Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
ALIEN ATTACK
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) fails to inspire troops during alien invasion
— At least this is putting Trumpwin in a somewhat creative setting, but I’m sure it won’t stop my Trumpwin fatigue.
— Sasheer steals this sketch for me with her hilarious deadpan delivery of “Oh, okay…no.”
— Can’t find anything else to say about this cold opening. Yep, as I was afraid of, this cold opening ain’t stopping my Trumpwin fatigue.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
KET marks host’s Five-Timer status with clips featuring mostly himself
— A good laugh from how Kenan-centric the highlight reel featuring a clip from each of Scarlett Johansson’s previous hosting stints is. As commenter Jesse Nathan pointed out in the comments section of my last review, this highlight reel also happens to feature some of my least favorite sketches, including three sketches I gave an absolutely scathing review of (Virginiaca, St. Kat’s Middle, and Dino Bones). This highlight reel unfortunately shines a light on how blah a lot of Scarlett-hosted episodes are.
— Some good lines from Kate describing her night at the Oscars.
— Another good laugh from how the Kenan-centric theme of Scarlett’s clips continues, as her movie clip turns out to be a clip of Kenan in the Fat Albert movie.
— An okay part with the Subway-inspired Five-Timers song.
STARS: ***
GOOD DAY DENVER
show mislabels animal photographer (MID) as pornographer
— Bobby showing some real-life stubble, I see. IIRC, the reason for this is because he started filming the pilot of his CBS sitcom around this time.
— The first of several Mikey Day sketches over the years with this “dirty-sounding miscaption during a good-natured news interview” concept.
— A lot of laughs from how Mikey’s innocent statements and the caption quotes on the bottom of the screen are made dirty by the “animal pornographer” mislabeling.
STARS: ****
CHERRY GROVE
lesbian counterpart to Fire Island is much more low-key
— Some pretty good laughs from the extreme contrasts between Fire Island and its lesbian equivalent.
STARS: ***
PET TRANSLATOR
thoughts-vocalizing device creator (host) learns her dog is a Trump fan
— This sketch went viral after its original airing and was very popular, but I’ve always found it overrated.
— I recall it being pointed out that the dog in this sketch is the same dog from Cecily’s Blue River Dog Food commercial in the season 39 Seth Rogen episode.
— The initial reveal of the dog being a Trump fan made me laugh, but I haven’t been laughing much at where this sketch has gone after that reveal.
— An amusing unscripted bit where the dog removes the device from his head mid-sketch. Beck as the dog’s voice-over keeps up with this by making some good ad-libs.
— Scarlett, to the dog: “What about [Trump’s] record on women’s rights? Don’t you want me to have a choice over my own body?” Dog: “You didn’t afford me a choice when you cut off my balls.”
— Overall, some parts of this sketch were SLIGHTLY better than I remembered, but I’m still not crazy about this sketch as a whole.
— I recall hearing that SNL would later do a sequel to this sketch in Scarlett’s season 45 episode. Much like the Posters sequel in Emma Stone’s season 44 episode, I haven’t seen it yet. And also like the Posters sequel, the decision to do a sequel to this Pet Translator sketch seems so baffling and unnecessary.
STARS: **
OLIVE GARDEN
(BEB) gives odd directions to actors shooting an Olive Garden commercial
— Second consecutive segment tonight getting a lot of mileage out of Beck’s voice-over work.
— Wait, actually, this is the third consecutive segment tonight getting a lot of mileage out of Beck’s voice-over work, as I just now remembered he was also the voice-over in the Cherry Grove ad.
— A lot of hilarious oddball directions from Beck that the performers have to follow, which they execute very humorously.
— Scarlett: “I wouldn’t laugh at a little person.” Beck: “But Olive Garden customers would.”
STARS: ****
COMPLICIT
fragrance describes Ivanka Trump’s (host) administration role
— Scarlett reprises her Ivanka Trump impression from a Live With Regis & Kelly sketch that aired 10 years prior. This (needlessly) ends up becoming a regular role that Scarlett would make cameos to play.
— A clever and very funny way to spoof Ivanka’s famous “complicit” comment.
— During the Titanic part, I love Cecily-as-the-voice-over’s line, “Sorry, girl, you’re Billy Zane.”
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Green Light”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Al Franken (ALM) tries to continue questioning Jeff Sessions (KAM)
MIC mentions that A Day Without A Woman was sponsored by Jergens lotion
PED gives his first impressions of those who defend Donald Trump
— Third episode in a row with Kate’s Jeff Sessions.
— Alex continues to be very prominent at the Update desk within these last few episodes.
— While I definitely see what he’s going for, Alex’s Al Franken impression is kinda leaving a little to be desired. Jeff Richards once did a better Franken impression in a Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch.
— Kate’s Sessions is gradually forming into the version of this impression that I don’t care for, though at this early stage, I still have slight bit of goodwill left towards it.
— I’m still getting a David Spade Hollywood Minute vibe from Pete’s First Impressions segments, even if they certainly lack the wit of David’s Hollywood Minutes.
— Very funny ad-lib from Pete towards Michael.
— That first Sean Hannity burn from Pete felt unnatural being delivered by him.
STARS: ***½
TRUE TALES FROM THE SEA
Shud & anglerfish-mermaid (host) put the moves on marooned pilot (MID)
— I liked the first installment of this sketch from the preceding season, but yeah, I did not need a second one.
— SNL seems to like having Scarlett play a grotesque character’s lookalike in the second installment of said grotesque character’s sketch, as it happened 10 years prior to this with Andy Samberg’s Kuato character, and now it happens with Kate’s Shud character.
— Having a second grotesque mermaid isn’t preventing this sketch from feeling VERY inferior to the first installment.
— Okay, Kate got a pretty good laugh from me just now when she disgustingly gobbled up the raw fish.
STARS: **
SHANICE GOODWIN: NINJA
Shanice Goodwin & fellow ninja (host) rescue their kidnapped sensei (BOM)
— Speaking of sequels with Scarlett playing someone similar to the main character…
— Surprised to see Leslie do a second installment of this sketch, given the fact that she tore her ACL during the first installment.
— I still haven’t gotten used to Bobby’s real-life stubble in this episode.
— Vanessa appears to be playing the character who was kidnapped in the first installment of this sketch, but she’s unfortunately not using that adorable mock-cloying delivery she used in the first installment.
— A pretty fun sequence with Leslie and Scarlett both performing “discreet” ninja actions on the villains, even if this sketch definitely isn’t measuring up to the first installment for me.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Jack Antonoff [real] perform “Liability”
A SKETCH FOR THE WOMEN
female cast members are sidelined in pro-women sketch written by BEB & KYM
— A very interesting pre-sketch intro where I can already tell I’m in for a very funny sketch.
— Hilarious how Scarlett and Aidy have mostly been given no lines by Beck and Kyle, and have to just sit awkwardly while watching Beck and Kyle go on and on about unfair treatment that women receive.
— A big laugh from the way the non-Aidy female cast members are briefly shoehorned into this sketch.
— Great ending with Beck and Kyle cutting off Lorde’s pro-women song by breaking out into “Royals”.
STARS: ****½
FUNERAL SERVICE
widow (VAB) learns her husband wrote deep club tracks for (KET) & (host)
— When this sketch originally aired, I remember saying on an SNL message board that not only was it obviously a James Anderson-written sketch, but that it felt like a bad parody of typical James Anderson-written sketches. I also remember saying on that same message board that, if SNL ever does an updated version of the “Kenan/Scarlett highlights from each Scarlett-hosted episode” montage from this episode’s monologue, the clip that’s chosen from this 2017 episode will most likely be of her and Kenan in this funeral sketch. If so, it would fit with that montage’s theme of sketches that I don’t like.
— Leslie playing a rabbi is inherently hilarious.
— Meh at the big reveal of this sketch’s main comedic concept. It’s doing nothing for me in my current viewing, though I’m at least not hating it as much as I did when it originally aired. I know some people find this to be one of the better James Anderson-written sketches, but to me, it isn’t much better than Anderson’s usual material.
— I am at least finding the melody of the final song (the “Here is my butt” one) to be damn catchy right now. If that was the only song that Kenan and Scarlett had sung, maybe I’d like this sketch a lot more, but by the time the catchy “Here is my butt” song came on, I was too numbed to the humor of it due to the previous songs already having the same humor, only with a far-less-catchy melody.
— I do love Leslie’s delivery of “I gotta say, them songs was LIT! Made me question my whole path!”
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A little better than I remembered. Scarlett Johansson-hosted episodes typically have a way of leaving something to be desired (aside from her season 31 episode, which was a good one), but this one was helped by some good highlights and a not-TOO-high number of segments I didn’t like.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
A Sketch For The Women
Olive Garden
Good Day Denver
Complicit
Weekend Update
Shanice Goodwin: Ninja
Monologue
Cherry Grove
Pet Translator
Funeral Service
True Tales From The Sea
Alien Attack
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Octavia Spencer)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Louis C.K.
Too bad we don’t see eye to eye on the funeral sketch, Stooge, since as I said on yesterday’s page, that’s one of the Anderson sketches I can tolerate. You won’t be pleased to know that one also gets a sequel in Scarlett’s next episode.
You could swap out any forgettable Scarlet Johansson episode with any other one, and I’d never even know the difference. Why Lorne made her a five timer so quickly is beyond me. She’s like the female Jonah Hill.
Lol, I get what you mean, but that’s probably the first time anyone’s used the phrase “female Jonah Hill” to describe Scarlett Johansson.
There are couple reasons for this. 1.) It can’t be understated how big a star that Scarlett Johansson has been for the past 15 years. She been an A-list celebrity since she been in Lost in Translation on her profile has only grown since then.
2.) SNL has always had trouble with recurring female hosts. Part of this is because females get less chances to host (compared to 16 men in the 5 timers club, there are only 5 women in there. And Melissa doesn’t join that club until a couple of episodes from now.)
3.) But I think the show gets along really well with Scarlett. I mean now-a-days a big part of that is because Scarlett is married to a head writer of the show, but before I think the casts really gels with her. The cast enjoys, she enjoys doing the show, she is hasn’t a career bump that stopped her level of fame like some other recurring hosts. That why Scarlett is in the club
Agreed. I guess, even before ScarJost became a thing, she showed a willingness to dive into whatever material/roles they gave her and give it her all. SNL definitely rewards that kind of effort and trust in the writers/cast from the hosts.
When this first aired, someone pointed out how Scarlett being able to quickly react during the Dog Translator mishap and put the helmet back on was proof that she deserved her five-timer status.
I feel like Scarlett basically replaced Drew Barrymore as the reliable, female friend of the show never quite hosts a strong episode (although I think her 2019 episode finally made that happen). I’m not sure who will replace Scarlett – I would have said Emma Stone, but not sure if she will be interested in hosting anymore.
She hosted twice in this era 2016 and 2019
Tomorrow’s Update contains a Three Stooges clip so I know you’ll love that. It’s also the last Louis C.K. episode. Even though it probably wouldn’t have been, it’s a good one for his final episode.
I gotta be honest, I was taken aback when I saw you mention my name in this review, especially seeing as how I’ve only been reading this site since January.
As for this episode itself, I will admit that I actually kinda like the sketches you don’t. Part of that could be because I was 13, so I have some good memories with this season. Still to this day, I enjoy the “Here is my butt” song, but I also enjoy the other ones too. Even if it is VERY Anderlette, there is one sketch from the Chris Pine episode that feels VERY Anderlette to me. (I mentioned in the comments of the previous review. If you don’t remember, it’s the one where Chris and Cecily sing something and everyone else has to guess what it is.)
I like this episode a lot, and I don’t think that there was a bad sketch in this. The Funeral Sketch was good, the cold open was one of those that had ambition to it (that might not seem like a lot now, but there are a lot ripped from the headlines stuff that are just bad now.), I loved the pet translator sketch (I’m a sucker for cute dogs, sue me.), the monologue had one of my favorite SNL tropes in Kenan being the boss, and Scarlett brought some great energy towards the show. I really liked this episode and liked the way that Scarlett jams with this cast.
Considering this is allegedly when she and Jost first hooked up, perhaps she was in a particular good mood here.
I really liked Pet Translator. And I think I can like the sequel now for how wrong the prediction concerning Trump’s “reelection” went.
Shud doesn’t totally work for the same reason the Kuato sketch doesn’t work. They should’ve made ScarJo’s prosthetics look grosser and uglier.
Lorde’s performances were my favorite part tbh. I didn’t like this one. Even the pretapes were meh which is rare for this season. This is also worse to watch in hindsight because it feels like a harbinger of what’s going to oversaturate the show two seasons from now. Aside from the pretapes, the cold open, and the Olive Garden sketch, every sketch in this episode is either a retread or something that would later be brought back in seasons 44 and 45. And I’m sure there’s a Seiday-written sketch I’m forgetting that basically uses the same template as the Olive Garden one.
I’m with your initial take on the funeral sketch. It straight up feels like a parody of a bad Anderlette piece. It honestly might be one of my least favorite SNL sketches ever because it’s just the most cliched, tired sketch in both its premise and execution I can possibly think of. You can see the joke coming from lightyears away and once it lands it doesn’t go anywhere funny. It feels like something *I* could write, which isn’t a good sign.
I agree the dog translator sketch is overrated too, aside from the “I’m gonna shoot him with the gun I carry” line which was delivered well by Cecily. I’m not sure what it’s trying to say, if anything. People interpret that sketch differently depending on their political views. It also reeks of “we have to write something Trump-related for press” but that might be too cynical of me.
On the note about ScarJo’s episodes seeming indistinguishably bland from one another, Stooge, you’ll be happy to know that her season 45 appearance is one of the best shows from that season IMO. Lots of funny, original holiday premises for what is essentially the Christmas episode for that season, considering that the real Christmas episode is instead (justifiably) a platform for 4 Eddie Murphy characters.
There are a few segments in this I enjoy more than Scarjo’s 2019 episode, but that is a much stronger episode as a whole for me and has a warmer feeling to it. Another example of how much a good cold open can help an episode. This episode just feels disconnected and sluggish. It doesn’t help that I dislike the Shud sketches – this one just about kills the episode for me all on its own. For returning sketches, Leslie’s ninja role is goofy fun most of the way – don’t care for the ending though.
I can’t exactly disagree with most of the criticisms of the funeral sketch, but I enjoy it anyway. It’s in the same wheelhouse as Deep House Dish, which I enjoyed most of the time due to their managing to combine genuinely fun musical performances alongside all the tired camp. Knowing now that Jeremy Beiler, not Kent Sublette, co-wrote this with Anderson makes more sense to me. There is a certain stripped-back feel (no funny wigs, no funny names, no attempts at catchphrases) which helps Scarlett and Kenan to just perform, and that really benefits them (it’s my favorite thing Scarlett has done on SNL [Fly HIgh Duluth was Forte’s, although she was a fine support). What also helps is the way they deal with the concept of their singing at this sedate man’s funeral and revealing that he wrote wild songs – repeatedly cutting back to the somber portrait of Ken Aymong gives a big laugh (for me, anyway) and makes the viewer feel like they know more of the story; it also elevates the usual “people comment on the wackiness” trope. They also add lots of other little moments beyond people just being empty reaction bots – Bobby nudging Vanessa off at the start, Leslie’s exuberance, Alex vibing, etc. Even the most tired part, with Aidy and Vanessa, works for me because what surrounds them doesn’t drag (well that, and Aidy’s delivery of “hardcore circuit tracks”). I just never can fully believe that this season was exceptionally better than what comes before or after, and going through it again a second time just reinforces my view, but one thing they did manage was better structure of sketches like this. The attempt at bringing it back in season 45 is not awful, but it is much more leaden. The effort made to add a certain freshness just isn’t there.
The pre-tapes in this episode both tend to fall into the “overexplaining the premise” trap that makes them feel longer than they are. I had assumed from memory that they were both about 3-4 minutes long. Cherry Grove has one strong moment (the “I see you” bedroom weepfest). Complicit fares better, and Scarlett is a good fit for Ivanka (they both have that blankness), but my main enjoyment comes from Vanessa’s side-eye – the scene of Ivanka putting on lipstick and we see Trumpwin in the mirror also works. The rest just doesn’t click for me – much as I usually enjoy Cecily’s voiceovers, this one doesn’t quite work. It seems too empty and underscores how thin the execution is (especially the Jared comment at the end).
(per Omarosa, Ivanka supposedly was very unhappy about the Complicit piece, which doesn’t surprise me…)
The dog translator sketch is one of those ideas which was probably a blast on paper, but doesn’t work onscreen. This season managed to mine comedy about out-of-touch liberals, but that worked best when the mockery was done from a friendly voice (like Chappelle in the Election Night sketch) or in a way that just let us see the people and let us know how out of touch they were in our own way (The Bubble). I’m sure some people would laugh at a conservative dog lambasting liberals, but how many of them are watching SNL at this point? Would SNL even as tone deaf as it often is, have had a sketch where a liberal dog broadsides its Trump-loving supporters? They probably would have said, “This isn’t that funny.” But the reverse got through because they had no real idea just how to write a Trump supporter in a liberal environment. This feels like something airlifted from season 20 (probably another reason I compare the two seasons…). The blooper with the helmet coming off is what adds some humor and lightness. I also think Scarlett does a good job with the part. That’s about it. To be honest I actually prefer the 2019 version, because there is no blooper to lighten the mood and the audience is forced to just listen to 3 minutes of right wing hectoring, which they barely laugh at. That version also has an ending which actually amuses me.
This is such an odd monologue – I had forgotten until I went back that at least half of it is devoted to Scarlett and Kate talking about being at the Oscars and Kate joking that she was slumming (even though she was still, you know, at the Oscars). Another of those little moments that unintentionally tells you how much Kate had become her own universe on the show. The second part, with Kenan and the Subway ripoff song (which I find ridiculously catchy – talk about an ear worm), is better.
I enjoy the Olive Garden piece. I almost feel a bit bad for doing so as the idea is so cheap but they do a great job selling it, especially Beck’s ludicrous stereotypical black voice and Leslie’s cringing at it. This is another sketch that shows what an underrated sketch performer Leslie was becoming. Scarlett and Mikey are a bit OTT. but this is certainly the place to be OTT, and it pays off once we get to the part about the waitress.
Sketch for the Women is a good idea, very Beck and Kyle, nice to see them teamed up again, but I would have left it to just the segment with Beck, Kyle, Aidy and Scarlett. I’d rather say yes, full cast sketches are the ideal, because I generally want to see more full cast sketches, but when Sasheer and Melissa barely get a word in, having them appear again just so that they can continue to not get a word in feels a bit cruel.
Promos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcyJOllHAao
Forgot to mention yesterday: while the funeral sketch (by Anderson and Beiler) technically wasn’t Anderlette, the dog translator sketch was.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m not sure who on SNL (or perhaps multiple people) has a fetish for live dogs in sketches. Being a gigantic fan of cute dogs, I like this trope more than most, but some of them are incredibly thin. I do think that you do have kind of a “live TV–what can happen?” vibe in them, though, which is a throwback SNL style (like the old I Married a Monkey sketches).
I know Smigel admitted he was behind pretty much any sketch from his era with a live animal, but I don’t know about the newer ones. It does seem to be an easy way to get the usually hard-to-break Cecily to crack up.
A kind soul found this on Vimeo, uploaded by a crew member. It’s an Inside SoCal! The last had aired in season 41 so I’m pleased to know they were still trying to get this on for a while. Not quite as good as the others but still worth watching, as this is one of my favorite Beck and Kyle setups.