Tag: 2017-18

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November 4, 2017 – Larry David / Miley Cyrus (S43 E4)

NOTE: For anyone who didn’t read my post from yesterday, this is going to be my final review. And, as you’ll notice throughout the review, there isn’t a finality to the tone of this review, because it was written over a week ago, before I came to the decision to end this project.

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PAUL MANAFORT’S APARTMENT
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) visits house-arrested Paul Manafort (ALM)

— A pretty funny cutaway to Cecily’s Melania communicating with a Donald Trump inflatable lookalike.
— Yikes, after the aforementioned Melania scene, what the hell happened? The camera cuts back to Alec, who’s seen awkwardly rushing out of the shot while looking off-camera as if he realized he wasn’t supposed to be in the current scene, but then, after a long pause as the camera just holds on a shot of nobody onscreen, Alec (or someone else) is heard off-camera saying “Wait, wait”, then Alec re-enters the shot with Alex. What in the world went wrong?
— Not caring much for anything happening during the shower scene. It’s resulting in me having the usual reaction I have to Trump-era political cold openings.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about dating as Quasimodo & in a concentration camp

— Already a good laugh right from the start, with Larry David opening this monologue by telling the cheering audience a Sally Field-esque “You tolerate me! You really, really tolerate me!”
— Larry’s whole bit about Quasimodo is hilarious, especially the voice and gestures he uses as Quasimodo.
— I’m cracking up so much at Larry’s very drawn-out hesitance when bringing up the fact that a lot of the men who have been Me Too’ed are Jewish.
— IIRC, Larry’s bit about picking up women at a concentration camp, which is definitely making me laugh, would end up receiving complaints, which is possibly what prevented this episode from receiving an NBC rerun.
STARS: ****½


THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Bernie Sanders (host) wins; Liam Hemsworth cameo

— Chris is hilarious as Lil Wayne.
— A fun Chris Hemsworth impression from Alex.
— A decent way to work in Larry’s Bernie Sanders impression.
— Mixed feelings on Alec’s appearance here, as I always love his Tony Bennett impression, but all of the Trumpwin stuff from both this and the preceding season has made me burned out on Alec’s sketch appearances.
— Boy, Beck’s Drew Carey impression is really off. I have no idea what he’s going for.
— A funny description Larry’s Bernie gives on how he washes his suit.
STARS: ***½


CONFIDENT
“Confident” & dismissive Sarah Huckabee Sanders (AIB) sidelines reporters

— I was about to say that I’m not caring for the recurrent musical cutaways in this short, but the humor in those cutaways and the press conference scenes have gotten better after a while.
— This feels a bit like a precursor to Aidy’s “Aidy B” short from later this season.
— I love the “Bruce?” “There’s no Bruce here” exchange between Aidy and Cecily, as well as how Cecily nonchalantly goes on with her next question immediately after that line.
— Aidy is performing really well in this, which is helping to make this work.
STARS: ***½


AD COUNCIL AWARDS DINNER
in retrospect, directing honoree’s (host) old PSAs are rather offensive

— I’m enjoying the 80s aesthetic in the PSAs. Speaking of which, Mikey looks like he’s wearing the same shirt that Josh Hutcherson wore in the 80’s Song sketch (e.g. the Outfield “Your Love” sketch) from his season 39 hosting stint.

— The increasingly un-PC-by-today’s-standards taglines of the PSAs are hilarious, as is how uncomfortable everybody at this awards dinner is becoming over that.
— The very casual, unacknowledged reveal of Larry’s character having a big ponytail was a bit surprising to me.
STARS: ****


THE BABY STEP
host refuses to participate in infant-themed rap video

— I love Larry getting angry at the camera for repeatedly cutting back to him for his rap solo, after he made it clear that he wants no part of this.
— I absolutely LOVE the bit with Kenan being animated as a Rugrat, especially given his Nickelodeon history.
— After the aforementioned bit with Larry getting angry at the camera for repeatedly cutting back to him, his continued objections to participating in this music video aren’t quite as hilarious as I remembered, but they’re still funny.
— Larry, to Kenan, when calling each of the performers out on doing this ridiculous music video: “You??? How long do ya have to be here not to do this kind of stuff?” Kenan: “……..I wish I knew.”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bad Mood”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Donald Jr. (MID) & Eric (ALM) defend pa Trump from suggestions of guilt

archetypal movie boxer’s girlfriend Angel (HEG) has had enough

Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, George Springer [real] give Astros swag to LEJ

— Great to see another Trump Brothers Update commentary, which are usually very funny.
— A hilarious facial expression from Alex’s Eric Trump after tasting the sugar in the Fun Dip candy (the seventh above screencap for this Weekend Update).
— The debut of Heidi’s Angel character, a.k.a. every boxer’s girlfriend from every movie about boxing ever.
— Heidi is absolutely spot-on as this movie archetype.
— The comedy in Heidi’s Angel piece wasn’t doing all that much for me at first, despite her solid performance, but the comedy has become increasingly funny the more ridiculous her rants have become with each passing topic, especially the phone bit.
— A lot of laughs from Leslie’s talk about baseball.
— Ohho, NO. The Houston Astros. Even though I don’t know much about baseball (I’m much more of a football and basketball viewer), I’m certainly well aware of the Astros’ notorious cheating scandal. This is the season that they later got busted for cheating during, right? If so, oof, this SNL appearance of theirs has aged like milk.
— It’s a shame that this Astros appearance is souring my enjoyment of Leslie’s commentary, though she still does have a few funny comments during the Astros appearance, and is still coming off as her usual likable self.
STARS: ***½


FRESH TAKES WITH DUSTIN PURCELL
teacher (host) shares improper gossip on high school show

— If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that was the no-longer-on-the-show Vanessa Bayer doing the opening announcement for this sketch. After several seconds, though, the announcer’s voice has started to sound a bit like Cecily.
— Nice to see yet another display of the fun and charming chemistry that Mikey and Alex usually have together.
— Mikey’s professional delivery of and emphasis of the word “beefed” when saying “Someone BEEFED in first period gym” tickled me so much.
— A funny low-budget ad with Pete and Chris.
— The way Larry’s character is delivering gossip about high schoolers is funny just because it’s Larry David, of all people, dishing that gossip.
— Sad that this is the closest that Luke has gotten to a comedic role so far in his SNL tenure, and it’s just a small role with a predictable (to me, at least) punchline.
— Good bit with Leslie making announcements of which students have scoliosis. I can also relate to that, having had scoliosis when I was younger.
STARS: ***½


NEW WIFE
at a party, (host)’s gay-famous new wife (CES) performs her club routine

— This sketch is SO stupid, and has some of James Anderson’s worst tendencies as a writer, but Larry David is probably the only person in existence who could sell this material. Similar to what I said about him in the preceding Fresh Takes sketch, these lines of his are only funny because it’s Larry David, of all people, delivering them.
— Now this has gotten even funnier with Larry starting to break towards the end of the sketch, causing him to laugh his way through the rest of his lines. His speaking-while-laughing-hysterically voice is absolutely priceless, as also seen in the rehearsal footage of the Kevin Roberts sketch from Larry’s previous episode.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “I Would Die For You”


BEERS
in a sitcom, (KYM) & (BEB) realize that (host) has a drinking problem

— Ah, I always love this recurring nameless 80s/90s sitcom pastiche of Beck and Kyle’s. The humor in these shorts really speaks to me, and these shorts are what I consider to be among Beck and Kyle’s best pre-taped work.
— I’m surprised to realize that this pre-taped short is Kyle’s first and ONLY appearance all night. Coincidentally, he didn’t make any live appearances in the previous Larry David-hosted episode, either.
— Kyle’s intentionally horrible non-verbal overacting whenever Larry smashes a chair is hilarious.
— Like the previous installments of this short, I love the increasingly random and out-of-place establishing shots shown between scenes.
— A good laugh from the extreme brevity of the scene that only consists of Beck saying “Alright, let’s go on our bike ride.”
— Ha, holy hell at the out-of-nowhere turn with Larry stabbing Kyle in the gut.
STARS: *****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While not as strong or memorable as the previous episode Larry David hosted, this was still a fairly solid episode. Aside from the cold opening, I enjoyed every segment, there were a few great overall highlights, and Larry did yet another strong job hosting.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Beers
Monologue
Ad Council Awards Dinner
New Wife
Weekend Update
Fresh Takes with Dustin Purcell
The Baby Step
Confident
The Price is Right
Paul Manafort’s Apartment


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kumail Nanjiani)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
That’s it. No more reviews from me. On the bright side, it appears that this One SNL A Day project will continue on another blog, with reviews being written by commenters from my blog who are graciously willing to cover the remaining episodes that I will no longer be reviewing. (Read more about that plan here.) After this Larry David review I just posted, the only thing left for me to do now is a big, special farewell extravaganza post to officially wrap up my part of this project (but not officially wrap up this project altogether, because, as I said, it appears that others will continue this project on another blog). Because of how long and extensive my farewell post will be, it will most likely take me a few days to complete, so don’t expect it to be posted by tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have it ready the day after that, but don’t be surprised if it takes me even longer. As for what kind of content the post will contain, you can expect review stats, a collection of some of the lists (of things like rating averages) that people have kindly provided in the comments sections of my reviews, new lists made by me, and various other things.

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October 14, 2017 – Kumail Nanjiani / P!nk (S43 E3)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TRUCKER RALLY
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) goes off-message at a Pennsylvania rally

— I actually got some chuckles from some early Trumpwin lines in this cold opening, but after a minute, his lines devolved into the usual unfunny white noise that his lines typically are to me.
— The Mike Pence scenes at various locations are at least shaking the formula of this cold opening up a little, though I didn’t care for the predictable outcome of the wedding scene.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about being from Pakistan & dealing with Islamophobia

— Great bit from Kumail Nanjiani about making a movie about marrying a white woman just to rub it in his family’s face.
— Kumail’s mention of an “undercover KKK dragon” made me laugh a lot.
— A particularly good part with Kumail wondering if a seemingly-racist online commenter only sat through all of The Big Sick because they expected Kumail to rip off his mask and reveal himself to be Chris Pine.
— Lots of great, very solid humor all throughout this stand-up monologue.
STARS: ****½


BANK BREAKERS
(host) rues beating sympathetic game show contestant (CES)

— Lately, Mikey seems to have become SNL’s go-to cast member for game show host roles.
— Great turn with Cecily revealing that she’ll be using the prize money for an important medical procedure for her daughter, hilariously resulting in a now-guilty-feeling Kumail awkwardly reversing his playfully mean-spirited thumbs-down into a hesitant thumbs-up.
— Plenty of other hilarious reveals as this sketch progresses. This sketch is a lot stronger than I had remembered.
— A huge laugh from Kumail unintentionally getting the Darius Rucker question correct when he was trying to lose for Cecily’s sake.
STARS: ****½


KELLYWISE
Kellyanne Conway (KAM) snares Anderson Cooper (ALM) a la Pennywise

— Good to see another Kellyanne Conway pre-tape that spoofs a movie.
— Kate is absolutely hilarious in the voice she’s speaking in for most of this short. She’s having me in stitches.
— Pretty funny reveal of Cecily’s Rachel Maddow being in the sewer with Kate’s Kellyanne.
— Love the part with Kate’s Kellyanne showing Alex’s Anderson Cooper various newspaper headlines that contain his worst nightmares.
— A very interesting and solid part with Kate’s Kellyanne posing as Hillary Clinton.
STARS: ****½


OFFICE HALLOWEEN PARTY
potential hepatitis transmission kills fun at an office Halloween party

— Two minutes into this sketch so far, and I am not enjoying it. Not only is it not funny, but it’s featuring the type of wandering muddiness that’s typical of James Anderson and Kent Sublette’s sketches.
— It’s now a minute-and-a-half later, and, aside from a few chuckles, particularly from Aidy in her back-and-forth with Beck, I continue to not care for this sketch.
— This already-poor sketch really died towards the end.
STARS: *½


WOMEN’S ROUND TABLE
Debette Goldry has first-hand knowledge of sexual harassment in Hollywood

— Oh, this is around the time that the Me Too movement began, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that recently broke out at this time.
— A hilarious part with Kate’s Debette Goldry saying she couldn’t tell the difference between Weinstein’s genitals and face when he once tried to pass his genitals off as his face to her.
— The usual great lines from Kate’s Debette.
— This is the second consecutive sketch tonight that felt like it died off towards the end. I wasn’t crazy about the last minute-and-a-half of this sketch.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What About Us”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ivana Trump (CES) claims First Lady title based on marriage precedence

COJ & MIC encourage viewers to donate to Puerto Rico hurricane relief

— Given the aforementioned Harvey Weinstein scandal, I’m surprised that tonight’s Weekend Update is opening with a completely unrelated joke about new emojis. That seems like the type of joke that would open an Update in a slow news week, which this week certainly wasn’t.
— Ah, never mind. It turns out that the punchline of the new emojis joke is about Weinstein, launching some great Weinstein rants from Colin and Michael.
— Solid and fun delivery from Cecily as Ivana Trump. However, I’m not crazy about the material itself that she’s performing. This commentary is VERY wandering.
— The camera botched the close-up of the page that Cecily’s Ivana showed from the book.
— I am chuckling at Cecily’s Ivana Trump starting to speak unintelligibly in her heavy accent with her mouth full of chocolates, though this commentary also feels like it’s gone off the rails by this point. The wandering feel I got from this commentary earlier has now become a “This commentary is completely pointless” feel.
— Tonight’s Update ends on a serious note with Colin and Michael telling us where to make a donation if we’d like to help the people of Puerto Rico in regards to the hurricane they recently suffered.
STARS: ****


HOTEL CHECK-IN
Marriott clerk (host) pitches hotel amenities to uninterested guest (MID)

— The Leslie/Chris bit didn’t do much for me, though it did result in a funny reveal of Mikey’s room being right next to theirs.
— This feels a bit like a sister sketch to the hotel sketch from the season 38 Louis C.K. episode, only without the good absurdist humor that sketch had. This sketch is still okay, though.
— A good laugh from Kumail’s overly calm, nonchalant reaction to getting punched in the face by Mikey.
— A solid ending reveal of Kumail being the lead singer of The Danny Band.
STARS: ***


NURSING HOME
nonagenarian’s (KAM) busy sex life leaves grandkids (MID) & (HEG) aghast

— TWO sketches tonight focused on Kate as an old lady? Yeah, not something I needed.
— Not caring for the constant close-ups of a silent Kate’s facial expressions.
— Kumail is very solid here.
— Kumail’s “They’re running a train, but she’s the conductor” line was good on paper, but he unfortunately flubbed his delivery of it.
— I can see why people would like this sketch, but the sketch’s premise and humor isn’t doing much for me, aside from a few reveals that I’m finding mildly amusing.
— Continuing a theme from earlier in this episode, this sketch felt like it died off during the final minute.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beautiful Trauma”


CUSTOMER SERVICE
Melania Trump (CES) befriends a Pakistani call center worker (host)

 

— An interesting, more fleshed-out variation that Julio Torres is doing of his great Melania Moments pieces from the preceding season.
— I love the very charming rapport between Cecily’s Melania and Kumail.
— Overall, yet another beautiful short from Julio Torres, displaying a perfect combination of sentimentality and comedy.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Minus the cold opening, this episode had a very strong start with three consecutive segments receiving a four-and-a-half-star rating from me, but afterwards, this episode took a little bit of a hit-and-miss route for the remainder of the show, but there were enough good pieces in that portion of the show to keep this overall episode fine.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Kellywise
Bank Breakers
Customer Service
Monologue
Weekend Update
Women’s Round Table
Hotel Check-In
Nursing Home
Trucker Rally
Office Halloween Party


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Gal Gadot)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Larry David

Posted on

October 7, 2017 – Gal Gadot / Sam Smith (S43 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

“I WON’T BACK DOWN”
Jason Aldean [real] marks Las Vegas shootings with “I Won’t Back Down”

— Another nice tribute from SNL after a mass shooting. Boy, were the 2010s a horrible decade in terms of shooting tragedies.
— A rare instance (especially in recent eras) of a cold opening being a full-fledged performance from a musical artist.
STARS: N/A (not a ratable segment)


MONOLOGUE
Times Square Wonder Woman (LEJ) compares herself to host’s version

— I didn’t even notice Gal Gadot’s accent here until she pointed it out.
— Leslie’s her usual funny and charming self as the Times Square Wonder Woman, and she has some pretty funny comparisons between herself and Gal’s Wonder Woman.
STARS: ***


E! NEW FALL LINEUP
E! offers brainless entertainment with Kendall Jenner (host) & others

— Pretty amusing how Gal’s playing two different roles in the same scene.
— A pretty good laugh from Gal’s Kendall Jenner using Alexa to find out her own identity.
— After sadly being shut out of his first episode the preceding week, Luke Null finally makes his very first appearance, and it’s not even live. His natural likability is still shining through in this role, though.
— A decent spoof of E! programming. The “Where’s Kanye” portion is standing out the most.
STARS: ***


FIRST DATE
no-longer-imprisoned O.J. Simpson (KET) has a dinner date with (host)

— A priceless reveal of Kenan playing a fresh-out-of-prison O.J. Simpson.
— Much like in his first episode, Chris Redd has the ability to get a big laugh out of me in just a small role.
— A lot of laughs from Kenan’s O.J. taking advantage of the fact that Gal doesn’t know who he is.
— Lots of other hilarious bits throughout this sketch, such as the reveal of Kenan’s O.J. having been given a plastic knife “for some reason”, Kenan’s O.J. expressing his anger over not being able to get back his trophies, and the reveal of a whole bunch of other restaurant patrons filming Kenan’s O.J. on their phones.
— Love the ending with Kenan’s O.J. saying “Still got it” into the camera.
STARS: ****½


THE CHOSEN ONE
fantasy world barely holds attention of pool boy Chad

— SNL continues to place Chad in good new settings in each short he appears in. I also like how this particular setting offers a change of pace from the previous Chad shorts’ premise of someone being in love with Chad.
— A particularly funny part where, after Cecily tells Chad she’ll gift him with her virginity, Chad responds “Dope!” and IMMEDIATELY drops his pants.
STARS: ***½


MIRAGE
mirage of (host) & Jamba Juice appears to (KET) & (BEB) in the desert

 

— Kenan in his old “Kenan & Kel”-era hairstyle, I see. He also used to wear a similar wig quite a bit way back in his earlier seasons on SNL, such as in the Good Morning Meth sketch from season 31.

— Another funny scene-stealing appearance from Leslie.
— All of the contrasts between the Gal mirages and the Kyle/Mikey mirages are pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


SAFELITE AUTOGLASS
Safelite AutoGlass worker (BEB) breaks windshields to be near teen (MEV)

— Oh, here’s a notorious piece. This would end up receiving complaints from Safelite due to the controversial content, resulting in SNL removing this commercial from both online (I think) and televised reruns. In the televised reruns, this Safelite commercial would be replaced with a cut-after-dress Beck/Kyle pre-tape.
— I think I recall that, during the aforementioned controversy over this commercial, it was even revealed that SNL modeled Beck’s character after a real-life Safelite worker seen in commercials, which would explain why Beck was given such a specific look for this.
— Beck is good in his performance as this creep, but I’m not finding this commercial all that great. I’m not HATING it, but there have been other times where SNL has done a better job of pulling off this kind of risky humor.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Too Good At Goodbyes”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM) burns her fellow Supreme Court justices

PED’s mental health would improve if more of his material made it on SNL

— Much like in the Weekend Update from the season 41 Amy Schumer episode, Colin and Michael are getting funny points out of the touchy subject of gun control.
— As much as I don’t like the always-tiresome “Ginsburned” dance breaks in Kate’s RBG commentaries, there’s a pretty funny gaffe & ensuing ad-libbing in regards to Kate’s glasses accidentally flying off during one of her dance breaks.
— Tonight’s overall RBG commentary mostly got only mild laughs from me, but there were some good lines towards the end.
— Oh, this is shortly after Pete was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.
— A lot of laughs from the concept of Pete trying to guilt SNL into helping his depression by doing more of his sketches.
— Pete, on why he doesn’t write sketches more often: “My sketches SUCK, because they’re all written by a depressed person. (pause) Lorne said that!”
— One of the requests in the note from Pete’s “doctor:” “Use more of [Pete’s] rap videos.” Looks like SNL would eventually fulfill that request, starting the following season, I believe.
— Pete, at the very end of his commentary while the audience is applauding: “How have I not been fired?!?”
STARS: ****


THE MAIDEN AND THE MICE
ballgown made from detritus by fairy tale mice doesn’t wow maiden (host)

— The mere sketch concept of a storybook character speaking to three magically-appearing tiny characters initially has me a little worried, thanks to those awful Kinky Elves sketches that I had to suffer through the last few seasons prior to this, but this sketch seems to be going its own route, thankfully.
— A pretty funny line from Aidy responding to Gal pointing out the shoddiness of the dress with “Well…yeah. We’re workin’ on a budget of zero dollars.”
— Another good line, from Kate saying “We only live for a year. We basically gave you our 20s.”
— Didn’t care much for the ending, and Beck’s role reminded me a little too much of his role in that The Princess And The Curse pre-tape from the preceding season’s Felicity Jones episode.
STARS: ***


ESPIONAGE
sexy webcam show of (CES) & (AIB) interferes with online ransom drop

— Live Luke! It’s about time. Unfortunately, Luke’s live role here is just a minor, non-comedic one.
— The various “sexy” actions that Cecily and Aidy are performing on their webcam are pretty funny.
— Good bit at the end with the 40 million dollars that Alex sends ending up unintentionally going to Cecily & Aidy instead of Gal.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pray”


THEMYSCIRA
lesbians (AIB) & (KAM) are disappointed Diana (host) & Amazons aren’t gay

— Kate and Aidy are pretty funny in their constant frustration over the unintentionally homoerotic actions being performed by the non-lesbian Amazons. I especially like Aidy’s line, “It’s like we’re in a porn, but the plumber is just genuinely there to fix the pipes.”
— Gal: “Lay your head…on my tits.” Heh, that line came out of nowhere. I also think I recall hearing that the word “tits” in that line would later be bleeped-out (or muted-out) in a rebroadcast later that same night. If that’s true, that makes me wonder if Gal ad-libbed the usage of that word. Aidy did noticeably break out into what appeared to be a genuine giggle after Gal said it (while Kate, on the other hand, remained completely straight-faced and unfazed).
STARS: ***


THE NAOMI SHOW
(KET) becomes terrible teen’s (HEG) father figure

— Heidi gets her very first big role.
— A funny entrance from Heidi, bragging about her straws.
— Kenan’s getting laughs from me in his angry spiel as the sargent.
— The turn with Kenan becoming Heidi’s dad is a bit odd, and isn’t doing all that much for me. It’s certainly not awful, but I’m a little meh on it.
— I do like Kenan’s character admitting that he’s just an actor who previously appeared on Moesha.
STARS: **½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode. Certainly not bad, and, much like what I said in my review of the preceding episode, makes me puzzled over why the first three episodes of this season gave me such a bad omen of a big decline for this SNL era back when those three episodes originally aired, but I feel like this episode rarely rose above “pretty funny” (I found myself saying “pretty funny” waaaay too much in this review).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
First Date
Weekend Update
Mirage
The Chosen One
Themyscira
Espionage
E! New Fall Lineup
Monologue
The Maiden and The Mice
The Naomi Show
Safelite AutoGlass


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ryan Gosling)
a mild step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kumail Nanjiani

Posted on

September 30, 2017 – Ryan Gosling / Jay-Z (S43 E1)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE CHAOS PRESIDENT
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) renews relationship with Jeff Sessions (KAM)

— Ugh. Trumpwin is NOT a sight I want to see right out of the gate at the beginning of a season premiere’s cold opening, but I knew to expect it.
— I did get a laugh from Aidy-as-Sarah-Huckabee-Sanders’ delivery of her line about people listening to her because she’s “no nonsense, but ALL nonsense.”
— Yeah, I’m at the point where my decreasing tolerance towards Kate’s Jeff Sessions impression has officially reached 0%.
— Though it’s just a small appearance at the end of this cold opening, I’m liking Alex’s take on Chuck Schumer, and it’s nice that, instead of giving a political role like this to a non-cast member celebrity, it’s been given to a newer, underused cast member, a choice that’s going to feel increasingly rare as the Trump era progresses.
STARS: *½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Same opening montage from the preceding three seasons, making this the first time since season 19 where an opening montage was used for a fourth consecutive season.
— Heidi Gardner, Luke Null, and Chris Redd have been added to the cast.


MONOLOGUE
host takes credit for having saved jazz in La La Land; Emma Stone cameo

— The “I saved jazz” concept isn’t anything great in itself, but Ryan Gosling is executing it well, especially his “smooth” talk into the camera while playing the piano.
— There’s our first display tonight of Giggling Gosling, a common sight in Ryan’s preceding episode.
— Nice to see the SNL Band get some focus here.
— The “We saved jazz” turn from Emma Stone is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½


ANOTHER CLOSE ENCOUNTER
Ms. Rafferty’s second close encounter wasn’t much of an improvement

— (*groan*) And they obviously only brought this sketch back in this particular episode because of how much Ryan memorably giggled in the first installment of it.
— Mikey has taken over the basic role that the recently-departed-from-the-show Bobby Moynihan used to play in these sketches.
— You know how my comments about this recurring sketch goes: it should’ve stayed a one-and-done classic, it doesn’t work as a recurring sketch, Kate’s delivery as this character remains on-point but still doesn’t stop the template of her lines from feeling increasingly and tiredly by-the-numbers (particularly her anal/vaginal rhyming euphemisms).
— The part with Kate demonstrating on Ryan’s butt while making goofy vocalizations is such a blatant attempt to get more giggling out of Ryan. It’s nowhere near as endearing to me this time because this attempt at getting Kate to make Ryan laugh feels way too forced and try-hard on SNL’s part.
— Okay, Kate finally got one big laugh out of me just now, with the “He’s never gonna forget his 12th birthday” bit towards the end.
STARS: **


LEVI’S WOKES
unoffensively indeterminate Levi’s Wokes jeans are universally wearable

 

— A spot-on, timely, and well-filmed spoof of both woke culture and the typical style of jeans commercial.
— The statements that the Woke Jeans wearers are saying are priceless.
— Parts I particularly love are “Pockets sold separately”, the 180-degree “uni-fly” zipper, and the proudly-made announcement that, instead of being made by Indonesian kids, these jeans were made by white kids.
— Chris Redd is coming off really well and very amusing in his first role.
STARS: *****


THE FLIPLETS
dark (host) dispirits his brothers’ home renovation show

— A fairly simple format for a sketch placed so early in the show, but Ryan is solid as the brother who throws off the rhythm of this light-hearted commercial by saying dark, deep, disturbing, spiritual things. He has plenty of great lines here.
— I like the charmingly cheesy brotherly rapport between Mikey and Alex.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Damian Marley [real] perform “Bam”


WEEKEND UPDATE
newly-reelected Angela Merkel (KAM) still pines for an Obama alliance

Guy Who Just Bought A Boat & cousin (host) offer oily dating advice

— An awful lot of clapter in this Update so far, even if some of Colin and Michael’s points that induced that clapter are good points.
— Some aspects of Kate’s Angela Merkel commentaries kinda blend together with her Olya Povlatsky commentaries, and I prefer Olya Povlatsky, but Kate’s Merkel commentaries still have some spark left in them by this point.
— As usual, this Merkel commentary is getting good mileage out of the running storyline of her pining for Barack Obama.
— After Michael says, in regards to healthcare horror movies, that he’s worried because we all know who dies first in healthcare horror movies, Colin hilariously ad-libs a quick “Not me!” in response.
— Colin’s joke about White Fudge Ding Dongs also being the name of what Jost/Che Weekend Updates are called in China is absolutely classic. Also great is Michael saying about it afterwards, “I don’t know who that’s more racist to.”
— Colin’s kinda overdoing it tonight with the “That’s a great transition” ad-libs whenever the audience laughs as he begins introducing a commentary right after an outrageous joke of Michael’s.
— Alex’s Guy Who Just Bought A Boat character has officially become recurring.
— Like the previous time this Guy Who Just Bought A Boat character appeared, I’m really liking Alex’s impressively-delivered rapid-fire run of abbreviated slang words, but I run hot-and-cold on the running gag with him subliminally making comments about his small penis.
— Ryan is 2-for-2 in making an Update appearance as a similar counterpart to a preexisting Update character whenever he hosts. (Bobby Moynihan’s Anthony Crispino character being the previous character who Ryan played a counterpart to.)
— Ryan’s a decent addition here, though I found him more fun as Anthony Crispino’s counterpart.
STARS: ***½


HENRIETTA & THE FUGITIVE
in a barn, fugitive (host) opts to remain loyal to fowl Henrietta (AIB)

 

— When this sketch originally aired, I spent most of it unamused, not knowing what to make of it, and repeatedly asking myself “What the hell am I watching???”, before eventually being won over by it towards the end, making me love this sketch as a whole when thinking back on it. Because of that, it’ll be interesting to watch this again for the first time since that original airing.
— I’m loving the unconventional tone of this sketch, as well as the way this silliness is being played so straight.
— Aidy is giving what I feel is one of her best performances ever.
— A funny gaffe with Aidy having trouble grabbing the gun out of Ryan’s pocket, resulting in yet another display of Giggling Gosling.
— I got a good laugh from Kenan’s delivery of “AAH! HENRIETTA, WHY?!?” after getting shot.
— I know some people feel that the “20 years later” scene at the end was unneeded, but I strongly disagree, as that was the part that won me over on this overall sketch during its original airing. Back then, the initial cutaway to Aidy’s scarf-and-sunglasses-clad Henrietta waiting outside of the prison with a suitcase was both very funny and (especially) very charming to me.
— Another funny gaffe with Aidy’s scarf and sunglasses falling off right as she delivers her final line, which was a great way to end this sketch.
STARS: ****½


ITALIAN RESTAURANT
(host) & (CES) feel betrayed by Pizza Hut commercial’s pasta switcheroo

— Even though the concept of Ryan having a very angry overreaction to the mere reveal of his food being switched with another brand is bringing Chris Farley’s classic Hidden Camera Commercials short to mind (right down to a slowly-delivered “You son of a bitch” being the first words out of Ryan’s mouth when standing up after the reveal), this is still standing up on its own legs as a funny sketch.
— Even in just a small role, Chris Redd is cracking me up with 1) his delivery of his worried response to a threatening line Ryan said to him, and 2) him muttering in regret, “I wish I hadn’t told you my name.”
— Ryan’s performance is starting to remind me of his very intense performance in the fantastic Santa Baby short from his previous episode.
— Cecily: “Is this wine even real?!?” Mikey: “You ordered a Diet Coke.” Cecily: “(worried) Then why am I buzzed???”
— Ryan: “I oughta beat the death out of you!”
— Ryan breaking out into his usual giggling fit right now is why I’m so happy the aforementioned Santa Baby short was pre-taped (as I said in my review of that short), though his giggliness in this Italian Restaurant sketch is both brief and late-into-the-sketch enough that it’s not hurting it for me.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “4:44”


PAPYRUS
lazy font choice for Avatar logo obsesses & infuriates (host)

— Ah, yet another Julio Torres classic.
— A priceless reveal of what’s bothering Ryan so much: the movie Avatar using the papyrus font for its logo.
— I love Ryan getting up and flipping over the table in response to Kate revealing that the font used for the Avatar sequel’s logo looks similar to the papyrus font.
— Chris, on the possibility of Avatar using the papyrus font: “Maybe that was the starting point, but they clearly modified this.” Ryan: “Well, whatever they did…IT WASN’T…ENOUGH!!! (*smashes a glass in anger*)”
— Chris, on the papyrus font: “Where else do you even see this font?!?” Ryan: “Hookah bars…Shakira merch…off-brand teas.”
— Ryan, while looking at Kyle through a window in Kyle’s house: “I know what you did. I KNOW WHAT YOU DIIIIIIID!!!”
— An absolutely perfect ending with a simple screen of the word “papyrus” being displayed in the comic sans font.
— Overall, such a masterpiece. And Ryan is now 2-for-2 in giving an absolutely fantastic intense performance in a pre-taped short in an episode he hosts, after the aforementioned Santa Baby short from his previous episode.
STARS: *****


DIVE BAR
flautist’s (host) mysterious personal drama leaks into Treece Henderson’s gig

— The Treece Henderson sketch (a.k.a. the “Tweedle-do-twee! Tweedle-do-twow!” Kenan singing sketch) has officially become recurring after THREE YEARS, believe it or not. Its previous appearance was in the Martin Freeman episode from season 40.
— Ryan’s usual giggliness (which he isn’t even trying to hide in this sketch) is apparently contagious here, as Kenan is quite giggly himself throughout this sketch.
— The formula of this recurring sketch is so copy-and-paste that SNL has even plugged new cast member Heidi Gardner into the same role that the recently-departed-from-the-show Vanessa Bayer played in the first installment of this sketch, and they even keep Beck as the husband.

— Speaking of new cast members, let me just take the time right now to mention this: poooooor Luke Null. It’s the man’s first episode, and he has made NO APPEARANCES in it at all. AT. ALL. My goodness. You really gotta feel sorry for him. The writing is already on the wall for the poor guy’s SNL future.
— Kyle’s delivery of his one-liners is great. Much like with the first installment of this sketch, I’m torn. Kyle and Kenan’s delivery of their lines (especially Kenan’s occasional mentions of his “good jeans”, and his yell of “Durtricia! It was yooouuuuu!”) are making me laugh, but I’m not caring much for the actual material in this sketch.
— Another amusing gaffe, this time Leslie’s difficulty in tearing Kenan’s “good jeans”.
STARS: **½


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Hugh Hefner marks his passing


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good season premiere. When this season originally aired, I noticed worrying signs of a big decline for this SNL era right from the first three episodes of this season, but in my rewatch just now, I found this episode to be fine. Two five-star segments (Levi’s Wokes and Papyrus) and a lot of other good segments. Certainly not much to complain about.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Papyrus
Levi’s Wokes
Henrietta & The Fugitive
Italian Restaurant / The Fliplets (tie)
Weekend Update
Monologue
Dive Bar
Another Close Encounter
The Chaos President


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2016-17)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Gal Gadot