Side note: From this point until I reach the season finale, I no longer have my Facebook reviews as reference for these episodes. I’m going by my personal memory now.
Cold Open
Britney Spears (Chloe Fineman) hosts a talk show called “Oops, You Did It Again”, where disgraced celebrities apologize for the bad things they’ve done.
• Ugh, Chloe’s terrible Britney impression is back. While it’s not as high-pitched as it was before, it still sounds nothing like her.
• Also, this is yet another example of that tired old “celebrity talk show” concept.
• Double ugh! This is the second episode in a row to have that terrible Ted Cruz impression in it! He had recently been in the news for going on a vacation in Cancun while there’s a pandemic going on, and, while that is indeed a very strange thing to do, none of these insults are working.
• First appearance of Pete Davidson as Andrew Cuomo. The voice sounds nothing like him, and they’re barely mocking him at all. Little did they know, however, that they would soon have much more to make fun of him for…
• Cecily plays Gina Carano from The Mandalorian, who had recently been fired from the show for making “inappropriate jokes”. It’s roles like these that make me wish Cecily would just leave already, because she’s played this type of character way too many times.
• My God, every single word that comes out of Fineman’s mouth is like nails on a chalkboard. She is, without a doubt, one of the worst celebrity impressionists in the show’s entire history.
Monologue
Page can’t escape being associated with his character from the show, “Bridgerton”.
• Full disclosure: I have never seen Bridgerton. Yet this is a monologue that relies on the viewer having seen it to understand all of the jokes.
• Yep, so far, all of these jokes are just confusing me. Is his character on the show supposed to be a womanizer or something?
• It warms my heart to hear Ego recieve a big round of applause when she enters. It seems like she’s finally made it to the big leagues.
• The female audience members screaming every few seconds got very annoying after a while.
• Overall, a lame monologue that only makes sense to people who watch Bridgerton.
Sketch: Actor’s Spotlight
A TV host (Ego Nwodim) reaches an unpredictable impasse when interviewing her celebrity guests.
• Another talk show sketch? Talk about beating a dead horse.
• I’m not familiar with Kingsley Ben-Adir, but Page’s performance as him is pretty good.
• Rather funny in hindsight that Chris Redd is playing Daniel Kaluuya, considering who hosts the show a few episodes from now.
• They keep repeating the same joke where Ego is surprised that her guests’ real-life accents are different from the characters they’ve played.
• I don’t think I’ve ever heard Redd do a British accent before.
• The return of Kenan’s baffling Ice Cube impression. I love ya, man, but stop trying to play celebrities you clearly have no business playing.
• The movie clips are getting progressively less funny.
• The sketch then gets really bizarre when Ice Cube starts speaking in a British accent, while Adir and Kaluuya try to convince him not to be ashamed of his American roots. Is this scene supposed to be a reference to something?
• Ego and the others tried their best, but they couldn’t save this sketch.
Film: Loco
A woman (Nwodim) goes over the ways that the pandemic affected her.
• Am I going crazy? This is the second episode in a row where I actually enjoyed the obligatory Pete Davidson rap song. Part of the reason is that Ego is actually the main focus of this one, and Pete doesn’t show up until halfway.
• Ego’s performance in this is great. Have I ever made it clear to you guys that I love Ego?
• I liked Pete’s line about Armie Hammer being a cannibal. Given all of the creepy stuff that’s come out about him, I wouldn’t put it past him.
• This song has a nice, catchy Latin feel to it, no doubt influenced by tonight’s musical guest. Speaking of which, he gets a few lines in this as a talking cactus.
Sketch: Driver’s License
Guys at the pool hall bond over the Olivia Rodrigo song, “Driver’s License”.
• I always find it rather interesting when they do a sketch about someone who was recently on the show.
• Pete’s line about the song sounding like a “teen girl singing in her room to a piano” was great, and perfectly sums up a lot of songs that I’ve heard in the last few years.
• Page’s American accent in this sketch is really convincing.
• I also liked Alex Moffat’s random theory that the song is about the kids from High School Musical.
• The sketch suddenly comes to a halt when Kate shows up for the first time in this episode, playing her one millionth drag role and talking in her usual stereotypical Italian accent. Why would they ruin this sketch like that?!!
• Apart from the self-indulgent McKinnon parts, I actually enjoyed this sketch for what it was.
Sketch: Mr. Chicken Legs Pageant
A contest to see who has the skinniest legs in America.
• The intro where we see that the pageant is being held at the notorious Hotel Cecil would have been great if the announcer didn’t overexplain the joke. Yep, this is another Seidell/Day sketch!
• What’s with Cecily’s character being named “Denise Poots”?
• Our latest of many high-pitched Chloe Fineman characters appears in this sketch.
• The way Mikey reveals his skinny legs is really well timed. He’s probably the best thing about this sketch (no surprise there, seeing as he wrote it).
• I like how Andrew Dismukes’ character reveals his legs by saying “Don’t believe me, just watch!”, a reference to the song “Uptown Funk”.
• Another surprisingly good performance from Davidson. He actually hasn’t been that bad in this season.
• This sketch is better than I remembered. I got enough laughs from it, and it was kept the right length.
Film: The Job Interview
A man (Page) is interviewed for a potential advertising job by an unscrupulous boss (Beck Bennett).
• I got a laugh from the LEGO ad on the boss’s wall: “Bet you can’t eat just one”. I even laughed at the obligatory dick joke on the Mike’s Hard Lemonade ad: “How Hard? THIS HARD!!!”
• Another laugh from the mascot he invented for Maxwell House; a photo of Ghislaine Maxwell with a Photoshopped monacle and top hat.
• Beck’s performance as the boss is good, and appropriately sleazy.
• As an advertisement fan, I appreciated the reference to BBDO, which has made some classic ad campaigns over the years. However, the BBDO Page’s character is talking about is actually a dating app called “Big Beautiful Dongs Only”, which I admit to getting a cheap laugh out of.
• The drawings Page has for his various ad ideas are hilarious. My favorite is the one for the Chevy Bolt, which features a car mowing down Usain Bolt.
• Nice fake out bit where it looks like they’re going to get into a fist fight, but then they start hitting each other with pool noodles.
• Brilliant ending where we see the final result of Page’s Netflix idea: “Netflix: We have porn now.”
• Do my eyes deceive me? Is this another surprisingly good sketch? This episode is way better than I remembered! And, dare I say it, I might actually consider it good. But we’ll have to get through the rest of the episode before I know for sure.
Musical Performance: “ La Noche de Anoche”
Weekend Update (featuring Pete Davidson and Jessie Raunch)
• Starting out with some lame clapter about Ted Cruz.
• Once again, I find it funny in hindsight that the only jokes they’re telling about Cuomo are about his nursing home scandal, when there would be an even bigger one coming in the future…
• Pete Davidson shows up for a commentary about Valentine’s Day.
• I liked the line where he mentions that the pandemic was the first time that being all by himself wasn’t his own fault.
• OMG at that picture of him without a shirt on. He says that he looks like a toddler on his way to prison. I agree.
• He’s making some good burns about the quality of this show, like comparing it to his mom. They’re both “old, and noticeably fatigued”.
• Surprisingly not too bad for a Pete Davidson commentary. Like I said earlier, it seems like he’s been giving more of a shit this season.
• Bizarre and unfunny joke about the Mars Rover making a white supremacist tweet. Is astronomy something that white supremacists are interested in?
• Finally got a laugh from Che saying that a woolly mammoth’s fossil is so old that Andrew Cuomo is covering up its death.
• Lame and super predictable anti-Catholic joke from Colin.
• Heidi Gardner debuts a new character named Jessie Raunch, who has a mutual aid organization. She’s wearing an outfit that looks a lot like Freddy Krueger’s, while she continuously denies that she’s anything like him. Unfortunately, she keeps doing and saying things that Freddy does, like pulling out a creepy glove, and singing a version of the “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you” song about the food that she brings to people. I would normally criticize this for being a lame one-joke premise, but I like the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, so I’ll forgive it in this case.
• Apparently, Che’s joke about Jewish citizens in Israel getting vaccinated received criticism from some Jewish groups for being “anti-Semitic”. I don’t understand why, because I thought it was pretty benign and inoffensive.
Sketch: Songs Of The Sea
An aspiring sailor (Dismukes) has reservations about joining the crew after hearing their sea shanties.
• A brief laugh from an upcoming History Channel show about Hitler’s hairdresser.
• Page’s voice in this sketch is great, without relying too much on stereotypical pirate phrases.
• Second sketch of the episode to have McKinnon in drag. Why does this keep fucking happening? Wasn’t there a writer they could have put in that role?
• Bad Bunny makes another cameo in this, and his accent is so thick that I can’t understand any of his words.
• The lyrical content is nothing special, but the music is extremely catchy, just like a real sea shanty.
• WTF?!!?? McKinnon has TWO drag roles in this sketch?!? It’s official, somebody on the show hates me and is trying to psychologically torture me every week.
• If you take out the McKinnon parts, this sketch isn’t very bad.
Sketch: Let’s Say Grace
Two families have high standards for saying grace at dinner.
• There’s Kenan doing that voice again.
• Beautiful performance from Ego in this sketch, appropriately sounding like a typical preacher.
• Page’s attempt at a Southern accent is pretty good too. It’s hard to believe he’s British because he’s been pulling off all of these American voices with ease.
• Punkie Johnson wasted yet again with a silent role.
• This was mostly boring until the last minute or so, where they all start singing a catchy gospel number. Plus, we get to see Beck doing some awesome breakdancing moves!
Sketch: Bridgerton Intimacy Coordinators
Two intimacy coordinators try to stage a love scene between the Duke and Daphne.
• Great, another sketch that relies on you having seen Bridgerton. I can tell I’m gonna hate this.
• Man, those screaming girls in the audience are a pain.
• Even more painful is Kate McKinnon doing her stock British accent as the director.
• When Mikey’s character first spoke in…that voice he’s using, it caught me off guard.
• The annoying audience hoots and hollers when Page gets in bed with Fineman. Have I made it clear that the audience in this episode is annoying?!?
• Despite some minor chuckles from Mikey and Pete’s characters, this sketch was really bad.
Musical Performance: “Te Deseo lo Mejor”
Film: The Grocery Rap
A rap group faces some challenges while filming a rap video in a grocery store.
• Our second rap video of the night, and while it is kind of repetitive, there’s something about it that’s keeping me from hating it.
• I can’t tell if this is a real grocery store they’re in or if it’s just a set.
• Funny part where Beck’s character says that Bill Gates invented the pandemic to sell more computer games.
• This got better as it went along, particularly the ending where they sneak back inside after closing, only for the manager returning to tackle Beck.
Final thoughts: I can’t believe it’s taken me this long, but I’ve finally found an episode of Season 46 that I could actually call good, and it’s the 13th episode of the season. I guess it really is a lucky number. Regé-Jean Page was a great host, and I particularly was impressed by his ability to conceal his natural accent.
Best sketches: Loco, Driver’s License, The Job Interview, Jessie Raunch commentary, the finale of Let’s Say Grace, The Grocery Rap
Worst sketches: Cold Open, Monologue, Actor’s Spotlight, Bridgerton Intimacy Coordinators
Next review: Nick Jonas
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