Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
TRUMP INTERVIEW
Lester Holt (MIC) questions Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) about James Comey
— Ugh.
— Not only do I dislike whenever SNL has Trumpwin deliver uncharacteristic pop culture-centric lines, such as the Beyonce-playing-her-hits-at-a-concert one in this cold opening, but Alec butchered that Beyonce one with his stumbly delivery.
— After having Trumpwin admit to obstruction of justice, I like Michael’s Lester Holt looking around in surprise and asking, “So, wait – did I get ‘im???”, and then, after being told something over his earpiece, responding “So…absolutely NOTHING matters anymore? Okay.”
— Feels a little odd seeing Mikey doing a Paul Ryan impression, given the fact that it was a role that the then-recently-fired Taran Killam used to regularly play.
— The Anderson Cooper eye-roll bit gave me a laugh.
— While the running gag with Trumpwin always referring to Michael’s Holt as other famous black people isn’t doing anything for me for the most part, I did laugh at the meta bit with him referring to Michael’s Holt as “Kenan” at one point.
— Overall, not as awful as some of the last few Trumpwin cold openings, but still blah as a whole, mainly Trumpwin’s lines.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
host shows backstage SNL to a mom; Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively cameos
— A sweet bit with Melissa McCarthy making every mother in the audience stand up to receive applause, in honor of Mother’s Day.
— I recall hearing that Joan, the audience member who McCarthy is giving a tour of the studio to, is writer Sarah Schneider’s mother. Joan does mention the name Sarah here when telling McCarthy the names of her two kids.
— A fun, charming, and different approach to the usual “around-the-studio monologue” trope.
— A rare instance of someone calling attention to the traditional backstage llama. Coincidentally, one of the only other occurrences I can remember of the llama being acknowledged by someone happens to be in another Melissa McCarthy monologue: her season 39 one.
— As I sorta mentioned in my review of Emily Blunt’s monologue from earlier this season, McCarthy calls Kyle “Mike Mooney” here in a genuine accident, and doesn’t seem to realize her mistake.
— At one point, right before McCarthy introduces Joan to HAIM, McCarthy’s mic cuts off for a few seconds while she’s in the middle of a sentence.
— It’s fascinating seeing some portions of SNL’s backstage that we usually never see, including the area behind the entrance door of the home base stage. The only other two times I remember seeing the latter in an actual episode (meaning I’m not counting behind-the-scenes videos) is the cold opening of Bruce Dern’s season 7 episode and, most memorably, the monologue from Danny DeVito’s season 14 episode.
— Interestingly, when Joan’s name is announced right before she enters the home base stage like a host, not only is that not Darrell Hammond’s voice doing the announcing (because he didn’t do his announcements live for most of [if not all of] this season, and thus, I guess SNL didn’t have enough time between the writing of this monologue and the airing of this episode to get Darrell to tape an announcement of Joan’s name), but whoever that is doing the announcing is doing a Don Pardo impression.
— I like how the SNL Band replays the opening theme music when Joan enters the home base stage.
STARS: ***½
JUST DESSERTS!
unlucky contestant (host) gets pies & cakes in the face
— I love Kenan’s voice-over cheesily exclaiming “PIE!” whenever McCarthy gets hit with a pie. By the way, for the longest time, I had remembered that voice-over shockingly being Kenan’s ONLY involvement in this entire episode, before I recently remembered that he also appears in a pre-taped commercial later in this episode.
— I haven’t been caring for where this sketch has been going.
— McCarthy’s starting to worry me with that unscripted(?) coughing and hacking sound she keeps doing off-camera, which seems genuine. When she got sprayed with sprinkles earlier, did some of them go down her throat and get stuck in it?
— The extended clean-up sequence is kinda funny, at least.
STARS: *½
AMAZON ECHO SILVER
Amazon Echo Silver is tailored to respond to old folks’ verbal inquiries
— Very relatable humor here, and it’s being executed perfectly.
— Excellent use of Cecily’s always-reliable voice-over work.
— Feels rare seeing Kyle play this type of role.
— The “black jazz” bit is particularly hilarious.
STARS: *****
PRESS CONFERENCE
Sean Spicer (host) explains Russia investigation with matryoshka dolls
Sean Spicer (host) drives podium to confront Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin)
— The debut of Aidy’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders impression.
— Our obligatory Sean Spicer sketch of the night.
— What in the world does McCarthy say after using a fire extinguisher on Mikey’s pants? I could make out a lot of that line, but most of the last third of it completely lost me. Here’s a quote of the line: “You know why I had to put your pants out? ‘Cause your (something something) lyin’ in there!” The “(something something)” part is the words that I can’t make out. Back when this sketch originally aired, I remember rewinding this part over and over again trying to understand the “(something something)”, to no avail. And in my current viewing four years later, I still can’t understand the “(something something)”. She seemed to mess something up in that line, as she half-heartedly adds “Pants lyin’” afterwards in what appears to be an ad-lib, as if she’s correcting herself. If anyone reading this review can help me figure out what the “(something something)” part of the afore-quoted line that I’m confused about is, thanks in advance.
— Another odd gaffe, this time when McCarthy is showing the various Russian dolls. The wrong doll seemed to be included at one point when McCarthy meant to show the Slimer-from-Ghostbusters doll, resulting in initial awkwardness from McCarthy when realizing the error, but she recovers well by humorously blaming Bobby’s Glenn Thrush in an ad-lib, which is followed by the camera doing a hilarious brief cutaway to Bobby slyly shrugging his eyebrows repeatedly in an ad-lib of his own.
— Good bit with the pillar that McCarthy’s Spicer throws at Vanessa.
— A fun and well-filmed outdoors sequence with McCarthy’s Spicer driving his motorized podium across the city.
— Feels a little odd seeing Trumpwin in this sketch.
— Somebody seemed to forget a line just now during the Trumpwin/Spicer conversation, resulting in a stretch of awkward silence.
— A very weak ending with the Trumpwin/Spicer kiss.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Want You Back”
WEEKEND UPDATE
rehab got PED sober & also revealed that he’s allergic to horses
Cathy Anne recognizes evidence of junkie-grade paranoia in Donald Trump
— Michael has a very distracting smudge of light makeup on his forehead (seen in the second, fifth, and sixth above screencaps for this Weekend Update), left over from his portrayal of Lester Holt earlier tonight. The smudge almost looks like a band-aid.
— I’m kinda surprised Michael’s not doing his usual “Trump voice” when reading all of those Trump tweets.
— I like how the running gag with a record-scratch sound effect and James Brown’s “I Feel Good” playing whenever Michael points out how a crazy thing Trump has done sounds like something from a wacky movie trailer is bringing to mind that fantastic Loews Theater sketch from the season 23 Garth Brooks episode.
— I couldn’t find anything to say about Pete’s overall commentary while watching it just now, but it was okay as a whole, and had some decent lines and interesting anecdotes.
— The makeup smudge on Michael’s forehead is finally gone. Somebody at the show must’ve noticed and had somebody come over and remove the smudge while Pete’s commentary was going on.
— Lots of very strong jokes from Colin and Michael tonight.
— Nice recovery from Michael when stumbling during his introduction of the next guest commentary.
— Good to see another Cathy Anne commentary.
— Meh, I could’ve done without Cathy Anne’s preachy, clapter-bait non-comedic lines during one portion of her commentary.
— Lots of good interplay between Cathy Anne and Michael here.
— This overall Cathy Anne commentary was good, though not quite as strong as usual.
STARS: ****
FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Debette Goldry & fellow veteran actress (host) describe sacrifices made
— Oh, I forgot until now that there’s a Debette Goldry sketch with Melissa McCarthy playing a similar character to Kate’s.
— I’m not too crazy about the voice that McCarthy’s using here.
— The usual hilarious lines from Kate’s Debette (even if there’s nothing here that I’m bothering to quote in this review). McCarthy’s character, on the other hand, feels unnecessary.
STARS: ****
KYLE AND LESLIE
relationship of KYM & LEJ grows more complex via marriage & parenthood
— Ah, our second entry in the great Leslie/Kyle saga.
— I love the footage of Leslie and Kyle’s wedding inside the SNL studio.
— A great reveal that Leslie and Kyle now have a son, and that they named him after Lorne (even if SNL already used that joke years prior in a cameo that Jimmy Fallon made during a Fey/Poehler-era Weekend Update, where it was revealed that Jimmy and Tina Fey are the parents of a young boy named Lorne.)
— I like the usage of various TV/movie clips of Leslie and Kyle, respectively, to show how the past year of their careers have been.
— Love the mock-dramatic depths that the Leslie/Kyle relationship is being taken in this short, such as them speaking to a marriage counselor, only for us to eventually see that the “marriage counselor” is an unwitting Melissa McCarthy, who’s just trying to read a script.
— An absolutely hilarious part with Kyle angrily shooting Colin in the leg.
— When everybody in the studio is running away in a panic after Kyle fires the gun, I got a huge laugh from the camera zooming in past those running people to show Lorne just standing there in a deadpan manner, followed by a very funny confessional of him where he explains that Kyle’s shooting of Colin was justified because “Colin can be annoying”.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little of Your Love”
FIRST BIRTHDAY
fellow moms usher in (MEV)’s requisite selection of a theme animal
— I believe this is the first big role Villasenor has gotten in months.
— A variation of the Baby Shower sketch from the previous Mother’s Day, when Brie Larson hosted.
— Much like in the aforementioned Baby Shower sketch, Sasheer is coming off very natural here, presumably because she co-wrote this (and the Baby Shower) sketch, which I recall someone online once claiming.
— Also much like in the Baby Shower sketch, Vanessa’s delivery of her disclosure of how she received her calling is particularly strong.
— When the ladies are making aggressive animal sounds in unison, I laughed at Leslie’s very calm, spiritual delivery of “I’m an angel.”
— The ending felt rushed.
— Overall, not as strong as the aforementioned Baby Shower sketch, but still good.
STARS: ***½
PRODUCTION LOGO
production company logos proposed by designer (BEB) are all unpleasant
— Oddly, this sketch opens with a disclaimer stating “Promotional consideration for SNL furnished by Apple”. This is a serious, non-comedic disclaimer, but you can tell the audience is unsure, as two(?) female audience members are heard laughing out loud during it.
— Well, I guess that Apple laptop Beck’s using explains the Apple disclaimer at the beginning.
— Funny running bit with Beck’s “Feast your ass on this” lines.
— A good, different approach to the usual “Melissa McCarthy plays a weirdo who other characters react in confusion to” trope, which is more than I can say for McCarthy’s previous episodes, as those episodes had a number of “Melissa McCarthy plays a weirdo who other characters react in confusion to” sketches that left me cold.
— The McCarthy-holding-a-knife-while-screaming-at-the-camera production logo gave me a particularly good laugh.
— A technical error, as the screen is stuck on the final shot of the previous production logo (the aforementioned McCarthy-holding-a-knife one) when the next production logo is supposed to be shown. Bobby, who’s mic is turned off during this moment, can faintly be heard off-camera ad-libbing “No, that was the one before”, which made me chuckle. Another example tonight of Bobby smoothly ad-libbing his way out of somebody else’s gaffe. Man, this is just one of the MANY reasons why I’m going to miss him after his upcoming departure.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
Steve Martin [real] presents Five-Timers jacket to host
— A great callback to the Leslie/Kyle short from earlier tonight, by having Colin in a leg cast & crutches during these goodnights. Numerous examples of continuity like that is just one of the things that makes this season so fun. I also like how Colin’s leg cast is never pointed out in these goodnights, just keeping it a nice background gag.
— Ah, we get a special moment right now, with Steve Martin showing up to give McCarthy her Five-Timers jacket. McCarthy and one of the members of HAIM both looked genuinely surprised when Steve first showed up, as if they truly didn’t expect him, but after a while, I’m feeling more and more that they were probably just acting.
— I love how this Five-Timers induction for McCarthy even works in the Steve Martin/Alec Baldwin rivalry storyline. How often do you see this type of “scene” being performed during the goodnights of recent eras like this one? I like how the vibe of this “scene” feels like a throwback to some of the goodnights from the 70s and 80s.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I feel like I’m running out of things to say in this portion of my reviews lately, given how consistently good (for the most part) the quality of this season’s episodes as a whole have been, but yeah, this was yet another good season 42 episode. There was especially a nice consecutive string of great segments from Amazon Echo Silver to the Leslie/Kyle short, minus the Sean Spicer sketch (which I still liked).
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Kyle and Leslie
Amazon Echo Silver
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Weekend Update
First Birthday
Production Logo
Monologue
Press Conference
Trump Interview
Just Desserts!
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chris Pine)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 42 comes to an end, with host Dwayne Johnson, another host who is entering Five-Timer status. It’s the final episode for Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Sasheer Zamata.