroken Mikey, to Michael, after Michael has stolen Cecily from him: “Just…always make sure you’re there for her.” Michael: “Nah, Jake…that’s YOUR job.”
— Overall, the first above-average Update in a bit of a while.
STARS: ****
DIRTY TALK
in bed, (MEV)’s pre-sex dirty talk & role-playing is too real for (host)
— Melissa finally gets a showcase where she’s the sole comedic character.
— Already showing how good this sketch is going to be, Melissa immediately gets a laugh from the way she delivers her first line, “Oh, yeah, it’s Sunday night. That’s when we have sex.”
— Melissa is killing it in this and has an endless amount of funny questionable “dirty talk” choices. I particularly love the “Do me, dad!”, learning disability, “I’m the baddest girl in 6th grade!”, “I read at a 6th grade level because of my learning disability”, and Owen Wilson impression ones.
— This is the second sketch tonight that Melissa has flubbed a line in (the Broderick & Ganz sketch was the first), but this sketch is going so well and Melissa is earning so much goodwill in it that the flub doesn’t hurt it.
— Aziz is a solid straight man to Melissa in this.
— An overall excellent sketch, and was kept the perfect length.
STARS: *****
FIVE STARS
Uber driver (BOM) & passenger (host) try for a good rating
— Speaking of certain cast members getting a rare lead role this season, Bobby gets his SECOND lead role tonight. It’s like SNL suddenly remembered this week that Bobby’s still in the cast this season.
— I love the concept of this short, and the execution of it is great.
— A good laugh from Bobby choosing to play Indian music from the car radio after thinking to himself that he should play music that Aziz will like.
— I love the various inner thoughts we hear from Aziz and Bobby throughout this short.
— A very charming turn with Aziz and Bobby naturally bonding over Black Mirror.
— The dark turn at the end had me howling.
STARS: ****½
PIZZA TOWN
animatronic pizza band interrupts cops’ apprehension of criminal (KYM)
— The performers are good at acting like robots here. Mikey in particular is showing an almost Taran Killam-like mastery at robotic movements.
— Trying to replicate the success of Space Pants, I see. I’m still finding this to be a decent sketch, despite it being nowhere near as memorable as Space Pants.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sunday Morning Jetpack”
TO SIR WITH LOVE
CES & SAZ thank Barack Obama by singing “To Sir With Love”
— (*sigh*) If there was ever a time I wanted to use a “Get Out Of Reviewing A Sketch Free” card, it’s now. I reeeeaaaaaaallllly don’t want to have to review this.
— (*sighs again*) Well, all I can really say is that I don’t like this segment, as I’ve always had a lot of issues with the idea behind it. I don’t even know how to explain WHY I’ve always had issues with the idea behind it (I don’t have anything against Obama himself), nor why I can tolerate the Hallelujah cold opening from earlier this season, but not this. Someone in the comments section of this review can probably articulate my negative feelings on this piece better than I myself can. However, let me just remind everyone, BE CAREFUL AND DO NOT GO OVERBOARD in any political discussion about this To Sir With Love segment in the comments section.
— As I said in my review of the Jingle Barack short from a few episodes prior, I feel that that short was a better way for SNL to affectionately say goodbye to Obama’s presidency than this To Sir With Love segment is.
STARS: N/A (since this non-comedic tribute isn’t a cold opening, I’m not 100% sure if I can count it as an unratable segment or not, but I will anyway)
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid episode. There were no comedic segments that I disliked, and there was a good number of exceptionally strong pieces. Good to see this season get out of the mini-slump it was in with the two episodes that preceded this.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Dirty Talk
Five Stars
Broderick & Ganz
Interrogation
Weekend Update
Monologue
Kellyanne Conway
Beat The Bookworm
Pizza Town
A Paid Message From The Russian Federation
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Felicity Jones)
a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Kristen Stewart