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
I remember loving Beat the Bookworm when it aired, but now it seems to be missing from YouTube, as is the Obama tribute. How unfortunate
Aw, I thought the song was sweet.
I thought the song was too earnest and simpering. In hindsight, mourning Obama was a bit much.
(My feelings on why To Sir, With Love works even less than Hallelujah are that the Hallelujah open, no matter your opinion of it, at least has an air of genuine grief to it, which makes it feel less fluffy than the FAR too earnest tribute they give Obama here. It’s so cutesy, and so nonjudgmental of a liberal “hero” and so self satisfied in its minimal effort that you could throw in a pointless cameo and Kate in drag and it would it sum up pretty much everything I hate about this era of the show’s superficial approach to politics.
Neil Brennan directed the Uber film.
I remember really liking the next episode and thinking it was one of the best of the season.
Great to see that you love the same sketches I do. I too love “This guy’s walking around with NO KIDNEYS?!”
As for tomorrow’s episode, I strangely have no memory of it other than Sean Spicer, Totino’s, Airport Video, and Golden Ticket. There was also her f-bomb, but I didn’t catch that when I first saw it live. Maybe the review will jog up my memory.
Wanna know something weird? I COMPLETELY FORGOT about that “To Sir With Love” portion until like half a year ago. I had no recollection of it until someone brought it up on Reddit.
I think the main problem is that it’s not like Obama died. Yes, his term ending was a bit sorrowful, but it just seemed like they made it out to be that this was a “posthumous” tribute to him. He was still going to be around serving his country, no matter what.
I hope I’m not being too overly political here. I believe there is a fine line that SNL must draw in the sand on how they deal with certain issues. While this didn’t hurt anyone or cross extreme barriers, it’s just cringeworthy. If they HAD to say something about him leaving office, a nice and simple “thank you” at the end of Update would’ve been enough.
I don’t like the Hallelujah opening or this song, but they kind of annoy me in two different ways, neither of which revolves around the political sentiments.
The Hallelujah opening felt something like SNL engaging in morning after remorse, like realizing that their jokey portrayals of Clinton and Trump didn’t seem as funny now (and of course letting Trump host). I can certainly understand that reaction, but that opening felt like a cringe way of exploring that instead of through a honest sketch.
This Obama tribute just felt unnecessary. Like if Obama had died or something, sure. But he was just leaving office. I can certainly see tipping the cap to Obama as he left office (hell, Doonesbury did so for Reagan!), but a non-comedic, adulatory song seemed entirely the wrong approach. If there was still an Obama impersonator on the show, per se, I would have done a final sketch capping the presidency and ended on an affectionate note of sorts. Even like showing a still of Obama cameoing and having the caption be like “Happy Trails” or something would have felt fine to me.
Aziz Ansari was really good host who will never host this show again. Every sketch that he was in, was a delight.
I am glad that we are getting to our first weird Melissa sketch. She might not have be a star, but every 3 or 4 episodes, there is a sketch were she steals the spotlight. Melissa has that awkward energy that no-one else in the female cast has.
For the BaldwinTrump, you got to remember that it got rewarded for the next few years. Like the next Emmy seasons nominated Alec Baldwin as an actor. So behind the scenes, there wasn’t a desire on the show to have Trump spot to be filled by Beck or Alex.
(But the cameo parade doesn’t really break until we get Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer, a role that actually was noted to piss off Trump. To the extend that I remember people saying that one of the reasons why Spicer was fired was because of the McCarthy played him.)
I’m not sure why the random dark ending doesn’t bother me for Five Stars but detracts from Shondra and Malik so much.
I remember finding this to be a really strong episode, one of the better ones of the second half. Allegations aside (I don’t know the specifics) Aziz Ansari feels like he could’ve been a solid cast member in an alternate universe. He kills me in Beat the Bookworm (“I spent the ’90s reading books!”) and gets some good incredulous straightman roles, back when that was fun. It wasn’t as enjoyable to revisit for a multitude of reasons, but watching it live I thought it was damn near flawless with one very huge exception.
“I don’t even know how to explain why I’ve always had issues with the idea behind [To Sir with Love] (I don’t have anything against Obama himself) nor why I can tolerate the Hallelujah cold opening from earlier this season, but not this.”
I can’t speak for you, but the difference is the Hallelujah open—regardless of how anyone personally feels about it—did represent the system-shocked mood of how many people were feeling post-election and also doubles as a Cohen tribute. Meanwhile, having a pitchy, non-comedic dedication to a former president on a comedy show is just weird and unnecessary. It’s so maudlin and overly sincere to the point of being kinda tasteless and gross. And I don’t think it hits any sort of zeitgeist like the Hallelujah one did. Dennis Perrin (author of the Michael O’Donoghue biography) once described the segment as “North Korean SNL” and I’m inclined to agree. I don’t think *any* politician deserves that kind of glowing tribute on SNL. It’s not funny or well-performed and its bizarro hero worship adds fuel to the somewhat hollow complaints conservatives and leftists alike have had about SNL, that it’s just become a circle-jerk for moderate Democrats or whatever. Not gonna say anymore on that cuz, y’know ? It doesn’t make me mad or anything, but when I first watched it I went “Oh, nooo…” and felt so much secondhand awkwardness.
But anyways, very solid episode. It feels a lot more like an energized first episode back from break than the Felicity Jones episode did.
The main difference between Five Star and Shondra and Malik is the former sets up the gag early on by having Bobby mention hitting a kid with his car. Yes, Kenan’s car did have problems, but that’s still a huge leap to an explosion of awful CGI flames. I might have enjoyed Five Star a little more with a more upbeat ending, I don’t know, but in this case the crazy ending is a better fit for the characters and atmosphere. That is not the cast with Shondra and Malik. It would be a bit like if Love is a Dream had ended with Jan and Phil being arrested for war crimes.
As Cringy as “To Sir…”was, the similar one they did about Robert Mueller a year or so later was Off-the Charts YIKES (Especially knowing how well all of that turned out in the long run anyway)
Also, side note: I don’t think Pizza Town is similar to Space Pants. When I was 13, I felt it was similar to Haunted Elevator.
I feel like Space Pants and Pizza Town are a definite 1:1 comparison. They both have the same template (criminals trying to talk while a goofy song plays behind them) whereas David Pumpkins is more of the Kevin Roberts template, where it goes through rounds of characters before landing on the weird one.
Well, that’s just your opinion. Keep in mind that I was just expressing my mindset back when this aired.
This is the episode I got into drese rehearsal for! Here are some notes about cut sketches that I’ve shared a couple places and edited, so sorry if something doesn’t make sense:
Cut Sketches from Aziz Ansari
[This was eventually in a Jonah Hill episode] There was a sketch set in an Albany news station with Leslie and Bobby playing the anchors, and Cecily the meteorologist. (Bobby’s surname was Boynuts, by the way.) It started with Bobby and Leslie laughing after coming back from commercial, saying they’d just discovered the two of them have the same taste in men. Cecily then mentioned Leslie’s Star Wars fan-fiction, and Bobby said it was a great 10 page book. Then, as Cecily was doing the weather, Aziz burst in on her, wearing a green shirt, so he was blending into the weather map (Leslie meant to tell him to wear the opposite of green when telling him what to wear). He was trying to ask her to marry him, after they’ve been together for 6 months (Cecily made it known that it was only really 3 months, since they weren’t exclusive at first, but Aziz said he was). After a while of arguing and trying to ignore him, she finally said “yes,” and Aziz got happy and exited, but then she told Leslie and Bobby that she only said that to get him out and didn’t mean it. Bobby said, “I’ll take him,” then Leslie said, “Hey, maybe I want him!” Aziz eventually came back on at the very end, but I don’t think it was anything super important that happened. I was surprised this sketch was cut. I would have swapped it for the dirty talk sketch. [2021 edit: Fight me! Lol Took me years to warm up to Melissa.]
There was a sketch with Leslie running a kids’ dance studio. After she was a bit tough on the kids’ moves, some of the parents asked if she was maybe being a bit harsh. Kenan was playing her wingman and boombox operator. He would both prop her up, “She’s danced around the world. You may have seen her on the Soul Train spinoff, Funk Boat,” and try to warn the parents not to question her ability, throughout the sketch. Aziz did, and asked her to dance in an, “If you’re so good, prove it!” sort of way. Leslie would start the dance by going into the hallway, “come out” as a much slimmer dancer, who would go back to the hallway, then Leslie would come out and finish the dance quickly. After this happened a few times (and Leslie “came out” as a white muscular guy doing backflips), the parents asked the kids if this is how class always went. They, of course, replied, “Yes.” Leslie eventually came clean, saying she was a dancer, but suffered a back injury ten years ago, and the slim dancer revealed herself to be, “Teyana Taylor, the dancer from Kanye’s ‘Fade’ video!” (this is exactly how Sasheer reacted in order to clue in the audience to clap). A parent did a quick background search and found Leslie had a record of robbing six banks, for which there was video evidence of her driving a getaway van. Leslie and Kenan then escaped through a window and Leslie warned, “Don’t tell anyone about this, or I’ll kill you!” I thought this sketch was funny, but the audience was only partially into it. I thought it would be saved for the live show given Teyana Taylor’s participation, but I guess not. That’s show business!
One of the bombs was a sketch where Aziz and Kyle, wearing pimp-like clothing, came into a steam room and started coming on to Leslie, Vanessa, and Cecily, indiscriminately. They eventually revealed they were 15 and 16, but that didn’t stop them.
The other bomb was Aziz, Beck, Vanessa, and I wanna say Cecily (maybe Melissa), seemingly at a bar, wondering where to go eat. The first restaurant they looked up on Yelp had a reviewer saying service was iffy, so Aziz passed. The joke then became that much more extreme things didn’t bother them at all. For example, a Mexican restaurant had a review saying ,”You’ll definitely get fisted.” In response, Beck said, “Oh, I had a birthday there. It’s good.” Aziz replied, “Oh, that’s no fun. Let’s go somewhere no one’s been.” They were set to go somewhere 100 miles away that performed gender reassignment surgery (“You may even get reassigned your current gender, but you’ll still be operated on”), but they learned it was closed on Mondays, and this was a Monday. Then, Alex, as the waiter, revealed they were in a restaurant and the menu was in the middle of the table the whole time. The restaurant turned out to be the Mexican place. Beck said, “Oh, I thought it looked familiar!” Aziz then asked, “Wait, do they really fist you, though?” Alex and Melissa then came to the table putting on black gloves. This is the joke that went too far and left the audience silent. Everyone was kinda just sitting there for a few seconds, awkwardly, before some last throwaway line I forget.
Cuts and Changes
Cold Open:
In the dress, Beck, as Putin, was wearing a black tie as well as his crucifix necklace, which I thought was funny.
When Kate, as the Russian woman, first got the fish from Putin, she said, “the things I do for food…” She also was forced to say she couldn’t stop thinking about rubbing her hands over Putin, instead of saying he was strong. When she came back into the window, she held up a sign saying, “Guard took my fish.” The audience let out a loud “aww,” so maybe the writers thought it was too sad, but I think it worked a lot better than the pink hat, which people on IMDb are confused about, and can’t come to a consensus on whether it was in solidarity with the Women’s March, or a cat ears hat referencing Trump’s infamous brag.
Beat the Bookworm: One change, for the better, was when the Bookworm answered “Michael Jackson was the King of…” and replied, “the Jews!” Originally, he said something very long and specific about an actual king. It wasn’t funny in the same way.
Weekend Update:
When Leslie called Colin “provolone” in the dress, and he asked “Why provolone?” she replied, “Listen, there are only so many cute white things I can think of. Make a list, boo!
Colin’s punchline about Obama’s pardons was different. It was a long bit about how he pardoned so many people, and presidents always do that right before leaving, which seems like a senior prank: “What’s going to happen to them? They’ll still graduate.” But then a picture of Obama listening to Trump’s inauguration speech popped up and Colin said, “But you still have to actually sit through graduation.”
Instead of Michael showing he’s not a jerk (or was it prick?) by explaining that he keeps his cousin from robbing Colin, he said, “I don’t wear sandals,” to which Colin replied, “I wear sandals,” embarrassingly.
Colin saying, “Aside from photographic evidence, I don’t believe anytime someone ends something with ‘PERIOD,'” and that whole thing was new. In the dress, they did just show a picture of the crowd at the inaugural. This was an improvement.
To Sir, With Love: In the dress, Vanessa, Melissa, and Kate joined in on the song, a bit after Sasheer, but weren’t really audible, at all. They also began the song in dress with Cecily saying something like, “I wanted a chance to say goodbye,” before they even showed Obama. The fade in was much better, and less abrupt and awkward. I was hoping they’d cut this—it was too sappy, and I don’t think the singing was all that solid. It was actually better in dress.
Thanks for the rundown, @OldSoul97. That fisting…punchline still bewilders me. The show has gone through patches of real crudity, but that one seems like a tall order even for more modern years.
Is this the episode where a photo of a carnival or fortune teller sketch is available?
They tried a second Broderick & Ganz sketch in the Jimmy Fallon episode this season (The first ever episode that was aired live coast to coast) but it was cut after dress
After this episode aired, Chris Brown immediately proved Aziz right by replying to his joke with a shitty racist comeback.
Oh god I forgot about that. Insane how Chris Brown still has a career, but I guess it’s not surprising.
How about Vanessa with a one-liner as a uniformed cop at the end of the interrogation sketch? Again, an embarrassing way for the show to treat a veteran on her way out the door.
And she isn’t even given a funny line. She has to dress up like that and isn’t even given any ‘business’ to do. No wonder she wanted out.
Obama dying was something I don’t think any of us were really prepared for.
As for the song, all I’ll say is this, same as with Hallelujah, the show ceased being a variety show basically sometime in 1976–with that in mind, can you try to find the funny in it somewhere? If you want to pay homage, fine. To paraphrase Bobby Brown, it’s your prerogative. But find the funny, like you have in the past. But, IMO, that’s been an ongoing problem the last few years. A lot of ‘clapter,’ less laughter. The Lorne of today is nothing like the Lorne of then in terms of sensibilities. That’s to be expected. He’s 40-plus years older. But it’s still jarring to someone who has watched since the Jimmy Carter presidential regime.
For me, the show has struggled with cold opens for about 20 years, just in different forms. I don’t have much use for, say, Matthew Broderick appearing because no one could come up with a joke that week, but it’s not worse for me than 5-6-7 minutes of Darrell Hammond’s soul leaving his body, Will Forte hating every second of what he was doing, the sorrows of poor Chris Parnell, or the slow death of Fredbama. The cold opens have long been a huge burden to the show, it’s just gone from being an internalized burden handed off to Jim Downey to a burden-by-committee because they get media coverage and guaranteed 2-3 million views on Youtube. A shudder goes down my spine when I remember moments like the cold open checklist from hell in Emma Stone’s last episode. This is still a problem now, and will likely remain one, although at least when Aidy, Cecily, and Kate leave, they will have to wheel out a few newer performers for the machine.
Well said. You basically had a shift from COs being painfully boring to aggressively obnoxious. There was a blip between Downey’s departure and Trump where they were ok, but even then they were usually a lowlight.
Stooge, Maybe, You Thought To Sir With Love Was Too Schmaltzy OR As You Would Put IT With Other Things Maybe To Sir With Love Was Too Corny OR Cheesy !
To clarify, I’m talking about how so many of the political cold opens in recent years seem to be geared toward just setting up as many celebrity cameos as possible, in which the main goal is to showcase the depth of Lorne’s rolodex and get the audience to cheer when they recognize the cameo, rather than to actually come up with a truly funny sketch.
Even more insulting when the best thing they can do with these uber famous celebrity cameo is usually “do a line from a movie you were in so the audience can applaud again, then a clapter line for a easy applause trifecta.”
That’s well-said. But again, I think the blame can be apportioned equally. Lorne is saddling shaky writers with the mandate of shoehorning in these cameos, and unfortunately, referencing a line/meme from one of their movies has become their go-to trope in lieu of actual clever comedy. (Plus, most of those movies have long since disappeared from the so-called zeitgeist anyway, which makes the reference stick out that much more and seem incredibly dated and hacky.)
Still, I almost feel badly for the writers, because there is no possible way comedy can flow organically when, in essence, you are presented with a checklist of actors/movie characters/lines you have to use at some point during the sketch.
I’ll have more to say about the Meet the Parents bit when we reach it but to me that represents the absolute nadir of SNL’s political comedy and the moment it really dawned on me that SNL had gone full Leno in its treatment of the Trump presidency.
I mostly blame Lorne and the suits, but the writers deserve a lot of shit too. You just don’t get a sense that any one, at least any of the higher ups, give a shit based on their writing. You could tell Downey really didn’t care for the Clintons, and that McKay despised McCain. These guys simply seem to find Trump mockable at worst. Based on their Twitter feeds, I know that isn’t true in some cases (Bryan Tucker is vocally very left) but that anger NEVER shows up on camera, because anger is an actual emotion, and those aren’t allowed in the cold calculated A.I. generated vacuum of comedy that are the Trumpwin sketches. Even the notoriously limp post-Ferrel Bush sketches had more to say than these.
Seriously, no matter what side of the coin you fall on, I think we can all agree we’re in for some of the lamest, hackiest, most tepid political satire of all time in these next few seasons. Whatever, its not like this president gave them any good material 😐
” Even the notoriously limp post-Ferrel Bush sketches had more to say than these.”
I mostly just remember them as a lot of blathering “W dumb” pieces with a series of unhappy actors staring into the camera with dead eyes, but I don’t really want to go back and check…
Lorne and NBC were complicit in both that era and with Trump (I’d say even moreso with W because while he didn’t host, they presented him as fun-loving in months of sketches [in an era when SNL had more weight with public opinion] and, in his first term, even went on to write sketches that felt like pro-war propaganda), but the main difference is that Robert Smigel was still there, and he was able to get his disgust on the air mostly unfiltered.
You now have a lot of writers who either don’t have any real passion for politics, or aren’t allowed to express those due to a network that has a history of enabling conservative viewpoints.
In that sense, sometimes it’s surprising SNL has even moved as much to the left as it has. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem likely to translate to sharp political critique. It’s all corporate, mixed with a few jabs here and there.
I think a lot of what’s being missed here is that SNL wasn’t really uniquely terrible at parodying Trump. They sputtered and failed in unique ways, but really no one fared particularly well in lampooning what was already, quite literally, a national lampoon. Fallon’s obsequiousness toward it all tarnished an already-tenuous rep, Colbert neutered his voice with some especially lame “resistance” gags, Samantha Bee too. I guess Meyers fared OK, but I don’t know if I ever really found “A Closer Look” to be particularly hilarious.
I think the way that SNL failed during this era is probably the most spectacular, but satirical failure seemed to be the name of the game for everyone. There was simply no angle to take with what was already a living absurdity.
Melissa’s just so good at playing people who draw the right conclusions from a premise they get completely wrong; I think this is the point where you start getting a sense that she contributes something unique and wonderful to a show that doesn’t always know how to use her.
The “To Sir With Love” thing was well-intentioned, but it was just too sappy and earnest for the show. The “What I Did For Trump” musical number and the opening with Mueller reassuring Eric Trump that America was full of good people were worse missteps, IMO.
All of those Trump musical pieces were pretty turgid. I tend to mesh them in my head. I guess at least To Sir With Love stands on its own…
Melissa is probably the most effortlessly endearing castmember since Gilda (yeah, I said it) and these bedroom sketches are just about perfect. I know the impetus has been to shoehorn her impressions into sketches (and they haven’t fully capitalized on her brilliant Mulaney, Mackinnon and Wiig impressions), but it’s Melissa herself that is the draw in these sketches. Yes, her voice and her performance style are pretty specific, but it’s an endlessly fun and light persona. There’s still so much left to capitalize on with her. I hope SNL’s big three ladies finally take a hike so Melissa can find some room to just be herself.
That’s why I think the people who try to get more support for Melissa by saying, “She’s such a wonderful impressionist! She can play anybody!” (or words to that effect) don’t do her any favors. She’s a good technical impressionist, but there are others who can fill that role, sometimes better. Her strength is in her quirky personality and her very endearing screen presence. When she appeared as Dolly Parton a few months ago, it was a decent impression, but what made it work was how inherently likeable Melissa herself is. There’s something special about seeing a cast member who still wears their heart on their sleeve even after 5 seasons and a lot of knockbacks. And the show needs cast members like her – to me she is what Laraine Newman was to the original cast, only even more important to stopping too much saminess and rot. I hope the few chances Melissa’s gotten this season can expand more (and she can find some writers to help her craft her ideas and presence).
I mostly agree with that sentiment, but also I thought that Dolly impression was WAY better than “decent”.
Seeing Melissa struggle on the show is even more upsetting when you follow her on social media, where she’s pretty open about how much being underused has affected her confidence and how it’s made her less enthusiastic about the show. I’ll never get why they have such an ace in the hole they refuse to use.
I liked Aziz on the show and thought he should have hosted again. It’s too bad he also got caught up in scandals as well. (There should be a list of SNL hosts under controversy – it might be extremely long)
The sketch with Melissa was a highlight. It was her breakout moment for sure.
I think this was the first season since S31 that all of the newbies made it to the following season. Usually, it has been all but one with several exceptions.
Season 36 and season 40 also had their new arrivals get another season (although you may not be counting 40 because it was just two people – if so I understand).
I can’t say I am a big Aziz Ansari devotee – I know him best for Parks and Rec, and unfortunately, he was one of the 70% of the cast that they rarely knew how to write for (this is the part where I delete a rant…). He is well-served here – there is no sketch that amounts to him making “cute” faces or a sad pre-tape that tries to make Pete Davidson into Ben Schwartz. The only sketch that I think misuses him is the law firm sketch – the central idea is revealed so early and the end result is him just shouting his lines most of the way through. I’m also not a big fan of the pizza sketch, as it just feels like a lesser version of a number of other pieces before and after (if it is a sister to Space Pants, that one works mainly due to Peter Dinklage), although I do like the ending with Kenan; I wish that part had been better executed.
SNL is often criticized for how they handle current pop culture. I tend to agree with much of the criticism, but the La La Land sketch is a good example of getting it right. They take a then-current debate, make it seem natural, add in various references to the film without seeming too inside, and have a good energy level all around (especially from Cecily).
I enjoy the Kellyanne pre-tape in of itself, but, similar to the It pre-tape (which is even better), something about it feels very alien to what SNL was around this time, and sort of exemplifies how much Kate was in her own world.
Leslie’s Update commentary is a great example of how she could make the studio audience truly connect with her. It’s a good set, but no big guaranteed laugh-getters. By this point there didn’t have to be, because Leslie was enough.
The sharper jabs were always on Update during the Trump administration and if Twitter is any indication, lots of people don’t want to stay up until 12:20 / 11:20c for Update after they’ve seen Kate and 2-4 cameos ham it up for ten minutes. In a couple of episodes Alec Baldwin hosts and you’ll see the first small sign of Trump fatigue. The People’s Court sketch gets switched out for a Sean Spicer press conference as the cold open.
Re: the writers. A lot of them have said on Twitter and in interviews that they got burnt out from writing Trump-adjacent sketches. Anna Drezen has said she likes doing more silly sketches just for the escapism aspect. Also from the writers, I agree with Bronwyn’s assessment about Melissa’s value to the show. I’ve admired how she basically has to come up with the premises herself and get writers to refine it for her.
As Carson pointed out, It’s not just a SNL problem. Old A Closer Look pieces have a lot of punchlines that amount to “This person worships Trump and is therefore a douche” with no sustained incisiveness. Colbert just pounded home “Resistance = Good” jokes and Fallon had at least two writers room shakeups because of first shying away from Trump jokes and then overcorrecting in the opposite direction.
Closer Look is the most entertaining thing any of the modern late night guys do (excluding my boy Conan) in that it’s well produced and Meyers is more passionate and articulate than some of the other guys, but agree its rarely funny. I do prefer Meyer’s Trump voice to Baldwin’s, though.
Good point that the Trump jokes on Update were off better than the ones you’d see on most late night shows.
Often better, my bad.
@APC Seth did/does do better than most but everyone in late night suffered from burn out at one point or another. In the summer of 2017, Trump said something to the effect of, and I’m paraphrasing here Fake news wants a 24 hour news cycle so I’ll make more news than they can cover
I remember seeing Cecily and Sasheer’s “To Sir with Love” performance online and enjoying it. I also remember many of the other segments of this ep so this must have been another ep I eventually watched in its entirety in rerun after getting my big-screen TV having just gone through a flood and perhaps just about the time I’m getting my house renovated around this period…
Agree with those who said Melissa has been criminally underused. Part of that has been the incessant desire on the part of the show to give McKinnon room to do ‘impressions’ that amount to nothing more than the usual Kate bugging out her eyes and doing a goofy voice schtick. The worst was when they had Kate do Judy Garland when Melissa has a terrific Judy Garland in her pocket, and Kate’s ‘impression’ sounded more like her Ingrid Bergman than Judy Garland.
Are you referring to the Wizard of Oz sketch with Will Ferrell? Because that’s the only one I could find.
I’m hoping Melissa Villaseñor gets a Tim Meadows-like second wind after some of the more tenured cast members leave. (LOL)
Jesse, yes, that’s the one I meant. I mean, I’m exaggerating a little for comedic effect by comparing it to Bergman, but I just don’t get a Judy Garland vibe at all. It just sounds like Kate doing one of her funny, goofy, vaguely Euro voices. I mean she’s OK, and it’s mildly amusing, but I think it really could’ve been a showcase for Melissa and really gone into the stratosphere instead of being role No. 243 on SNL for McKinnon. That’s the difference.
But I suspect that week there was a feeling of, well, we have to get these two SNL heavyweights, McKinnon and Ferrell, in lead roles together as much as possible. I mean, Lorne didn’t cater to Belushi the way he’s catered to Wiig and McKinnon.
He did cater to Chevy that way though, whose talents I would put at least below Wiig.
In Chevy’s defense, he figured out the show basically before anyone else did. Obviously the other cast, but probably even Lorne too.
Oh yea, Chevy definitely deserves more credit overall for what he brought to the show than Wiig. But I think she has stronger pure sketch comedy bones, if that makes sense. It’s an interesting comparison actually, because I find both of them a lot funnier when they’re underplaying things / reacting, but both wanted to mug and be the star. I have a higher tolerance for both of them in that mode than a lot of people probably (well, people in our circles. The general public seemed to enjoy both of them doing it quite a bit) but it definitely wasn’t the best use of their talents.
To be fair, evidently Melissa is not a prolific writer on the show–apparently she didn’t even co-write the two Dirty Talk sketches, which shocked me. And let’s face it, that hurts you. (Unless your initials are KM or KW)
Or KT.
Anyone else get vibes of this from the law firm sketch?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1AhgyXtZQgU
A little bit. The difference is the Mr. Show premise is way more absurd and funnier, and keeps expanding on the joke and coming up with new places to take it. This premise is just stupid and because it never really expands on the premise, the lack of internal logic is exposed and takes away from the humor, IMO. The lack of internal logic in the other sketch becomes funnier the more you go.
The best work Kate and Bobby ever did on the show was Mornin Miami.
Well of course a Mr. Show sketch is going to be more absurd and funnier than a good 95% of modern SNL 🙂 (that’s not even a diss to modern SNL, I just really fucking love Mr. Show).
But yea, Bobby’s character reminded me of Odenkirk (“Goddammit!”) in that sketch.
I meant Kate and Bobby together, of course.
@avmon
I had to go through a flood myself in the past, but is there something I’m missing with the bringing up of a big screen TV each time as well?
glad things are looking up for you!
Eric, just trying to figure out with each review when I actually watched a live ep on that big-screen TV, that’s all.
One further thing: this was the first SNL after Katie Rich was suspended. Katie was only supposed to be out of 30 Rock for a month or so, but she ended up having an anxiety attack so intense she sat out most of the remainder of Year 42. This led to unfair speculation that she was low-key fired. (Rich did leave for good after Year 44.)
Oh man, the Katie Rich incident. I’ll bite my tongue, but I will just point out a lot of the people who leaped to Gillis’s defense seemed pretty quiet when that was going on.
Oh, this is the To Sir With Love episode!
::afraid to say anything::
I just finished watching this episode and, while I understand from reading your review and others thoughts on it, I actually have zero problem To Sir With Love as with many controversial things SNL does I can look past it with ease and I found it to be a perfectly fine and as a bonus I just love Cecily and Sasheer’s singing voices and the ending with the mug I found cute.