SNL Reviews: John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (3/2/19)

I’m back! This time, we’re going to be taking a look at John Mulaney’s second hosting stint. The first one was a surprising classic, but will this one be as good? Let’s see....

Cold Open: Michael Cohen Testifies

In which Michael Cohen (Ben Stiller) testifies before Congress.

• As you can tell by my description, not much to say about this cold open. Stiller tried his best, but not even he can save this tepid material.

• Bill Hader makes his first of two guest appearances tonight. I thought he would help improve this, but his character quickly got old, which is something I never thought I’d have to say about Bill Hader.

2/5

Monologue

Mulaney does a stand-up routine about his Jewish wife, living in New York, and police sirens.

• Mulaney’s last monologue was amazing. This one, however, was kind of long and boring. He still does a great job with it, at least.

• The only reason I’m not giving this a lower grade is because he saved it near the end with his hilarious impression of a police siren.

2.5/5

What’s That Name?

Contestants on a game show fail to recognize their loved ones.

• This sketch was first done all the way back in 2011. I haven’t seen the original sketch, however. That being said, I enjoyed this a lot.

• Bill Hader reprises his role as the host of the game show. His performance is killer, as usual. 

• Mulaney’s role as the contestant was just as stellar. I especially love his reactions to the host’s evil aside glances.

• The best part is when Mulaney frantically tries to guess the last person’s name, and even though one of the guesses is correct, he doesn’t get any points because he didn’t really know it.

4/5

Commercial: Toilet Ejector Seat

A toilet that launches you off of it should you have a heart attack.

• This was the best sketch of the night. I don’t think I’ve laughed this hard at SNL since the last time Mulaney hosted.

• I fucking love how obvious the dummies are in this. Then it gets even funnier when they fail to land on the bed.

• The capper on it all is how it drops a book on you when you land on the bed, to give the impression that you died while reading.

5/5

Shark Tank: Legal Edition

A version of the TV show Shark Tank where all the contestants are famous lawyers.

• Uggggghhhhhh....we get the return of Kate McKinnon’s creepy, unfunny Rudy Giuliani impression. When is SNL going to stop making her play men? It always looks disturbing rather than funny, and I’m sure there are other people in the cast who need airtime (hint hint Mikey Day) that could pull these roles off.

• I thought this would ruin the sketch, but then, I saw Cellino & Barnes. For those who do not know, they are two lawyers based in Buffalo, New York, who have an incredibly catchy jingle. The joke here is that all of their responses are to the tune of this jingle. I know it sounds incredibly dumb, but goddammit, it made me laugh! In fact, the real Cellino & Barnes saw this and got a kick out of it as well!

• Chris Redd’s Jussie Smollett impression was hilarious with his claim that he was assaulted by Donald Trump on his way to the studio. When he asks Alan Dershowitz (Mulaney) if there are security cameras, and Dershowitz confirms that there are, he admits that his story isn’t true.

• “Cellino & Barnes, injury attorneys, and even we won’t touch this!”

3.5/5

Film: The Unknown Caller

Chad (Pete Davidson) gets a phone call from the mysterious Ferguson Tuttle (John Mulaney).

• This wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but I liked the creepy atmosphere. Plus these Chad films are pretty much the only thing I can still tolerate Pete Davidson in.

• Mikey Day briefly shows up as a pizza delivery man, only to be killed. Is it me, or is Mikey Day always having bad things happen to him in sketches? He’s been fired from a job because his last name is “Bangs”, he gets bullied for looking like Bart Simpson, he’s had news reporters make fun of him for liking dolls, and now this? I’m not complaining about this, it’s just a random observation.

3/5

Cha-Cha Slide

Daniel Weissman (Mulaney) gets nervous at a party.

• I didn’t quite understand what the point of this sketch was. Apparently Mulaney’s character is nervous that he doesn’t know anyone at the party, but it turns out that he’s friends with everyone there? Huh?

• That being said, the visual of Mulaney dancing was pretty funny.

2/5

Musical Performance: “Look What God Gave Her”

Weekend Update (featuring Vaneta and Wylene Starkie)

• Ho-hum. Another boring Weekend Update. 

• I have no fucking idea what McKinnon and Aidy Bryant’s commentary was supposed to be. What made it even harder for me to understand was how they kept chuckling at this. Has Jimmy Fallon taken over or something?

• I’m kind of surprised that Michael Che didn’t make any anti-white jokes here. But that only gives you the false impression that he’s improved. I’m sure he’ll go back to them once Season 45 begins.

• That whole part where they show a compilation of Trump quotes was just terrible. It’s clear from what they showed that Trump was making jokes, but, of course, they use this as “evidence” that he’s going insane. I guess Trump can’t even try to be humorous without getting mocked.

• The one positive I’ll give this is that it was a surprisingly short Update.

1/5

Bodega Bathroom

A man (Pete Davidson) learns why you should never use the bathroom in a bodega.

• As if the episode couldn’t get any worse, they decided to make a sequel to that awful Les Miserables sketch with the lobster from last season. You’ll recall that I really hated that one. Well, I hated this one even more!

• While I will give this one credit in that I actually understood what it was parodying this time (Willy Wonka instead of Les Miz), that didn’t make it any good. These “parody” lyrics sound like they were written by stoners at Yale.

• Another problem is that this sketch is way longer than the other one. Every time I thought it was going to end, Mulaney kept saying “You haven’t learned your lesson yet” or some other dumb shit like that.

• All I can say is that they better not do another sketch like this if Mulaney hosts again. But they probably will, knowing SNL.

0/5

Cinema Classics

Uncovered outtakes from a classic Humphrey Bogart film

• And the episode just keeps getting worse. They bring this shitty sketch out of the mothballs again.

• I’m surprised at how awful Mulaney’s impression of Bogie was. It was just him speaking in his normal voice with a slight accent. Humphrey Bogart is such an easy voice to do, so something like this, especially when coming from someone as talented as Mulaney, is especially terrible.

• Another surprise here was that Kate McKinnon actually made me laugh! You heard right! She made this weird noise with her mouth that was really funny. While her Lauren Bacall impression wasn’t much better than the Bogart impression, at least she was trying.

1.5/5

Musical Performance

Side Note: The rerun of this episode added a dedication to Margaret Karolyi, whoever that is.

Final thoughts: Man, this episode was such a disappointment. The first half of the episode was pretty good, and it gave me my favorite sketch of the season, but it crashed and burned after Update. Mulaney himself appeared to be kind of burned out, in sharp contrast to how he appeared last season.

Best sketches

• What’s That Name

• Toilet Ejector Seat

• Shark Tank: Legal Edition

• Mulaney’s siren impression 

Worst sketches

• Bodega Bathroom

• Michael Cohen Testifies

• Cinema Classics

• McKinnon’s Giuliani impression

• Weekend Update

Overall grade: 2.5/5

Some segments from SNL Season 43 that are actually pretty good

While Season 43 of SNL was another step downward for the series, it did have a few bright spots. In this post, I’ll be recommending some sketches that you should really check out. Please note, however, that this will not be including the 4 or 5 star sketches I included in my previous reviews.


1. Fresh Prince (from the Jessica Chastain episode)

What’s it about: An updated version of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.

Why you should check it out: What starts out as a normal sketch quickly turns into a bizarre tale of a drug deal gone wrong. This made me laugh so hard when it first aired, and it’s definitely one of the best short films SNL has ever made. Plus, we get another Akira Yoshimura cameo, which is always a good thing.


2. Google Talk (from the Jessica Chastain episode)

What’s it about: Google hosts a live seminar on the effects of bullying, but it is hijacked by actual bullies.

Why you should check it out: Immediately after the previous sketch, we get this underrated gem. It starts off pretty normal, until the seminar’s host casually mentions that some people have been bullied for looking like Bart Simpson. We then cut to a wide shot where a man who looks like Bart Simpson can be seen in the background. The man (played by Mikey Day) quickly becomes the focus of the sketch, as people start pranking the seminar just to bully him, such as a caller who plays Maggie Simpson’s pacifier noises over the phone, and someone in the audience insulting him with a Nelson Muntz laugh. But the capper on it all? The man’s name is Bert Sampson.


3. The Last Fry (from the rerun of the Gal Gadot episode)

What’s it about: Two rappers have an argument over a french fry, unaware that chaos is happening around them.

Why you should check it out: This sketch was initially cut for time, but was then added to the rerun of this episode to replace a controversial Safelite Auto Glass parody. With that being said, this sketch is much funnier. Specifically, it’s a send up of cheesy 80s rap videos, but with the added twist that while all of this is going on, the people in the background are panicking over the threat of nuclear war.


4. Stefon’s St. Patrick’s Day Tips (from the Bill Hader episode)

What’s it about: Stefon returns to Weekend Update to provide tips on the hottest clubs to visit around St. Patrick’s Day.

Why you should check it out: This was the first Stefon sketch I ever saw, and what a great introduction it was! Some specific highlights:

• Stefon mentions that “Farrahchauns” will be at the club. Michael Che asks if this means that Louis Farrakhan will be there, but Stefon clarifies that Farrachauns are leprechauns that look like Farrah Fawcett. He then adds that Louis Farrakhan will also be there.

• My brother and I lost it when Stefon started talking about “human squatty potties”, which he says is when you rest your feet on a midget’s head while you’re on the toilet.

• This is then followed by Stefon’s lawyer, Shy (John Mulaney), discussing with him a politically correct alternative for the word “midget”. Hader proceeds to crack up after Mulaney whispers something in his ear. Apparently the whispered phrase was “My girlfriend works at Yoshinoya Beef Bowl”.


5. Barbie Instagram (from the Donald Glover episode)

What’s it about: We take a look behind the scenes at the people who run Barbie’s Instagram account.

Why you should check it out: This 10-to-1 sketch was a brilliant closure to this particular episode (which opened with a particularly bad cold open featuring a terrible cameo by Stormy Daniels). The people in charge of Barbie’s account tell their three interns (played by Heidi Gardner, Pete Davidson, and Glover) to come up with ideas for captions on Barbie’s pictures. Gardner and Davidson’s ideas are extremely ridiculous, while Glover’s are verbose and emotionally charged, culminating in one where he suggests that Barbie has committed suicide. As good as Glover’s performance here is, Kenan Thompson steals the sketch as his increasingly exasperated supervisor, who also made me laugh with his random comment that Barbie has only one boyfriend. I also laughed at Pete Davidson’s “I’m Bawbie!” comments.


6. Homework Hotline (from the Charles Barkley episode)

What’s it about: A public access host (Barkley) and his puppet sidekick Bobo (Mikey Day) have a show where they take calls from people who need help with their homework, but none of the callers seem interested in homework.

Why you should check it out: This was another sketch that cracked me up hard when I saw it live. The joke in this one is that the callers are only interested in Barkley’s relationship with his puppet. For example, one caller asks him to write a chemical combination, but the periodic table symbols he uses end up forming the phrase, “BOBOS COCK”. Another person calls in about static electricity, and he asks Bobo to rub himself against Barkley’s leg, resulting in something that looks like a depraved sex act. But the best part is the ending, where they get an email from someone named “Ron Weasley”, who lives in “Hermoine’s Bush, CA”. Special mention must be given to Mikey Day’s performance as Bobo, which further proves that he is currently the most talented person in the cast.


All in all, Season 43 is not the comedy wasteland that I’ve been making it out to be. Try and check these sketches out some time.