Month: March 2021

Posted on

November 12, 2016 – Dave Chappelle / A Tribe Called Quest (S42 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HALLELUJAH
untriumphant Hillary Clinton (KAM) plays piano & sings “Hallelujah”

— (*sigh*) Welp, here we go.
— When this originally aired, I remember being surprised SNL felt that Trump’s election win, as unfortunate as it was, warranted such a somber, joke-less cold opening, but I also found it to be really classy and I appreciated that classiness, and I also found Kate’s performance to be absolutely beautiful and captivating. In fact, the tender side that Kate showed of herself here only added to the “We are watching a legend in the making” viewpoint that I generally had about Kate back in these 2014-2017 years, and I also remember feeling that this cold opening added perfectly to the overall very important, special feel of this episode in general. However, my positive feelings towards this cold opening would go on to gradually change to a more negative one over the course of the next few years, possibly because of me being influenced by what I’ve heard a large number of other SNL fans negatively say about it. That being said, I’m going into my current viewing of this with somewhat of a clean slate, just to see how I’ll react to it.
— I’m aware that this might be an unpopular opinion, but in my current viewing of this cold opening so far, I’m not exactly hating it, and I’m still finding Kate’s performance to be beautiful and moving.
— I remember once reading a suggestion from some SNL fans that, if Kate had done this same cold opening while dressed as herself instead of as Hillary Clinton, people who are bothered by this opening would give this more of a pass. Interesting to think about, but I’m not sure how I feel about that suggestion. Plus, it’s kinda hard for me to picture Kate saying the famous ending message of this cold opening (“I’m not giving up…and neither should you”) as herself instead of as Hillary.
STARS: N/A (not a ratable segment)


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about angry whites, shootings, the presidency

— A nice long, very extended ovation that the audience gives Dave Chappelle at the beginning.
— Given the mood of the nation at the time, it’s very refreshing to have Dave to add his trademark brand of humor to the situation.
— I love how Dave’s even getting hilarious-but-tasteful humor out of really sensitive subjects like the Pulse Nightclub shooting and the story Dave tells about grabbing a handful of a housekeeper’s pussy while staying at the Trump Hotel this week (I also love Dave’s “Sorry about that, Lorne” addendum to the latter story).
— The zoo bit is particularly hilarious.
— I really like how the long pauses Dave always makes before jumping to another topic, as well as how he’s slowly pacing back and forth around the stage throughout this monologue, are giving this the feel of a legitimate stand-up special you’d see Dave do on cable. It also gives this monologue a bit of the feel of something you’d see in the earliest days of SNL’s original era. In fact, certain aspects of this episode in general, including the tone of and approach to this monologue, has always reminded me a little of the Richard Pryor episode from season 1, another important, memorable episode, much like this one.
— I really like the occasional serious, joke-less parts of this monologue, especially the history Dave tells of black people in the White House.
— Even Dave’s “I’m gonna give [Trump] a chance” announcement at the end doesn’t hurt this monologue for me, because, as poorly as it’s aged, Dave meant well at the time.
— An overall very lengthy monologue, but every minute of it was worth it to me.
STARS: *****


ELECTION NIGHT
unlike their white friends, (host) & (CSR) take election result in stride

— A very strong structure to this sketch’s format.
— Dave is fantastic as the only voice of reason in this group watching the election results. I especially love his facial expression after Beck’s “Florida’s goin’ blue. (*holds up his wine glass for a toast*) To Latinos!” line.
— Great progression to this, with the white characters increasingly stretching their reasoning for why Hillary is losing more and more states, as their mood slowly deflates while it becomes more and more obvious that Trump’s going to win the election.
— What’s with Chris Rock’s delivery? He seems like this is his very first time reading these lines, judging from the distractingly slow manner he’s reading them off the cue cards, and the fact that he keeps cracking up. Was he added to this sketch at literally the last minute? All that being said, he’s still making me laugh a lot here, and is still nailing his punchlines.
— Dave, after a distressed Aidy asks what’s going to happen to undocumented immigrants: “Come on, man, you act like everyone tryin’ to pick their own strawberries.”
— Perfect ending with Dave and Chris’ characters sharing a big, hearty, knowing laugh together after Beck cries out, “God, this is the most shameful thing America has ever done!”
STARS: *****


WALKING DEAD CHAPPELLE’S SHOW
host introduces clip featuring the return of Chappelle’s Show characters

The Walking Dead- Beautiful (Donnell Rawlings) & others fear Negan (host)

— Wow, a sketch starting out with a person introducing it on the home base stage (ala what Dave used to regularly do on Chappelle’s Show). You pretty much never that by this point of SNL’s run. That’s another thing about this episode that feels a little like a throwback to the earliest days of SNL’s original era.
— A very fun idea to this short, and a creative way to reprise Dave’s beloved Chappelle’s Show characters. This is a blast.
— Great, seamless editing to this, given how Dave is playing almost all of the characters.
— A very fitting and clever choice to make Dave’s Clayton Bigsby character a Trump supporter.
— Love the “Note to self: remind me to try crack!” line.
— Great sequence with Tyrone Biggums’ severed head giving a mock-inspirational speech to us.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We The People”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM) is digging in to protect her Supreme Court spot

   

— Ah, here we are. For obvious reasons, Colin and Michael are DEFINITELY going to have lots of interesting things to say tonight.
— When Michael started his opening election-related joke by saying, “Well…it’s official…”, I was hoping it would go in a similar direction to Norm Macdonald’s legendary “Well, it’s official: murder is now legal in the state of California” joke from the beginning of the first Update after the O.J. Simpson verdict, but Michael’s joke unfortunately ended up going in a completely different, less-funny direction, though still had a good punchline.
— Colin: “America is like Leslie Jones: addicted to white guys.”
— A noteworthy moment with Michael’s classic “Che, I’m Mexican! / Che, I’m Puerto Rican!” flub. Priceless. Colin also gets in some great ad-libbing about that afterwards.
— So far, Colin and Michael are not disappointing me with the election-related jokes tonight.
— Another freakin’ fantastic ad-lib from Colin tonight, where, after Michael follows a Chris Christie slam from Colin by ad-libbing “You know you still gotta drive to New Jersey, right?”, Colin ad-libs “I just won’t take the bridge!”
— I’m not finding myself too excited about seeing another Ruth Bader Ginsburg commentary from Kate, as they’re usually so by-the-numbers and I’m worried it’ll slow down the momentum of this extremely strong Update.
— Okay, Kate’s RBG did get a big laugh from me just now when “taking her vitamins”. I also really like the ad-libbing between her and Colin afterwards. (Man, this Update is filled with terrific ad-libs.)
— Blah, cue all the “You just got Ginsburned” dance breaks that are always a chore for me to sit through.
— That Colin Kaepernick “slam” from Kate’s RBG wasn’t anywhere near good nor biting enough to even warrant a “Ginsburned” dance break.
— I do love Kate-as-RBG’s Mike Pence slams right now.
— I’m pretty disappointed that they ended tonight’s Update with the RBG commentary. I’m also surprised that this Update had only one guest commentary, though I do like how this Update focused mostly on Colin and Michael giving their take on the election results. I kinda feel that SNL should’ve had this be a rare commentary-less Update. If they did, this might’ve been the very first Update to receive a perfect five-star rating from me.
STARS: ****½


JHERI’S PLACE / INSIDE SNL
unruly hair of Jheri’s Place employees makes it a health inspector target

host & cast members address Jheri’s Place fiasco in post-sketch press conference

 

— When this originally aired, I cringed so much at that extremely awkward gaffe from Leslie early on in this sketch, thinking it was real and another moment like what notoriously happened with her in that season 40 sketch with her and Chris Rock as the arguing married couple. I ended up being relieved to eventually see that her “gaffe” in this Jheri’s Place sketch was part of the script.
— Kyle’s horrible accent is cracking me up.
— Oh, I absolutely LOVE the turn this sketch takes with the sports-like “post-sketch conference” occurring after the disastrous Jheri’s Place sketch. A terrific meta turn.
— It’s sad how rare it’s starting to become to see Bobby this season, given the fact that he’s, you know, STILL IN THE CAST, and still has quite a bit left to offer, unlike most cast members when they reach their 9th season.
— Leslie, in her defense of her flub during the Jheri’s Place sketch: “Look – SNL knew what they was gettin’ into when they hired me.”
— I also love Leslie’s “We talkin’ ’bout cue cards right now?!?” rant, which is even funnier when you’re aware that it’s spoofing Allen Iverson’s famous “We in here talkin’ ’bout practice?!?” rant from a press conference.
— Dave, on how he thought putting on the jheri curl wig would’ve been enough for him to sell the sketch: “I really thought I was gonna be the next David S. Pumpkins.”
— Mikey: “(very smugly) Uh, any questions for me – Mikey Day???” Reporters: “……….” Bobby, as one of the reporters: “No. (*immediately moves on to the next question*)”
— Kenan, right before angrily storming off of this press conference: “Live from New York, ya’ll can kiss my ass!”
— Nice touch ending this sketch with a slow-motion replay of Leslie’s flub, spoofing how sports broadcasts often precede a commercial break by showing a slow-motion replay of an athlete either scoring a point or making a blunder.
STARS: *****


KIDS TALK POLITICS
host’s daughter Sonal [real] drops some Trump truth

— Wow, I strangely forgot all about this segment until now. And I thought I had remembered every single segment from this memorable episode.
— An interesting use of Vanessa.
— Some funny lines from the last child, Dave’s daughter, especially what she says about cats.
— Cute how you can see a strong facial resemblance between Dave and his daughter.
— I’m surprised by how short this was, but that’s not a complaint. I’m glad this got in, told its joke, and didn’t belabor the point.
STARS: ***½


LAST CALL
union of Sheila Sovage & (host) is too much for bartender Anfernee (KET)

— A very rare instance of this recurring sketch NOT being the final sketch of the night.
— I laughed SO damn hard at one reaction shot of Kenan responding to a particularly disgusting comment of Kate’s by just sternly staring at her silently for a few seconds, then holding up a yellow card and angrily saying “Yellow card!”
— Dave, on what the sex position “66” is: “That’s you facing away from me while I just work on myself.”
— Some other great reaction shots from Kenan throughout this.
— Dave: “You gave me a hard-off.” I liked that line better when Tim Meadows said it in that lesbians sketch from the season 25 Joshua Jackson episode.
— The “gross make-out” sessions of each installment of this recurring sketch are starting to get a little old for me, but the one in tonight’s sketch gets saved by the hilarious “Bellagio” effect that Dave and Kate do with the drink dispensers during their making-out. I can’t blame Kenan for cracking up at that.
— We finally find out the name of Kenan’s bartender character in this recurring sketch: Anfernee. Lots of SNL episode guides, including SNL Archives, claim Kenan’s character name is actually Anthony, but I definitely heard the name Anfernee come from Kenan’s mouth in this sketch (and, yes, Anfernee’s a real name, if anyone’s wondering). I stand corrected if anyone can prove me wrong.
— Meh, that gun ending was trying too hard to top the previous endings of this recurring sketch, and didn’t succeed.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest, Busta Rhymes, Consequence [real] sing “The Space Program”


LOVE AND LESLIE
backstage romance helps LEJ gain a relationship & KYM lose his virginity

— The debut of the series of Leslie/Kyle relationship shorts, which I’ve always been a huge fan of.
— A legitimately touching beginning with a tender Leslie expressing unhappiness over how difficult it is for her to find a man, and how much that hurts.
— Interesting seeing several photos of Leslie when she was younger.
— A very funny reveal of Kyle, of all people, being Leslie’s mysterious new man.
— Interesting how this short is done in the same style as the strong Kyle Vs. Kanye short from the preceding season.
— A very funny sudden brief appearance from Lorne, just showing up to say in a confessional that it’s important for Kyle to lose his virginity.
— Now this already-fantastic short gets even funnier when Kyle brings up his feelings about the Leslie/Colin story arc from Weekend Update, complete with a highlight reel being shown of some of those Leslie/Colin moments.
— Excellent ending with Dave’s reaction to finding out Leslie and Kyle had just had sex in his dressing room. By the way, this has to be by far the episode with the most uses of the word “goddamn”. Also BY FAR the episode with the most uses of the N-word (though it’s not used in this particular short).
STARS: *****


FOOTBALL PARTY
43-year-old (host) lives with his mom (LEJ) & is still breastfeeding

— After not making any live appearances in the preceding two episodes, Pete finally makes one tonight, only for it to just be a straight man role in the final sketch of the night. Ironically, he got more airtime in previous seasons as a featured player than he’s been getting this season as a repertory player so far.
— A good laugh from the sudden breastfeeding reveal.
— I like Kyle as the only one of Dave’s friends who isn’t weirded-out by the breastfeeding thing.
— This episode in general is so damn strong that even this dumb, thin sketch is absolutely working for me, whereas I probably wouldn’t have been so big on it had it appeared in a lesser episode. Every time I worry that the main joke of this sketch might start to get old, there’s a silly charm that keeps bringing me back stronger than ever. Even the breaking from some of the performers and the accidental glimpse of the bottle that Leslie is spraying milk from is actually adding a lot to the fun, silly nature of this sketch.
— Poor, poor Sasheer, making her only appearance of such a significant episode in a measly small, non-comedic walk-on role towards the end of the final sketch of the night.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not only an absolutely phenomenal, all-timer episode, but a very important and meaningful one in relation to current events and the mood of the nation that week. A Tribe Called Quest’s epic musical performances also added to the important, meaningful, current events-driven feel of the episode. Hell, even the drawn-out manner in which Dave Chappelle delivered his goodnights speech had a meaningful feel that added to the “This is a really special, history-in-the-making episode I’m watching” vibe that I remember getting from this episode when it originally aired. And as expected, Dave Chappelle was a fantastic host, especially for what was hyped at the time as his big comeback.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
(Much like some particularly terrific episodes I’ve reviewed lately, there are way too many things to pick for this episode’s “Best Of”, so I’ll narrow it down to what I feel are the particularly best highlights)

 


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Jheri’s Place / Inside SNL
Election Night
Monologue
Love and Leslie
Walking Dead Chappelle’s Show
Weekend Update
Last Call
Football Party
Kids Talk Politics


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Benedict Cumberbatch)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kristen Wiig

Posted on

November 5, 2016 – Benedict Cumberbatch / Solange (S42 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT
Alec Baldwin [real] & KAM drop Trump-Clinton skit for Times Square recess

— Something about the timing seems a bit off at certain parts of this cold opening so far.
— A pretty funny reaction Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump has to finding out that people read his tweets.
— At least this cold opening is acknowledging how support for Hillary Clinton has actually been dropping lately. I know that still didn’t prepare SNL for the voting results the following week.
— A decent running gag with how, much to Kate-as-Hillary’s chagrin, Cecily’s Erin Burnett keeps returning to the topic of Hillary’s emails even after seeing outright proof of Trump being in cahoots with certain organizations.
— Pretty good bit with Kate-as-Hillary’s long listing-off of things that Trump has ruined (e.g. tic-tacs, father-daughter dances, the word “great”, men).
— This cold opening is starting to feel like it’s being stretched a little too thin.
— Whoa, a sudden fourth-wall break with Alec and Kate both “dropping character” in the middle of their Trump/Hillary ranting to each other, and acknowledging how sick they are of portraying the gross negativity of this election.
— Oh, I really like this fun turn with pre-taped footage of Alec and Kate spreading joy around Times Square, and hugging the type of people who the respective presidential candidate they portray would never hug. Yes, this has undoubtedly aged oddly, given the following week’s voting results and the ensuing national unrest, as well as the ensuing cold opening SNL would do that weekend (hint: hallelujah), but even in hindsight, the softy in me can still smile at this beautifully-shot, good-natured, joyful Times Square sequence, and I’m always a sucker for SNL doing outside-the-box things like pre-taping an extensive outdoors sequence for a political cold opening.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
self-effacing host struggles to brag in “Theme From Shaft”-inspired song

— A harmless-enough musical monologue, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s delivery of this Shaft-esque number is charming and fun.
— Leslie gets most of the laughs here, especially her “Cumber-bitches” name for Benedict’s fangirls.
STARS: ***


THE KOOHL TOILET
you can be cool while shattering 1984 on Kohler’s backward-facing toilet

— Cheap but big laughs from this concept so far.
— I’m really liking Mikey’s acting here as the stern Big Brother-esque leader.
— Benedict’s suave execution of this is very good.
STARS: ****


WHY IS BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH HOT?
game show helps jealous BEB find answer to the title above

— Ooh, I’m really liking this change of pace with all of the performers playing themselves in a game show sketch.
— I like how this sketch now gets even more meta with Benedict saying he doesn’t remember this sketch being at the table read.
— Great reveal of this game show’s title. This sketch’s concept is very solid, and something about the meta-ness makes me picture this sketch appearing in the Ebersol era, though I’m not sure why.
— Vanessa is hilarious in her gleeful, fangirl-y description of what she likes about Benedict.
— Beck is perfect in his performance as the lead.
— Good turn at the end with Beck himself being charmed by Benedict.
STARS: ****


OFFICE HOURS
professor’s (host) anxiety doesn’t weigh on pool boy Chad

— These Chad shorts have officially become recurring.
— This is going in the same direction as the previous Chad short, but the comedic contrast between the host’s dramatic, heartfelt monologues and Chad’s dumb one-or-two-word sentences is still working, as is the fact that they refreshingly changed the setting from the previous Chad short.
— I got a laugh from Chad giggling “Huhhuh, taint” in response to Benedict saying the word “tainted”.
— Even the brief fart gag is funny.
STARS: ***½


SURPRISE BACHELORETTE PARTY
surprise bachelorette party continues after killing elderly honoree (AIB)

— The mere look of Mikey and Benedict’s construction worker-dressed strippers when they first enter is making me laugh.
— Pretty good conceit with everybody’s obliviousness to Aidy clearly being dead, and I like the dark tone that kinda gives this sketch.
— Convincing “dead body” acting from Aidy, which I’m sure is difficult to pull off when you have all the things happening to you that Aidy has in this sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Cranes in the Sky”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Church Lady gives her thoughts on presidential election & homosexuality

BIM, Anthony Rizzo, David Ross, Dexter Fowler [real] sing “Go Cubs Go”

— Michael’s comments about the KKK newspaper had me howling, especially him saying he can’t wait to see their sports section.
— An interesting mock-inspirational unity speech (complete with background music) that Colin and Michael give about these last days before the election.
— Church Lady! On Update!!
— When Church Lady claims Colin is a homosexual like everyone else in Hollywood, I laughed at an offended Colin asking the audience “Why are you laughing???”
— Looks like they didn’t have a punchline written for Colin correcting Church Lady on her statement that Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nathan Lane are the only straight actors left today, forcing Dana to throw in an ad-lib after an awkward brief stretch of silence.
— Church Lady is working well in the Update setting, and I love her busting Colin’s chops.
— In response to the audience’s tepid laughter at Church Lady’s West Hollywood joke, Dana makes the same “Too soon?” ad-lib that he made in the preceding season’s surprise Church Chat cold opening when a joke there got a tepid audience reaction.
— Even the song that Church Lady breaks out into is okay, and is accompanied by some funny related photos.
— How do you NOT end tonight’s Update with the Church Lady commentary???
— (*The Chicago Cubs and Bill Motherfucking Murray pop up*) Ohhhhh, so that’s why SNL didn’t end tonight’s Update with the Church Lady commentary.
— Between Church Lady and this Cubs/Bill Murray bit, this is a star-studded Update.
— A fun and charming “Go, Cubs, Go” number from the Cubs and Bill, and I like how it’s an out-of-the-ordinary way to close out a Jost/Che-era Update.
— A nice touch to end this Update with a shot of the Cubs Win Flag (the last above screencap for this Update).
STARS: ****


GEMMA & RICKY
Gemma & magician boyfriend (host) provide unsolicited entertainment

— (*groan*)
— Are we supposed to believe that EVERYONE who Kenan’s character once met years ago runs back into him while dating Gemma???
— Benedict is at least spot-on as this type of supposedly-cool modern magician. That’s the only positive I can find in this sketch, and that still ain’t much of a positive.
— An awkward brief stretch of silence before the sketch-ending audience applause.
STARS: *½


CRIMINAL MASTERMIND
action hero (BEB) readily solves criminal mastermind’s (host) riddles

— This role of a criminal mastermind is a fitting use of Benedict’s accent.
— Interestingly, something about Kyle’s delivery when he’s making awkward, dumb suggestions to Benedict’s riddles is very reminiscent of Chris Farley whenever he played this type of role of someone making unsure, dumb suggestions.
— Something about the ending felt a bit abrupt and unsatisfying, not that I wanted to see footage of the children’s school blowing up, as that would’ve been a bummer of a visual to close a sketch on.
— Not much to say about this overall sketch itself, but it was decent, even if I kinda felt like a little something (besides a good ending) was missing from the execution of this good concept.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Touch My Hair”


MEETING WITH MR. SHAW
(host) speaks for philanthropist Mr. Shaw, who is an eagle head in a suit

— I really like this silly, absurdist concept.
— The way Benedict is playing this silly material so straight and dignified is helping this work so well.
— Solid bit with the celebrity photos.
— I love how, after Benedict has been fired by Mr. Shaw and says he’ll collect his things, he quickly returns with just a soccer ball and a single flipper.
— Vanessa’s mock-cutesy delivery of “Oh, Mr. Shaw!” made me laugh a lot.
STARS: ****


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of stagehand John Homer marks his passing


GOODNIGHTS

— I love how not only is the Mr. Shaw statue from the last sketch present onstage during these goodnights, but Pete and Bobby can be seen gleefully hugging it for these entire goodnights (you can partially see that on the right side of the last above screencap for these goodnights).
— Speaking of Pete, this is the second consecutive episode in which he only appeared in a pre-taped short (not counting the goodnights). And I just now realized that Bobby didn’t make any appearances tonight AT ALL, live or pre-taped (again not counting the goodnights). Yet another sign of how invisible Bobby unfortunately is in this final season of his. Does he and Pete being shut out of this episode have anything to do with why they chose to gleefully hug the Mr. Shaw statue for the entire duration of these goodnights?

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An overall pretty good, quiet little episode. A little better than I had remembered. In hindsight, this quiet little episode kinda feels like the calm before the storm, considering what was in store for the nation the following Tuesday.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Why Is Benedict Cumberbatch Hot?
Weekend Update
Meeting With Mr. Shaw
The Koohl Toilet
Surprise Bachelorette Party
Erin Burnett Outfront
Office Hours
Criminal Mastermind
Monologue
Gemma & Ricky


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Dave Chappelle hosts the first episode after the election

Posted on

October 22, 2016 – Tom Hanks / Lady Gaga (S42 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) & Hillary Clinton (KAM) debate one last time

— Nice seeing Tom Hanks moderate this debate.
— Just realized how interesting it is seeing Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin, two SNL hosting legends, in the same sketch.
— A big laugh from Alec-as-Donald-Trump’s sudden, uncalled-for exclamation of “They’re ripping babies out of vaginas!”, spoofing something Trump infamously said at the real debate.
— Kate’s Hillary Clinton, on her and Alec’s Trump: “What two better people are there to talk about women’s issues: me, a woman who has had a child and has taken birth control, and him, a man who is a child and who’s face is birth control.”
— Love the “Trump Bingo” card that Kate’s Hillary holds up.
— The “Alright, settle down, entire planet” line (in response to the whole world laughing at Alec-as-Trump’s claim that nobody has more respect for women than him) is such a fitting line for Tom Hanks, who’s delivery just has a way of selling lines that are written the specific way this particular line was.
— An okay meta moment with Alec’s Trump calling one of his celebrity supporters, Stephen Baldwin, the best Baldwin brother.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
America’s Dad host gives country a confidence boost via a father-son chat

— Ah, so nice to see Tom entering through the home base stage’s door for his first time in 10 years.
— Feels odd hearing Tom say this is his 9th time hosting, because, even though I just pointed out this is his first hosting stint in 10 years, it feels like he’s hosted much more than 9 times. (I somewhat feel a similar way about Christopher Walken.) You’d kinda expect him to have Steve Martin/Alec Baldwin/John Goodman numbers in terms of amount of hosting stints, but maybe that just shows what a damn strong and memorable host he is that it feels like he’s hosted more times than he has.
— Very solid concept of Tom giving America a chat as “America’s Dad”, in response to him being named that by a magazine. This also, in an unintentional way, feels like a nice progression to Tom’s season 14 monologue, which was based on a magazine calling him the nicest guy in Hollywood.
— A lot of funny and warm things being said by Tom here. I especially love the little line about America having a summer birthday.
STARS: ****


BLACK JEOPARDY!
Trump voter (host) finds common ground with contestants

— Here’s a beloved classic, and the zenith of this recurring sketch.
— Feels a little odd seeing this recurring sketch without Jay Pharoah for once, but it’s nice seeing Leslie now being one of the contestants.
— A great initial reveal of Tom’s character.
— An absolutely fantastic change to this recurring sketch’s formula, with how Tom’s character is surprisingly-but-reasonably fitting in perfectly with Black Jeopardy’s sensibilities. And the bonding between him and Kenan is so damn great and charming.
— Tom, to his fellow contestants and Kenan: “You people are fun. (*pauses after realizing that sounded offensive*) Can I say that?” Kenan: “(after a long pause) We’ll give you a pass this time.”
— A particularly hilarious answer Tom gives to the “Skinny women can do this for you” question: “What is, ‘not a damn thing’?”
— A great little detail of how the sound effect signal to start the next segment is the sound of a broom hitting the ceiling below this show.
— A priceless turn this sketch takes at the end, with the knowing uncomfortable silence that follows Kenan revealing that the next subject they’ll have to talk about is Lives That Matter. I also love Kenan’s line to Tom after that silence: “Well, it was good while it lasted, Doug.”
STARS: *****


HALLOWEEN SHOW
(MEV) & parents (host) & (CES) demo Halloween block party musical routine

— I’m not caring for ANY of the random humor in the first minute of this sketch. As I said in a previous review, writers James Anderson and Kent Sublette are so bad at attempting random, absurdist humor, usually my favorite type of comedy.
— At least this Anderson/Sublette-written musical number sketch isn’t one of their interminable number of “Come on, join in, you know this song!” sketches (e.g. Debra’s Time). However, this sketch still has too much of the general aura from those sketches, and regardless, I’m still finding this musical number to be an absolute chore to sit through.
— Given her very distinct voice, Melissa has an impressively beautiful and pleasant singing voice (what little we hear of it solo in this sketch). I actually didn’t even catch that in the Crucible Cast Party short from two episodes prior.
— Blah at the turn with the guests admitting they actually liked the musical number that Tom, Cecily, and Melissa have just finished performing, despite the constant cutaways we previously saw of those guests’ frozen puzzled facial reactions (which itself a tired, overused gag) throughout the song.
STARS: *


BROKEN
CBS hopes depressing “comedy” will earn awards consideration

— Another instance of Vanessa’s presence in a segment reminding me “Oh, that’s right, she’s still on the show this season.”
— Out of all the segments in this episode, this is one that I had completely forgotten about.
— Cecily’s mock-dramatic angry outburst at Tom made me laugh out loud. She’s always great at doing that kind of acting.
— A very funny, spot-on, and well-executed bleak, melodramatic tone to this commercial, made even funnier by the conceit of CBS trying to present it as if it’s a wacky comedy show. I’m surprised that I had no prior memory of this commercial, given how damn strong it is.
STARS: ****½


HAUNTED ELEVATOR
unscary David S. Pumpkins (host) is an enigmatic haunted house attraction

— Needless to say, an extremely famous sketch that would go on to become very iconic.
— Am I crazy, or does that suspiciously sound JUST LIKE the then-recently-fired Taran Killam doing the voice-over at the beginning of this sketch? It sounds way too much like his familiar voice to NOT be him. Was this sketch originally cut after dress rehearsal from a previous season or something (perhaps the season 41 Tracy Morgan episode, which was that season’s Halloween episode……wow, imagine the David S. Pumpkins character being played by Tracy), and SNL possibly reused Taran’s voice-over from it? After all, that Chris Farley-starring Dante sketch from the season 20 Bob Saget episode had a “new” voice-over from the no-longer-on-the-show Phil Hartman, because the sketch originally got cut after dress rehearsal from the season 19 Nancy Kerrigan episode, back when Phil was still on the show. (Then again, Phil wasn’t fired, unlike Taran, so it IS rather odd that SNL would use a recently-fired cast member’s voice-over from a previously-cut sketch. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another example of that happening, though.)
— Beck and Kate play their second married couple for the second consecutive live sketch tonight. Kinda funny to imagine that Beck and Kate’s characters in both sketches are the same, even though I know that’s not SNL’s intention.
— A hilarious introduction to Tom’s David S. Pumpkins character in his first scene.
— Very funny and infectious silly dancing from Mikey and Bobby, who are making a solid pair here, which makes me kinda wish we saw them teamed up more often this season.
— I’m getting so many laughs from a perplexed Beck and Kate’s deconstruction of the concept of David S. Pumpkins (Beck is particularly great at that), even if Kenan previously did a similar thing in the preceding season’s Kevin Roberts sketch.
— Speaking of Kenan, he’s excellent in his role in this David S. Pumpkins sketch.
— Beck: “And the skeletons aaarrrreee….?” Mikey and Bobby as the skeletons: “…PART OF IT!”
— Tom’s David S. Pumpkins, in his usual catchphrase: “Any questions?!?” Beck: “Yes, several! I am so in the weeds with David Pumpkins!”
— Great fake-out with how Leslie’s scene ends up suddenly turning into a continuation of the whole David S. Pumpkins bit. Also, that gleeful look on Leslie’s face while she’s dancing with her chainsaw raised in the air is a riot.
— Beck: “Why did you go all in on David Pumpkins?!?” Kenan: “Hey, look – it’s 100 Floors Of Frights, they not all gonna be winners!”
— This sketch is all of the right kinds of silly, stupid fun, and has so many lines that I find quotable. While I can understand why some people find this sketch to be overrated (hell, I myself didn’t like this sketch when it originally aired, as I found it to be trying way too hard to recapture the magic of the Kevin Roberts sketch, and I didn’t like how it instantly became much more popular with viewers than Kevin Roberts ever did. It took me months to come around on David S. Pumpkins.), and while I do prefer Kevin Roberts, I definitely feel David S. Pumpkins is a perfect sketch.
— A perfect exaggerated startled look on Beck’s face during the freeze-frame at the end (the last above screencap for this sketch).
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Mark Ronson [real] perform “A-YO”


WEEKEND UPDATE
hacking victim LEJ is unfazed due to her inability to be embarrassed

The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party malaprops vainly

— As usual for the first few minutes of each Update lately, we open tonight’s Update with lots of great long-form ranting from Colin and Michael on the election.
— Rather unrealistic for Colin to claim he had no idea about Leslie getting hacked that summer.
— A very funny, heartening, and empowering speech from Leslie about how internet trolls can’t hurt her. One of her absolute best Update commentaries ever.
— I believe tonight’s Girl At A Party commentary is SNL’s very first mention of the modern term “woke”.
— While I went through tonight’s overall Girl At A Party commentary without finding any lines that I felt like quoting in my review, her commentary was strong as usual.
STARS: ****


COCKPIT
proud Sully Sullenberger (host) balks at being (Alec Baldwin)’s copilot

— Oh, hell yeah. After teasing us with having Tom and Alec in the same cold opening earlier tonight, SNL now gives us an outright pairing of them in the lead roles of this sketch. I’m in SNL Hosting Legends Heaven right now. Kinda reminds me of the joy of seeing Buck Henry and Steve Martin interact with each other in that Rise sketch from the season 5 premiere that Steve hosted.
— I got a big laugh from how, after being told by the control tower through his headset that Alec is the pilot of this flight, Tom’s Sully responds by awkwardly just stating “I’m uh…I’m Sully”, as if that alone will make the control tower change their mind about who should fly this plane.
— I love the dry, professional tone of the acting between Tom and Alec, and Tom in particular is fantastic here.
— Kyle plays his fourth kid character in just these last three episodes ALONE.
— I really like the structure to this sketch, with short scenes in the cockpit being interspersed with exterior shots of the plane in flight.
— Great bit with Tom’s Sully intentionally making the plane go awry so he can “save” it and then brag over the plane’s loudspeaker that “Sully did it again.”
STARS: ****


A GIRL’S HALLOWEEN
night of (AIB), (CES), (VAB) is a drunken disaster

— An entry in this era’s series of shorts that involve cutting back and forth between a tender scene and a related chaotic scene.
— Aidy’s drunken, gleeful delivery of “Awwww, pizza, biiiitch!” at the very end of one scene made me laugh even more than it probably should’ve.
— Out of all this era’s shorts with this “back-and-forth cutting between tender and chaotic scenes” concept, the concept is being pulled off particularly well in tonight’s short.
— The mere visual of Pete (making his first and only appearance all night, by the way) in that full-body green makeup is cracking me up.
— I was about to say this is also the first appearance Bobby has made all night, until I remembered his character in the David S. Pumpkins sketch. Tonight’s episode is another sign of how invisible Bobby is in this final season of his, sadly.
— I love how even Bobby’s character gets involved in the “back-and-forth cutting between tender and chaotic scenes” theme.
— Excellent ending, with the reveal of Pete’s full-body green makeup being all over Aidy’s mouth.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Hillary Lindsey [real] perform “Million Reasons”


AMERICA’S FUNNIEST PETS
Joelle, Noelle, Ron Howard (host) voice animals

— This is the second and final installment of this sketch, though this installment changes the original “American’s Funniest Cats” title to “America’s Funniest Pets”.
— The first installment of this sketch was strong, but it doesn’t feel necessary to do a second one, as I don’t see how it will work as well as the first one did.
— Tom’s Ron Howard impression is so much fun, even throwing in a meta, self-deprecating remark at one point about Tom Hanks being a pain in the ass to work with.
— Surprisingly, it actually turns out that Kate and Cecily’s voice-overs in this second installment of this sketch are working just as well for me as they did in the first installment. In fact, of the two installments, I’d actually give the edge to this second one, because I feel that the host portions of this one with Tom are more fun than the host portions of the first one with Adam Driver, even if this second installment doesn’t have Kate and Cecily memorably saying “Boi-oi-oing” throughout the sketch.
— Kate and Cecily’s voice-overs during the “puppy walking on its hind legs in a store” clip are particularly hilarious.
— What was with the awkward, empty, abrupt way this sketch ended? The show ran out of time, I take it?
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An absolutely fantastic episode. Almost the entire episode was comprised of strong segments, including THREE that I gave a perfect five-star rating to (Black Jeopardy, Haunted Elevator, and A Girl’s Halloween). And, after Tom Hanks’ last two episodes prior to this ranged from disappointing (his 1996 episode) to forgettable (his 2006 episode), it’s nice that tonight, SNL gave Tom the strong episode he used to regularly have back in the day. Oh, and he himself was a wonderful host in this episode as always.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
(Much like the preceding season’s Tracy Morgan episode, there are way too many things to pick in this episode, so I’ll narrow it down to what I feel are the particularly best highlights)


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Black Jeopardy!
Haunted Elevator
A Girl’s Halloween
Broken
America’s Funniest Pets
Weekend Update
Monologue
Cockpit
The Presidential Debate
Halloween Show


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Emily Blunt)
a big step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Benedict Cumberbatch hosts the last episode before the election

Posted on

October 15, 2016 – Emily Blunt / Bruno Mars (S42 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) & Hillary Clinton (KAM) debate a la town hall

— Cecily seems to be attempting much more of an actual Martha Raddatz impression than Kate did when she previously played this role in a debate sketch during the election four years prior to this.
— Pretty fun entrance from Kate’s Hillary Clinton and Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump.
— Alex’s Anderson Cooper: “Do you feel you’re modeling appropriate or positive behavior for today’s youth?” Alec’s Trump: “(bluntly and quickly) No. Next.”
— I like Kate-as-Hillary’s fake-out teary reaction to Alec’s Trump bringing out the mistresses of her husband Bill.
— A decent spoof of the much-talked-about moment from the real debate where Trump creepily loomed behind Hillary while she was speaking at one point.
— Some funny lines from Alec’s Trump, as usual in these early appearances of his.
— Ugh, the Ken Bone part. I never got people’s fascination with this guy at the time, and not even SNL’s spoof here of the media’s glorification of him is doing much for me. Bobby is at least fun in the role, though.
— Alex’s portrayal of Anderson Cooper is coming off much better than Jon Rudnitsky’s infamous take from a year prior, despite Alex flubbing one line early on and pausing a long time before delivering another.
— As usual when looking back at this election season of SNL, I have to ignore a lot of the poorly-aged “Hillary has already won this election” assumptions to enjoy this.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host & cast members implore audience to “Get Happy” with cookies & puppies

— An okay idea for a feel-good monologue during rough times. There’s certainly an air of corniness and sappiness here (even if that’s intentional), but it’s countered by my goodwill towards the good-natured intentions, as well the occasional humor thrown in.
— Oddly, Emily Blunt called Pete “Mikey” just now. I think I recall hearing that Melissa McCarthy makes a similar gaffe in her monologue later this same season, where she calls Mikey “Kyle” or something like that (I can’t remember the exact detail), but I myself have no memory of seeing that gaffe of hers.
STARS: ***


ESCORTS
in a hotel room, escorts (host) & (LEJ) lay out their unsexy ground rules

— Yikes. When the characters sit down after Emily and Leslie’s entrance, Alex completely blanked on his line, leading to a few seconds of awkward dead air, and then Emily, the freakin’ HOST, had to say Alex’s line for him to keep the sketch moving, and then, in an apparent ad-lib, she even tells Alex in character to relax. Wow. I like Alex a lot as a cast member, but between his occasional flubbiness in this episode’s cold opening and now this, Alex is definitely showing some “new cast member greenness” signs in this episode. That’s actually interesting to look at in hindsight, knowing how very good he would go on to be on SNL (even if SNL themselves don’t seem to be fully aware of that, from what I hear about how underutilized he’s been in the more current seasons). I’m not sure, but I think the botched portion of this Escorts sketch would later be replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns and the online version of this sketch, but I might be wrong.
— A delayed camera cut kinda ruined Emily’s tongue-sticking-out gag.
— A good laugh from Leslie sultrily telling Mikey “I’m gonna rag-doll you, man.” I also like how, in hindsight, that part feels like a precursor to the married couple Leslie and Mikey would play on Update a year or so later.
— Very funny reveal from Leslie that Stewie from Family Guy is the only voice she can do during role-playing.
— This sketch isn’t bad so far, but something about the pacing of it feels a bit sluggish, making this sketch feel a little out of place in the post-monologue lead-off spot.
— Heh, Emily can’t ever seem to say that “Oopsy-doopsy, I muffed it up again!” line without cracking up.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***


MELANIANADE
Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) women channel Beyonce in “Melanianade”

— When this originally aired, I thought for sure that this spoof of Beyonce’s Lemonade was written by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, especially since they previously wrote the Beyonce-themed Beygency and The Day Beyonce Turned Black pre-tapes. However, it would end up being revealed that James Anderson and Kent Sublette wrote this, which shocked me, as they didn’t usually attempt stuff like this.
— A very well-filmed, well-performed, and catchy-sounding Lemonade spoof, even if I’ve never seen the actual Lemonade video. However, if this is intended to make me laugh, it ain’t working much so far. Also not helping is the fact that, much like the “A Day Off with Kellyanne Conway” piece from the preceding episode, I can’t get behind SNL’s misguided attempt to make people like Ivanka Trump and Kellyanne come off as victims, and make us root for and feel sympathy for them. I could at least look past that TO AN EXTENT in the aforementioned “A Day Off with Kellyanne Conway” piece, because the humor itself in that was solid, but that isn’t the case in this Melanianade short.
— Okay, the whole bit right now with Beck’s Mike Pence is at least funny.
— Is it wrong that I’m starting to feel that Vanessa looks a little out of place in some sketches this season? Not to the same extent that Bobby seems a little out of place this season, and this certainly doesn’t mean that I’m knocking Vanessa’s (nor Bobby’s) performances this season (and I’m well aware that some of Vanessa’s all-time greatest moments are still to come this season), but I’ve sometimes been having a surprised “Oh, that’s right, she’s still on the show” reaction when seeing her in some segments in my rewatch of this season. Part of that could be because of the then-recent loss of her fellow “Class of 2010” members Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah.
STARS: **


SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
short film festival attendee (VAB) is only person not in cast or crew

— I sometimes get this film festival sketch confused with the one from the season 44 Seth Meyers-hosted episode, even though I can’t remember the premise of that one.
— Hilarious reveal of the cast and crew of the featured short film being the ENTIRE audience, minus Vanessa.
— I love Vanessa’s smiley awkwardness when being the only person to have to ask the cast and crew all the questions. She’s always perfect for this type of role.
— Solid running bit with the cast and crew, one-by-one, having to pass the microphone down the line to the person who’s about to speak.
— Very funny how Vanessa has now gotten to the point where she asks her next question without even getting up, and instead just grabs the microphone stand over to her while she remains seated.
— During the sequence with all the cast and crew, one-by-one, stating that their next project is nothing, I got a laugh from Kate’s announcement being that she’s doing some grocery shopping later tonight.
— Great surprise reveal at the end that Emily was playing herself in this sketch all along.
STARS: ****


CHONK
women’s clothing store Chonk sends mixed messages about female body image

— Surprisingly, this is the first traditional fake ad all season.
— Yet another commercial featuring excellent voice-over work from Cecily. The different comical voices she delivers the word “CHONK!” in throughout this commercial are a riot.
— I really like Sasheer’s puzzled and offended delivery of “Unique?!?” in response to the voice-over’s line about “your unique body”.
— The extremely brief “Lil Chonk” part that Aidy angrily puts a stop to is priceless.
— A hilarious simplistic part with the “Normal Clothes” section for men.
— Overall, it was well worth the somewhat long wait for SNL’s first fake ad of the season, as I found this ad to be perfect.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “24K Magic”

— One of the absolute most uniquely-structured and fun musical performances in recent years, if not ever.


WEEKEND UPDATE
Olya Povlatsky considers impact of the election on USA-Russia relations

Laura Parsons is aware of the election’s motif of mistreatment of women

— I’ve noticed that one of the changes on Update this season is that neither Colin nor Michael say the usual “Here are tonight’s top stories” during their sign-on, probably because of the new style Update has adopted since the last third of the preceding season, where the first few minutes of every Update feature Colin and Michael taking turns doing long-form rants about one specific topic (usually about Trump). That “long-form rants about one topic” approach is just one of the things that refreshingly separates this Update era from most of the others, and is the style that they should’ve had Colin Quinn regularly do his ENTIRE Updates in back in the day, because, as likable as he always was, his delivery was not suited for the usual Update style of “simple set-up and punchline, move on to the next news story, lather-rinse-repeat”.
— This ends up being Olya Povlatsky’s final appearance on Update, though she has one more appearance in general remaining after this episode, in a Vladmir Putin cold opening later this season.
— I got a huge laugh from Kate’s Olya demonstrating the bizarre, indescribable noise she makes when she wakes up.
— While I’m definitely still enjoying this Olya Povlatsky commentary, I’m starting to think that they chose the right time to retire her from Update, because her routine is feeling quite been-there-done-that tonight.
— Yikes, a huge technical error with the photo graphic next to Colin while he’s doing the Nobel Prize joke. After a few seconds of this technical gaffe, the people in the control room just give up and remove the graphic, leaving no photo next to Colin while he’s still telling the joke (the second-to-last above screencap for this Update).
— Vanessa’s prominence in tonight’s episode is making her feel less out-of-place to me.
— The usual big laughs from Vanessa’s Laura Parsons so far, especially her line about how, in regards to the Donald Trump/Access Hollywood scandal, Billy Bush “might get 10 million dollars…..FROM THIS NETWORK!”
— A hilarious ending to Laura Parsons commentary, with the payoff of her clown story.
STARS: ****


DRIVE-THRU WINDOW
a long limo containing eccentric artists visits a Burger King drive-thru

— When this originally aired, I remember saying that this sketch was basically just the whole cast playing Kevin Roberts-like characters, particularly Mikey, who’s hair and costume here is quite Kevin Roberts-esque. Little did I know at the time that the following week’s episode would have a sketch that would go on to be the most well-known Kevin Roberts-type sketch ever, a certain Halloween-themed one.
— Also when this originally aired, I honestly thought Emily was Kate, until Kate appeared later in this sketch, confusing the hell out of me.
— Speaking of Emily, something about the look of her character seems very familiar, as if SNL previously used that same wig, glasses, and clothing for another character, perhaps one played by Amy Poehler or Kristen Wiig. Can’t put my finger on which character I’m thinking of, though. I don’t think it’s Kristen’s (dreadful) Trina character (a.k.a. the oddball lady who always says “Thomaaaaas!”), though I do see the physical similarities.
— Kenan’s mere look when his window rolled down cracked me up so much. Pete is clearly tickled by it, too.
— Like Kenan, Bobby is also very funny with his characterization, even if this feels like a role that he’s played multiple times before. (Another sign that he’s on his way out.)
— I like Kate and Cecily’s creepy characters oddly requesting “4 foods and a nibble.”
— Something about Beck’s delivery and pronunciation of “Peace!” (sounding kinda like “Payce!”) at the end of his scene tickled me so much.
— The writing of this sketch isn’t up to much, but the performances are making this fun for me.
STARS: ***½


THE SINK
host voices a self-aware & self-critical bathroom fixture

— A very unique use of a host, and this particular instance is very fitting for Emily Blunt.
— I’m loving the tone of this, and the humor is perfect.
— Hilarious interruption with the sink suddenly being used by someone when it was in the middle of its speech to us.
—  A huge laugh from the visual of the comically brief ending credit scroll (the last above screencap).
— Overall, this was oddly brilliant. Yet another creative, very funny, and extremely strong Julio Torres-written pre-tape.
STARS: *****


HONDA ROBOTICS
Honda smartbots (MID) & (host) malfunction while serving hors d’oeuvres

— SNL continues to get mileage out of the vocal modifier that they’ve suddenly been using a lot ever since the homestretch of the preceding season. And as usual, there’s some minor glitches with the vocal modifier, where it briefly stops working and the performer’s natural voice is temporarily heard.
— This era seems to have a lot of robot sketches. The airplane stewardesses one with Scarlett Johansson and Vanessa, the “3D printed man” one with Matthew McConaughey, a sketch from the Casey Affleck episode later this season about stereotypically gay robots that…oof, let’s just say I’m gonna have things to say about THAT sketch, if it’s as bad as I remember.
— Funny back-and-forths between Emily and Kate, and at this point of Kate’s tenure, it’s rare seeing a host make HER crack up, when it’s usually the other way around (e.g. Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie).
— Solid comical acting from Mikey when his robot character is malfunctioning.
— Emily’s vocal-modified delivery of lines like “mini, ooey-gooey quesadilla” is cracking me up.
STARS: ***½


MELANIA MOMENTS
Melania Trump (CES) yearns for The Prince & The Pauper shot

— Yet another strong and very Deep Thoughts-esque Melania Moments piece.
— I just now noticed that even Beck’s tender voice-over in these Melania Moments pieces sounds rather identical to Jack Handey’s voice in the aforementioned Deep Thoughts.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Chunky”


THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF
chavs (host) & (CES) wanted Big Brother gig

— Pretty funny dignified British accents from the supporting performers in this.
— Another “Cecily does an accent” sketch, which would’ve felt right at home in season 39, which felt rampant with those sketches.
— Very accurate crude British accents from Emily and Cecily, though perhaps TOO accurate, as my American ears are having a hard time understanding a lot of the words and British terms they’re saying. I’m still getting some chuckles from their performances and what little I can understand them saying, but I feel like I’m not enjoying this sketch as much as I should be.
STARS: **½


HAMSTERS
(KYM)’s hamsters (BEB), (KAM), (ALM), (host) ape Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

— An interesting oddball concept.
— Something about the tone of this sketch makes me wonder if Julio Torres wrote or co-wrote this. If so, man, for such a new writer, he’s been killing it this season. I feel like it’s rare in recent seasons like this for a new writer to be so prolific.
— Kate and (especially) Beck’s comically-tense acting is solid.
— A laugh from Emily’s line about a hamster being buried in a New Balance shoebox.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mostly good episode. After a nothing-too-special first 20 or so minutes, this episode seemed to take off starting with the Short Film Festival sketch.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

   


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
CHONK
The Sink
Melania Moments
Short Film Festival
Weekend Update
Hamsters
The Presidential Debate
Honda Robotics
Drive-Thru Window
Escorts
Monologue
The Great British Bake Off
Melanianade


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
a step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
SNL hosting legend Tom Hanks, in his second consecutive hosting stint that has followed a 10-year gap

Posted on

October 8, 2016 – Lin-Manuel Miranda / Twenty One Pilots (S42 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE / CNN BREAKING NEWS
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) handles Access Hollywood bus remark fallout

— Melissa, in a very meta moment: “I’m the new Hispanic cast member, and tonight, I’ll be playing Asian moderator Elaine Quijano. Because…baby steps.”
— The debut of Beck’s Mike Pence impression.
— An accurate Tim Kaine voice from Mikey, and his delivery is also amusing.
— A funny sudden twist with how a CNN breaking news report about Donald Trump’s Access Hollywood scandal suddenly cuts off the vice presidential debate right after Beck’s Pence claimed Trump never said anything bad about women.
— A laugh from Alec-as-Trump’s “apple-ogize” bit.
— A huge oh-so-wrong laugh from when Alec’s Trump, in regards to his “grab ’em by the pussy” remark, promises women that he can do more than just grab it, clarifying “I can also bop it, twist it, and pull it”. I also like Cecily-as-Brooke-Baldwin’s shuddering reaction to that.
— Another huge oh-so-wrong laugh, this time from Alec’s Trump being heard telling someone he wishes he was Hurricane Matthew, tearing through that “hot Miami pussy”.
— Kate’s Hillary Clinton scene, with her acting like she’s already won the presidency thanks to Trump’s Access Hollywood scandal, is another instance of something with Kate’s Hillary not aging well, due to the outcome of the election, but there’s still some laughs from her here.
— We didn’t need the cut back to Alec’s Trump continuing to speak to someone off-camera at the end of this. It was pointless, there was nothing new to say there, and it ended this cold opening on an awkward note.
STARS: ***½


MONOLOGUE
host performs “My Shot” variant to express his excitement at being on SNL

— Lin-Manuel Miranda is coming off pretty likable here.
— I’m not a fan of musical monologues (though most of the ones in the season that preceded this were actually good), but this one is really fun so far.
— Regarding that “Never gonna be president” part about Trump, I’ll just quote something Michael Che said as Lester Holt in the preceding episode’s cold opening: “Moving right past THAT…”.
— Love the part of the song with Lin namedropping select cast members from various eras in rapid-fire speed, even including then-current cast member Vanessa Bayer. Feels nice hearing her name being mentioned with noteworthy cast members of the past.
— VERY infectious energy in the air when Lin is heading back towards the home base stage near the conclusion of the song. This part is fantastic.
STARS: ****


PINE RIDGE CAMPGROUND
at a campground, overly-amorous siblings (KYM) & (VAB) sing obnoxiously

— Surprisingly, this is Vanessa’s first appearance this season, as she was completely absent in the preceding week’s season premiere. Being shut out of a season premiere is unheard of for a 7-season veteran like her. In hindsight, knowing this ends up being her final season, her absence in the season premiere can be taken as a sign that she’s on her way out.
— The foreign-accented, loud Footloose singing is a pretty different use of Vanessa.
— Kyle’s delivery of “COLD AS HELL!” made me laugh.
— Okay, the repeated foreign-accented, loud Footloose singing is starting to give me a headache.
— I did get a laugh from Cecily’s puzzled delivery of “You-you’re doing impressions now???”
— The incest subplot isn’t working for me.
STARS: *½


CRUCIBLE CAST PARTY
high school theater nerds’ celebration is tame

 

— Can’t say the concept of this particular music video excites me, maybe because I can’t relate to the “theater kids” premise as much as some other viewers might.
— Hmm, the song so far is turning out to have a good charm to it, at least. I’m getting more and more into this.
— Nice to see Melissa grouped with the female cast in a music video like this so early in her run as a cast member.
— I love the melody of the brief portion of the song where Aidy sings about bringing Kyle up to her bedroom.
— From what I gather, some people don’t like the rap break from Lin, but I don’t mind it.
STARS: ***½


SUBSTITUTE TEACHER
students preempt substitute teacher’s (host) attempts at cool pedagogy

— Funny angry ranting from Leslie at the beginning, even if it feels like a very standard role for her.
— Kenan’s “Awww, man” facepalm in reaction to Lin turning a chair backwards and sitting in it while attempting to come off cool made me laugh, because that mirrors exactly how I would react if I were in Kenan’s place in this situation.
— This sketch is slowly starting to lose me. Not sure what about it isn’t working much.
— When this sketch originally aired, I remember assuming Melissa’s natural voice (which some people have called a “froggy voice”) was just her doing a silly character voice, since I wasn’t yet familiar with Melissa at the time. In fact, at the time, I considered Melissa’s “character voice” in this sketch to be very reminiscent of the voice Nasim Pedrad used for both her Bedelia character and her impression of Charlyne Yi. It wasn’t until the following episode, during a Burger King Drive-Thru sketch, that I realized “Holy hell, Melissa’s voice really sounds like that?!?!?” I was shocked that her natural voice sounded so odd. However, over the course of this season, I would gradually go on to find her voice to be one of many endearing things about her. (I do recall hearing someone claim, however, that Melissa stated in an interview that her odd natural voice is actually fake, and that she adopted it so she won’t attract creeps, or something like that.)
STARS: **½


“A DAY OFF” WITH KELLYANNE CONWAY
Kellyanne Conway (KAM) gets no break from spinning Trumpisms

— A good structure and progression to this short.
— I can look past this short’s apparent attempt to make us “sympathize” with Kellyanne Conway, and I can get laughs from how much Kate’s Kellyanne has to increasingly stretch her defending of increasingly ridiculous Trump controversies.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Heathens”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Propecia user PED is willing to choose diminished sex drive over baldness

suburban Philadelphia women (JIF) & (TIF) are in-demand undecided voters

— As expected, Colin and Michael are doing an excellent takedown of Trump’s Access Hollywood scandal.
— I like Pete riffing on Colin’s “wall of hair”.
— An overall surprisingly short but pretty good Pete commentary.
— The set-up of Colin’s Clown Lives Matter joke was funnier than the two actual punchlines Colin had for it. You can tell Colin himself is fully aware of that.
— Random Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon.
— Is the name of Tina’s character, Denise McDonough, supposed to be some kind of reference to the name of Rachel Dratch’s character (Denise McDenna) in the Boston Teens sketches from back in the day? Tina did co-write those Boston Teens sketches, so…
— Jimmy trying to milk extra laughs from the audience by pausing a long time after his Philly-accented pronunciation of “Benghazi”, I see.
— Jimmy’s trying to milk more laughs, this time by ad-libbing about how bad his attempt at a Philly accent is. That meta ad-lib is actually fun.
— Man, how freakin’ long is this Jimmy/Tina commentary going to go on?!? Tina has some good lines here, but this feels commentary feels ENDLESS, and is dragging down what was shaping up to be a near-perfect Update.
STARS: ****


THE MUSIC MAN
The Wells Fargo Wagon brings bad financial instruments

 

— Bobby is just now making his first appearance of the night. An early display of how little we’ll be seeing him this season, as he’s on his way out, kinda like Vanessa, though to a much larger extent in Bobby’s case.
— I got a laugh from Kyle’s lispy delivery of a stern “Say it to my face, bitch.”
— The general setting of this sketch so far, as well as the musical number, reminds me an awful lot of that weak Loveliest Kingdom sketch from the preceding season’s Tracy Morgan episode.
— At least the comedic conceit of this sketch is turning out to be more high-brow than the juvenile, unfunny turn the aforementioned Loveliest Kingdom sketch took. That being said, I’m still not all that crazy about this sketch. The performances are fine, but the material is meh for me.
— I did like the ending bit with Kyle.
STARS: **


DIEGO CALLS HIS MOM
immigrant Diego (host) relays North Dakota culture shock

   

— One of writer Julio Torres’ most notable pieces, and an excellent example of the refreshing style he brought to SNL.
— A lot of very funny odd cutaway visuals to accompany what Lin is saying over the phone.
— I love this short’s mix of tender melancholy and silly absurdity. This short is pulling that off absolutely beautifully.
— Even the cinematography and visual quality of this short is beautiful, and has some great choices for camera angles.
— The sweet ending actually almost made me tear up.
STARS: *****


STRANGER THINGS
Lucas’ (SAZ) parents (KET) & (LEJ) find the police scary

— Seeing Mikey and Alex playing twins here (the Duffer Brothers) reminds me that I had a hard time telling Mikey and Alex apart in their first episode when it originally aired. That sometimes happens with SNL fans when two or more cast members of the same gender and race join the show together. I remember how so many online SNL fans had such a hard time telling Seth Meyers and Jeff Richards apart when they joined at the beginning of season 27.
— Are lispy kids an intentional theme in tonight’s episode, between Kyle’s character in the Music Man sketch and Lin’s character in this sketch?
— Leslie making her second walk-on tonight playing an angry, yelling character. It’s still getting some laughs from me, though, so I guess I can’t complain.
— Melissa made me laugh out loud in her brief appearance, even if I have no familiarity with what she’s specifically making fun of, as I’ve never watched Stranger Things.
— A cheap laugh from Leslie and Kenan’s reaction to seeing a white cop.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ride”


MELANIA MOMENTS
Melania Trump (CES) is concerned about the next Mrs. Trump

— Good to see this become recurring.
— Again, I absolutely love how these Melania Moments segments feel like a spiritual successor to Jack Handey’s Deep Thoughts.
— Overall, even funnier than the previous Melania Moments piece from the season premiere. Writer Julio Torres has been having a very strong night, between Diego Calls His Mom and this.
STARS: ****½


A DEGREE OF VALOR
in WWII, wounded (PED) asks (host) to secrete embarrassing personal items

— A TCM and AMC sketch in the same night?
— Meh at the butt plug reveal.
— The further reveals about Pete’s secret belongings aren’t doing much for me either.
— At least this is utilizing Pete in a very different role from what he usually plays. In fact, this is the second consecutive episode where the 10-to-1 segment stars Pete playing against type. He’s done a good job in both roles.
— I did kinda laugh at Mikey’s mock-emotional “He died as he lived – sassy” line.
— The ending with the characters tenderly singing Pete’s jazz song in honor of him after his death was actually fairly charming, before the writers lazily and predictably decided to have Kenan get shot during it. Not needed.
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average, nothing-special episode as a whole. A letdown after the very strong season premiere, but I still can’t complain too much, as this episode wasn’t too bad in and of itself.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Diego Calls His Mom
Melania Moments
Monologue
Weekend Update
Vice Presidential Debate
“A Day Off” with Kellyanne Conway
Crucible Cast Party
Stranger Things
Substitute Teacher
A Degree of Valor
The Music Man
Pine Ridge Campground


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Margot Robbie)
a pretty big step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Emily Blunt

Posted on

October 1, 2016 – Margot Robbie / The Weeknd (S42 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
Hillary Clinton (KAM) lets Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) fumble debate

— An extremely rare sighting of Michael front-and-center in the LEAD ROLE of a sketch, no doubt due to Jay Pharoah no longer being in the cast, and the only remaining non-Che black male cast member being Kenan, who I guess SNL figured wouldn’t look convincing in this Lester Holt role. I remember that, right before this season began, a lot of online SNL fans predicted that we’d see Michael making lots of non-Update appearances this season, due to SNL only having two black male cast members left, but that ended up not being the case at all. Aside from another Lester Holt appearance that Michael makes towards the end of the season, I don’t recall Michael having any other really MAJOR roles in any sketches this season.
— I enjoyed the Willy Wonka-esque gimmick that Kate’s Hillary Clinton made her entrance with.
— The debut of Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump impression. Hooooooooo, boy, this is gonna be a long four years. Like a certain number of other SNL fans, I would go on to get VERY sick of Alec’s impression. However, I did enjoy this impression a lot when this season’s election period originally aired, back when Alec’s impression was new, fresh, and fun. It wasn’t until the second half of this season, well after the election ended, when my slow burn towards Alec’s Trump began, gradually leading to the seething hatred I’d eventually have towards it. All that being said, I will be fair and go into my reviews of the first handful of Alec’s Trump sketches with a clean slate, hoping to recapture the positive feelings I had towards Alec’s impression at the time.
— Oof, right out of the gate in his Trump debut, we get some sloppiness from Alec, as he doesn’t hit his mark properly during his entrance, causing half of his body to be out of the camera shot (screencap below), eventually forcing the camera to pan over a little so Alec is fully onscreen.

— I’m now a few minutes into this cold opening, and, aside from my minor quibble about his entrance above, Alec is actually 1) killing it in this cold opening, 2) capturing the spirit of 2016 Donald Trump much better than Darrell Hammond did the preceding season, and 3) having tons of funny lines here. I am definitely reminded of why I and many others praised Alec’s impression back when it was new.
— Michael’s Lester Holt, after a ridiculous rambly spiel from Alec’s Trump: “Senator Clinton, what do you think about that?” Kate’s Hillary: “I think I’m gonna be president.” Oh, man. When this originally aired, I remember finding that line of Kate’s to be classic, and assumed it would go down in history as one of those legendary debate moments on SNL (such as the moment in the 1988 presidential debate sketch where Jon Lovitz’s Michael Dukakis followed a ridiculous rambly spiel of Dana Carvey’s George Bush by bluntly stating “I can’t believe I’m losin’ to this guy!”) However…yeah, that line of Kate’s sadly hasn’t aged well, for obvious reasons.
— Despite her aforementioned “I think I’m gonna be president” line not holding up, Kate’s Hillary has lots of great lines here.
— Michael is a solid straight man. I particularly love the way he responded “Moving right past THAT…” after Alec-as-Trump’s disclosure of once kissing Sean Hannity in a private encounter.
— The energy in this cold opening has been great.
STARS: ****


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same montage from the preceding two seasons.
— Michael Che, Pete Davidson, and Leslie Jones have been promoted from featured players to repertory players.
— Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villasenor have been added to the cast.

— Starting with this episode, the musical guest and host’s shots in this opening montage are now moving clips instead of still photos.


MONOLOGUE
host, KET, LEJ, CES, PED, AIB give themselves instant fact-checks

— Mixed feelings on the election-related concept of Margot Robbie fact-checking herself throughout this monologue. It seems kinda corny to me.
— Lots of applause breaks from the audience throughout this monologue.
— Love the meta bit with Kenan saying into the Fact Check camera, after telling Margot he couldn’t sleep last night due to the excitement of the season premiere, “This is my, uh, 14th season. I slept like a baby.”
— HUGE audience applause for Leslie’s walk-on. Heartening to see, after the rough summer she had with so much awful crap she had to deal with online.
— Leslie’s message into the Fact Check camera, after telling Margot she’s embarrassed over calling her “Kate Upton”: “I’ve done way worse. I called Kate McKinnon ‘Kate Middleton’ for a year.”
— Leslie’s second “message” into the Fact Check camera is even funnier, with her just sternly giving a very knowing look into the camera after lying to Margot about being born in 1990.
— Despite my initial reservations over the Fact Check concept of this monologue, it’s definitely working for me ever since the cast has gotten involved.
— A particularly good laugh from Aidy, after claiming Margot is her favorite host, delivering an emotional apology towards Drake into the Fact Check camera.
STARS: ***½


ACTION 9 NEWS AT FIVE
TV news team can’t get why hottie (host) married dweeb Matt Schatt (MID)

— Impressively, Mikey Day already gets his first lead role in the post-monologue lead-off sketch of his first episode as a cast member.
— A big laugh from Kenan immediately yelling “HE DOES PUPPETS?!?” after finding out Mikey’s character is a puppeteer.
— A very funny reveal of Mikey’s name being Matt Schatt. Kenan has great lines in relation to that, such as responding to Mikey’s clarification that “Schatt” is spelled with two t’s by telling him “It doesn’t make it any better!”, and reacting to finding out Margot’s name is Alexandra Kennedy-Shatt by saying in utter disbelief, “She’s a Kennedy…and she put a Schatt on it.”
— Very funny how the newscast is devolving into all of the so-called professional news team members making assumptions on why Margot’s character got with Matt Schatt.
— Alex Moffat’s very first SNL role reminds me of that of Bill Hader, in that Jet Blue Flight sketch from the season 31 Steve Carell episode.
— The surprising or embarrassing reveals about Matt Schatt keep getting funnier and funnier.
— Leslie once again gets huge applause from the audience, this time when she joins in on the news team’s speculation on how Matt Schatt managed to get a wife as hot as Margot’s character.
STARS: ****½


THE LIBRARIAN
male high schoolers get turned on & creeped out by librarian (host)

— The name of this short film’s fictional school, Villines Academy, is a tribute to Matt Villines, of SNL pre-tape directing duo Matt & Oz, as he passed away of cancer that summer.
— Very funny how the guys’ statements about Margot’s various actions are played in a slow-motion deep pitch to match the “Oh, yeah” part of that famous Ferris Bueller song that’s playing throughout this short.
— This is like a much more extreme version of Kristen Wiig’s “Sexy Shana” character, but I’m enjoying this more.
— I absolutely love the “Haley Joel Osment?!?” “Haley Joel Osment NOW?!?” bit with Margot’s two tattoos.
— Another particularly great bit, with how what seems like it’s going to be girl-on-girl action between Margot and Cecily turns out to instead be Margot violently cracking Cecily’s neck. I also love Kenan’s “Straight-up murder?!?” line in reaction to that.
— Funny appearance from Beck randomly accompanying Margot as a sleazy dancer, complete with a snake wrapped around his neck.
— Solid ending to this priceless short.
STARS: ****½


FAMILY FEUD
Bernie Sanders (Larry David) & Team Clinton meet Team Trump

 

— The debut of Kate’s Kellyanne Conway impression.
— Kenan’s Steve Harvey, to Margot’s Ivanka Trump: “Oh, you sexy. I know that might sound inappropriate, but if yo daddy can say it, so can I.”
— We now also get the debut of Beck’s Vladmir Putin impression.
— Our very first display of Melissa Villasenor’s knack for doing spot-on celebrity impressions. Not only is her Sarah Silverman voice very good here, but she facially even LOOKS just like Sarah with certain facial expressions she’s making here.
— Cecily playing Lin-Manuel Miranda one week before he hosts SNL makes me wonder how many other times a host or musical guest was impersonated on the show just one week before they appeared. The only example I can think of is Amy Poehler playing Avril Lavigne in Lindsay Lohan’s season 29 monologue, just one episode prior to Avril being the musical guest. There have been some examples of musical guests being impersonated the episode AFTER they appeared. I’m not sure of hosts in that regard, though.
— A funny prune juice analogy that Larry David’s Bernie Sanders makes to Hillary Clinton.
— The debuts of noteworthy political impressions continue, as Mikey and Alex’s Trump Brothers make their very first appearance, complete with Alex’s Eric introducing himself by saying a dopey “And I’m Eric!” Nice to see that some of the key aspects of Alec’s Eric characterization were already established right from its first appearance.
— Some good laughs from how creepily in-unison the three Trump siblings are, prompting Kenan’s Harvey to call them Children of the Corn.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Starboy”


WEEKEND UPDATE
undecided voter Cathy Anne would rather see Barack Obama remain in office

The Weeknd Update- musical guest got a haircut

on the cusp of retiring, David Ortiz (KET) lists more punny endorsements

   

— Several things about the style of the photo graphics that are displayed next to Colin and Michael looks very different this season, but I can’t put my finger on what all of the differences are. One difference I’ve noticed is that the preceding season’s blue color motif for the photo graphics has now been changed back to the burgundy color motif that Update used prior to the preceding season.
— Tonight’s Update is starting out HOT, with so many great Trump and election-related quips from Colin and Michael.
— Cecily’s Cathy Anne character makes her very first Update appearance, after previously only appearing in sketches.
— Right out of the gate, Cecily’s Cathy Anne characterization is coming off much funnier to me here than it ever did in those awful sketches she appeared in.
— A lot of funny election-related lines from Cecily’s Cathy Anne here.
— A big laugh from the National Anthem “choreography” that Colin says white people can easily follow.
— A very funny sequel to the “The Weeknd Update” bit from the previous episode that The Weeknd was a musical guest in.
— Colin, on the National Museum of African American History giving a detailed account of black history in the U.S.: “Or, for a different version of black history, give my grandpa scotch. (*audience ‘ooh’s*)” Michael: “Oh, now you on my side!”
— Ah, Kenan’s David Ortiz. His commentaries always slay me.
— I’m getting my usual huge laughs from Kenan-as-Big-Papi’s endorsements, especially the “Hepsi” one, which had me practically on the floor.
STARS: ****½


THE HUNCH BUNCH
girlfriend (host) doesn’t fit in with mystery team

 

— Since when does Nick At Nite air programs like this?
— Kinda charming seeing the cast play expies of Scooby Doo characters. Are Beck and Mikey both playing a Fred expy?
— Our first display of Mikey playing this specific type of straight man role, which is coming off fresh and funny in this first outing. Between the Matt Schatt sketch and this, Mikey feels like an established natural in his first episode, which makes sense, given the fact that he was a writer for several seasons prior to this.
— A lot of this sketch is a little on the meh side, though not awful.
— I did really like that ending, at least.
STARS: **½


MELANIA MOMENTS
Melania Trump (CES) speculates about life beyond 5th Avenue

— The debut of these Julio Torres-written Melania Moments segments.
— A short and sweet segment, and I absolutely love how very Deep Thoughts-esque it felt.
STARS: ****


WOMEN’S ROUND TABLE
veteran actress Debette Goldry (KAM) relays tales of Hollywood misogyny

— (*sigh*) Yet ANOTHER season premiere in which poor, poor Sasheer’s airtime is particularly rough, even for her standards. Luckily for her, this is the final season that she has to suffer through SNL’s poor utilization of her.
— The debut of Kate’s Debette Goldry character.
— Margot going all Ryan Gosling in her giggling towards Kate’s performance right now.
— A big laugh from Kate’s Goldry casually referring to Sasheer’s Lupita Nyong’o as “Little Peter No-no”.
— Lots of very funny lines from Kate’s Goldry lightheartedly disclosing how extremely rough it was for actresses back in her day.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “False Alarm”


MR. ROBOT
hacking victim LEJ enlists the help of Elliot (PED)

— I’ve never watched Mr. Robot, but I’ve still always enjoyed this spoof of it, and I absolutely LOVE the premise of Leslie appearing as herself to find out who hacked her photos that summer, which is something that really happened.
— There’s that rare Pete/Leslie pairing that I previously said I wish we got to see more often during their years on the show together.
— Interesting seeing Pete playing a role that feels much different than anything else he previously did on SNL.
— A funny “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts” line from the then-recently-co-starred-in-the-Ghostbusters-reboot Leslie, which gets a huge audience reaction.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong season premiere. High-quality material all throughout the episode, with the Hunch Bunch sketch being the only thing I didn’t care much for, and not even that was anything particularly bad. Another great thing about this season premiere was the energy in the air, helped by the very enthusiastic audience, which is a nice way to start a season.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

 


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Librarian
Weekend Update
Action 9 News At Five
Melania Moments
Women’s Round Table
Mr. Robot
The Presidential Debate
Monologue
Family Feud
The Hunch Bunch


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2015-16)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
This fella:

Posted on

May 21, 2016 – Fred Armisen / Courtney Barnett (S41 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HILLARY & BERNIE
Hillary Clinton (KAM) sees off lingering Bernie Sanders (Larry David)

— The usual very fun chemistry between Kate and Larry David as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
— A very funny and charming part with Kate and Larry’s Hillary and Bernie reminiscing over memorable things from earlier in this election season while having a hearty laugh.
— Love the turn with Kate and Larry’s Hillary and Bernie tenderly slow-dancing with each other.
— Hey, a dance around the studio! This is very fun, very fitting for a season finale cold opening, and feels like a more tender version of the memorable Office Costume Contest sketch that Kate previously did with Jim Carrey.
— Now the whole cast is getting involved in a very elegant manner during the backstage portion. I love that, and it’s another thing about this cold opening that’s very fitting for a season finale, even if, as I always say, I prefer my season finale full-cast sketches to be at the very end of the episode. No real complaints here, though.
— Good bit with Kate’s Hillary tricking Larry’s Bernie into a closing elevator at the end of their dance together.
— A great and very energetic full-cast LFNY, back when particularly-large group LFNYs were still fairly rare.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
portion of FRA’s one-man show dramatizes his successful SNL audition

— I often say this when a former cast member hosts for the first time, but it feels so unusual to me seeing Fred Armisen entering the home base stage as the host.
— Fred’s coming off well in this monologue so far.
— This “one-man show” routine is actually very fitting for Fred, since he previously did two spot-on spoofs of one-man shows when he was a cast member (one in the Drama Club Morning Announcements sketch from the season 31 Dane Cook episode, and the other in a pre-taped commercial from the season 37 Jimmy Fallon episode). Like those two previous one-man show spoofs, Fred is pulling the one in this monologue off well, and I really like how this particular one is on the topic of him auditioning for SNL.
— A meaningful little part with Fred doing a brief Prince impression, as this is a month after Prince passed away.
— The funny bit with Fred seemingly trying to prompt an audience member to respond to a question he keeps asking her is reminiscent of when he did that with Bill Hader in the aforementioned commercial from the season 37 Jimmy Fallon episode.
— Overall, a fun, funny, and unique monologue, and easily one of the better things Fred has done in a long time on SNL by this point in the mid-2010s. I can see some people complaining that this monologue was too long, but the length didn’t bother me.
STARS: ****


EXPEDITION
classroom presentation depicts horniness of Lewis (FRA) & Clark (KYM)

— Kyle’s delivery when introducing himself is hilarious.
— Some laughs from the cheesiness during the early portion of the presentation that Cecily, Fred, and Kyle’s characters are doing.
— Blah, after a promising start, I’m not caring much for the big turn the main joke of this sketch has taken, with the cheap, low-brow homoeroticism between Fred and Kyle’s Lewis and Clark, and how that has become the focus of this sketch. Also, why in the world do the performers keep breaking during this? I feel like this is an inside joke that I’m not in on.
STARS: **


FINEST GIRL
Conner4Real’s (ANS) girl (VAB) has an Osama bin Laden fetish

 

— “An SNL Digital Short”. Whoa, Lonely Island returning out of nowhere.
— Oh, a tie-in to Andy Samberg’s then-new Popstar movie.
— The “Fuck me like we fucked Bin Laden” conceit is absolutely hilarious, and a fantastic use of Vanessa.
— Speaking of Vanessa, this is yet ANOTHER outstanding season 41 Vanessa Bayer showcase, concluding what has been an amazing season for her. If I had to pick an MVP for this season, Vanessa would get my pick in a heartbeat. Back when this season originally aired, I would’ve picked Kate as season MVP, as she was my favorite current cast member at the time and could do almost no wrong in my eyes, but looking back at this season years later in hindsight, especially after Kate has been on what I feel is a big decline from season 43 onward that now makes it a little hard for me to enjoy some things from Kate’s peak years (2014-2017), I now feel that Vanessa’s work this season holds up more.
— Oh, that’s right, Jay is SNL’s President Obama impersonator. I can be excused for forgetting that fact, considering this is the FIRST AND ONLY Obama appearance that Jay has made all season. Sadly, this brief Obama scene here will be the only really noteworthy thing Jay does in this entire episode, which ends up being his last episode before getting fired that summer.
— So many hilarious visuals all throughout this short.
— The random “Damn, the whole thing was just a virtual reality experience!” twist ending made me laugh so much, due to Andy’s great, intentionally-corny delivery of it.
STARS: *****


NEW GIRLFRIEND
(JAS) overstimulates his holier-than-thou new girlfriend Regine

— The door opens and in walks both Fred as his fucking wretched Regine character from back in the day and good ol’ Jason Sudeikis in a cameo. I have rarely ever felt as many mixed emotions as I do right now.
— More and more as this sketch goes on, the “miserable” side of my aforementioned mixed emotions is becoming my dominant emotion. Any goodwill I had towards Jason’s cameo is sadly canceled out by all of the usual horrible Regine-isms in this sketch, particularly the interminable number of those damn “Watch her face while I (insert sensual action here)” bits.
— I did get a big laugh just now from Jason responding to Regine’s foot being in the guacamole dip by saying “That makes it better” and then proceeding to dip a chip into that guacamole and eat it nonchalantly. That moment alone sums up so much of Jason’s appeal as a cast member.
— (*barf*) Cue the usual part of every Regine sketch where Fred spreads his legs apart, letting us see up his skirt.
— A rare display of Vanessa breaking. Fred’s given her the giggles bad.
— For the second time in this dreadful sketch, Jason gets a laugh from me, this time with the way he exaggeratedly yelled “Hey!” in an angry manner (“HAAAAAEEEEEEEEYYYYYY!”) This sketch is reminding me of how fun and damn strong Jason was as a cast member. Man, where’s his hosting stint?
STARS: *½


FAREWELL, MR. BUNTING
schoolboys’ poetic tribute to ousted Mr. Bunting (FRA) goes horribly wrong

— Ah, a VERY memorable and beloved short film.
— So far, a spot-on spoof of an iconic scene in Dead Poets Society, and I love how this is taking its time in revealing the eventual comedic conceit. Hell, even the dramatic seriousness in this short so far is making me laugh, but maybe that’s because I know in hindsight what’s coming.
— And there’s the classic dark twist. Holy. Freakin’. Hell. This is absolutely PRICELESS.
— After Beck catches Pete’s now-headless body, I particularly love the visual of a horrified Beck’s face being DRENCHED in blood from Pete’s open neck hole (the fifth-to-last above screencap for this short).
— Bobby’s reaction when catching Pete’s severed head is hilarious.
— A particularly HUGE laugh from the bit with the off-camera lawnmower.
— It is absolutely incredible the amount of rapid-fire hilarious gags they’re jam-packing into this relatively short severed head sequence. Hands down, HANDS DOWN, one of the funniest things I have ever seen on SNL.
— A perfect way to end this, with Fred breaking the long, uncomfortable, taken-aback stretch of silence in the room right after the severed head sequence by just saying a subdued “Alright……I’m gonna take off”, and throwing in a forced little “Go, Wyndemere!” cheer before walking out the door with a box of his office belongings.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party”


WEEKEND UPDATE
impeached Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff (MAR) is in good spirits

Willie has happy memories of traumatic incidents from summers past

— Maya Rudolph all of a sudden, ladies and gentlemen. Then again, this is a Fred Armisen-hosted episode, where cameos from some of Fred’s castmates from back in the day are to be expected, I guess. I’ll be tolerant as long as SNL doesn’t go too overboard with these cameos, like they did two season finales prior when Andy Samberg hosted. We refreshingly also haven’t haven’t gotten any Kristen Wiig tonight.
— An EXTREMELY hammy performance from Maya here, but I admit it’s working for me and cracking me up.
— Colin: “This Thursday was National Hepatitis Testing Day, and good news – I got an A! (*audience reacts, while he smiles*)” Michael: “Why are you smiling?!?” Colin: “(deadpan) Last year, I got a C.”
— For the second season finale in a row, we get a special segment with Colin and Michael doing their favorite cut-after-dress-rehearsal jokes that were deemed too harsh to make it on the air earlier this season. It’s nice how this has become a season finale tradition.
— Several hilarious jokes from Colin and Michael in this “Favorite cut-after-dress-rehearsal jokes” segment, especially the very off-color joke Colin tells about the Lucky Charms leprechaun’s voice actor’s tumor turning out to be “(*in a sing-songy manner, ala the Lucky Charms jingle*) maaaagically malignant!”
— The usual big laughs from Kenan’s Willie character, especially the bits about the candy van and his dog being locked in a hot car.
— And thus ends another strong season of Update in the Jost/Che era.
STARS: ****


ESCAPE POD
(FRA)’s spaceship crewmates’ magnanimity dims as he activates escape pod

— Man, I forgot Taran was even still in the cast before he showed up in this sketch. There’s a very staggering and saddening tone to how much he’s gradually disappeared in the homestretch of what ends up being his final season before getting fired. I, like many other SNL fans, remember being absolutely blindsided by the announcement of his (and Jay’s) firing that summer, but while doing reviews of this season these past few weeks, I’ve seen so many signs this season that Taran’s formerly-solid SNL tenure was slowly dying a sad death. That was nowhere near as visible to me when this season originally aired.
— Speaking of Taran’s decline this season, it’s sadly fitting for his final episode that he’s making his first actual appearance of the night (aside from the full-cast portion of the end of the cold opening) playing a depleted, non-comedic supporting character who’s about to die.
— A lot of pretty good laughs from the extremely drawn-out activation of Fred’s escape pod.
— A good twist ending. (And, hey, turns out Taran’s character didn’t die after all.)
STARS: ***½


THEATER SHOWCASE
self-congratulatory Student Theater Showcase is a crowd displeaser

 

— Always good to see this recurring sketch. Odd seeing it buried so late into tonight’s episode, but given the fact that this is the season finale, I actually like that.
— At least for once tonight, Taran has been given an actual good, comedic role.
— Ha, Larry David as an audience member in this sketch!
— Even funnier, Larry’s character immediately walks off after hearing that he watched what’s only the first of 85 scenes in this play. Even though that gag was basically just a knock-off of something Leslie did in a previous installment of this sketch, Larry still made it very funny.
— Very funny how, after Kyle demonstrates he has the Zika virus by exclaiming “Cough, cough!” and Kate demonstrates she has Ebola by exclaiming “Achoo, achoo!”, Aidy demonstrates she has malaria by exclaiming “Malar, malar!”
— The line about the theater showcase students getting into NYU was a topical reference to something, and got a big reaction from SNL’s audience, but I forgot the news story that it was a reference to. Thanks in advance if anyone in the comments section can refresh my memory on this topical reference.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pedestrian at Best”


THE HARKIN BROTHERS
honkytonkin’ Harkin Brothers Band comprises (Carrie Brownstein) & 19 more

— A sketch in the tradition of “Fred as the lead singer of a band” sketches from Fred’s later years as a cast member (e.g. the Blue Jean Committee sketch with Jason Segel, the sports bar sketch with Dana Carvey), only this one involves the entire cast (even Jost and Che!), as well as the cameos from earlier tonight, and Carrie Brownstein. Looks like I spoke too soon earlier in this review when I expressed minor disappointment that this episode’s full-cast cold opening wasn’t placed at the end of this episode. I absolutely love that this season finale has TWO full-cast sketches. And this particular sketch gives the cast more to do than this episode’s cold opening did.
— Ah, this is such a feel-good way to end the season. Also, with this sketch, Taran and Jay (oh, and you, too, Jon) get to end their SNL tenures in style, even if this sketch DEFINITELY doesn’t make up for how Lorne did Taran and Jay dirty in the manner that he fired them.
— This overall sketch felt like it got cut very short, probably because of how extremely late in the episode it started (about 12:57, IIRC). We’re lucky we even got as much of the sketch as we did.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A strong way to end the season. We got two classic short films (one of which, Farewell Mr. Bunting, is a particularly standout SNL piece), lots of other solid segments, and very little that I disliked. Fred Armisen was actually a good host. And I’m so glad that, aside from the Regine sketch, we got performances from Fred that not only didn’t bother me, but reminded me of how very good he was in the earlier seasons of his SNL tenure (in fact, he was, along with Will Forte, my favorite current cast member back in those days) instead of reminding me of how irritating and harmful to the show he became in the later seasons of his tenure.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Farewell, Mr. Bunting
Finest Girl
Hillary & Bernie
Weekend Update
Monologue
Theater Showcase
The Harkin Brothers
Escape Pod
Expedition
New Girlfriend


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Drake)
a big step up


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER


HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2014-15)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 42 begins, with host Margot Robbie, and three new additions to the cast