For this post, I decided to do something a little different. Since SNL has gone severely downhill ever since Trump was elected, here are some of the worst sketches they’ve done since then. I will not be including sketches from episodes I’ve already reviewed. Each sketch will also receive a rating with The Rating of Suckitude, on a scale of 1 to 10, unlike my normal reviews where I only go from 1 to 5.
1. Jingle Barack (from Casey Affleck/Chance the Rapper, 12/17/16)
Summary: Chance the Rapper and Kenan celebrate the last Christmas with Barack Obama still in the White House. Yes, it’s just as cringy as it sounds.
Thoughts: What a truly unfunny and desperate sketch. This is what Seth Meyers calls “clapter”, which is a type of joke, usually making a political statement, that is meant to make the audience clap and agree with the person telling it, instead of laugh. For example, every time they mention Obama, or even show him, in this sketch, the audience breaks out into applause. That is “clapter”.
Rating of Suckitude: 4/10
2. Come Back Barack (from Chance the Rapper/Eminem, 11/18/17)
Summary: Chance, Kenan, and Chris Redd rap about how much they want Obama to come back.
Thoughts: You thought one rap about Obama was bad? Well, here’s another one! The first time I saw this, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “Where’s the joke?” I asked myself. Sadly, I didn’t get any. All I got was a painful display of leftist whining.
Rating: 5/10
3. Safelite Auto Glass (from Gal Gadot/Sam Smith, 10/7/17)
Summary: A windshield repairman spends most of his time hitting on his customer’s daughter.
Thoughts: This one originally aired around the time that the earliest reports of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual shenanigans were being leaked to the media. After receiving tons of complaints about such a premise airing at a time when sexual abuse cases were all over the news, SNL removed this from all reruns of the episode and replaced it with that “Last Fry” sketch I looked at a while ago. I still haven’t seen this Safelite sketch, but it deserves a place on this list for that reason alone.
Rating: 7/10 (for even making it to air)
4. Pete Davidson’s First Impressions (from Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers, 11/3/18)
Summary: Pete Davidson gives us his first impressions of Republican candidates.
Thoughts: I missed this one when it originally aired because I was recovering from pneumonia at the time. When I heard about it the next day, I was completely shocked. For those unaware, this is the one where Davidson mocked Dan Crenshaw, who lost his eye while serving overseas, for his appearance, likening him to an actor from a porno. Crenshaw himself was NOT happy at the jokes. In fact, he appeared on the show the following week to accept Davidson’s apology, which I also missed because I turned the episode off early.
Rating: 10/10
5. Fatal Attraction (from Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran, 2/11/17)
Summary: In a parody of Fatal Attraction, Kellyanne Conway tries to win back Jake Tapper’s trust.
Thoughts: SNL really seems to have something against Donald Trump’s counselor, Kellyanne Conway, as they’re always portraying her as some kind of insane fame seeking glory hog. This is the worst example of their hatred for her, in this infamous Fatal Attraction parody that left even some leftist media outlets disgusted.
Rating: 10/10
6. Kellywise (from Kumail Nanjiani/Pink, 10/14/17)
Summary: Kellyanne Conway is portrayed as Pennywise the Clown.
Thoughts: In this semi-sequel to the Fatal Attraction sketch, Conway is shown living in the sewer, in a parody of the then-recent adaptation of Stephen King’s It. While certainly less offensive, it’s still pretty bad, and it’s also an example of SNL trying to be “hip” and relevant.
Rating: 6/10
7. Them Trumps (from Jason Momoa/Mumford and Sons, 12/8/18)
Summary: Donald Trump, but he’s black.
Thoughts: The description pretty much says it all. The writers probably thought, “Hey, we’ve already done all we can with Trump, let’s do a sketch where he’s black!” That sounds too desperate for material already, but what’s even more desperate is that they’ve brought this sketch back two more times.
Rating: 3/10
8. Eye on NorCal (from Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet, 1/19/19)
Summary: An earthquake destroys a “name change office”.
Thoughts: Here’s a sketch that proves the mentality of the current SNL writers. It’s nothing but a long list of “funny” names, featuring such knee-slappers as “Ty Neadik”, “Donald McRonald”, “Carol Kumdungeon”, “Alan Hitler”, “Donna Diddadog”, and “Mark Peanus”. I was rather surprised to find out that James Anderson was not behind this sketch, as the funny name schtick is usually his forte. It was actually Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell who were to blame, which also surprised me, because I know they can do better. After all, they’re also responsible for such modern classics as “David S. Pumpkins”, “Google Talk”, “Grouch”, and more. Then again, they’re also behind such flops as “Roadside Museum”.
Rating: 4/10
9. Michael Cohen Wiretap (from Donald Glover/Childish Gambino, 5/5/18)
Summary: Michael Cohen calls up Trump begging him for help with the Stormy Daniels case.
Thoughts: Out of all the cold opens I’ve ever seen, this has to rank among the worst. From the minute it starts, it’s nothing but an endless parade of celebrity cameos, from Jimmy Fallon to Martin Short, and Ben Stiller to Scarlett Johansson. It also has the first appearance of McKinnon’s awful Giuliani impression, and you already know my thoughts about that. But nothing can compare to the awfulness that is Stormy Daniels herself appearing at the end, to thunderous applause. I couldn’t believe they did it when I first saw it. If her creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti hadn’t turned out to be a money-grubbing wifebeater, they probably would have gotten Daniels to host, too.
Rating: 9/10
And the worst SNL sketch from the last five years is....
10. Hallelujah (from Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest, 11/12/16)
Thoughts: You saw this coming. This sketch is the point where SNL lost all pretenses of being non-partisan and switched solely to mocking Republicans. Everyone has mocked this sketch, even liberals! And if that wasn’t bad enough, in the Season 42 finale, they have Trump sing the song instead! Now that’s just cruel.
Rating: 10/10
Bottom line, stay away from these sketches. It’ll do you good.
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