Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
GUN CONTROL PRESS CONFERENCE
senators Joe Manchin (JAS) & Pat Toomey (BIH) offer weak gun legislation
— This pairing of Bill and Jason feels a little significant in hindsight, knowing we’re pretty much in the homestretch of their SNL tenure.
— I like Bill’s casual shrug when hearing he’s going to lose his job.
— A pretty funny bit about none of these gun restrictions applying to Florida.
— Good delivery from Bill on his “So, in summary…uh…you’re welcome???”
— Jay’s habit of flubbing his lines rears its head once again, with him having a rough time getting through his last few lines before his LFNY.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host leaves the stage to enlist individual audience members’ support
— Right out of the gate, Vince Vaughn is showing far more stage presence than he did in his previous monologue from 1998, where he basically just lifelessly stood there like a zombie while Darrell Hammond did all the heavy lifting as Alfred Hitchcock.
— I’m absolutely loving Vince’s one-on-one mingling with individual audience members. Vince is fantastic here, and I love how loose and genuine he’s making this feel, even though this is definitely scripted.
— Vince, when telling one audience member his phone can’t capture tonight’s episode as well as SNL’s cameras can: “I’m not saying it’s a bad-quality phone, I don’t want a lawsuit. I’m just saying–”
— Vince continues to kill it here. In fact, call me crazy, but I’m starting to get a bit of a Bill Murray vibe from his one-on-one mingling and general performance here.
— Showing what a big character Bobby’s Drunk Uncle has become, this is the third consecutive episode in which Drunk Uncle has either been mentioned or has appeared in.
— An overall very strong and underrated monologue. While not laugh-out-loud funny for the most part, nor was it trying to be, I found Vince’s execution of it to be enthralling.
STARS: ****½
THE AL PACINO ACCUSED MURDERER BIOPIC SERIES
Al Pacino (BIH) is the star of HBO’s accused murderer biopic series
— Fun concept with Bill’s Al Pacino playing various accused murderers.
— Very funny detail with Bill’s Pacino idiotically choosing to use a heavy Hispanic accent when playing the Menendez Brothers.
— Bill as Captain Francesco Schettino, in an over-the-top Italian accent: “NOW THAT’S-A SPICY BULLCRAP!”
— So far, lots of stupid fun here, which is something that Bill is typically great at pulling off. Similar to what I said about him and Jason in my review of this episode’s cold opening, there’s something kinda significant about seeing such a big Bill Hader showcase in which he plays so many different roles when you’re aware in hindsight that this ends up being his fourth-to-last episode as a cast member.
— Oh, that blackface scene………. I think I recall hearing that when a video of this scene resurfaced on Twitter last year (2019) or so, it resulted in typical Twitter outrage, though as far as I know, this particular outrage was nothing major that hurt Bill’s career or anything. I’ll argue that this blackface scene works because the whole POINT of the scene is calling out the wrongness of Bill’s Pacino doing that, unlike, say, the Jimmy Fallon/Chris Rock thing that’s been discussed to death. I also laughed in spite of myself at how Bill, in this blackface scene, said “I didn’t kill no one, mon!” in a ridiculous Jamaican accent (which you have to listen carefully for, because it gets kinda drowned out by the loud audience laughter in response to the initial sight of Bill in blackface).
STARS: ****
STORMY SKIES
Weather Channel soap opera has meteorological report tropes
— I recall this sketch coming off like an inferior knock-off of the Life We Lead sketch from Tom Arnold’s season 21 episode, which had a premise very similar to the “a hybrid of a weather report and a soap opera” premise of this Stormy Skies sketch (though that Life We Lead sketch covered a general newscast instead of just the weather part of the news like this sketch is doing).
— Yeah, so far, I’m finding that my memory of this sketch was not incorrect, as this indeed feels derivative of and inferior to the Life We Lead sketch, but there are a few original bits here that I kinda like.
— The gag with Cecily’s green dress unintentionally becoming transparent when she walks in front of the weather map greenscreen is interesting in hindsight, given the fact that she would later be on the receiving end of that gag in a sketch from Jonah Hill’s 2018 episode, where Cecily was a meteorologist and Jonah was a guy (can’t remember if he was Cecily’s boyfriend or just some guy she knew) who interrupted the newscast Cecily was on to propose to her on the air.
— The “Time and temp” bit is getting old and wasn’t necessary to repeat.
— I like Aidy spoofing typical people who ham it up in the background when a news reporter is giving a report outdoors.
— Blah, another appearance from Kenan as Bullwinkle Roker.
STARS: **
HISTORY OF PUNK – IAN RUBBISH & THE BIZZAROS
punk rocker Ian Rubbish (FRA) loved Margaret Thatcher; Steve Jones cameo
— Immediately, I’m absolutely loving the atmosphere and style of this mockumentary, and how it feels so different for SNL.
— Easily the best and most refreshing thing Fred has done on SNL in years by this point.
— I love Fred’s delivery of “Be deeeceeeeeent”, which would later be shown in a highlight reel (of, I think, short films) in SNL’s 40th Anniversary Special, which made me love that line of Fred’s even more.
— Fred-as-Ian-Rubbish’s constant favoritism towards Margaret Thatcher is a solid comedic conceit, even if it’s rather thin. The execution is making it work.
— Lots of great details all throughout this that are adding to the authentic feel of this mockumentary.
— Fun shots of Vanessa as Margaret Thatcher.
— Brilliant piece overall, and a favorite of mine. I loved pretty much every single thing about this.
STARS: *****
SHORT TERM MEMORY LOSS THEATRE
(BIH) gives prompts throughout short-term memory loss theater production
— Blah, an obvious twist with Bill having to feed lines to his short-term memory-having actors, after his long, glowing initial set-up with him touting those actors’ ability to easily remember their lines.
— Good lord, this sketch is so boringly one-note – a note that wasn’t funny to begin with.
— (*groan*) And now to make this sketch even worse, there goes yet another season 38 display of Fallon/Sanz-esque giggling between Bill and Fred.
— Jay’s scene initially seemed promising, but it ended up going the same unfunny route as the rest of the characters, as if that joke hadn’t already been beyond run into the ground by this point of the sketch.
— Overall, in a word: oof.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Adorn”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Brad Paisley (JAS) & LL Cool J (KET) think their song has ended racism
Marina Chapman’s (KAM) behavior proves that she was raised by monkeys
— While not the best LL Cool J impression I’ve ever seen, Kenan’s take is cracking me up.
— I love Jason’s exaggerated, stretched-out way of saying Seth’s name in the southern accent he’s using as Brad Paisley.
— Funny line from Kenan’s LL Cool J about his reputation as the most lowdown, hardcore cast member of NCIS.
— There goes Seth’s obligatory display of a German accent after doing a joke about Germany.
— Kate’s raised-by-monkeys commentary seems a little promising for her.
— Hmm, as Kate’s commentary goes on, I’m seeing that the material itself is very scant and meh. Kate’s doing her best to try elevating it with a fun performance.
STARS: **½
JUNIOR PROM
rich neighbor (host) takes liberties with junior high prom he bankrolled
— Bill, Aidy, and Kenan’s ridiculously redundant opening conversation is already making me nervous for what kind of sketch awaits me.
— I kinda laughed at Bobby’s soft-spoken, monotone “Whaaaaaaaat?” when asked by Vince to dance with him.
— Boy, this sketch is fucking TERRIBLE so far. Absolutely unwatchable. What the hell is this even going for?!?
— Aww, poor Tim.
STARS: *
ROUNDBALL ROCK
NBC execs nix John Tesh’s (JAS) brother’s (TIR) “Roundball Rock” lyrics
— Ah, yes! YES! A sketch I fell deeply in love with ever since it originally aired. Hell, I basically already fell in love with it back in November 2012 when I read the description of it in an online dress rehearsal report for the Louis C.K. episode, as this sketch was originally cut from that episode.
— That sure was one long, awkward delay before Aidy made her entrance. I guess she missed her cue.
— Tim’s “Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-basketball, gimme-gimme etc.” singing is slaying me, made even funnier by the silly and exaggerated high-fives he and Jason give each other at the end of each verse.
— I love Tim’s delivery of “Uhhh, my gut is noooo.”
— A very funny little detail with Vince casually referring to the Tesh Brothers collectively as “Teshes”.
— I absolutely love the insane sequence with the Teshes going wild and destroying the office with tiny hammers and gasoline. Excellent absurdity there.
— Tim: “We did NOT want this to go this way.” Vince: “Then why did you bring little hammers and a can of gasoline?”
— A lot of SNL fans seem to think that Jason’s delay in miming his piano playing a few seconds after the dramatic piano music has started playing in the background during Tim’s poignant speech was a genuine blooper on Jason’s part. However, it always seemed like an intentional gag to me, like it was suggesting that, after hearing soft piano music playing in the background while Tim’s speaking dramatically, Jason’s John Tesh got the sneaky idea to make people think he’s the source of that background music. Either way, whether intentional or a blooper, it adds even more to the greatness of this sketch.
— Even the silly ending with Kenan’s fake freeze-frame and the hand of Vince waving in front of Kenan’s face is perfect to me.
— Overall, an absolutely excellent sketch, and yet another argument for why Tim should’ve been kept in the cast the following season.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “How Many Drinks?”
LAST CALL
at closing time, (host) & Sheila Sovage are each other’s only sex option
— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— I like Vince’s random line about being a Wasabi pee tester.
— Sheila Sovage, on herself: “Raised in Shanghai, deflowered in Wilmington, Delaware!”
— The audience was very quiet during the first third of this sketch, but they’re getting more into it now.
— A funny and gross “Pass the tequila shot” bit.
— Kate’s monkey bit is interesting, given the raised-by-monkeys commentary she did on Update earlier tonight.
— Tonight’s installment of this recurring sketch had a slow start, but has gotten better. However, this is one of the lesser installments of this recurring sketch (which just shows how strong a lot of the other installments are, since this one still isn’t too bad).
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
— Great callback to/continuation of the monologue, with Vince returning the audience member’s phone as promised. Much like the refreshing change of pace with Melissa McCarthy’s monologue entrance in the preceding episode, it’s a huge rarity for overly-formulaic recent SNL eras like this one to do anything out-of-the-ordinary in the goodnights.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A wildly up-and-down episode, featuring some of the best AND worst segments of this entire season. (Kinda reminds me of how bipolar the season 28 Brittany Murphy episode was.) The stuff outside of the absolute best and absolute worst of this episode ranged from mediocre to pretty good. So, in other words, this episode was all OVER the place. The good does outnumber the bad, though.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Roundball Rock
History Of Punk – Ian Rubbish & The Bizzaros
Monologue
The Al Pacino Accused Murderer Biopic Series
Last Call
Gun Control Press Conference
Weekend Update
Stormy Skies
Short Term Memory Loss Theatre / Junior Prom (tie)
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Melissa McCarthy)
a little hard for me to figure, due to how wildly inconsistent tonight’s episode was, though I think I’d call this episode a slight step up, given how it has higher highs than the McCarthy episode
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Zach Galifianakis hosts for his third and, as of 2020, final time