Cold Open: Antisemitism Hearings
College presidents answer questions about antisemitism on their campuses.
• A big groan from the C-SPAN intro.
• After a promising beginning (including Molly with a big role!), things go south when Elise Stefanik is brought into the sketch for no reason.
• Boy, this is just plain awful. Instead of making the sketch about the college people’s attempts to cover up antisemitism on their campuses, they instead make it about Elise Stefanik being a KUH-RAYZEE racist weirdo. The show got a lot of backlash for this, and I completely understand why.
• As if you couldn’t hate this sketch more, you wanna know something else? Apparently, in dress rehearsal, Stefanik was played by former cast member Cecily Strong! Yep, that’s right! I forget the exact reason why she dropped out of the live show, but thank goodness she did, because we don’t need her tired antics making this even worse.
• Michael Longfellow is wasted with one line of dialogue. Geez, his airtime has been pathetic lately.
• It feels so sad seeing Chloe Troast being forced to perform this garbage. While she’s definitely performing this a lot better than Cecily probably would, the actual writing is as bad as it’s always been.
• You know, I remember a time when SNL actually had something to say about politics. Everyone remembers moments like “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy!”, “Strategery”, or Bill Clinton stuffing his face with McDonald’s food. Those were the good old days. Nowadays, we get lame, baffling material like Joe Biden turning into a fly for no reason, countless male politicians played by women in drag, Cecily and Sasheer Zamata singing “To Sir, With Love” for Obama, and this bullshit I’m watching right now. In short…I just don’t like it.
Monologue
Adam Driver shares his Christmas list.
• I liked the line about Santa not liking SNL since Chris Kattan left.
• Adam: “(shouting) HEY SANTA!!!! Oh right, we’re on TV. (quieter) Hey, Santa…”
• Not a big fan of the random dick joke.
• I didn’t think I would laugh at the “wokeness killed Han Solo” line, but I did.
• I got a big laugh at Adam asking Santa to kill people who prank each other on TikTok. Unintentional foreshadowing for a sketch we’ll be getting later???
• Adam: “Hey, do you think the gingerbread man gets scared when he realizes his house is made of his own skin?”
• Overall, this was such a good monologue. It was miles better than his last two.
Sketch: We’re Trying
A couple is trying to get pregnant, and their friends all talk about it.
• Holy shit, Longfellow and Dismukes with actual screentime!
• Sadly, their only purpose is to act as straightmen to Bowen and Adam’s WACKY antics. As if I needed yet another reason to hate Bowen.
• What an ironic title, because SNL was clearly NOT trying when they came up with this sketch.
Film: Old Friends
A man is disturbed to find out that his old friend is really a psycho.
• This starts out as a seemingly heartwarming film, but then Adam’s character asks if the bar his friend wants to meet him at is more than 1000 feet from a school and I knew I was in for a treat.
• The funny twists keep coming, as it’s revealed that Adam’s character had a Netflix documentary made about how he switched over 600 sperm samples with his own.
• Great picture of Adam posing with a rifle.
• Nice callback to the school thing from earlier when he says he can’t renew his license because the DMV is near a school.
• Amazing photo of Devon as “Big Filthy”.
• Unfortunately, they had to ruin this with one thing: that stupid cliched ending where this turns out to be a commercial for Facebook. UGGGHHHH!!!! I wish they would stop doing that!
Sketch: Beep Beep
A dinner party goes awry as Mark (Driver) asserts his dominance.
• Rather odd gaffe where it looks like Molly is about to say something, but then the camera awkwardly cuts to Adam entering the room. I have no idea why this happened. Did Molly have a line that was cut from the online version I’m watching?
• Both Adam and Andrew have amazing mustaches in this sketch. I think I’m in heaven…
• I probably don’t need to tell you how happy I am that Andrew has finally gotten another lead role. His airtime has been awful these past few episodes.
• Bowen’s performance here is surprisingly good. I love the delivery of his line comparing Adam and Andrew’s fight to two falcons.
• The fact that everyone is taking this “beep beep” situation so seriously is what makes this so great. Props go to whoever wrote this sketch for making such a dumb concept work.
Sketch: ShopTV
Dean Delaney shows off his suspiciously-shaped chocolate.
• The return of this awful sketch from the Jerrod Carmichael episode.
• I still can’t believe that Mikey is responsible for these sketches, because the Southern accents and “funny” names really throw me off.
• Cecily’s character from the first installment has been replaced by Heidi.
• The only “joke” in this one is that Adam’s chocolate looks like a dick. That’s it.
Musical Performance: “Vampire”
Weekend Update (featuring Marcello Hernandez, Chloe Fineman, and Julia Stiles)
• A pretty solid joke about Hunter Biden is ruined by Colin connecting it to Donald Trump.
• Yet another funny use of that picture of Colin giving a thumbs up, this time as part of a joke where Che claims he was at the Capitol riots.
• I laughed at the RFK Jr. joke.
• They’re still doing “seen here” jokes about Mitch McConnell.
• Marcello’s first commentary of the season. He’s been having a pretty strong year so far.
• This material is nothing special, but Marcello is making it work with his natural Latino charm.
• The next commentary, on the other hand, I don’t even know what to make of it. Chloe Fineman shows up and announces that she is going to do a dance from some Julia Stiles movie. Oh, and just so we don’t have to do any thinking, the real Julia Stiles is there too. I would say that it’s nice to see her on the show again, but I have no idea who this commentary is even for.
Sketch: Airplane Baby
A mother travels on an airplane with her baby for the first time.
• This looks like the same airplane set from the Nate Bargatze episode.
• A huge laugh from the initial sight of Adam as a baby with a full-grown man’s voice.
• Some good laughs from him watching Peppa Pig on his mom’s iPad, even though you can clearly see that he’s actually on the home screen.
• Adam’s “crying” is hilarious.
• Sarah: “He looks just like his father.” Kenan: “He looks like a father!”
• Even the ending where he poops in his diaper was pretty funny. But, once again, we have a twist where this turns out to be an ad for something else.
• Probably the best Sarah sketch we’ve had since that one where she gets decapitated.
Musical Performance: “All-American Bitch”
Film: TikTok Pranks
Elderly victims of TikTok pranks talk about their experiences.
• A promising concept…
• The look of Adam’s character is great. It reminds me of his Abraham Parnassus character from Season 44.
• Kenan and Punkie’s prank videos are kind of bland (I’m assuming they’re parodies of actual TikTok videos), but the one with Adam getting assaulted with basketballs at Walmart is hilarious.
• I also liked the video where Chloe Troast pranks her grandmother by pretending to come out as gay.
• It goes without saying that JAJ is perfectly cast as an old man.
• Nice to see the return of the good ol’ pants pissing gag.
• I like how it ends with Kenan getting another sheet thrown over his head, followed by him going after that “little black bastard”.
Sketch: Tiny Ass Bags
Retail employees promote tiny bags.
• The look of Marcello’s character already has me worried about this.
• Yep, sure enough, this turns into another “two people advertise their product” sketch, a type of sketch that I absolutely cannot stand.
• Adam’s stern delivery of “If you don’t like it, kiss my rear!” gave me a laugh.
• You would be forgiven this was an Allison Gates-written sketch, but it was actually the work of Marcello and Ego, along with the Please Don’t Destroy guys.
• Some of Adam’s lines are the only laughs I’m getting here. He is way too good for this crap.
• I do like how one of the things you can carry in a Tiny Ass Bag is “the kids from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids”.
• I actually laughed at the extremely small backpack Adam is carrying.
• Adam: “You don’t need to bring anything. What are you, a bellboy?!?”
• Overall, while this was extremely stupid, I laughed a worrying number of times.
Cut for Time: Actor’s Journey
An actor’s panel is interrupted by random people from his past.
• It figures that Andrew’s only lead role of the episode was cut.
• Apart from Adam’s character, I am not getting much laughs from this so far.
• The fact that everyone has oddly-specific outfits should clue you in that this was written by Jimmy Fowlie.
• Overall, I can definitely see why this was cut. This might be the first Cut for Time sketch I’ve looked at that I didn’t like.
Final thoughts: Wow, that was actually a pretty solid episode. I know I’ve trashed Driver’s episodes in the past, but with this episode, I can see why they keep bringing him back.
Best sketches: Monologue, Old Friends, Beep Beep, Airplane Baby
Worst sketches: Cold Open, We’re Trying, ShopTV
Next review: OH NO. My nemesis Kate McKinnon is back!
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