Cold Open
• A very brief cold open, showing the cast turning on all their webcams. Brief, but it gets the job done and sets a nice tone for the rest of the episode.
3/5
Monologue
Tom Hanks delivers his monologue from home.
• Pretty daring move to get Tom Hanks to appear while he’s suffering from COVID-19.
• Even while suffering from a disease, Tom is still his old reliable self. I liked his “questions-from-the-audience” bit, where he talks with two people that are both him in disguise.
3.5/5
Short Film: Drake
Pete Davidson raps about Canadian rapper Drake.
• Pete Davidson appears in these At Home episodes more than he has all season. That being said, this was just as bad as I thought it would be as soon as I saw it starting up.
1/5
Sketch: Working Out at Home With RBG
Ruth Bader Ginsburg shares some exercising tips.
• UGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!! The return of this awful impression after not appearing since that RBG rap from last season.
• The usual cringeworthy attempts to be cool that we usual get from McKinnon with this impression. I hope they stop doing these for good once the real deal dies.
• McKinnon’s cat is pretty cute, though.
0/5
Sketch: Zoom Call
A couple of receptionists (Aidy Bryant, McKinnon) have a hard time when their company holds its first Zoom meeting.
• A more traditional sketch, performed via Zoom.
• I was initially curious to see how they would pull this sketch off. But then, out of nowhere, we get another unfunny McKinnon/Bryant pairing for the 800th time this season. Their characters in this were extremely annoying and got old very fast. Even worse, this is apparently the SECOND appearance of these characters. I shudder to think what their first appearance was like.
1/5
Sketch: A Message from Bernie Sanders
Bernie delivers a final message to his supporters as he is dropping out of the presidential race.
• Yawn. Larry David returns for the millionth time. He had one or two funny lines, but I’m glad we’ll never see this impression again....at least until Bernie decides to run in 2024. (UPDATE: LOL THAT NEVER HAPPENED!!!)
2/5
Fake Commercial: MasterClass Quarantine Class Quarantine Edition
MasterClass advertises lessons in fashion from Carole Baskin, JoJo Siwa, and Timothée Chalamet (all played by Chloe Fineman).
• We now get an impression showcase from Chloe Fineman, playing three celebrities I’ve never heard of.
• I might be able to judge this better if I actually knew anything about the people she’s parodying, but, as it stands, I found her very annoying in this.
1/5
Musical Performance
Chris Martin performs “Shelter from the Storm”
• I don’t usually comment on the musical performances, but this was too good to ignore. Definitely one of the highlights of this episode.
• I’d also like to point out that this is the second time this season that Chris Martin has appeared. The first time was with Coldplay, but now he’s doing it solo. It’s very rare that we get the same musical guest twice in one season.
5/5
Weekend Update (featuring Donald Trump)
• This was the part of the show that I was anticipating the most. I was interested to see how they would do this type of thing from home.
• Unsurprisingly, it’s exactly like every other episode. But this time, it’s from home!
• That fake laughter they keep playing after every “joke” got on my nerves very fast. Even my mom thought it was annoying.
• Che takes the opportunity of Bernie dropping out to make another crack at white people. We get it, you hate white people! Tell some other jokes.
• Unfortunately for me, the joke they have in mind is an awful “phone call” from Trump (a.k.a. Alec Baldwin). I’ve already said enough about him, so I’m not gonna say anything further.
• They end on a surprisingly heartfelt note when Che reminisces about his recently deceased aunt. I wouldn’t hate these two buffoons if they did more stuff like this.
2.5/5
Sketch: Bailey at the Movies
Bailey Gismert reviews movies on her YouTube channel.
• I fucking hate this character. Why do they keep bringing her back so much?
• The change of scenery for Bailey doesn’t help one bit, as she’s still as insufferable as ever.
0/5
Short Film: Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles
What are the TMNT up to nowadays?
• The first animated segment on SNL in what seems like forever.
• Aside from that novelty, there’s nothing interesting about this short whatsoever. It’s the incredibly stale “WHAT IF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES WERE OLD?” joke that everyone and their grandma has made by now.
• It also doesn’t help that the animation itself is extremely shitty. Bring back Robert Smigel. He knew how to make some funny-ass cartoons.
0/5
Sketch: Cam Playz Dat
HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW KIDS????
• Why does SNL keep doing “trendy” sketches like this? Maybe they think that if they get “hip with the kids”, then more young people will watch. I guess it seems to be working, because the only people I see praising these types of sketches are dweebs on Reddit.
1/5
Sketch: Sky Sport Report
Sky Sports reporter Bob Tisdale (Alex Moffat) is forced to find other things to cover since the coronavirus has cancelled all sports.
• Do you like corporate synergy, guys? No? Well, too fucking bad! You’re getting it anyway! This sketch prominently features the branding of Sky Sports, which Comcast bought from Rupert Murdoch last year.
• Another colossal waste of time.
0/5
Sketch: Whatcha’ Cookin’ On?
• Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, and Fred Armisen make annoying noises. TLDR: this blows.
-5/5
Sketch: Visualisations with Aidy
Aidy Bryant does some weird meditation thing.
• It was around this point of the episode where I began to question the sanity of the writers. This sketch was so pointless and bizarre that it actually frightens me. Another one to throw into the shitpile.
0/5
Sketch: How Low Will You Go?
A game show for sexy singles getting out of quarantine.
• “How Low Will You Go?” I was about to ask you the same question, SNL.
• Another boring-ass sketch.
• The only positive is that I like all the screen time Mikey has been getting lately.
1/5
Sketch: Quarantine QT
Ego Nwodim shares some beauty tips.
• This was barely even a sketch. It feels like something you might see on someone’s Instagram or Twitter account.
1/5
Short Film: Andre $2000
Pete Davidson shows how to flex with $2000.
• You’ve gotta be kidding me. Another shitty rap song?!!?? I’ll pass.
-5/5
Miscellaneous: Hal Willner Tribute
Cast members commemorate longtime SNL crew member, Hal Willner, who died of COVID-19 the week before this episode aired.
• The highlight of the night. Like Michael’s story about his aunt earlier, this was clearly made with good intentions. SNL needs more heartwarming stuff like this. They haven’t had that much of it since Marilyn Suzanne Miller left the writing staff.
• I was very surprised to see Ana Gasteyer among the former cast members featured in this, her first appearance on the show since Will Ferrell’s 2012 hosting stint. Also appearing are Molly Shannon, Rachel Dratch, Adam Sandler, Armisen, John Mulaney, Amy Poehler, Paula Pell, and Tina Fey. Not even Maya Rudolph singing for the six millionth time can ruin my enjoyment of this.
• Not gonna lie, I actually started tearing up myself when I first saw this. That’s something I’ve never experienced from this show before.
5/5
Final thoughts: An ambitious episode. Unfortunately, the novelty wore off pretty quick and most of the sketches started to resemble one another. And I’ve still got two more of them to cover....
Best sketches: Monologue, Chris Martin’s performance, Michael Che’s aunt story, Hal Willner Tribute
Worst sketches: Working Out At Home With RBG, Bailey at the Movies, Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sky Sport Report, Whatcha’ Cookin’ On?, Visualizations with Aidy, Andre $2000
Next review: SNL At Home 2
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