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
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