Tag: Season 42

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May 20, 2017 – Dwayne Johnson / Katy Perry (S42 E21)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

HALLELUJAH
Ivanka (Scarlett Johansson) & the rest of team Trump sing “Hallelujah”

— SNL spoofs their own serious Hallelujah cold opening from earlier this season.
— So far, this spoof is doing absolutely nothing for me, and neither are the walk-ons from Trump cabinet members throughout the song.
— Blah, cue the applause break for Scarlett Johansson’s walk-on as Ivanka.
— Okay, I did kinda laugh just now at the brief gag with Trumpwin doing the “Look, no hands” gesture while still “playing” the piano.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
Five-Timers host & Tom Hanks [real] are running for president; Alec Baldwin cameo

— Quite a lot of hosts becoming Five-Timers in these last few months of this season (Scarlett Johansson, Melissa McCarthy, and Dwayne Johnson).
— Random casting of Alex, briefly showing up just to get the “honor” of placing the Five-Timers jacket on Dwayne.
— A funny fake-out with the Five-Timer who Dwayne says will be his presidential running mate turning out to be Tom Hanks instead of Alec.
— A nice charm to this monologue, and a good way to get mileage out of Dwayne and Tom’s beloved public images.
— A decent laugh from Dwayne and Tom each demonstrating how they would handle a national crisis as president/vice president.
STARS: ***


CARTIER FIDGET SPINNER
Cartier’s diamond-encrusted fidget spinner occupies annoying babe (VAB)

— Wonderful to see a new Vanessa Bayer-starring commercial in her final episode.
— This commercial is initially bringing the Kristen Wiig “Red Flag Perfume” commercial to mind, as well as (to a lesser extent) the Ivanka Trump “Complicit” commercial, but this Vanessa ad ends up taking its own turn.
— A very funny and inspired way to spoof the fidget spinner craze from this time.
— As expected, Vanessa is excellent in her performance here, and it’s great to see her play against type once again in these last two seasons of her tenure.
— Beck-as-the-voice-over’s various descriptions of Vanessa are hilarious.
— A great “Because, GOD, the sex is good” punchline.
— Overall, a Vanessa Bayer gem that I had surprisingly forgotten all about until now.
STARS: *****


WRESTLEMANIA PROMO
Koko WatchOut psychologically wrecks Trashyard Mutt again in Wrestlemania promo

— It’s gonna be hard to top the first installment of this, but I can’t complain about this second installment being part of Bobby’s swan song tonight.
— Beck replaces Taran Killam as the announcer from the first installment of this sketch, and they repeat the same running gag of the announcer always being preoccupied with his phone before he suddenly goes into “professional announcer mode”. Just like last time, I don’t care for that running gag, and don’t see why it’s necessary (though it’s certainly not hurting the sketch or anything).
— I love Bobby’s “Ohhhh, nooooooo” when Dwayne brings up Bobby being a Katy Perry fan (even if this whole “Katy Perry fan” portion of this sketch feels to me like SNL pandering to this episode’s musical guest).
— While this installment isn’t quite measuring up to the first installment for me, this is still very funny, and Dwayne’s overly-personal trash talk about Bobby is providing big laughs. I especially love Dwayne’s “You’re the DeVito!” line during the reveal of Dwayne and Bobby being twins.
STARS: ****


ONE VOICE
eighteen additional artists are featured on Big Chris’ (KET) rap song

— Very funny how out-of-hand the increasing number of additional rappers is getting, much to Kenan’s frustration.
— Ha, not only are Colin and Michael involved in this, but they’re playing a rap duo hilariously given the incongruous name “2 Black Guyz”. Colin making a non-Weekend Update appearance rarely fails to be inherently funny.
— This is fun as hell, and I love the very different personality and style each performer gives to their rapper character. This short is also a great way to get the entire cast involved. As I always say, I love seeing a full-cast piece in a season finale (even if, as I also always say, I prefer those full-cast season finale pieces to air at the end of the episode).
— Tom Hanks’ famous David S. Pumpkins character from earlier this season returns in the form of David S. Pimpkins.
STARS: ****½


SCORPIO
(host)’s self-made costume gets more attention than his superhero status

— Meh, the big comedic turn this sketch has taken isn’t doing much for me, despite the likability of Cecily’s performance when she first starts fawning over Dwayne’s sewing skills. This sketch’s type of humor usually isn’t my bag, kinda like I said about that The Boy Is Mine sketch from the Chris Pine episode.
— I do kinda like Dwayne explaining why he prefers not to have a scorpion label on the chest of his costume.
STARS: **


JURASSIC RIVER RAPIDS
Gemma is part of unplanned double date on splashy Universal Studios ride

— Blah. However, at least it makes sense to do this in this episode, given how solid Dwayne was as the boyfriend in the first installment of this sketch. I guess they also realized this is their last opportunity to do this sketch when Vanessa’s in the cast.
— I did get a chuckle from the new addition of Gemma having a pet pig.
— Like last time, Dwayne is fun and natural in this role.
— All of the water that Vanessa keeps getting splashed with throughout this sketch must be a good-natured case of “reverse hazing” for Vanessa’s last show.
STARS: **


XENTREX
(host) uses sketchy male enhancement drug despite side effects

— Dwayne’s various “And he said…” “And I said…”s when relaying the conversation he and his doctor had about the dangerous Xentrex drug are increasingly hilarious.
— A great background visual of Dwayne roughing up Kyle while a long list of the medication’s side effects are shown onscreen.
— I love Dwayne’s very straitlaced, deadpan “Hail Satan” at the end when showing various bad effects of the medication.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Swish Swish”


WEEKEND UPDATE
“Bad Day” accompanies photos of departed Trump administration members

high-strung Dawn Lazarus delivers more meteorological gobbledygook

Drunk Uncle lists things in America that need to be made great again

— Great to see Dawn Lazarus already return after only two episodes, as part of Vanessa’s swan song tonight.
— Like last time, Vanessa is absolutely fantastic at this character’s nonsense-speaking routine. I particularly got a laugh from her smiley, affable delivery of “Hopefully, no goddamn rain.” And, of course, her legendary utterances of “Hap” never fail to kill.
— A good callback to Michael’s Dwayne “The Scissors” Johnson joke from a previous Update.
— As part of Bobby’s swan song, we get our final Drunk Uncle commentary, which is this character’s first appearance since the notorious Donald Trump-hosted episode from a year and a half prior. I’m glad that episode didn’t end up being Drunk Uncle’s final appearance.
— (*groan*) There goes Colin ONCE AGAIN responding to Drunk Uncle’s usual “That’s not me” line with “That’s not anyone.” I’m sure most of you readers know how much that gets on my nerves. Well, this is the last chance for Colin to say that, so…
— Ah, we get an acknowledgment of this being Drunk Uncle’s final appearance, with him asking Colin to do one shot with him “for the road”. However, I wish they did something far more noteworthy than that to make his final appearance special.
— The Russian Roulette bit at the end of Drunk Uncle’s commentary is hilarious.
— Drunk Uncle’s overall commentary was the usual great stuff.
— Surprised this season finale Weekend Update didn’t contain either Colin and Michael’s joke-swapping routine or their “favorite cut-after-dress-rehearsal jokes” routine.
STARS: ****


IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Brad Grey marks his passing
— Not included in the copy I’m reviewing of this episode


RKO MOVIE SET
in 1948, star actress (VAB) can’t stop farting while shooting film noir

 

— The “Solomon and Klein – Detectives” window sign in the background (seen in the second above screencap for this sketch) is presumably a reference to SNL writers John Solomon and Rob Klein.
— Hooooooooo, boy. While I’m so happy to see SNL give Vanessa so many showcases in her final episode, and while it’s certainly a novelty seeing Vanessa do a fart sketch, that sure as hell doesn’t mean her doing a fart sketch is a GOOD novelty. I had no desire to ever see Vanessa do a fart sketch, especially not one that feels like a complete rehash of that notoriously horrible Rear Window sketch with January Jones back in season 35. Not to mention this is our second fart sketch of the second half of this season alone (the sit-ups sketch from the Alec Baldwin episode being the first), and the first one was bad enough.
— Speaking of the sit-ups sketch, I’m assuming Steve Higgins is the one providing the fart vocalizations in this RKO sketch, like he did in that sit-ups sketch.
— Well, Higgins is at least managing to get some rare breaks out of Vanessa, which is actually charming in her case, and also a special note to mark her final episode with. My goodwill towards that is the only thing keeping me from completely hating this sketch.
— Lame ending.
STARS: **


INTERNATIONAL MAD SCIENTIST SOCIETY
(host)’s child-molesting robot wins mad scientist evil invention contest

— Ah, yes, here we go…
— An absolutely PRICELESS very dark reveal of Dwayne’s evil invention: a child-molesting robot. Holy hell.
— I love that combination scream/gasp/laughter reaction from SNL’s audience in response to the initial reveal of the child-molesting robot.
— I love Dwayne’s “Robo-ChoMo” name for his child-molesting robot.
— Sasheer’s facial reactions are making me laugh a lot. Our final display of Sasheer’s good straight man skills (which are much better than I had remembered before reviewing these past few seasons).
— Dwayne, on how to build a child-molesting robot: “What you do is, you start by building a regular robot, uh, then you molest it and hope that it continues the cycle.”
— This sketch is easily one of the ballsiest things SNL has ever put on the air, and it absolutely pays off.
— Dwayne, on evilness: “Benito Mussolini used to force-feed people castor oil until they literally died of diarrhea. (pause) I mean, that’s gotta be where the goal posts are, right?”
— At many points in this sketch, Dwayne’s voice and inflections sound VERY Barack Obama-esque (even moreso than his voice usually does).
— Yikes, the random White Castle turn this sketch takes towards the end is freakin’ TERRIBLE. Thankfully, the rest of this sketch is classic enough to not be hurt by that. But still – damn, that was the best way they could end this sketch???
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Migos [real] perform “Bon Appétit”


WINGMAN
while being (host)’s wingman, bartender (BEB) adds himself to hookups

— A big laugh from the first threesome reveal.
— Beck is solid in this lead role and has a pretty good amount of funny lines.
— A very funny sudden appearance from Bobby as “Carlos”, our final display of Bobby’s great ability to steal a sketch with a simple walk-on.
STARS: ***½


SENIOR SKIT
high school seniors (BEB), (KYM), (BOM), (VAB) perform valedictory sketch

— (*sigh*) Welp, this is it, folks. Bobby and Vanessa’s final sketch as cast members.
— Man, when Bobby says, in a sad, emotional manner, “Now it’s coming to an end” in regards to the crazy ride that his and his classmates’ four years of high school have been, you can tell that 1) there’s a lot of reality subtext in that line, given his and Vanessa’s SNL departures, and 2) his sad, emotional delivery of that line was NOT acting. His delivery of that line is heart-breaking.
— A very good running gag with a deadpan Leslie as the lunchlady whenever her cooking gets slammed.
— This sketch probably isn’t anything special on paper, but there’s a nice charm to it when seeing it played out, obviously helped by the fact that this is Bobby and Vanessa’s sendoff. Too bad SNL didn’t put Sasheer in this as one of the students performing this play. She and SNL apparently knew at this time that she was leaving, as an SNL fan once mentioned back at this time that there were photos online (can’t remember where) of Bobby, Vanessa, and Sasheer each being lifted in the air by their castmates at the end of this episode’s goodnights (not seen in the televised version of this episode’s goodnights, unfortunately).
— The ending of this sketch seemed like it got cut a little short due to the show running long. That also probably explains why this sketch in general had a rushed vibe.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

— Interesting seeing the audience actually give a standing ovation in these season finale goodnights.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fitting end to such a good, memorable season. Much like this season itself, while this episode certainly had some lowlights, they were far outnumbered by some great highlights, including two five-star pieces (Cartier Fidget Spinner and International Mad Scientist Society). Dwayne Johnson did his usual fantastic hosting job, and his hosting skills & comforting presence were particularly welcome in a season finale.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
International Mad Scientist Society
Cartier Fidget Spinner
One Voice / Xentrex (tie)
Wrestlemania Promo
Weekend Update
Wingman
Senior Skit
Monologue
Jurassic River Rapids
Scorpio
RKO Movie Set
Hallelujah


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 43 begins, with host Ryan Gosling, and three new additions to the cast

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May 13, 2017 – Melissa McCarthy / HAIM (S42 E20)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TRUMP INTERVIEW
Lester Holt (MIC) questions Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) about James Comey

— Ugh.
— Not only do I dislike whenever SNL has Trumpwin deliver uncharacteristic pop culture-centric lines, such as the Beyonce-playing-her-hits-at-a-concert one in this cold opening, but Alec butchered that Beyonce one with his stumbly delivery.
— After having Trumpwin admit to obstruction of justice, I like Michael’s Lester Holt looking around in surprise and asking, “So, wait – did I get ‘im???”, and then, after being told something over his earpiece, responding “So…absolutely NOTHING matters anymore? Okay.”
— Feels a little odd seeing Mikey doing a Paul Ryan impression, given the fact that it was a role that the then-recently-fired Taran Killam used to regularly play.
— The Anderson Cooper eye-roll bit gave me a laugh.
— While the running gag with Trumpwin always referring to Michael’s Holt as other famous black people isn’t doing anything for me for the most part, I did laugh at the meta bit with him referring to Michael’s Holt as “Kenan” at one point.
— Overall, not as awful as some of the last few Trumpwin cold openings, but still blah as a whole, mainly Trumpwin’s lines.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host shows backstage SNL to a mom; Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively cameos

— A sweet bit with Melissa McCarthy making every mother in the audience stand up to receive applause, in honor of Mother’s Day.
— I recall hearing that Joan, the audience member who McCarthy is giving a tour of the studio to, is writer Sarah Schneider’s mother. Joan does mention the name Sarah here when telling McCarthy the names of her two kids.
— A fun, charming, and different approach to the usual “around-the-studio monologue” trope.
— A rare instance of someone calling attention to the traditional backstage llama. Coincidentally, one of the only other occurrences I can remember of the llama being acknowledged by someone happens to be in another Melissa McCarthy monologue: her season 39 one.
— As I sorta mentioned in my review of Emily Blunt’s monologue from earlier this season, McCarthy calls Kyle “Mike Mooney” here in a genuine accident, and doesn’t seem to realize her mistake.
— At one point, right before McCarthy introduces Joan to HAIM, McCarthy’s mic cuts off for a few seconds while she’s in the middle of a sentence.
— It’s fascinating seeing some portions of SNL’s backstage that we usually never see, including the area behind the entrance door of the home base stage. The only other two times I remember seeing the latter in an actual episode (meaning I’m not counting behind-the-scenes videos) is the cold opening of Bruce Dern’s season 7 episode and, most memorably, the monologue from Danny DeVito’s season 14 episode.
— Interestingly, when Joan’s name is announced right before she enters the home base stage like a host, not only is that not Darrell Hammond’s voice doing the announcing (because he didn’t do his announcements live for most of [if not all of] this season, and thus, I guess SNL didn’t have enough time between the writing of this monologue and the airing of this episode to get Darrell to tape an announcement of Joan’s name), but whoever that is doing the announcing is doing a Don Pardo impression.
— I like how the SNL Band replays the opening theme music when Joan enters the home base stage.
STARS: ***½


JUST DESSERTS!
unlucky contestant (host) gets pies & cakes in the face

— I love Kenan’s voice-over cheesily exclaiming “PIE!” whenever McCarthy gets hit with a pie. By the way, for the longest time, I had remembered that voice-over shockingly being Kenan’s ONLY involvement in this entire episode, before I recently remembered that he also appears in a pre-taped commercial later in this episode.
— I haven’t been caring for where this sketch has been going.
— McCarthy’s starting to worry me with that unscripted(?) coughing and hacking sound she keeps doing off-camera, which seems genuine. When she got sprayed with sprinkles earlier, did some of them go down her throat and get stuck in it?
— The extended clean-up sequence is kinda funny, at least.
STARS: *½


AMAZON ECHO SILVER
Amazon Echo Silver is tailored to respond to old folks’ verbal inquiries

— Very relatable humor here, and it’s being executed perfectly.
— Excellent use of Cecily’s always-reliable voice-over work.
— Feels rare seeing Kyle play this type of role.
— The “black jazz” bit is particularly hilarious.
STARS: *****


PRESS CONFERENCE
Sean Spicer (host) explains Russia investigation with matryoshka dolls

Sean Spicer (host) drives podium to confront Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin)

— The debut of Aidy’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders impression.
— Our obligatory Sean Spicer sketch of the night.
— What in the world does McCarthy say after using a fire extinguisher on Mikey’s pants? I could make out a lot of that line, but most of the last third of it completely lost me. Here’s a quote of the line: “You know why I had to put your pants out? ‘Cause your (something something) lyin’ in there!” The “(something something)” part is the words that I can’t make out. Back when this sketch originally aired, I remember rewinding this part over and over again trying to understand the “(something something)”, to no avail. And in my current viewing four years later, I still can’t understand the “(something something)”. She seemed to mess something up in that line, as she half-heartedly adds “Pants lyin’” afterwards in what appears to be an ad-lib, as if she’s correcting herself. If anyone reading this review can help me figure out what the “(something something)” part of the afore-quoted line that I’m confused about is, thanks in advance.
— Another odd gaffe, this time when McCarthy is showing the various Russian dolls. The wrong doll seemed to be included at one point when McCarthy meant to show the Slimer-from-Ghostbusters doll, resulting in initial awkwardness from McCarthy when realizing the error, but she recovers well by humorously blaming Bobby’s Glenn Thrush in an ad-lib, which is followed by the camera doing a hilarious brief cutaway to Bobby slyly shrugging his eyebrows repeatedly in an ad-lib of his own.
— Good bit with the pillar that McCarthy’s Spicer throws at Vanessa.
— A fun and well-filmed outdoors sequence with McCarthy’s Spicer driving his motorized podium across the city.
— Feels a little odd seeing Trumpwin in this sketch.
— Somebody seemed to forget a line just now during the Trumpwin/Spicer conversation, resulting in a stretch of awkward silence.
— A very weak ending with the Trumpwin/Spicer kiss.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Want You Back”


WEEKEND UPDATE
rehab got PED sober & also revealed that he’s allergic to horses

Cathy Anne recognizes evidence of junkie-grade paranoia in Donald Trump

— Michael has a very distracting smudge of light makeup on his forehead (seen in the second, fifth, and sixth above screencaps for this Weekend Update), left over from his portrayal of Lester Holt earlier tonight. The smudge almost looks like a band-aid.
— I’m kinda surprised Michael’s not doing his usual “Trump voice” when reading all of those Trump tweets.
— I like how the running gag with a record-scratch sound effect and James Brown’s “I Feel Good” playing whenever Michael points out how a crazy thing Trump has done sounds like something from a wacky movie trailer is bringing to mind that fantastic Loews Theater sketch from the season 23 Garth Brooks episode.
— I couldn’t find anything to say about Pete’s overall commentary while watching it just now, but it was okay as a whole, and had some decent lines and interesting anecdotes.
— The makeup smudge on Michael’s forehead is finally gone. Somebody at the show must’ve noticed and had somebody come over and remove the smudge while Pete’s commentary was going on.
— Lots of very strong jokes from Colin and Michael tonight.
— Nice recovery from Michael when stumbling during his introduction of the next guest commentary.
— Good to see another Cathy Anne commentary.
— Meh, I could’ve done without Cathy Anne’s preachy, clapter-bait non-comedic lines during one portion of her commentary.
— Lots of good interplay between Cathy Anne and Michael here.
— This overall Cathy Anne commentary was good, though not quite as strong as usual.
STARS: ****


FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Debette Goldry & fellow veteran actress (host) describe sacrifices made

— Oh, I forgot until now that there’s a Debette Goldry sketch with Melissa McCarthy playing a similar character to Kate’s.
— I’m not too crazy about the voice that McCarthy’s using here.
— The usual hilarious lines from Kate’s Debette (even if there’s nothing here that I’m bothering to quote in this review). McCarthy’s character, on the other hand, feels unnecessary.
STARS: ****


KYLE AND LESLIE
relationship of KYM & LEJ grows more complex via marriage & parenthood

— Ah, our second entry in the great Leslie/Kyle saga.
— I love the footage of Leslie and Kyle’s wedding inside the SNL studio.
— A great reveal that Leslie and Kyle now have a son, and that they named him after Lorne (even if SNL already used that joke years prior in a cameo that Jimmy Fallon made during a Fey/Poehler-era Weekend Update, where it was revealed that Jimmy and Tina Fey are the parents of a young boy named Lorne.)
— I like the usage of various TV/movie clips of Leslie and Kyle, respectively, to show how the past year of their careers have been.
— Love the mock-dramatic depths that the Leslie/Kyle relationship is being taken in this short, such as them speaking to a marriage counselor, only for us to eventually see that the “marriage counselor” is an unwitting Melissa McCarthy, who’s just trying to read a script.
— An absolutely hilarious part with Kyle angrily shooting Colin in the leg.
— When everybody in the studio is running away in a panic after Kyle fires the gun, I got a huge laugh from the camera zooming in past those running people to show Lorne just standing there in a deadpan manner, followed by a very funny confessional of him where he explains that Kyle’s shooting of Colin was justified because “Colin can be annoying”.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Little of Your Love”


FIRST BIRTHDAY
fellow moms usher in (MEV)’s requisite selection of a theme animal

— I believe this is the first big role Villasenor has gotten in months.
— A variation of the Baby Shower sketch from the previous Mother’s Day, when Brie Larson hosted.
— Much like in the aforementioned Baby Shower sketch, Sasheer is coming off very natural here, presumably because she co-wrote this (and the Baby Shower) sketch, which I recall someone online once claiming.
— Also much like in the Baby Shower sketch, Vanessa’s delivery of her disclosure of how she received her calling is particularly strong.
— When the ladies are making aggressive animal sounds in unison, I laughed at Leslie’s very calm, spiritual delivery of “I’m an angel.”
— The ending felt rushed.
— Overall, not as strong as the aforementioned Baby Shower sketch, but still good.
STARS: ***½


PRODUCTION LOGO
production company logos proposed by designer (BEB) are all unpleasant

— Oddly, this sketch opens with a disclaimer stating “Promotional consideration for SNL furnished by Apple”. This is a serious, non-comedic disclaimer, but you can tell the audience is unsure, as two(?) female audience members are heard laughing out loud during it.
— Well, I guess that Apple laptop Beck’s using explains the Apple disclaimer at the beginning.
— Funny running bit with Beck’s “Feast your ass on this” lines.
— A good, different approach to the usual “Melissa McCarthy plays a weirdo who other characters react in confusion to” trope, which is more than I can say for McCarthy’s previous episodes, as those episodes had a number of “Melissa McCarthy plays a weirdo who other characters react in confusion to” sketches that left me cold.
— The McCarthy-holding-a-knife-while-screaming-at-the-camera production logo gave me a particularly good laugh.
— A technical error, as the screen is stuck on the final shot of the previous production logo (the aforementioned McCarthy-holding-a-knife one) when the next production logo is supposed to be shown. Bobby, who’s mic is turned off during this moment, can faintly be heard off-camera ad-libbing “No, that was the one before”, which made me chuckle. Another example tonight of Bobby smoothly ad-libbing his way out of somebody else’s gaffe. Man, this is just one of the MANY reasons why I’m going to miss him after his upcoming departure.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS
Steve Martin [real] presents Five-Timers jacket to host

— A great callback to the Leslie/Kyle short from earlier tonight, by having Colin in a leg cast & crutches during these goodnights. Numerous examples of continuity like that is just one of the things that makes this season so fun. I also like how Colin’s leg cast is never pointed out in these goodnights, just keeping it a nice background gag.
— Ah, we get a special moment right now, with Steve Martin showing up to give McCarthy her Five-Timers jacket. McCarthy and one of the members of HAIM both looked genuinely surprised when Steve first showed up, as if they truly didn’t expect him, but after a while, I’m feeling more and more that they were probably just acting.
— I love how this Five-Timers induction for McCarthy even works in the Steve Martin/Alec Baldwin rivalry storyline. How often do you see this type of “scene” being performed during the goodnights of recent eras like this one? I like how the vibe of this “scene” feels like a throwback to some of the goodnights from the 70s and 80s.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I feel like I’m running out of things to say in this portion of my reviews lately, given how consistently good (for the most part) the quality of this season’s episodes as a whole have been, but yeah, this was yet another good season 42 episode. There was especially a nice consecutive string of great segments from Amazon Echo Silver to the Leslie/Kyle short, minus the Sean Spicer sketch (which I still liked).


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Kyle and Leslie
Amazon Echo Silver
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Weekend Update
First Birthday
Production Logo
Monologue
Press Conference
Trump Interview
Just Desserts!


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Chris Pine)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Season 42 comes to an end, with host Dwayne Johnson, another host who is entering Five-Timer status. It’s the final episode for Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Sasheer Zamata.

Posted on

May 6, 2017 – Chris Pine / LCD Soundsystem (S42 E19)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MORNING JOE
Joe Scarborough’s (ALM) romance with Mika Brzezinski (KAM) flummoxes panelists

 

— Good to not see a Trumpwin cold opening for the first time in a while.
— Fun interplay between Kate and Alex.
— Spoke too soon about this not being a Trumpwin cold opening, though his involvement is thankfully just a small voice-over, and it’s not hurting this cold opening for me.
— The cutaways to the panelists reacting to Kate and Alex’s romance is starting to get old for me after a while.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host sings “Uptown Girl” variant to differentiate Chris hunks’ identities

— Blah, there’s yet another usage that tired, old “I did such a good job on the show (insert big number here) years ago that they couldn’t wait to have me back” joke.
— Good fake-out with Chris Pine getting the audience to applaud his mention of him being in Guardians Of The Galaxy, only for him to reveal that it was Chris Pratt who was in that movie.
— A decent visual of the poster of all the famous Chris hunks.
— Our first of what will end up being MANY song-and/or-dance numbers in tonight’s episode.
— The musical number here isn’t anything special, but it’s passable enough.
STARS: ***


WHERE IN THE WORLD IS KELLYANNE CONWAY?
nobody cares to find Kellyanne Conway (KAM)

 

— As a 90s kid, I love how this Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego spoof is bringing me back to my childhood. Even the “Corporation For Public Broadcasting / Viewers Like You” intro that this sketch opens with is such a blast of nostalgia for me.
— A creative topical concept for a WitWiCS spoof.
— The guys are very funny as Rockapella.
— Sasheer is doing a good job in her impression of The Chief from WitWiCS, playing this role for the second time (after the Yo Where Jackie Chan At Right Now sketch from the preceding season).
— A very funny twist and comically-abrupt conclusion. I also like how that makes this the second consecutive episode with a quick blackout gag sketch (after the Take Me Back sketch).
STARS: ****


SONG FOR PEACE
slavic Stav D (BEB) bemoans crises, particularly porn

   

— Beck is absolutely hilarious in this.
— Solid supporting work from Kyle and (especially) Chris.
— The look of Kyle’s character is very similar to that of his character MC Strategy from those town hall sketches from season 41 (the Amy Schumer and Ronda Rousey episodes). He also reminds me of how Mikey looked in the Thank You Scott short from this season’s Louis C.K. episode.
— The porn turn in the song is so damn funny. Beck’s “Softcore is da best!” lyric in particular has stuck in my memory over the years.
STARS: ****½


SWAT RECON
stakeout stumbles upon innocent sugar-fueled glee of (host) & (MID)

— The shots of Mikey and Chris’ adult characters engaging in various childish activities are both very funny and very charming. Mikey in particular is fantastic at channeling his inner child. Also adding to the sketch for me is the way Mikey and Chris’ actions are being humorously described in a very straitlaced manner by Kenan and Beck’s cop characters.
— Leslie in a zoot suit is a riot.
— I like Kenan occasionally reflecting wistfully on why he doesn’t have this kind of childish fun anymore.
STARS: ****½


THE BOY IS MINE
boss (AIB) & personnel rep (VAB) fight over (host) via “The Boy Is Mine”

— Hmm. This “The Boy Is Mine” musical number that Aidy and Vanessa have broken out into towards Chris seems like the type of thing I might get tired of fast, as this type of humor usually isn’t my bag. I’ll try to be open-minded towards this sketch, though.
— It’s now two minutes later, and, while Aidy and Vanessa are both fun here, and Vanessa had a particularly funny and well-written line describing herself as “a childless MILF with an eye for design”, I’m not crazy about the musical number.
— This really died for me at the end.
STARS: **


THE HOUSE
reality show roommates (host), (KYM), (BEB) are overdramatic

— Great to see a second installment of this, after a two-season gap (the first installment of which, funnily enough, was done with one of the other famous Chris hunks: Chris Hemsworth).
— Also great to see our SECOND Beck/Kyle pre-tape in tonight’s episode alone, both airing in the pre-Update half to boot.
— Like last time, I’m loving the random reality show-esque treatment of such a mundane situation, perfectly nailing just about every reality show trope.
— A hilarious cutaway to a completely random, previously-unseen guy saying in his confessional, in regards to a dramatic confrontation currently happening, “I’m staying out of this.”
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Call the Police”


WEEKEND UPDATE
nervous contest winner Dawn Lazarus (VAB) double-talks weather forecast

LEJ met someone & got her groove back during a vacation in Jamaica

— Ah, the debut of Vanessa’s Dawn Lazarus character.
— Vanessa’s delivery of these nonsense-filled sentences is utter perfection, and this character’s whole routine is priceless. Her occasional utterances of “Hap” are particularly classic.
— It’s easy to see why Dawn Lazarus would go on to be one of Vanessa’s most beloved recurring characters. On that subject, not only is it odd and interesting to realize that one of Vanessa’s most beloved recurring characters debuted in the homestretch of her tenure, but also that we never would’ve gotten this character at all if this year’s potential writers strike had happened and cut this season off after the Jimmy Fallon-hosted episode.
— Ah, great to see a random continuation of Vanessa’s Lazarus commentary a few minutes later, in a “Break’n Hnews” segment.
— Leslie beginning one sentence by just saying, in regards to her new boyfriend, “For what he did to me in that shower…….” is already slaying me.
— A good laugh from Leslie’s imitation of a crab watching her have sex.
— The usual strong Leslie Update commentary overall.
STARS: ****


AUTO SHOP
auto mechanics lip-sync after owning their love of RuPaul’s Drag Race

— This reminds me a little of that sketch from Paul Rudd’s season 34 episode where he and Bill Hader played manly parking lot workers who dismissively discussed the topic of same-sex marriage while being in denial of the fact that they’re in love with each other.
— There’s a nice charm to this sketch, especially with how much all of the guys are into the “Lip-sync for your life” sequence. Bobby is especially fun in the latter.
STARS: ***½


THE HANDMAID’S TALE
bros barely noticed society’s misogynistic shift

— Cecily makes her first appearance all night, and it’s not even a live appearance.
— Blah, I have not been caring for the comedy of this piece so far.
— Overall, yeah, this came and went without me caring for it AT ALL.
STARS: *


TV LAND FUTURE CLASSICS
(BOM) played a wild Vulcan in unaired Star Trek episode

— This feels like a variation of the Cinema Classic sketches, right down to having Kenan play the host.
— Akira Yoshimura! Keeping alive an SNL Sulu tradition that’s been going on for 40+ years!
— Fun performance from Bobby. This may end up being our last display of his great ability to sell the type of character that probably would’ve come off lame from other performers.
— Akira’s one speaking moment here steals this sketch and gets a good reaction from the audience.
— Ha, even THIS sketch includes a song-and-dance number, much like most of the rest of this episode.
— Kenan is fun as Neil deGrasse Tyson, and has good lines here.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “American Dream”


COUPLES GAME NIGHT
(host) & (CES) derail couples’ game night with Joe Frazier musical theme

— (*groan*) Our latest of writers James Anderson and Kent Sublette’s interminable, interchangeable “Come on, join in, you know this song!” sketches, none of which I’ve ever liked.
— This even feels like a blatant remake of one particular “Come on, join in, you know this song!” sketch: Debra’s Time.
— Speaking of remakes and rehashing, this sketch even reuses the “character smashes his hand through glass and now has a bloody hand” gag from another Anderson/Sublette-written sketch from just a few episodes prior: the Soda Fountain sketch with Louis C.K.
— Even some of the straight man performances are bugging me, especially Kate’s.
— Ugh, aaaaaaaand there’s the usual “The other characters DO know the song after all!!1!!11!!!” twist, though this time, it happens with a different song than the main one that’s sung in this sketch.
STARS: *


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode that, much like the preceding episode, had a fun, feel-good vibe, though I’d give this episode the edge in terms of quality because there was a good number of standout strong pieces in the pre-Weekend Update half.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Song For Peace
The House
SWAT Recon
Weekend Update
Where In The World Is Kellyanne Conway?
TV Land Future Classics
Auto Shop
Morning Joe
Monologue
The Boy Is Mine
The Handmaid’s Tale
Couples Game Night


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jimmy Fallon)
a mild step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Melissa McCarthy becomes a Five-Timer

Posted on

April 15, 2017 – Jimmy Fallon / Harry Styles (S42 E18)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

OVAL OFFICE
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) picks Jared Kushner (JIF) as his top advisor

— Ugh.
— Boy, that “If these walls could talk” bit was so groanworthy.
— Self-aware Trumpwin lines like the “me in my golf clothes” one in this cold opening doesn’t work with the angle that SNL previously established with the Trumpwin portrayal.
— I’m not too crazy about how they gave the Jared Kushner impression to Jimmy Fallon tonight, given the fact that, in the preceding episode, Alex had a big showcase as Kushner in a cut-after-dress-rehearsal sketch that sounded good from the description I read years ago (my memory of the description is very fuzzy by this point, but the sketch had to do with Kushner as an adventurous secret agent or something like that). Yet another example in this era of someone who’s not even a current cast member taking a Trump-related role away from the current cast (even if this Kushner impression doesn’t end up becoming a role that Jimmy ends up regularly playing).
— The turn with the reality show elimination is lame.
— Was it necessary to reuse the gag from an earlier Trumpwin sketch, where Trumpwin goes to his real desk and plays with that sphere toy?
— Ugh at that “twink” line from Trumpwin to Jimmy’s Kushner.
— Overall, in a word: oof. I did not enjoy a single thing in this cold opening. Man, it feels like these Trumpwin cold openings are getting worse and worse by the week.
STARS: *


MONOLOGUE
JIF leads caravan backstage as Nile Rodgers [real] performs “Let’s Dance”

— No jokes at all in this monologue, but this around-the-studio musical number is a fun, infectious, and charming way to celebrate SNL having their first live coast-to-coast episode.
— This musical number is also a good use of Jimmy’s solid David Bowie impression.
— I like the shot of EVERYBODY on the home base stage in the conclusion of the musical number. That may be the most crowded I’ve ever seen the home base stage in a regular SNL episode (meaning I’m not counting anniversary specials).
STARS: ***½


FAMILY FEUD
1977 & 2017 versions of John Travolta (JIF) compete

— This time-travel concept is an interesting oddball change of pace for a Celebrity Family Feud sketch.
— Second consecutive Family Feud sketch with a cast member playing a then-recent SNL host (Alex as Casey Affleck last time, Kate as Kristen Stewart this time). I’m liking Kate’s Kristen Stewart impression.
— After Harry-Styles-as-Mick-Jagger’s mostly-incoherent line about engaging in hanky-panky, I like Kenan’s Steve Harvey slyly responding “I don’t know what’choo sayin’…but I know what’choo sayin’!”
— Oh, I love the concept of Jimmy having to go back and forth playing 1977 John Travolta and 2017 John Travolta, especially when Kenan’s Harvey begins comically milking that. Very impressive fast costume changes from Jimmy as well.
— Jimmy’s mic noticeably sounds very muffled right now, presumably due to his latest hasty costume change.
STARS: ***½


BEFORE THE SHOW
middle schoolers overrate quality of their Legally Blonde musical staging

— Our latest of this era’s “Back-and-forth cutting between tender and chaotic scenes” shorts.
— So far, this is more low-key than the previous “Back-and-forth cutting between tender and chaotic scenes” shorts, and the “chaotic” scenes here aren’t particularly hilarious to me compared to the ones in previous shorts of this ilk, but this is still working well. However, much like the Crucible Cast Party short from earlier this season, I’d probably be higher on this short if I could relate to the “theater kids” premise as much as some other viewers might.
— Okay, the “chaotic” scenes are having a solid escalation at the end, when Aidy gets raised in the air on wires. I wish they didn’t wait until the end, though, to go all-out on the humor like that.
STARS: ***½


TAKE ME BACK
(CES)’s ex (JIF) tries winning her back by singing “Truly Madly Deeply”

— A decent laugh from Jimmy breaking out into a badly-sung “Truly Madly Deeply” in an attempt to win Cecily back.
— An absolutely hilarious reveal of Jimmy being the man responsible for dragging a man off a plane, from a major news story that week.
— Yet another hilarious reveal at the end, with Beck revealing he recently directed a certain Pepsi commercial. This is also a fantastic callback to Beck playing that Pespi commercial director in the preceding episode.
— I love how short they kept this overall sketch, making it a blackout gag that you rarely see in this era.
STARS: ****½


A MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE EASTER BUNNY
during Passover, Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) retracts Hitler comment

— Interestingly, Melissa McCarthy isn’t actually in the studio during this sketch, nor is she even in New York. This sketch is being broadcast live from, I think, L.A. That explains certain things, like why this sketch has an odd visual quality, and why McCarthy delivers lines during the long applause break that her entrance receives.
— Feels a little odd not seeing McCarthy’s Spicer interacting with reporters for once.
— A pretty good laugh from McCarthy-as-Spicer’s United Flight faux pas.
— Some funny comments and the usual great commitment from McCarthy, though this sketch doesn’t measure up to the previous two Spicer sketches.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sign of the Times”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Jacob delineates the significance of traditional Passover foods

over-the-hill Bruce Chandling drifts from unfunny comedy into pathos

— I absolutely love Michael’s “First of all, you don’t know what cakes I’ve seen!” response to a Trump clip.
— This is the first Jacob appearance in two years, and this also ends up being the final Jacob appearance. This almost ended up being Vanessa’s send-off, given the fact that this was the final episode before a potential writers strike, which, if it happened, would’ve made this the final episode of this season. As we know now, the writers strike ended up not happening, and this season got to end on its originally-scheduled date.
— So far in tonight’s Jacob commentary, we’re getting the same-old, same-old repetitive beats that appear in every single Jacob commentary. As I always say, those beats only worked for me in the first Update appearance this character made. The extremely repetitive nature of Jacob’s routine doesn’t work for me in multiple commentaries.
— This was pointed out by some people on an SNL message board back when this episode originally aired: when Jacob is concluding tonight’s commentary by giving special thanks to some of his friends & family members, the names mentioned of those friends & family members are the first names of SNL writers that Vanessa has worked with over the years (I don’t think I caught all of the names in my current viewing, but some of them are Zach, Marika, Seth, and John, a reference to Zach Kanin, Marika Sawyer, Seth Meyers, and presumably John Mulaney), which was a huge sign that not only was this Vanessa’s way of giving official closure to this Jacob character, but that Vanessa was aware that this Jacob appearance might end up being her SNL swan song, due to the aforementioned possible writers strike coupled with the fact that she was planning on leaving SNL at the end of this season. Thankfully, the writers strike doesn’t happen and Vanessa gets three more episodes to add closure to her SNL tenure (including debuting one of her most beloved recurring characters). At least if this Jimmy Fallon episode DID end up being the final episode of this season, Vanessa would’ve had a swan song in this Jacob commentary, unlike her also-about-to-depart castmate Bobby, who gets no lead roles AT ALL in this episode (a sad sign of how underutilized he’s been this season). Thus, it would’ve been a shame if this ended up being Bobby’s final episode. I recall an online SNL fan who was in the audience for the live version of this episode saying that, at the end of the goodnights, after most of the people onstage made their exit, Bobby and, I think, Kate were the only two people left onstage, and Bobby was in tears while Kate consoled him. Presumably, the reason for Bobby being in tears was because he was aware that this might end up being his final episode. It was also revealed sometime that a second installment of the Broderick & Ganz lawyers sketch from the Aziz Ansari episode got cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, and I guess that would’ve been Bobby’s swan song had this ended up being the final episode of the season.
— Two “down south” sexual jokes in tonight’s Update alone (one from Colin, and the other from Bruce Chandling).
— I’m getting the usual big laughs from Bruce Chandling.
— I love Michael’s off-camera “Ohh, god” when Chandling, while in his depressed mode, is about to spout off another bad catchphrase when transitioning back to his upbeat mode.
— As a great callback to a joke he did in the preceding episode, Michael is seen starting to eat the butt end of a chocolate Easter bunny at the very end of this Update (seen in the last above screencap for this Update). Nice to see that this is actually the second callback that this episode has made to the preceding episode (the first callback being the Pespi commercial director one).
STARS: ****


CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS
Civil War soldier (JIF) adds bouncy hook to morale-boosting Union song

— This sketch is getting increasingly fun the more the other characters get into the comically-anachronistic hook that Jimmy keeps adding to the traditional war song.
— Bobby revealing that he was just pretending to be the angry dad in the song is very funny.
— I love the detail of a backflipping dancer passing by the screen at the end of the final singalong of the hook.
STARS: ***½


TURTLE SHIRT
the Turtle Shirt is a garment into which embarrassed people can retract

— I like Bobby and Vanessa’s (a significant pairing, by the way, given how this almost ended up being their final episode) very somber reveal to Pete that Vanessa was “capped “ by an orangutan.
— I have extremely mixed feelings on this commercial. Half of me feels that this commercial’s idea is dumb (and not the fun kind of dumb) and that the head-sinking-in-shirt visuals have gotten old fast, while the other half of me feels that there’s kind of a self-aware “So dumb, it’s funny” charm to this, and that the use of the song “Turn Down For What” whenever someone’s head sinks into their Turtle Shirt adds to the humor. I’m very conflicted on how I feel about this commercial.
STARS: **½, I guess, though I may eventually change my mind if I ever develop a definitive opinion of this commercial


HARVARD TOUR
Sully & Denise join their Harvard-accepted daughter (KAM) on campus tour

— Surprising that tonight’s big return of the Boston Teens is buried towards the end of the show.
— Interesting seeing Jimmy and Rachel Dratch playing these characters while looking a lot older than they did as cast members.
— I like how, much like the Boston Teens reprisal from Jimmy’s season 37 hosting stint, SNL continues to age and modernize these characters, this time by having them be parents to a college-aged girl, and having them substitute their usual use of the “r” word with “intellectually disabled”.
— A good laugh from Jimmy’s line about calling paint chips “radiator nachos”.
— Two Chipotle diarrhea jokes in the same episode (one on Update and one in this sketch).
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ever Since New York”


BASKETBALL SCENE
spastic extras (JIF) & (MID) are distracting during basketball film shoot

— Increasingly funny distracting background antics from Jimmy and Mikey.
— A particularly good laugh from Jimmy and Mikey knocking down the boom mic guy.
— A very funny reaction from everyone when Jimmy’s character miraculously and unintentionally kicks the basketball into the basket behind him while facing away from it. I especially laughed at an excited Mikey thrusting his fists and furiously chanting “Yeah!” in an over-the-top manner.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode, even if it felt like there weren’t many segments that stood out to me. Jimmy Fallon did his usual good job of hosting and adding a fun-loving vibe to the episode.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Take Me Back
Weekend Update
Basketball Scene
Family Feud
Civil War Soldiers
Harvard Tour
Monologue
A Message From The White House Easter Bunny
Before The Show
Turtle Shirt
Oval Office


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Louis C.K.)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Chris Pine

Posted on

April 8, 2017 – Louis C.K. / The Chainsmokers (S42 E17)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

TRUMP’S PEOPLE
Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) policies harm Kentuckians who voted for him

— Ugh.
— I’m currently three minutes into this cold opening, and I’ve yet to get ANY big laughs.
— Okay, I finally got a laugh just now from the very apt finger-in-chili analogy that Trumpwin makes to his own presidency.
— Overall, even for Trumpwin standards, this was mostly awful. Such a lousy way to open an episode. And I still have three more seasons of this crap to go through.
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up on racist chickens & leveraging his white privilege

— Interesting how, unlike his previous monologues, where he dressed casually in a plain black shirt and (I think) jeans, Louis C.K. is dressed professionally in a suit in this monologue. That’s strangely fitting for what ends up being his final SNL episode, though he didn’t know it at the time.
— Hilarious beginning with the chicken-followed-by-a-black-guy joke, and Louis explaining how that’s not a racist joke.
— I got a big laugh from Louis’ “I’m not your soup yet, ya Jew!” line.
— Louis’ imitation of what giraffes must be thinking is hilarious.
— Lots of huge laughs from Louis riffing on cheap motels and his experience at fancy hotels.
— A priceless aside with Louis calling out how white people get preferential treatment, and how that’s “bad”. His asides like that towards the audience whenever he says something objectionable in this monologue is just one of the things that shows the appeal of his stand-up comedy in general.
STARS: ****½


LAWYER LASHES
prosecutor’s (host) distractingly gorgeous eyelashes upend murder trial

— A very solid sketch concept, and it’s being executed well.
— Hilarious delivery from Aidy when exclaiming “My gooodddd!” while being mesmerized by Louis’ eyelashes.
— Blah at that Maybelline ending. A poor way to end an otherwise great sketch.
STARS: ****


THANK YOU, SCOTT
armchair activist (host) does his part on social media

— A very good satire on social media activists.
— Love the bit with the hand clapping emojis.
— A really catchy chorus, especially when it goes up higher during the final round.
STARS: ****


SODA FOUNTAIN
soda jerk (host) & teen (CES) explore power dynamics during date fantasy

— A solid unsettling turn this sketch takes.
— When Vanessa says she’d go to the dance with Louis if he asked her, I got a big laugh from Louis responding, “Well, I didn’t ask ya, stupid, I asked Louise.”
— Louis: “The next time I kiss my wife will be at her funeral.”
— Sasheer’s worried delivery of “I don’t think he’s taking her to school” was great.
— Interesting seeing Pete do a cheesy 1950s voice.
— Another one of Leslie’s trademark awkward line flubs.
— Great ending with the jukebox-smashing/blood-on-hand gag.
STARS: ****


PEPSI COMMERCIAL
director (BEB) belatedly realizes folly of Kendall Jenner (CES) Pepsi ad

— I love Beck’s smile slowly fading when his sister over the phone responds to his description of the “great” Pepsi commercial he’s about to film.
— Hilarious how Beck’s second description of the Pespi commercial to a different person over the phone gets abruptly cut off by the person on the other line telling him all of the things wrong with his idea.
— A very funny touch with the brief cutaway to two dancers rehearsing while Beck continues to listen to the person on the other line.
— Beck’s performance in this is excellent, especially his conveying of how deflated his mood has gradually become when slowly realizing his commercial that’s about to be filmed is a huge, huge mistake.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Paris”


WEEKEND UPDATE
clip of Three Stooges’ mutual abuse reflects USA, Syria, Russia interplay

Cecilia Giminez (KAM) thinks the rictusy Cristiano Ronaldo bust is a masterpiece

— I think this is the first time in quite a while where Colin delivers the opening joke, which used to be a regular thing.
— If you know me (as commenter and apparent fellow Three Stooges fan Curly Joe evidently does, judging from something he said in the comments section of my last review), you’ll know that I love the fact that SNL uses a Three Stooges clip to represent the convoluted Trump/Syria situation. Even better, that clip is from the first-ever Three Stooges short made at Columbia Pictures.
— As always, Kate is very fun as Cecilia Giminez, and I’m getting good laughs from the details in her description of the Cristiano Ronaldo bust.
— Very strong jokes from Colin and Michael throughout this entire Update.
STARS: ****½


THE O’REILLY FACTOR
Bill O’Reilly’s (Alec Baldwin) sexual harassment woes chase sponsors

— Hmm, an Alec Baldwin-starring non-Trump sketch. Wish I could say I was excited to see this, but so many bad Trumpwin sketches this season have given me my fill of Alec Baldwin by this point of the season, plus this O’Reilly sketch is Alec taking further airtime away from the actual cast.
— Alec has Bill O’Reilly’s mannerisms down, at least, but certainly not the voice.
— Cecily having her face and voice distorted at the end of her interview is pretty funny.
— What was with that odd long pause from Alec when he was about to mention the new sponsors?
— The ridiculous new sponsors are all funny, especially Dog Cocaine.
— Now we have Alec talking to himself, as his O’Reilly interviews his pre-taped Trump via satellite. Blah. I will say, though, that this brings back memories of one of Chris Rock’s Nat X sketches where he as Nat X interviewed himself as a pre-taped Michael Jackson via satellite.
STARS: **


BIRTHDAY CLOWN
on his 53rd birthday, depressed (host) hires a children’s clown (BOM)

— I recall hearing that the people who wrote this short (the BriTaNick guys, I think, though I’m not sure if I got the spelling right) would later get called out on supposedly plagiarizing this short. I think I even heard that they would fess up to the plagiarism. A damn shame if this short was indeed stolen, because I recall absolutely loving it when it originally aired.
— Two priceless big reveals that Bobby’s character is shocked to realize: 1) that the “little birthday boy” is a full-grown man, and 2) that nobody else is coming to this birthday party.
— I absolutely love Louis’ very sullen, deadpan responses to Bobby’s jolly questions, establishing an excellent tone to this short.
— A particularly hilarious part with Bobby muttering “Jesus” to himself in shock when Louis reveals his age.
— Bobby, when Louis is confused over whether he should give Bobby his tip now or after his act is over: “Yeah, there’s no protocol for whatever this is.”
— I love Bobby continuing to pull the long paper coil out of his mouth when looking around confusedly after Louis has randomly walked off to take a pee break.
— A huge laugh from Bobby’s extremely blunt “You don’t want this” to the other birthday entertainers at the door.
— Readers, I need your help in the comments section of this review. Please let me know whether or not there’s been enough evidence that this short was indeed plagiarized. If so, I’m afraid I have to give this short a one-star rating, as I have to keep up consistency by following a “Zero-tolerance policy for plagiarized sketches” rule I set for myself in these reviews ever since season 40. It would be an absolute shame if I have to give this short a failing rating, because if this were an original piece, it would’ve earned an EASY five-star rating from me. Thanks in advance, readers, for your assistance in helping me figure out if it’s been officially proven that this short was plagiarized. [ADDENDUM (3/23/21): I’ve been given enough evidence that this short was plagiarized.]
STARS: * (for plagiarism)


SECTIONAL SOFA EMPORIUM
(host) shares his sectional couch obsession, but not the sofas themselves

— The extremely odd, absurdist tone of this commercial is right up my alley, and Louis is executing it wonderfully. His oddball deadpan delivery of his PARTICULARLY weird asides are pure perfection.
— The pre-taped footage of Aidy is adding to the hilarious, weird vibe of this sketch.
— Love the reveal at the end that this isn’t even a commercial, nor are these sectionals for sale.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Break Up Every Night”


TENEMENT MUSEUM
Tenement Museum actors (host) & (KAM) portray racist Polish immigrants

— Louis’ bizarre attempt at a Polish accent is absolutely priceless.
— I love how Louis’ accent has gotten to the point where it’s making Kate and himself crack up. One of the better instances of breaking in recent seasons.
— After Louis’ out-of-nowhere “filthy greasy Italians” line, we get a funny brief cutaway to Kenan’s smile quickly fading.
— Man, the more and more this sketch goes on, the more Louis’ increasingly exaggerated accent is absolutely SLAYING me. He has me practically on the floor by this point.
— Very funny how Louis and Kate’s lines within this play have just devolved into them doing anti-Italian jokes.
— Priceless bit regarding Louis giving Kenan the answer to the question he was about to ask.
— The increasing looseness of Louis’ performance is making this sketch so damn fun.
STARS: ****½


IN MEMORIAM


GOODNIGHTS
host marks Don Rickles’ passing

— Very nice words from Louis about Don Rickles.
— Ha, I absolutely LOVE how, after Louis’ aforementioned Rickles eulogy, Louis comically delivers his goodnights speech in the same goofy accent from the final sketch, which makes everyone onstage at these goodnights (especially Alec Baldwin) bust out laughing. One of my personal favorite goodnights moments ever.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— SNL does it once again with yet another fantastic Louis C.K. episode. Aside from an awful Trumpwin cold opening and another weak Alec Baldwin-involved sketch (The O’Reilly Factor), I felt very highly about EVERY segment in this episode, with none of those segments receiving a rating lower than four stars. [ADDENDUM (3/23/21): Even though it turns out that I had to give the Birthday Clown short a one-star rating for plagiarism, it still remains that I love everything in that short.] Since, as I said earlier, this ends up being Louis C.K.’s final hosting stint, he has gone down as having one of the best (if not THE best) track records that a recurring host has ever had. Every single one of his episodes was astoundingly strong.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: As usual for exceptionally strong episodes, since there are too many choices to pick for a “Best Of”, I’ll narrow it down to what I feel are the particularly best highlights)


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Sectional Sofa Emporium
Monologue
Pepsi Commercial
Weekend Update
Tenement Museum
Lawyer Lashes
Thank You, Scott
Soda Fountain
The O’Reilly Factor
Trump’s People
Birthday Clown


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jimmy Fallon hosts the first live coast-to-coast episode

Posted on

March 11, 2017 – Scarlett Johansson / Lorde (S42 E16)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ALIEN ATTACK
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) fails to inspire troops during alien invasion

— At least this is putting Trumpwin in a somewhat creative setting, but I’m sure it won’t stop my Trumpwin fatigue.
— Sasheer steals this sketch for me with her hilarious deadpan delivery of “Oh, okay…no.”
— Can’t find anything else to say about this cold opening. Yep, as I was afraid of, this cold opening ain’t stopping my Trumpwin fatigue.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
KET marks host’s Five-Timer status with clips featuring mostly himself

— A good laugh from how Kenan-centric the highlight reel featuring a clip from each of Scarlett Johansson’s previous hosting stints is. As commenter Jesse Nathan pointed out in the comments section of my last review, this highlight reel also happens to feature some of my least favorite sketches, including three sketches I gave an absolutely scathing review of (Virginiaca, St. Kat’s Middle, and Dino Bones). This highlight reel unfortunately shines a light on how blah a lot of Scarlett-hosted episodes are.
— Some good lines from Kate describing her night at the Oscars.
— Another good laugh from how the Kenan-centric theme of Scarlett’s clips continues, as her movie clip turns out to be a clip of Kenan in the Fat Albert movie.
— An okay part with the Subway-inspired Five-Timers song.
STARS: ***


GOOD DAY DENVER
show mislabels animal photographer (MID) as pornographer

— Bobby showing some real-life stubble, I see. IIRC, the reason for this is because he started filming the pilot of his CBS sitcom around this time.
— The first of several Mikey Day sketches over the years with this “dirty-sounding miscaption during a good-natured news interview” concept.
— A lot of laughs from how Mikey’s innocent statements and the caption quotes on the bottom of the screen are made dirty by the “animal pornographer” mislabeling.
STARS: ****


CHERRY GROVE
lesbian counterpart to Fire Island is much more low-key

   

— Some pretty good laughs from the extreme contrasts between Fire Island and its lesbian equivalent.
STARS: ***


PET TRANSLATOR
thoughts-vocalizing device creator (host) learns her dog is a Trump fan

— This sketch went viral after its original airing and was very popular, but I’ve always found it overrated.
— I recall it being pointed out that the dog in this sketch is the same dog from Cecily’s Blue River Dog Food commercial in the season 39 Seth Rogen episode.

— The initial reveal of the dog being a Trump fan made me laugh, but I haven’t been laughing much at where this sketch has gone after that reveal.
— An amusing unscripted bit where the dog removes the device from his head mid-sketch. Beck as the dog’s voice-over keeps up with this by making some good ad-libs.
— Scarlett, to the dog: “What about [Trump’s] record on women’s rights? Don’t you want me to have a choice over my own body?” Dog: “You didn’t afford me a choice when you cut off my balls.”
— Overall, some parts of this sketch were SLIGHTLY better than I remembered, but I’m still not crazy about this sketch as a whole.
— I recall hearing that SNL would later do a sequel to this sketch in Scarlett’s season 45 episode. Much like the Posters sequel in Emma Stone’s season 44 episode, I haven’t seen it yet. And also like the Posters sequel, the decision to do a sequel to this Pet Translator sketch seems so baffling and unnecessary.
STARS: **


OLIVE GARDEN
(BEB) gives odd directions to actors shooting an Olive Garden commercial

— Second consecutive segment tonight getting a lot of mileage out of Beck’s voice-over work.
— Wait, actually, this is the third consecutive segment tonight getting a lot of mileage out of Beck’s voice-over work, as I just now remembered he was also the voice-over in the Cherry Grove ad.
— A lot of hilarious oddball directions from Beck that the performers have to follow, which they execute very humorously.
— Scarlett: “I wouldn’t laugh at a little person.” Beck: “But Olive Garden customers would.”
STARS: ****


COMPLICIT
fragrance describes Ivanka Trump’s (host) administration role

— Scarlett reprises her Ivanka Trump impression from a Live With Regis & Kelly sketch that aired 10 years prior. This (needlessly) ends up becoming a regular role that Scarlett would make cameos to play.
— A clever and very funny way to spoof Ivanka’s famous “complicit” comment.
— During the Titanic part, I love Cecily-as-the-voice-over’s line, “Sorry, girl, you’re Billy Zane.”
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Green Light”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Al Franken (ALM) tries to continue questioning Jeff Sessions (KAM)

MIC mentions that A Day Without A Woman was sponsored by Jergens lotion

PED gives his first impressions of those who defend Donald Trump

— Third episode in a row with Kate’s Jeff Sessions.
— Alex continues to be very prominent at the Update desk within these last few episodes.
— While I definitely see what he’s going for, Alex’s Al Franken impression is kinda leaving a little to be desired. Jeff Richards once did a better Franken impression in a Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch.
— Kate’s Sessions is gradually forming into the version of this impression that I don’t care for, though at this early stage, I still have slight bit of goodwill left towards it.
— I’m still getting a David Spade Hollywood Minute vibe from Pete’s First Impressions segments, even if they certainly lack the wit of David’s Hollywood Minutes.
— Very funny ad-lib from Pete towards Michael.
— That first Sean Hannity burn from Pete felt unnatural being delivered by him.
STARS: ***½


TRUE TALES FROM THE SEA
Shud & anglerfish-mermaid (host) put the moves on marooned pilot (MID)

 

— I liked the first installment of this sketch from the preceding season, but yeah, I did not need a second one.
— SNL seems to like having Scarlett play a grotesque character’s lookalike in the second installment of said grotesque character’s sketch, as it happened 10 years prior to this with Andy Samberg’s Kuato character, and now it happens with Kate’s Shud character.

— Having a second grotesque mermaid isn’t preventing this sketch from feeling VERY inferior to the first installment.
— Okay, Kate got a pretty good laugh from me just now when she disgustingly gobbled up the raw fish.
STARS: **


SHANICE GOODWIN: NINJA
Shanice Goodwin & fellow ninja (host) rescue their kidnapped sensei (BOM)

— Speaking of sequels with Scarlett playing someone similar to the main character…
— Surprised to see Leslie do a second installment of this sketch, given the fact that she tore her ACL during the first installment.
— I still haven’t gotten used to Bobby’s real-life stubble in this episode.
— Vanessa appears to be playing the character who was kidnapped in the first installment of this sketch, but she’s unfortunately not using that adorable mock-cloying delivery she used in the first installment.
— A pretty fun sequence with Leslie and Scarlett both performing “discreet” ninja actions on the villains, even if this sketch definitely isn’t measuring up to the first installment for me.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Jack Antonoff [real] perform “Liability”


A SKETCH FOR THE WOMEN
female cast members are sidelined in pro-women sketch written by BEB & KYM

— A very interesting pre-sketch intro where I can already tell I’m in for a very funny sketch.
— Hilarious how Scarlett and Aidy have mostly been given no lines by Beck and Kyle, and have to just sit awkwardly while watching Beck and Kyle go on and on about unfair treatment that women receive.
— A big laugh from the way the non-Aidy female cast members are briefly shoehorned into this sketch.
— Great ending with Beck and Kyle cutting off Lorde’s pro-women song by breaking out into “Royals”.
STARS: ****½


FUNERAL SERVICE
widow (VAB) learns her husband wrote deep club tracks for (KET) & (host)

— When this sketch originally aired, I remember saying on an SNL message board that not only was it obviously a James Anderson-written sketch, but that it felt like a bad parody of typical James Anderson-written sketches. I also remember saying on that same message board that, if SNL ever does an updated version of the “Kenan/Scarlett highlights from each Scarlett-hosted episode” montage from this episode’s monologue, the clip that’s chosen from this 2017 episode will most likely be of her and Kenan in this funeral sketch. If so, it would fit with that montage’s theme of sketches that I don’t like.
— Leslie playing a rabbi is inherently hilarious.
— Meh at the big reveal of this sketch’s main comedic concept. It’s doing nothing for me in my current viewing, though I’m at least not hating it as much as I did when it originally aired. I know some people find this to be one of the better James Anderson-written sketches, but to me, it isn’t much better than Anderson’s usual material.
— I am at least finding the melody of the final song (the “Here is my butt” one) to be damn catchy right now. If that was the only song that Kenan and Scarlett had sung, maybe I’d like this sketch a lot more, but by the time the catchy “Here is my butt” song came on, I was too numbed to the humor of it due to the previous songs already having the same humor, only with a far-less-catchy melody.
— I do love Leslie’s delivery of “I gotta say, them songs was LIT! Made me question my whole path!”
STARS: **


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A little better than I remembered. Scarlett Johansson-hosted episodes typically have a way of leaving something to be desired (aside from her season 31 episode, which was a good one), but this one was helped by some good highlights and a not-TOO-high number of segments I didn’t like.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
A Sketch For The Women
Olive Garden
Good Day Denver
Complicit
Weekend Update
Shanice Goodwin: Ninja
Monologue
Cherry Grove
Pet Translator
Funeral Service
True Tales From The Sea
Alien Attack


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Octavia Spencer)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Louis C.K.

Posted on

March 4, 2017 – Octavia Spencer / Father John Misty (S42 E15)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

JEFF SESSIONS GUMP
not-so-naive Jeff Sessions (KAM) recounts his misdeeds a la Forrest Gump

— I do like the idea of a Jeff Sessions/Forrest Gump mash-up, and Kate’s Sessions impression is still new enough at this point that I’m enjoying it in this Gump format.
— A decent structure to this sketch.
— A laugh from Aidy’s scene beginning with Kate’s Sessions immediately disclosing to her, “I talked to the Russians”, after denying to Kyle at the end of the previous scene that he spoke to the Russians.
— A funny brief scene with Beck’s Vladimir Putin.
— A solid The Help reference with the pie that Octavia Spencer’s character from that movie gives Kate’s Sessions.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host has moved beyond nurse roles, but people misidentify Hidden Figures

— Nothing much to say about the material in this monologue so far. It’s nothing too noteworthy, but Octavia is coming off really well here. It’s also nice to see a real monologue at this point of SNL’s run.
STARS: ***


COURAGE, COMPASSION, COUNTRY: THE TBD STORY
biopic of Donald Trump challenger profiles a to-be-determined Republican

— All of the abrupt “TBD” disclaimers are making me chuckle, even if the novelty has worn off after a while.
— Funny line about Paul Ryan.
— A laugh from the “Starring Bradley Whitford, probably” line at the end.
STARS: ***


DRUG COMPANY HEARING
Merck swiped drug names from former employee’s (host) relatives & friends

— A hacky and cliched premise by this point in 2017. It was fresher when SNL did a similar idea in 1995, in that summer camp sketch with Damon Wayans and Ellen Cleghorne.
— I did laugh just now at Alex’s knowing and depressed “No, it’s terrible” response to the “You think it’s nice being associated with high cholesterol and erectile dysfunction?” question.
STARS: **


GIRL AT A BAR
male feminists call (CES) a bitch when she rebuffs them

— Beck’s delivery of “I wear this shirt, you won’t even let me nnnnuut?!?” has me laughing so much.
— This feels like the first noteworthy thing Kyle has done in a while, though maybe I’m forgetting a big role he got in the last few episodes prior to this.
— A good satire of so-called male “feminists”, though the constant repetition of the main gag is a little too one-note and predictable for my likes, much like the TBD ad earlier in this episode.
— The look of Alex’s character is very funny.
STARS: ***


PRE-COMMERCIAL SHOT
going to commercial, texting Kellyanne Conway (KAM) kneels on SNL set

— A creative way to spoof a famous then-recent Oval Office photo. When this episode originally aired, I remember thinking this initial shot of Kate was a technical error, as I wasn’t yet aware of what SNL was going for.


ZOO-OPOLIS VOICE ACTORS
(MEV), (ALM), (host) fill in for celebrities voicing cartoon characters

— This sketch’s concept is kinda blah and flimsy, but at the same time, it’s a welcome showcase for Melissa, Alex, and Octavia’s impression skills.
— A decent Tracy Morgan impression from Kenan.
— Holy hell, that Kristen Wiig impression from Melissa. Freakin’ AMAZING.
— Wow, and I thought it was impressive that Melissa did a Wiig impression. Now she nails an impression of KATE FREAKIN’ MCKINNON, Melissa’s own cast mate. Hell, before this sketch originally aired, I didn’t even know a Kate McKinnon impression was possible. Also when this sketch originally aired, I remember that it led me to the conclusion that, despite her struggles for airtime this season, Melissa’s Wiig and McKinnon impressions ALONE automatically secured her a second season.
STARS: ***½


YOUNGBLOOD
(KET)’s chess ineptitude foils his attempt to spread wisdom

— Great tone to this short.
— A big laugh from Kenan trying to pass off a Troll Doll as a chess piece.
— I love Octavia’s interjections, as well as Kenan’s frustration towards her.
— Very strong twist at the end.
STARS: ****


PRE-COMMERCIAL SHOT
going to commercial, texting Kellyanne Conway (KAM) kneels on SNL set

— Great to see this become a runner in this episode. Kinda reminds me of the “Will Ferrell as Kenneth Starr subpoenaing everyone” runner in the season 23 Julianne Moore episode.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Total Entertainment Forever”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Donald Jr. (MID) & Eric (ALM) claim pa Trump has left the family business

Laura Parsons is surprisingly well-informed about serious current events

going to commercial, texting Kellyanne Conway (KAM) kneels on SNL set

 

— The camera is further back on Michael and Colin than usual. I think I recall this becoming a regular thing from this point on.
— Michael, after Colin’s story about his Irish ancestors coming to America because God took their potatoes away: “At least they had a choice.”
— Not only nice to see Mikey and Alex’s Trump Brothers make their first of many Update appearances, but it’s also nice to see Mikey and Alex so prominent on Update within these last few episodes.
— Alex’s dimwitted interjections as Eric Trump are hilarious.
— I wonder if that was an ad-lib when Alex’s Eric resorted to drinking from the juice pack by just putting the hole to his mouth because it took Mikey too long to get the straw through the hole. If that was indeed an ad-lib, kudos to Alex.
— The interplay between Mikey and Alex’s Trump Brothers is great.
— This ends up being the final appearance of Vanessa’s Laura Parsons character.
— A big laugh from Vanessa-as-Laura-Parson’s delivery of “Why I oughtaaaaa…!”
— The usual solid commentary from Vanessa’s Parsons. I especially laughed at her line “You might wanna Google it…BEFORE NANA GETS RAPED!!!”
— The great Kneeling Kellyanne Conway runner now carries over into the end of this Update, which ends up being the conclusion of this runner. When this episode originally aired, I remember wishing the runner carried over into the goodnights by showing Kate’s Kellyanne kneeling on the side of the home base stage while everyone else is hugging. SNL would instead later do that with a similar runner in, I think, the following season’s finale, where Aidy occasionally pops up as a real-life woman who went viral for calling the cops on black people innocently barbecuing at a park.
STARS: ****


STICKY BUN
Sticky Bun trainees (MID), (host), (MEV) fail at customer interaction

— Beck’s playing a very Mikey-esque smiley and good-natured straight man character who tries to maintain his smiley, good-natured demeanor when reacting to weird things. I wonder if that means Mikey and Streeter Seidell wrote this sketch.
— Good to see the underused Melissa getting a few big comedic roles tonight.
— Some laughs from the inappropriate things being said by the trainees.
— A funny airport reveal at the end.
STARS: ***


BAR CENTRALE
weird friendship of (CES) & (host) works despite initial ulterior motives

— No idea what to make of this sketch so far, but I haven’t been enjoying it.
— I did laugh just now at Sasheer’s “What?!?” after Cecily said Sasheer must be thinking “The thirst is real.”
— I’ve noticed that Octavia’s been having a few line flubs throughout this episode.
— Overall…yeah, this sketch pretty much came and went with me barely getting any laughs and not caring for the premise.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pure Comedy”


THE CHOCOLATE MAN
fired (BEB) purveys chocolate in hopes his co-workers will forget gunplay

— (*sigh*) Yet another sad sign of how much Bobby’s airtime has been reduced this season, as he’s just now making his first (and only) appearance of the night, and it’s just a non-comedic straight man role.
— I remember this sketch bombing pretty hard and kind of having a trainwreck-y vibe.
— So far, I like the darkness and weirdness this sketch is going for, but it’s falling fairly flat for me in its execution. And yeah, something does feel trainwreck-y about this sketch, even if I don’t flat-out hate it.
— A rare instance of breaking from both Vanessa and Bobby. Something seems significant about that, knowing that they’re both leaving the show in two months.
— That…that’s the ending?!?
STARS: **


SPENCER’S GIFTS
employees of host’s Spencer’s gift store pitch her goofy product ideas

— Quite a number of sketches tonight have taken place in an office.
— When this sketch originally aired, I remember I didn’t understand it at all nor why Octavia was playing herself, as I had never even heard of Spencer’s gift store. After I found out, it made me appreciate the sketch.
— So far in my current viewing, I can’t find anything else to say about this sketch, except that Octavia is fun and is selling the material well.
STARS: ***½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode where there weren’t many segments that stood out as a whole. Octavia Spencer was a likable host.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Weekend Update
Youngblood
Zoo-opolis Voice Actors / Spencer’s Gifts (tie)
Girl At A Bar
Sticky Bun
Jeff Sessions Gump
Monologue
Courage, Compassion, Country: The TBD Story
The Chocolate Man
Drug Company Hearing
Bar Centrale


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Scarlett Johansson becomes a Five-Timer

Posted on

February 11, 2017 – Alec Baldwin / Ed Sheeran (S42 E14)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESS CONFERENCE
Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) & Jeff Sessions (KAM) address reporters

 

— I see SNL ain’t wasting any time bringing back Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer impression only one week after its very well-received debut.
— Some of the jokes and gags here so far aren’t all that special, but McCarthy is selling them well.
— Like last time, the sequence with McCarthy’s Spicer using props to make her point to the reporters is solid.
— A good laugh from McCarthy-as-Spicer’s listing-off of alleged terrorist attacks.
— The debut of Kate’s Jeff Sessions impression. Also the first of many instances of Kate playing a male member of Trump’s cabinet.
— I prefer Kate’s Betsy DeVos scene in the previous Sean Spicer sketch, but I’m still finding Kate’s Sessions scene here amusing  as a one-time thing when pretending I’m unaware of the future appearances that impression of Kate’s makes.
— The sequence at the end with McCarthy’s Spicer chasing the reporters around the room on her motorized podium is a freakin’ riot.
— Overall, while this cold opening didn’t work quite as much for me as the previous Spicer sketch, I still found this to be pretty solid as a whole, and McCarthy once again killed it in this.
STARS: ****


MONOLOGUE
PED notes how much host has aged over the course of doing SNL 17 times

— I like hearing the audience audibly gasp out loud when a photo is shown of young Alec Baldwin in his very first hosting stint.
— Some funny back-and-forths between Alec and Pete, and Alec’s a good sport to take all those jokes about how drastically he’s aged over the years of his SNL hosting stints.
— The photos shown of older sketches that Alec was in are a nice trip down memory lane. The retrospective aspect of this monologue feels appropriate for what ends up being Alec’s final hosting stint (as of 2021, at least), though I don’t know if that was the show’s intention at the time, plus Alec DID have a slightly similar retrospective monologue when he hosted in season 31.
STARS: ***½


RUSSELL STOVER’S BLACK HISTORY HEART SHAPED BOX
Russell Stover has eminent chocolates in Black History box

 

— A very funny concept that’s being well-executed.
— Excellent straight man reactions from Sasheer throughout this commercial.
— The George Washington Carver/peanut butter bit with Alex is very funny.
STARS: ****


PITCH MEETING
per woke Super Bowl commercials, Cheetos seeks socially-conscious pitches

— The escalation of Alec and Aidy’s “deep” commercial pitches are a decent timely spoof of the trend of social commentary commercials from that year’s Super Bowl.
— I wouldn’t be surprised if this was SNL’s intention, but that bowl of Cheetos in the background behind Cecily and Alex is making me kinda hungry for some Cheetos right now.
STARS: ***


JAKE TAPPER
ignored Kellyanne Conway (KAM) has Fatal Attraction to Jake Tapper (BEB)

— Our second Jake Tapper/Kellyanne Conway pre-tape.
— A solid Fatal Attraction spoof. I especially like Kate’s delivery of Glenn Close’s famous “I will not be igNORED!” line.
— The acting from both Kate and Beck is very strong here. The great lighting is also adding perfectly to the tone of this short.
— Good sequence with Kate’s Kellyanne slowly coming back to life, limb by limb, after falling to her death out the window. I’m pretty sure that coming-back-to-life sequence is a spoof of something from a movie (not Fatal Attraction), as it seems so familiar, but I can’t put my finger on what movie it is. Thanks in advance if anybody in the comments section helps me figure it out.
STARS: ****


DRILL SERGEANT
at boot camp, Army colonel (host) hazes all recruits except his son (MID)

— A big laugh from Alec’s “cookie chillout/chili cookout” line flub, and he made a funny recovery afterwards. Showing what a damn pro he is, Alex Moffat keeps a perfectly straight face when Alec plays off of his own flub by comically screaming an ad-lib right into Alex’s face.
— Meh, the initial reveal of this sketch’s comedic premise makes me feel that I’m not going to care for this sketch.
— It’s now about two minutes later, and yeah, I’m not crazy about this. It’s not terrible or anything, but it just feels like such bland, generic, tepid comedy.
— The ending with Aidy was actually pretty charming.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Shape of You”


WEEKEND UPDATE
unsilenceable Elizabeth Warren (KAM) is persistent in her grilling of COJ

Guy Who Just Bought A Boat (ALM) offers smarmy Valentine’s Day wordplay

Greg (MID) & Shelly (LEJ) relate their experience with sadism & masochism

— Another political impression of Kate’s debuts tonight: Elizabeth Warren. I haven’t seen any of the more recent appearances that this impression of Kate’s made around season 44/45, when Warren was a presidential candidate.
— I really like the meta-ness of Kate-as-Warren’s questioning, especially her grilling Colin on why he and Michael get paid as much as other regular cast members despite only performing on Weekend Update.
— A noteworthy ending to Kate’s Warren commentary, with Colin panickedly cutting her off when she brings up Trump infamously hosting this show the preceding season.
— Colin awkwardly turning from the “joke camera” to the “introducing a guest commentator” camera rarely ever fails to get a big laugh from the audience whenever he does that this season.
— The noteworthy debuts tonight continue, as Alex not only finally gets what I believe is his very first solo comedic showcase on SNL, but it’s also the debut of his Guy Who Just Bought A Boat character.
— Alex is selling this material so well. However, the running gag with him subliminally throwing in occasional mentions of his small penis isn’t making me laugh much. I’m actually getting FAR more laughs from all of the other parts of this commentary, with Alex’s comically smug delivery of abbreviated terms. Those terms seem like they would be difficult for most performers to deliver in such a rapid-fire succession, but Alex is absolutely nailing it with total ease.
— Another Cheetos mention tonight?
— This character type is a nice change of pace for Leslie’s Update appearances, and the pairing of her and Mikey is interesting.
— A good use of Mikey’s trademark affable straight man delivery.
— Leslie’s character’s giggling habit is a good way for Leslie to hide her seemingly genuine giggling right now.
STARS: ****


THE PEOPLE’S COURT
Donald Trump (host) sues to reinstate his travel ban

— Our obligatory Trumpwin sketch in tonight’s episode. At least they rightfully buried it after Weekend Update.
— This sketch is actually a rare case of continuity within a modern-era SNL episode, as Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer alluded to this sketch in the cold opening.
— Grim Reaper Bannon is noticeably not being played by Mikey this time, since Mikey is playing Donald Trump Jr. I recall an online SNL fan once revealing that Pete would fill in as Grim Reaper Bannon whenever Mikey had to play someone else in a Bannon-involved sketch, but that’s clearly not the case here, as Pete is playing one of the judges. Maybe it’s an extra in that Grim Bannon costume tonight.
— Surprisingly, this is Kenan’s first appearance all night, and even this is just a very small role with only about two lines.
— I’m currently a few minutes into this sketch, and I can’t find much to say. I am so over Alec’s Trump impression that a lot of this sketch is washing over me. Beck’s Vladimir Putin didn’t really add anything in his appearance, either. I am really liking Cecily’s performance as the judge, though.
STARS: **


BEYONCÉ’S BABIES
Beyonce’s (SAZ) twins (KET) & (TRM) are excited during ultrasound test

 

— A very funny little walk-on from Aidy.
— Random Tracy Morgan. He’s always a treat to see pop up.
— Something feels kinda corny about this sketch, but it’s balanced out decently by Kenan and Tracy making a fun pair and having some okay lines, such as the Kelly Rowland/Michelle Williams burn.
STARS: ***


LESLIE WANTS TO PLAY TRUMP
LEJ wants to play Donald Trump on SNL, but LOM isn’t going to let her

— Ah, this. I could never remember which episode this great short came from.
— At least SNL is openly acknowledging how questionable it is for a non-cast member to regularly play the president.
— “Leslie Wants To Play Trump”. Oh, you can tell just from that title alone that this is going to be an extremely fun short.
— Love the nod to the Leslie/Kyle relationship storyline.
— A very funny visual of Leslie as Trump.
— I’m aware that this short isn’t serious about the idea of Leslie actually playing Trump on the show, but damn, I’d have gladly taken that over four years of Trumpwin. At least we would’ve had an actual cast member in the role.
— Leslie’s outburst at Lorne in his office is freakin’ classic.
— Excellent twist with Vanessa, playing the “mean girl” role to perfection once again in these last two seasons of her tenure.
— Why is an extra playing Cecily’s Melania Trump role, in the shots of Melania speaking to Leslie through a partially-opened limo window? It’s Cecily’s voice we’re hearing as Melania, but those aren’t her eyes that we’re seeing (the last above screencap for this short).
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Castle on the Hill”


GYM CLASS
(MID) repeatedly farts while breaking his high school’s sit-up record

— Alex has been all over tonight’s episode. Very nice to see, given how early in his tenure this is and how underused it feels like he’s been this season.
— Mikey has also been prominent in this episode, but that’s not unusual this season.
— Wow, is SNL kidding me with this main gag? They didn’t even TRY to subvert viewers’ expectations on where this sketch was going to go.
— I assume this sketch is going for a very self-aware “So dumb, it’s funny” approach, but it’s not even succeeding at THAT level. A shame, as Alec was usually reliable at selling the “So dumb, it’s funny” material that he was occasionally given in his previous episodes.
— The only remotely interesting(?) thing about this sketch is being aware that those fart sound effects are being vocalized live by an off-camera Steve Higgins.
STARS: *


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode, and the pre-tapes especially stood out (though that’s not new for this era). Alec Baldwin somewhat redeemed himself from the “Trumpwin fatigue” that I’ve been suffering from in the post-November portion of this season, but he’s had stronger, more noteworthy hosting stints than this. If this ends up being his final hosting stint, I wish he went out on a bit of a better note.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Leslie Wants To Play Trump
Russell Stover’s Black History Heart Shaped Box
Weekend Update
Press Conference
Jake Tapper
Monologue
Pitch Meeting
Beyoncé’s Babies
Drill Sergeant
The People’s Court
Gym Class


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kristen Stewart)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Octavia Spencer

Posted on

February 4, 2017 – Kristen Stewart / Alessia Cara (S42 E13)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

OVAL OFFICE
Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) hostile phone calls alienate world leaders

— The first appearance of Alec Baldwin’s Trump as president.
— I did laugh at Baldwin-as-Trump’s first “Australia sucks, etc., prepare to go to war” line over the phone, though they end up making that a mantra of this cold opening.
— A huge laugh from the “Guy who pays for the wall says what?” “Que?” bit between Alec and Alex.
— The second consecutive cold opening with a Weekend Update character/impression of Kate’s (though this isn’t the first time her Angela Merkel appeared outside of Update).
— I hate those long mid-sentence pauses Alec often makes as Trump. I know he’s spoofing an actual vocal mannerism of the real Trump’s, but something about the way Alec does those pauses hurts the humor of those lines for me.
— Kenan’s delivery of his threatening message to Alec’s Trump made me laugh.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
KAM & AIB fear that former Trump tweet target host is too cool for school

— Those Trump tweets about the Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattinson relationship are REAL?!?
— Something about Kristen Stewart’s delivery of this monologue’s material is coming off iffy to me so far.
— The Kate/Aidy bit in this is only mildly funny to me. Nothing great.
— There’s the famous F-bomb in this monologue. Kristen said it so quickly and mumbled it so much that I and probably a number of others wouldn’t have even caught it had she not had that reaction immediately afterwards.
— Speaking of reactions to Kristen’s F-bomb, Kate and Aidy’s reactions are very funny. I also like how afterwards, while saying the usual “We got a great show for you etc.” tagline, Kristen throws in an “and I’ll never come back” ad-lib about her F-bomb.
STARS: **½


U.S. CUSTOMS WELCOME VIDEO
Homeland Security employee (BEB) shoehorns travel ban into customs video

— The sloppy occasional voice-over additions from Beck are hilarious.
— Out of all the Beck voice-over additions, I particularly love the part where, when he’s saying a rapid succession of “No”s in regards to who in a photo of people at an airport will be allowed to travel, he initially responds to the sight of a little boy in the photo by quickly saying a faux-sincere “Awww!” before immediately saying a stern “NO.”
— The “highly detailed questionnaire” (the fourth-to-last above screencap for this commercial) is hilarious.
— Very sharp satire here. I am loving this commercial.
— Beck’s final line, in which he reacts in frustration to being told over the phone that a judge blocked the travel ban, was clearly thrown in at the last minute, after this commercial was filmed, given the fact that the blocking of the travel ban didn’t happen until the morning of this episode.
STARS: ****½


UCONN DRY FRIDAYS
(host)’s blitzed anecdotes wow college alcohol education class attendees

— Yeesh, Kristen’s delivery of that “no-hawk” bit was AWFUL and ruined the gag.
— Mikey’s always perfect at playing this type of laid-back, affable straight man role who tries to come off relatable to the people he’s speaking to and tries to maintain that laid-back affability when reacting to something weird. I particularly like his delivery of the “You can go ahead and…pop that beanie back on” line that he keeps saying throughout the sketch.
— Kristen’s delivery continues to be very iffy, which is a shame, as her lines in this sketch are very good, and her personality does seem right for this role. Her lines are still somewhat making me laugh despite her iffy delivery, but I can’t help but feel that this sketch would’ve been much better if they had done it with another female host this season. Emma Stone in particular would’ve killed it in this sketch.
STARS: **½


TOTINO
hungry guys go without Totino’s Pizza Rolls amidst torrid lesbian romance

— Our third and final installment of this fantastic annual Super Bowl tradition of SNL’s.
— An absolutely FANTASTIC turn this commercial unexpectedly takes once Vanessa meets Kristen’s character.
— Kristen: “Hi, I’m Sabine. What’s your name?” Vanessa: “I…I never had one.”
— Vanessa, after being told by Kristen to stay with her: “(softly) But…what about my hungry guys?” Kristen: “What are YOU hungry for?”
— The slow-motion montage of Kristen and Vanessa’s romantic, passionate embracing is utterly classic. I particularly love the part with them speaking to each other in a foreign language.
— Overall, a masterpiece, and the absolutely perfect conclusion to this amazing trilogy of Totino’s ads. And after getting familiar with Vanessa’s likable character over the course of these three ads, it’s so satisfying to see her have such a happy conclusion.
STARS: *****


PRESS CONFERENCE
belligerent Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) briefs & berates the press

— The debut of Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer impression.
— When this originally aired, I remember that my shocked “Oh, that’s Melissa McCarthy!” reaction happened at the exact same time as the audience’s, when the camera cut to a close-up of McCarthy about 20 seconds after she entered this sketch.
— I love the extended pause McCarthy’s Spicer takes in the middle of his speech while chewing that ridiculously huge wad of candy.
— A lot of laughs from the ways McCarthy’s Spicer keeps twisting bad statements around to make them seem like the reporters at this press conference were the ones who said them.
— A great sequence with McCarthy’s Spicer using ridiculous props to make his point.
— Feels odd seeing Kristen Stewart playing a reporter like most of the cast is playing, but I guess they had to work the host into this sketch SOMEHOW. McCarthy’s dominant presence here actually made me temporarily forget who the actual host of this episode is.
— A very funny cutaway to Kyle as a CNN reporter locked in a cage.
— The mere gleeful, open-mouthed smile on Kate’s face when she enters as Betsy DeVos is cracking me up.
— A big laugh from the cut-off ending to Kate-as-DeVos’ speech, immediately after her guns-in-schools mention.
— Man, McCarthy is playing this material to perfection (even with the occasional line flubs). Even being aware of the McCarthy-as-Spicer follow-up sketches (none of which I recall being quite as strong as this one, but we’ll see), and the fact that this is the debut of the “women playing male members of Trump’s cabinet” habit that I would end up getting so tired of, I’m still currently finding this first Spicer sketch to be amazing to watch.
STARS: *****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Scars To Your Beautiful”


WEEKEND UPDATE
on the eve of the Super Bowl, David Ortiz (KET) lists other endorsements

— Colin and Michael are so damn good by this point of their Update tenures that they even managed to get a lot of great laughs out of Michael completely botching the hell out of his “If your kid’s dog dies, you don’t tell them…etc.” bit.
— I love Colin’s speech about how much we’re learning about government and the world from Trump.
— Some of Kenan-as-Big-Papi’s endorsements tonight aren’t quite as hilarious as usual, but they’re still making me laugh a lot, and his Little Scissors bit is certainly up to par.
— Keeping up tonight’s trend of priceless huge Update gaffes (and priceless huge gaffes in general tonight if you include Kristen’s F-bomb in the monologue), we get a classic one with Colin ending the Big Papi commentary by VERY prematurely saying his “For Weekend Update, I’m Colin Jost” sign-off into the camera, before realizing there’s still several minutes of Update left. When this episode originally aired, this gaffe of Colin’s had me laughing for about a minute straight. Michael also has an excellent ad-lib in response to that gaffe of Colin’s, telling him “You just saved my job”, a callback to Michael’s own huge gaffe earlier in this Update.
— Colin, in an ad-lib right before delivering his first joke after his aforementioned huge gaffe: “I want to quote our host from the monologue.”
— Yet ANOTHER great ad-libbed callback, this time with Michael referring to Lady Gaga as “Lady Haha”, which Kenan’s Big Papi did earlier in this Update.
— Very strong ending to this Update with Michael’s Patriots vs. Falcons joke. This is also a rare Jost/Che Update to NOT end with a guest commentary. (Maybe that explains Colin’s gaffe from earlier.)
STARS: ****½


FAMILY FEUD
Steve Harvey (KET) queries supporters of Falcons & Patriots

— Surprisingly, Kenan’s Steve Harvey isn’t saying his usual comical one-liner about each celebrity contestant right after they make their intro statement.
— Interesting seeing Kristen completely playing against type as Gisele Bundchen.
— I absolutely love Alex’s Casey Affleck impression. He is nailing Affleck’s sleepy, monotone voice, and is also making it funny. As I said in a previous review, I always love when a cast member impersonates someone who recently hosted at the time, as it makes me assume the cast member developed that impression after having gotten used to that host’s voice and mannerisms from working with them all week.
— Kenan’s Steve Harvey, when Kate’s Justin Bieber is trying to impress Kristen’s Bundchen by doing his usual shy/swaggy mannerisms: “I got some bad news for you, playa – that don’t work on women that’s GROWN.”
— The casting of Leslie as Samuel L. Jackson is so damn weird and random that it’s kinda working for me. I’d like to think that weirdness and randomness of the casting is also what Leslie herself is visibly cracking up at.
— I’m enjoying the “laugh” that Bobby’s Bill Belichick keeps doing.
STARS: ***


MEET CUTE
(PED) & (host) agree to date without exchanging information

— Nice seeing Pete do a piece like this, which allows him to stretch his acting chops. He’s doing a very solid job here.
— A good laugh from Mikey’s cold and blunt delivery of “No” in response to a long question Pete dramatically asks him while pouring his heart out.
— Very funny scenes of Pete’s increasing desperation and panicking when trying to find where Kristen lives. I also like how those scenes are juxtaposed with shots of Kristen’s character going through typical upbeat romcom tropes.
— Good ending.
STARS: ****


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “River Of Tears”


WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Willy Wonka’s golden ticket reveals Charlie’s (host) grandparents’ health

— Wow, and I thought Pete played against type in the Meet Cute short. He’s completely stretching his range in this short. This has to be the most I’ve ever seen him disappear into character. Keep in mind that I haven’t seen SNL’s current 46th season, where I hear Pete’s been better than ever and has been doing well playing types of roles that are very different from what he was previously known for playing. I’m looking forward to seeing that when I reach that season in this project.
— A decent reveal of the grandparents being able to walk, much to Kristen-as-Charlie’s upset shock.
— Kristen, when angrily mentioning the things she did for Mikey when she thought he couldn’t walk: “I washed your balls!” Mikey: “I didn’t ASK you to. I also thought that was strange.”
— I’m pretty meh on that ending.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A slow start with the cold opening, monologue, and UConn Dry Fridays sketch (though the U.S. Customs Welcome Video commercial was very strong), but after that, this episode really took off. Two back-to-back five-star segments, one of the best-ever Jost/Che Weekend Updates, a great Meet Cute short, and two decent post-Update sketches. Kinda like this episode itself, Kristen Stewart had a rough start in her first few performances, but after that, she was fine for the rest of the show, and was especially good in the pre-tapes.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Totino
Press Conference
U.S. Customs Welcome Video
Weekend Update
Meet Cute
Family Feud
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
UConn Dry Fridays
Monologue
Oval Office


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Aziz Ansari)
a slight step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Alec Baldwin

Posted on

January 21, 2017 – Aziz Ansari / Big Sean (S42 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

A PAID MESSAGE FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Donald Trump fan Vladimir Putin (BEB) addresses post-inauguration America

— We have officially arrived at a new presidency during SNL’s timeline…even though the new president (Trump) isn’t actually portrayed in this cold opening about his inauguration. The reason for that is because Alec Baldwin was participating in the women’s march that night, and wasn’t available for an SNL appearance. Yet another sign of what a poor decision it is on SNL’s part to have a non-cast member play the president. SNL had enough time between the election results and Trump’s inauguration to figure out which current cast member should play Trump in his presidency. I know Alec’s Trump got a lot of positive press in the pre-election portion of this season, but COME ON. And in my opinion, his impression had already gotten tired sometime between the election results and inauguration.
— Olya Povlatsky! Great to see this character make a non-Weekend Update appearance for once. This ends up being her final appearance in general.
— Some okay lines from Beck’s Vladimir Putin throughout this.
STARS: ***


MONOLOGUE
host does stand-up about Donald Trump’s electors & re-emergent xenophobia

— Aziz Ansari’s Chris Brown bit made me laugh a lot.
— The whole bit about the “lower-case KKK” is great.
— Another solid bit, this time about what causes Islamophobia.
— Much like Dave Chappelle’s monologue from earlier this same season, I like the occasional dead-serious parts of this, and how Aziz is taking his time getting to the eventual punchline of those dead-serious parts.
STARS: ****


BEAT THE BOOKWORM
pop culture category benefits contestant (VAB) over The Bookworm (host)

— A solid character for Aziz.
— A very funny stretched-out panicked yell of “Noooooooo!” from Aziz in reaction to the 90s Pop Culture category.
— The speed round segment is pretty good.
— An okay running gag with how Mikey’s host character, while maintaining his pleasant and professional demeanor, keeps sternly pointing out to Vanessa that she shouldn’t say “Damn” on this show.
— A nice and appropriate short length to this overall sketch.
STARS: ***½


INTERROGATION
cops (BEB) & (CES) interrogate (host) for not totally loving La La Land

— Something about the way Cecily said the name “Santangeli” in that tough cop voice early on in this sketch made me laugh, even though it wasn’t intended to.
— A funny reveal of the “crime” that Aziz committed, and this comedic conceit is being executed very well.
— Cecily is selling the HELL out of her character’s intensity.
— I love Beck’s reaction to Aziz revealing he fell asleep during La La Land.
STARS: ****½


KELLYANNE CONWAY
jubilant attention-hungry Kellyanne Conway (KAM) sings “Roxie” variant

— Beck continues to get lots of airtime, ever since the preceding episode.
— A change of pace having a The Lead With Jake Tapper sketch be pre-taped, though you soon see that this ends up taking a completely different direction from typical The Lead/Tapper sketches. This also ends up being the first of several Jake Tapper/Kellyanne Conway pre-taped shorts, each of which spoof a different movie, IIRC.
— Kate’s performance of this Chicago-esque number is solid, and I’m glad the show has changed their portrayal of Kellyanne by this point, given the inaccurate, overly positive way they previously portrayed her.
— I’m enjoying how the political TV show titles that Kellyanne is naming off in song are being flashed onscreen in fancy neon logos, Broadway-style.
STARS: ***½


BRODERICK & GANZ
personal-injury lawyers Broderick (KAM) & Ganz (BOM) are unequal partners

— Sad how extremely rare it’s become this season for Bobby to get a lead role.
— A perfect character for Bobby, who’s selling this so damn well.
— Aziz’s various reactions are very funny. I especially love his “So, wait – this guy’s walkin’ around with NO KIDNEYS?!?” line.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Bounce Back”


WEEKEND UPDATE
LEJ highlights inventions that deserve acclaim beyond Black History Month

nice guy Jake Rocheck (MID) can’t move himself out of (CES)’s friend zone

 

— Interestingly, it seems to have become a regular thing lately for Michael to do the opening joke, after it had long been a regular thing for Colin to do that most weeks.
— Lots of strong jokes from Colin and Michael about Trump’s inauguration.
— Many great lines from Leslie about the things she recently learned were invented by a black person.
— Leslie, on how she sees herself: “Pam Grier about 15 years ago and Malia Obama 10 years from now!”
— Lots of fun ad-libs between Colin and Michael throughout this Update.
— A good running gag with that Michelle Obama photo that Michael vocalizes.
— Mikey in his very first Update commentary. (My apologies if I’m forgetting something.) The format of this particular “Friend Zone” commentary of his is an interesting change of pace for this era of Update.
— Mikey is always very good at playing this type of role. I especially like his straitlaced, affable delivery of “I am a little baby bitch boy.”
— A heartbroken Mikey, to Michael, after Michael has stolen Cecily from him: “Just…always make sure you’re there for her.” Michael: “Nah, Jake…that’s YOUR job.”
— Overall, the first above-average Update in a bit of a while.
STARS: ****


DIRTY TALK
in bed, (MEV)’s pre-sex dirty talk & role-playing is too real for (host)

— Melissa finally gets a showcase where she’s the sole comedic character.
— Already showing how good this sketch is going to be, Melissa immediately gets a laugh from the way she delivers her first line, “Oh, yeah, it’s Sunday night. That’s when we have sex.”
— Melissa is killing it in this and has an endless amount of funny questionable “dirty talk” choices. I particularly love the “Do me, dad!”, learning disability, “I’m the baddest girl in 6th grade!”, “I read at a 6th grade level because of my learning disability”, and Owen Wilson impression ones.
— This is the second sketch tonight that Melissa has flubbed a line in (the Broderick & Ganz sketch was the first), but this sketch is going so well and Melissa is earning so much goodwill in it that the flub doesn’t hurt it.
— Aziz is a solid straight man to Melissa in this.
— An overall excellent sketch, and was kept the perfect length.
STARS: *****


FIVE STARS
Uber driver (BOM) & passenger (host) try for a good rating

— Speaking of certain cast members getting a rare lead role this season, Bobby gets his SECOND lead role tonight. It’s like SNL suddenly remembered this week that Bobby’s still in the cast this season.
— I love the concept of this short, and the execution of it is great.
— A good laugh from Bobby choosing to play Indian music from the car radio after thinking to himself that he should play music that Aziz will like.
— I love the various inner thoughts we hear from Aziz and Bobby throughout this short.
— A very charming turn with Aziz and Bobby naturally bonding over Black Mirror.
— The dark turn at the end had me howling.
STARS: ****½


PIZZA TOWN
animatronic pizza band interrupts cops’ apprehension of criminal (KYM)

— The performers are good at acting like robots here. Mikey in particular is showing an almost Taran Killam-like mastery at robotic movements.
— Trying to replicate the success of Space Pants, I see. I’m still finding this to be a decent sketch, despite it being nowhere near as memorable as Space Pants.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sunday Morning Jetpack”


TO SIR WITH LOVE
CES & SAZ thank Barack Obama by singing “To Sir With Love”

— (*sigh*) If there was ever a time I wanted to use a “Get Out Of Reviewing A Sketch Free” card, it’s now. I reeeeaaaaaaallllly don’t want to have to review this.
— (*sighs again*) Well, all I can really say is that I don’t like this segment, as I’ve always had a lot of issues with the idea behind it. I don’t even know how to explain WHY I’ve always had issues with the idea behind it (I don’t have anything against Obama himself), nor why I can tolerate the Hallelujah cold opening from earlier this season, but not this. Someone in the comments section of this review can probably articulate my negative feelings on this piece better than I myself can. However, let me just remind everyone, BE CAREFUL AND DO NOT GO OVERBOARD in any political discussion about this To Sir With Love segment in the comments section.
— As I said in my review of the Jingle Barack short from a few episodes prior, I feel that that short was a better way for SNL to affectionately say goodbye to Obama’s presidency than this To Sir With Love segment is.
STARS: N/A (since this non-comedic tribute isn’t a cold opening, I’m not 100% sure if I can count it as an unratable segment or not, but I will anyway)


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very solid episode. There were no comedic segments that I disliked, and there was a good number of exceptionally strong pieces. Good to see this season get out of the mini-slump it was in with the two episodes that preceded this.


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


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Dirty Talk
Five Stars
Broderick & Ganz
Interrogation
Weekend Update
Monologue
Kellyanne Conway
Beat The Bookworm
Pizza Town
A Paid Message From The Russian Federation


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


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Kristen Stewart